Narrative research on the stories about mystery and the spiritual beings of medicinal herbs in ancient China

The cultural concept of “spiritual beings are edible”

The record of people eating spiritual beings was first seen in “Classic of Mountains and Seas” (山海经). For example, it was recorded that people can avoid evil spirits by eating the nine-tailed fox (九尾狐), “the spiritual being looks like a fox but has nine tails with the sound of a baby. They are cannibals, and people who eat them will not be invaded by the evil” [1]; People who eat Hujiao (tiger fish, 虎蛟) can eliminate carbuncle swollen and hemorrhoids, “its body looks like fish with snake tales, it sounds like Yuanyang (mandarin duck), people who consume that will have no swollen parts and hemorrhoid” [2]; Consuming Xingxing (woolly ape, 狌狌) can strengthen one’s physical strength and allow them to be swifter. “It has the shape of monkey and white ears, it can climb as well as walk, known as Xingxing. Consuming it could make a person walk faster” [3]. Xu Mingkun (徐铭) summarized 45 kinds of spiritual beings that are edible in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and classified them as three types, which are “consuming spiritual beings to have special functions, to cure diseases, and cure spirits” [4]. Some spiritual beings are ferocious and cannibal, but they have also been included in the “rare recipes” of human beings, most of which have the magical effect of curing diseases and strengthening physical functions.

In the Han Dynasty’s “Ten Continents in the Sea” (海内十洲记), there is a record of consuming the wind-born monsters. The wind-born monster (风生兽) is extraordinary and fearless of fire. “To forge its head with an iron chain can kill it with ten times of strike, but when it breath the wind in its mouth it could revive immediately. To plug its nose with calamus on the stone, it will die then. Consume its brain and chrysanthemum for 10 Jin (Chinese measurement of weight, 1 Jin in Han Dynasty is about 250 g) will gain five hundred years of life span” [5]. People can beat it to death with chains, but as long as it opens its mouth to the wind, it will be revived in a short time. The only way to kill it is to plug calamus to its nose. If one takes its brain and consumes it with chrysanthemum for ten Jin, one can prolong his life for five hundred years. According to the records, a complete set of detailed “cooking recipes” must be followed when consuming the wind-born animal, and the brain must be eaten with chrysanthemums so that to increase one’s lifespan (Figure 1).

Figure 1:

Xingxing and wind-born monster by contemporary artist Shanze (杉泽).

In addition, in order to eat spiritual beings, human beings also came up with the tactic of “using spiritual beings to control spiritual beings”. Take the story of “Boiling a turtle spiritual being with the mulberry tree spiritual being” in the “Yiyuan” (异苑) Chapter of “Taiping Guangji” (太平广记) of the Song Dynasty as an example. During The Three Kingdoms Period, a turtle spiritual being was captured and presented to the king of Wu. At night, the mulberry tree spiritual being advised the turtle spiritual being to escape, but the turtle did not listen and said arrogantly “Even if they burn out the firewood in Southern Mountain, I will not be destroyed” [6]. Later the minister Zhuge Ke (诸葛恪) proposed to use the old mulberry tree as the burning wood and eventually boiled the turtle spiritual being. This story explains the folk knowledge of why the mulberry wood is commonly used to cook turtles and also reflects the folk wisdom of ancient people in controlling monsters and spiritual beings.

The narrative tradition of “immortal herbs are beneficial to longevity”

In addition to the concept of eating spiritual beings, stories of consuming “immortal herbs” (仙草) are also common. In such stories, herbs or medicines have not yet been transformed into spiritual beings but already have magical powers to cure disease, prolong life, and even bring the dead back to life. From the perspective of narrative tradition, it can be regarded as the initial stage of the story of the medicinal herbs’ transformation into spiritual beings.

There is a record of the “immortal herbs” in the “Ten Continents in the Sea” about the immortal herb on the East China Sea, there is an immortal herb that lives in jade fields. It is also called Yangshenzhi (养神芝), the Energy-nursing herb. Its leaves like wild rice seedlings, grow in clumps, a plant can save a person [7]. The latter text quoted from Mr. Guigu (鬼谷子), and identified this herb as Yangshenzhi, a plant of this herb can save a person. And Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), the first Emperor of Qin sent a vast army to seek the immortal herb in the sea. It is said Living people can eat this herb to become immortal, while covering it on the face of a dead person can make this person become alive. It is a cure-all immortal herb.

