The Legend of Chang Er

In commemoration of the Chinese Moon festival, or the Mid-Autumn festival as it is sometimes called, the ancient Legend of Chang Er is recounted here. The festival falls upon a full moon, usually the month of September. After the New Year celebration, this is perhaps the most important of Chinese traditional festivals. Families gather; Yue bin, moon cake, is traditionally eaten.

There are many beautiful legends about the moon in China. the most popular one tells how a goddess named Chang Er ascended to the moon.

A long, long time ago, a terrible drought plagued the earth. Ten suns burned fiercely in the sky like smoldering volcanoes. The trees and grass were scorched. The land was cracked and parched, and rivers ran
dry. Many people died of hunger and thirst.The King of Heaven sent Hou Yi down to the earth to help. When Hou Yi arrived, he took out his red bow and white arrows and shot down nine suns one after another. The weather immediately turned cooler. Heavy rains filled the rivers with fresh water and the grass and trees turned green. Life had been restored and humanity was saved.

One day, a charming young woman, Chang Er makes her way home from a stream, holding a bamboo container, A young man comes forward, asking for a drink. When she sees the red bow and white arrows hanging from his belt, Chang Er realizes that he is their savior, Hou Yi. Inviting him to drink, Chang Er plucks a beautiful flower and gives it to him as a token of respect. Hou Yi, in turn, selects a beautiful silver fox fur
as his gift for her. This meeting kindles the spark of their love. And soon after that, they get married. A mortal's life is limited, of course. So in order to enjoy his happy life with Chang'e forever, Hou Yi decides to look for an elixir of life. He goes to the Kunlun Mountains where the Western Queen Mother lives.

Out of respect for the good deeds he has done, the Western Queen Mother rewards Hou Yi with elixir, a fine powder made from pieces of fruit which grows on the tree of eternity. At the same time, she tells him:If you and your wife share the elixir, you will both enjoy eternal life. But if only one of you takes it,that one will ascend to Heaven and become immortal.

Hou Yi returns home and tells his wife all that has happened and they decide to drink the elixir together on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month when the moon is full and bright. A wicked and merciless man named Feng Meng secretly hears about their plan. He wishes Hou Yi an early death so that he can drink the elixir himself and become immortal.

His opportunity finally arrives. One day,when the full moon is rising, Hou Yi is on his way home from hunting. Feng Meng kills him. The murderer then runs to Hou Yi's home and forces Chang Er to give him the elixir, Without hesitating, Chang Er picks up the elixir and drinks it all. Overcome with grief, Chang Er rushes to her dead husband's side, weeping bitterly. Soon the elixir begins to have its effect and Chang Er feels herself being lifted towards Heaven.

Chang Er decides to live on the moon because it is nearest to the earth. There she lives a simple and contented life. Even though she is in Heaven, her heart remains in the world of mortals. Never does she forget the deep love she has for Hou Yi and the love she feels for the people who have shared their sadness and happiness.

Another legend explained the role of the Old Man on the Moon, the Divine Match-maker. The Chinese believed that marriages were made in Heaven but prepared on the moon. The Old Man on the Moon tied the feet of young men and women with red cords for marriage. Thus a maiden made offerings and prayed to him during the Mid-Autumn Festival, hoping that some day she would ride in the red bridal sedan chair.
From the website: http://www.chinavoc.com

New Ways in Taoist Lands

"We now come to the second Southern school, which has no connection whatsoever with the first Southern school."

--Taoism, The Parting of the Way by Holmes Welch

Much is written in the context of Taoism about a "northern school" and a "southern school" but what is the meaning of these two developments within Taoist thought? The most simple explanation is that the "Northern School," while founded in the modern Chinese province of Shanxi about 1150AD, later moved to the South China city of Ninghai, and is thought to have developed for several purposes within several sects. Among the sects within the Northern School, some were to encourage Ch'un Yang or Pure Yang; the group came to be known commonly as "Ch'uan Chen" or Perfect Realization. While going by various names, this first northern school of thought while later located in the south, practiced with consistent aims, and is not to be confused as one and another.

In his book, Taoism, Parting of the Way, Welch writes, "Perfect Realization was one of several sects that arose soon after the Shin Tartars overran the Northern half of China. Modern Chinese scholar, Ch'en Yuan, has suggested that their purpose was to mobilize non-cooperation with the foreign invaders. This may have been why the principle of ascetic withdrawal" from everyday world affairs was encouraged in the sects' followers, for ultimately spiritual, rather than political reasons. A desire to restore man's nature to its original purity prompted the movement.

However the asceticism "required for Perfect Realization was fanatical." Perfect continence in all bodily matters was to be observed; secondly adherents were to nurture the yang and suppress the yin in connection with the old idea of replacing "Earthly Breaths for Heavenly Breaths." Finally, immortality was to be realized through exterior means such as incantations or use of drugs. In contrast, the first Southern school developed, with an interior emphasis, employing such practices as meditation, hygiene and care of the body. Both schools ultimately share a connecting belief that cultivating nature, and not physical immortality was key.

Coming to consideration of the second Southern School, remember there is no connection with the first. Rather the second Southern school concerns itself with none other than the sect of the Chang family, the Celestial Master of the Dragon and Tiger mountain. As time unfolded, this sect came to be called by its modern name, Realized Men of Right Unity, or Right Unity as it is still known. Within Right Unity was ming (life); their practice came to be clearly described as cultivating ming by exterior means. Realizing one's nature was secondary, if at all. Welch writes of them, "Priests of this sect marry and hand down their arts hereditarily... no monasteries, no Taoist robes... [and they] do not restrict themselves to a vegetable diet. Living in the family hearth, they are called, huo-chu-shih, fire dwellers." They serve others who come to them for spiritual help or protection. Some Taoist priests offer other services within this sect such as: astrology, spirit medium, fore-telling of events, and hexagrams.

The relationship of these priests, writes Welch, to the Celestial Master "has been tenuous." During the Republican period, 1911-1950, some applied to him as a leading figure of a tradition of Taoism for diplomas or certificates. The author, Welch notes, the Celestial Master is not to be "thought of as a Pope. He is nothing more than a leading repository of Taoist tradition." During this revolutionary period, the Celestial Master was able to maintain himself through various means, including collecting rents from approximately 250 acres of rice fields which he owned, located near the Dragon and Tiger mountain itself.

The period of time since 1950 finds the Celestial Master treated with "waning respect." In the period commencing about 1911, an anti-religious tide was unleashed in the Revolution; the governor of Jiangxi abolished their titles and confiscated their property. Yet the Taoists remained a friend in the person of Zhang Xun, a Manchu monarchist and arch-conservative. In 1914 Zhang Xun persuaded Chinese President Yuan Shikai to aid in the restoration of the title and lands to the sect. With gratitude and respect, the Celestial Master traveled to Peking at the invitation of the prominent "war lords" Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang.

On the death of the Celestial Master, the title passed on to his eldest son, Chang En-p'u who was captured by Communists in 1927, and imprisoned. Later he escaped to Shanghai and took up a quiet residence there in the French Concession of the city. After the Communists made their sweep throughout China in 1949, "Chang En-p'u left home for the last time. He made his way through Macao, Hong Kong, and took up residence in Taiwan." It was by his initiative that the various Taoist organizations established themselves in that place, and that the Taoist Cannon was re-printed, thwarting Communist efforts to suppress the ancient religion.