Page 456 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

FEI CHANGFANG 417

test Fei's worthiness to re-
ceive the Dao that confers
immortality. He success-
fully passed the first two
tests: by not showing fear
when left alone with tigers
and by not moving when
a huge rock that was sus-
pended above his head on a
flimsy cord was about to be
gnawed through by snakes.
However, Fei recoiled from
the third ordeal-eating
excrement infested with
inch-long worms. Hugong
responded that although
he could not attain the Dao
of immortality he could
.h receive earthly power and
I:
gain several hundred years
of life.
Fei is credited with pos-
sessing a powerful talisman
with which he could con-
Fig. 33. Fei Changfang enters his gourd.
trol demons, enabling him
to effect cures through ex-
orcism. He was also able to "shrink the veins of the earth" so that one thousand
li of territory could be viewed at one time and to relieve drought.
Fei also receives a biography in Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han) which
is very similar to that in Shenxian zhuan. However, it ends on a rather different
note: on losing his talisman Fei is set upon and murdered by ghosts.
Benjamin PENNY
m Campany 2002, 161-68; DeWoskin 1983, 77-81; Giles L. 1948,79-81; Ngo
1976, I28-34; Stein R. A. 1990, 66-70

* HAGIOGRAPHY