In the “Xuan Shi Zhi” (宣室志) of the Tang Dynasty, there is a story about underground meat ganoderma (肉芝). The “meat ganoderma” described in the story is similar with the appearance of the legendary Tai Sui (Chinese meat ganoderma, 太岁). Eating it can rejuvenate people and make them live as long as turtles and cranes, which is also good for them to become immortals. In the story, Xiao Yiren (萧逸人) once had the experience of practicing to be immortal, then devoted his energy into business. He got this meat ganoderma by chance and speculated that this is an ominous thing that generated by offending Tai Sui. If it is eaten, the disaster may be able to avoid. Therefore, he cooked it and found that it tasted delicious. Surprisingly, Xiao Yiren’s body gradually recovered and his appearance became younger. According to a passing Taoism priest, it is the “glossy ganoderma”. “He said: your life span is as long as the turtle and crane. However, it is not suitable for you to live in the mundane life, you should retreat to the mountains, abandon messy personal life, then becoming immortal is not possible.” Xiao Yiren was so pleased that he followed his words and went away with no information left behind ever since [8]. Xiao Yiren left the mundane life to live in the mountains, set foot on the road to become the immortal. This story is also included in Taiping Guangji, the “Underground Meat Ganoderma” in Volume 413 [9]. It can be seen as a supporting text.

“Polygonum Multiflorum Records” (何首乌录), written by Li Ao (李翱) in the Tang Dynasty, tells a story about polygonum multiflorum, a medicinal herb, helping people to have better reproduction ability and longer life span. During the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty, Wen Xiang, a monk who loved to practice the skills of health preservation, met an old man at the entrance of Huayang Cave on his way to Maoshan (茅山) to offer incense. The old man told him about the magical effects of polygonum multiflorum. In Shunzhou Nanhe County (顺州南河县), there was a person named Polygonum multiflorum, with his real name as Tian Er (田儿), who was sterile when he was born. Because of his accidental discovery of a vine, cured his old disease and bred offspring. The vine of medicine is called “Jiaoteng” (交藤), also known as wild seedling, Jiao stem, earth spiritual being, peach willow vine, etc. It has the effect of lengthening tendons and nourishing energies, allowing people to be fertile and bear more children. People can live up to 160 years after taking it. At the same time, this medicine has a specific method of being collected and administrated, for example, it should be taken on even days, with the method to sweat and avoid consuming pork and mutton blood, etc. The old man said all these and left. “In the hall of Zhiyuan in the east of Zhejiang, Meng Shiyu (孟侍御) who served the emperor knew polygonum multiflorum. He tasted the medicine, and said that it functioned as it was written. The plant grows in the Bullhead Mountains of Bin Zhou with vines like dioscorea septemba and root like fists. Peeled off the sides and eat it raw. The southerners call it polygonum multiflorum” [10]. Meng Shiyu of East Zhejiang verified the efficacy of this herb and praised it. People in the south called this vine “Polygonum multiflorum” and eat the roots raw after peeling them. Such a method of consuming polygonum multiflorum continues today.

In the “Sheng Shui Yan Tan Lu” (渑水燕谈录) written by Wang Bingzhi (王辟之) in the Song Dynasty, it is recorded that Chang Song (pinus pumila, 长松) is useful in curing wind-caused diseases and eliminating poisons brought by insects. The main character of the story Shi Puming (释普明) was sudden attacked by the wind-caused disease in his travel when he was in old ages, fortunately a mysterious person guided him. “Chang Song grow under the old pines. Take the root, which has the similar color of Adenophora trachelioides with the length of three to five inches, bitter taste and ginseng appearance. The plant has lovely fragrance and non-toxic. Consuming this plant is beneficial to people, and it can eliminate the poison of insects” [11]. Chang Song is a medicinal material grows under the old pine. The root has the shape of ginseng and the effect of eliminating poison of insects. “Gu Qing Liang Zhuan” (古清凉传)^[1] written by monk Hui Xiang (慧祥) in Tang Dynasty also recorded this herb.

