Page 484 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

Ge Xuan

164-244; zi: Xiaoxian 4: 7t; haG: Ge xiangong 1i5 {ill ~
(Transcendent Duke Ge)

Ge Xuan is a mythological figure associated with several traditions in Taoism.
He owed his preeminence to the one thing that we can reliably know about
him, that he was the paternal granduncle of *Ge Hong. In his *Baopu zi, Ge
Hong, who calls Xuan the "Transcendent Duke," traces three alchemical
texts from *Zuo Ci to Ge Xuan, who in turn passed them on to his disciple
and Ge Hong's master, *Zheng Yin, and relates several of his miraculous ac-
complishments. In the *Shenxian zhuan, Ge Hong provides a biography for
Xuan, recounting more of his miracles and the manner of his "release from
the corpse" (*shijie). He reports that Xuan was summoned to court by the
Wu ruler, Sun Quan f%dWf (Dadi, r. 222-52). During this time, Xuan seemed
to have drowned when a number of the emperor's boats were capsized by
a severe wind, but returned several days later apologizing that he had been
detained by the water-deity, Wu Zixu fli T 1'f. This legend, taken together
with Xuan's ability to remain underwater for long periods of time through
"embryonic breathing" and his control of wind, rain, and rivers, seems to
indicate that Xuan was once a cult-figure associated with water as well as the
patron saint of the Ge family.
Through Ge Hong's accounts of him, Ge Xuan's legend diverged in two
distinct directions. First, he became a patron of alchemical arts. Ge Hong
records that he transmitted as a member of the lineage mentioned above the
alchemical texts * Taiqingjing (Scripture of Great Clarity), *Jiudan jing (Scripture
of the Nine Elixirs), and *Jinye jing (Scripture of the Golden Liquor), although
nowhere does he mention that Ge Xuan concocted an elixir. Still, a number
of later alchemical works were said to have been composed by him or passed
through his hands. Later, Ge Hong's grandnephew, *Ge Chaofu, made Xuan
the first recipient of the *Lingbao scriptures. The Lingbao scriptures contain
accounts of his receipt of the scriptures from deities, who accorded him the
title Transcendent Duke of the Left of the Great Ultimate (Taiji zuo xiangong
::t;jlj h:-: {ill ~), and his instructions of his disciples, to whom he vouchsafed
information on the many previous lives he had undergone before achiev-
ing the moral status to receive the scriptures. These lively accounts led to a
decidedly different afterlife for the legend of Ge Xuan. Buddhist polemicists