There is a record of “maidservant consuming polygonati” in “Ji Shen Lu” (稽神录) written by Xu Xuan (许铉) in Song Dynasty. In Linchuan (临川), a maidservant was beaten by her master and fled into the mountains. When she had no other way to go, she ate the polygonati as food. After a feeling of lightness, she felt no longer hungry, and she could actually float and fly freely with her mind. Later, his master came to catch her and said, “this maidservant would never have a fairy bone. I think she must get the magic herb. But the magic potion shall be consumed with five flavors and a great feast, observe her way here we can know whether she got the magic herb or not” [12]. After the maidservant ate the food of the earth, she lost her chance. As expected, she lost her ability to fly and returned to the human body, and the polygonati can be nowhere to seen. Polygonati is wild ginger, has the effect of making people not hungry and walk lightly. This story is also included in Taiping Guang Ji, Volume 414, chapter “Eating Poligonati” [13].

It can be seen that the so-called “immortal herb” is a rare magic medicine in the world, or it can be used treat people’s difficult and complicated diseases, or has the effect of making people eternal youth and longevity, so as to get close to the immortals. From the perspective of stories promotion, the stories about immortal herb are the most in the Tang and Song dynasties. In this kind of story, there is often a noble person who appears beyond the mundane world, or tells the main character the characteristics and effects of the immortal herb, or when the main character eats the immortal herb and does not know what it is, he appears and explains the name and the origin of the herb in details. In this way, the story of medicinal herbs related to the longevity function of the immortal herb is associated with the purport of “seeking the immortal and asking the doctrine to achieve longevity”.

The story of “ginseng transform into human beings”

In “Wu Pu Beng Cao” (吴普本草) of Wei and Jin Dynasties, ginseng was only a strange plant “with head, feet and hands on the root, and looks like a human” [14]. However, in “Yi Yuan” in the Southern Dynasty, ginseng not only looks like a human but also ca cry, showing a transitional trend from a plant to a spiritual being. “Taiping Emperor Encyclopedia” quoted “Yi Yuan”: “ginseng, also known as the ‘native spiritual being’. Those who grow in Shangdang are the best for they all have human shape and can cry. Someone used to dig it and hear the groaning, and then get the ginseng of 2 feet long with four limbs, only some damages in the hair” [14]. Ginseng, also known as the earth spiritual being (土精), groans when it is damaged by digging. People can identify the specific location of ginseng by listening to their groans. Although the ginseng in this chapter cannot yet transform into the human form, it can make a human voice, which indicates that the transformation process of ginseng is ongoing, “vocalization” process is earlier than “transformation”. This transformation stage of “sound before form”, can be seen as the “primary form” of the transformation of ginseng.

Similar “voice-making” stories can also be found in the books of the Tang Dynasty. In “Guang Wu Xing Ji” (广五行记) from Dou Weiwu (窦维鋈) of the Tang dynasty,^[2] the story of a family troubled by the cries of ginseng was recorded. “During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, the residents can hear people cry in the backyard of a house in Shangdang (上党), every night. They went out and only a ginseng branch seedling can be found. They continue to dig it and found the ginseng 5 feet under the ground with a human body shape. Once they dug the ginseng out, the crying voice stopped” [14]. The ginseng image in this story inherits the human shape and human voice in the story of Yiyuan, but its voice changes from “crying of boys” to “adults crying”, which is still the “primary form” of ginseng transforming to the spiritual beings. Interestingly, if the ginseng in Yi Yuan was “passively” crying because it was injured by others, then the ginseng in Guang Wu Xing Ji was “actively” crying to disturb people’s rest, showing the development tendency of the stories of “evil things done by spiritual beings”.

In the fifth volume of Xuan Shi Zhi of the Tang Dynasty, chapter “Ginseng enhances Wisdom”, ginseng appeared in the image of “old man in brown clothes”, completing the “transformation” stage from ginseng into the spiritual beings. In this story, ginseng transformed into an old man in brown clothes, whose face resembles his original ginseng look. The old man in brown clothes took the initiative to visit and talk with Zhao Sheng (赵生). Moved by Zhao Sheng’s persistence, he was willing to help him enhance wisdom and tell him how to find his origin from under the Chinese linden tree in Shanxi Province. “You have strong aspirations. Even though I am not capable of helping you thoroughly, I am still lucky to present the gift to you” [15]. The ginseng spiritual being did not tease Zhao Sheng, but showed his spirit of sacrifice for him. After consuming the ginseng, Zhao Sheng was enlightened and successfully passed the entrance examination to serve the royal court. Zhao Sheng did not ask for immortal fortune or seek a shortcut, but moved the ginseng spiritual being with his perseverance and sincere attitude, which led to this magnificent adventure. Later, through Zhao Sheng’s words, this story further explained that ginseng has the effect of curing various diseases when it became the spiritual beings. This story is also included in the Taiping Guangji, Chapter “Zhao Sheng”, Volume 417 [16].

The encounter between human beings and medicinal spiritual herbs can be called a “magnificent adventure”. Some people were lucky enough to be involved in this adventure while some people miss it. During the Five Dynasties, Du Guangting’s “Shen Xian Gan Yu Zhuan” (encounter with immortals, 神仙感遇传) recorded a story of people missing the “feast to ascend and become immortals” due to misunderstanding. “Ten Friends of Wei Yang” (维杨十友) describes a story of a group of friends from wealthy families with similar hobbies. They were honest and integrity and also quite interest ed in becoming immortals. Because of their kind and tolerant nature, they hosted a tattered old man who was wandering into the party. And then, they were invited to a dinner by the old man. The setting for the dinner was really shabby with only a ramshackle hut as the revenue and a few dirty beggars as waiters. The ginseng spiritual being appeared as a dish with the shape of a teenage boy, whose eyes, ears and hands have fallen off completely because of overcooked. “Staring at it for a long time, it is a steamed boy who looks more than ten years old, and has already been overcooked with his eyes and ears, half fallen. The old man invited his guests to enjoy the dish, but no one was willing to eat it and they made the excuse of being too full” [17]. None of the people in the dinner party dared to use chopsticks and eat them, only the old man himself ate the dish happily and gave the rest to the beggars. After the beggars ate all the ginseng spiritual beings, the old man told everyone the truth and went away. All the others regretted deeply for they have missed the chance of being immortals, but the old man can be nowhere to seen. This story is a representative text of “consuming the ginseng spiritual being to become immortal”, full of Taoist metaphysical connotation, such as: the opportunity of being immortal shall not be explained in advance; the dinner of becoming immointoals must be set in the humblest place; ten friends of Wei Yang who put great efforts in the pursuit of becoming immortals missed the opportunity while ignorant beggars unexpectedly became immortals.

In the fifth volume of Ji Shen Lu in the Earlier Song Dynasty, there is a story about a Taoist priest Chen who treated his guests with ginseng and Chinese wolfberry spiritual beings of 1,000 years. This is also a typical story about the “benevolent man lost the opportunity to become immortals”, and the identity of the main character is clearly revealed to be a Taoist priest with his surname as Chen. Mei was very kind and generous. He was always nice to the Taoist priest, so he was invited to a vegetarian dinner by the Taoist priest Chen. Chen’s home was bright and clean, with immortal atmosphere. “Steamed baby” and “steamed dog” were served in turn, offering “two opportunities”, so to speak. But Mei refused to eat because of fear, and missed the opportunities twice. As expected, the Taoist priest Chen gave Mei a golden bowl, a symbol of mundane wealth, to express his gratitude and said, “you are a good person, but you will not be immortal. ginseng and Chinese wolfberry of 1,000 years were refused by you, which means you don’t have the chance to become immortal” [18]. This story is also included in Taiping Guangji, Chapter “Chen Shi”, Volume 51 [19].

Sometimes consuming ginseng spiritual beings may not necessarily enable someone to become immortal, but surely it can make people get longevity. The story of the longevity village near Qingcheng County is recorded in the chapter of “Laoze of Qingcheng” (青城老泽) in “Yi Jian Zhi” (夷坚志) by Hong Mai (洪迈) in the later Song Dynasty. The place where this story takes place is Laoze near Qingcheng County, and Qingcheng Mountain is a well-known Taoist mountain, which reflects the connection between this story and Taoism. The residents of Laoze area have a long-life span, pay great attention to health and do not consume salt and sugar. Most of the residents are more than 100 years old. The main character Guan Shouqing (关寿卿) and his friends travel through a peony sea to get into the Laoze under the moonlight. The beginning of the story is similar to the story of “Xanadu land”. The old people in the family were hospitable and served a steamed dish shaped like an “infant”, namely “ginseng under the pine root” [20]. Similar to the story pattern of the previous several stories, the guests were afraid to use their chopsticks, and the old man did not reveal the truth of this dish, only expressed his sorry and pity after the dinner. The hundreds of residents in Laoze are old people with silver hair and white eyebrows. Nobody is young. This is apparently due to the fact that the local residents have gained an incomparable life span by consuming infantile ginseng spiritual beings.

The book “Wu Za Zu” (五杂组) written by Xie Zhaozhe (谢肇淛) in the Ming Dynasty recorded two stories about ginseng and Chinese wolfberry of one thousand years. The two stories reiterate the concept of a thousand-year-old ginseng and wolfberry can transform into human beings and dogs that often appear in the middle night. “The roots of the thousand-year-old ginseng transformed into human beings, while the roots of the thousand-year-old Chinese wolfberry transformed into dogs. They would come out to play when it is midnight. Consuming them after cooking, you could become the earthy divine. Yet, the two herbs are hard to find and difficult to recognize” [21]. The first story is about two Taoist priests, one is the master and the other one is the student, who captured the ginseng spiritual being, while only the student ascends to be immortal. In this story, the ginseng transformed into a “baby” playing near a well. When it was caught by the student, it revealed its true form of a root plant. The Taoist master cooked ginseng spiritual being and then went down the mountain to ask for some rice. However, the flood blocked his way back. As a result, the student ate the ginseng spiritual being for he was hungry and became immortal. The person who saw through the ginseng spiritual being and boiled it was the Taoist master, but he just could not get what he wanted. In the second story the old man in Weiyang (维扬老叟) treated his guests with the ginseng spiritual being and the wolfberry spiritual being, the content is basically consistent with the story in “Shen Xian Gan Yu Zhuan”. In the two stories, the Taoist master could identify the ginseng spiritual being but could not return to consuming it in time, and the guests were afraid to eat such delicacies because they could not identify them. On the contrary, the student of the Taoist priest and the beggars who helped to serve were not meant to eat them, but succeeded in grasping the opportunity by consuming the spiritual beings, which reflects the perspective that the opportunity of being immortal is settled in advance and needs to be “obtained without intention”.

Similar plots were also recorded by Yong Na layman (慵讷居士) in “Zhi Wen Lu” (咫闻录) of the Qing Dynasty. In the story, the Taoist priest Qiu had a clear goal of seeking the ginseng spiritual being. In order to capture the ginseng spiritual being, he lived in Yiliang Mountain (宜良山) for thirty years. Ginsengs transformed into two boys, playing outside the temple gate. In order to lure them into the temple, Priest Qiu offered to give them sweet fruits and patiently waited for the opportunity, and finally successfully captured one of them with peach as the bait. In the process of cooking the ginseng spiritual being, Taoist priest Qiu went up the mountain to look for matching herbs and ordered his student to watch the heat. The ginseng spiritual being in the pot cried like a baby, and the student accidentally released it. When the Taoist priest returned only to find his thirty years of waiting were in vain. He was quite disappointed and said the clothes of the ginseng spiritual being can also expand his life span, drinking the water that soaked the clothes can protect one’s life from disease. But the clothes were nowhere to be seen, and the dog had drunk all the water. This series of changes can be regarded as “three failures” of Qiu’s immortal dream. Then the dog that drank the boiled water of the ginseng spiritual being grew soft and fine black fur and went away as an immortal. At the end of the story is the punchline, which clarifies the concept that “one with a pure and detached mind can achieve immortal, while one with a greedy and avaricious mind cannot ascend to be immortal”. “To become an immortal, a mortal must have the immortal bone in his body and cultivate integrity to become an immortal.” …The heart of the dog is even clearer than the priest, therefore the dog gets to consume the ginseng water. If you have lust and desire, then your heart will not be clean, if so, how to get the opportunity and become immortal? [22].

Those who eagerly seek the opportunity to be immortals often failed. The “Shanxi Zhi Ji Yao” (山西志辑要) of the Qing Dynasty recorded a story about the “Hou immortal” (侯神仙) which was quite similar to the story in Zhi Wen Lu. The ginseng in the story had transformed into a “strange child” who plays with his student near the river. “He saw a strange child and didn’t hesitate to play with him. The master gave him an iron needle and a red thread, and ask him to pin up the boy’s hair. Hou listened and followed the child to the grape shell. He then dug out the ginseng spiritual being with a boy shape under the ground” [23]. After the master and the student captured the ginseng spiritual being, the master went out for business, while the student who stayed behind ate the ginseng spiritual being from the pot and fed the soup to the dog. In this story, the greedy master also gained nothing, while the student and the dog both gained the opportunity to become immortal. Interestingly, the method of capturing ginseng spiritual being mentioned in the story “using iron needle and red thread to pin the boy’s hair” is basically consistent with the folk story that ginseng spiritual being would disappear under the ground and it must be tied with a red thread on the head.

In general, there are two ways for ginseng to become the human form in stories: one is to become an old man; the second is to become a child or a boy. Most of them transform into children. The reason may be related to the shape characteristics of ginseng itself. Firstly, the older wild ginseng looks like an old man with long roots and yellowish-brown skin, and its transverse lines are thin and deep. Its long roots resemble the beard of an old man; Its brown skin is covered with fine transverse lines, like the wrinkles of an old man; Its effect of prolonging life also easy to reminds people of the image of an old man with longevity. Secondly, some varieties of ginseng resemble children with white and tender skin, fleshy and chubby in shape while the transverse lines of the skin are relatively light and less. The tender and fleshy texture is similar to that of a child; Its magical effect of making people immortal and eternal youth also reminds people of the image of children. Thirdly, both the elderly and the children are the marginalized group in human society, which can highlight the rare and scarce characteristics of ginseng spiritual beings. Quite the contrary, there is almost no record of ginseng transform into men in their prime of life. Fourthly, in addition to the stories in Wu Za Zu, which mentioned female Taoist priests, most of the characters in the stories of ginseng spiritual beings were male (including ginseng spiritual being), which may be connected to the concept of the traditional Chinese medicine that ginseng has the effect of “invigorating Qi and strengthening Yang” (补气壮阳).^[3]

The story of “tuckahoe transform into children”

The stories about tuckahoe transforming into children, and consuming tuckahoe spiritual beings allow one to become immortal are similar to the stories about ginseng spiritual beings, only the main character has been replaced with women. Considering that traditional Chinese medicine thinks tuckahoe has the efficacy of “regulating the Qi in the body, eliminating kidney evil Qi (伐肾邪) and supplementing Yin (长阴), improving strength and preserving energy” [24]. This may be the reason most stories about becoming immortal by eating tuckahoe are related to women.

“Yong Cheng Ji Xian Lu” (墉城集仙录) wrtitten by Du Guangting (杜光庭) in the Tang Dynasty recorded a story of a girl eating a humanoid tuckahoe and became immortal. The tuckahoe in this story transformed into the image of a lovely child, “There was a child with white skin and lovely appearance, only a few years old, happy to see people and smile” [25]. Consuming this spiritual being can achieve day ascension of being immortals, which is a similar effect with the ginseng spiritual being. The content of the story is exactly the same as the stories about the ginseng spiritual being, which is a pattern of “the master who was obsessed with becoming immortals attained nothing, while the student who wanted nothing became immortal”. However, the story of the tuckahoe spiritual being has richer details, and as the main character of the Taoist master and the student were replaced by women. Yang Zhengjian (杨正见), the main character of this story, fled into the mountains because she could not kill the fish due to sympathy, and was accepted as a student by a female Taoist priest. After the two of them cooked the tuckahoe spiritual being, the master was blocked by rain and sleets on the way and couldn’t consume it, only the student got the chance to ascend and become immortal. In particular, the girl Yang Zhengjian did not chose to ascend immediately, but “stayed” in the mundane world for a year. “Because she used to hide the public tax money for she loved the round shape and she saw her parents hid the tax money when she was young” [26]. This is because she hid official tax money when she was young, so she was punished for one year, which undoubtedly reflects the influence of the Taoist concept of reward and punishment. The end of the story also said, the Register of Qiongzhou Pujiang County also get to ascend to become immortal. The story was included in the chapter of “Yang Zhengjian”, Volume 64 of Taiping Guangji [27].

The “female eating tuckahoe” section of phylum immortals in the first volume of “Huhai Xinwen Yi Jian Xu Zhi” (湖海新闻夷坚续志) in the Yuan Dynasty also has a brief record of a woman surnamed Yang eating tuckahoe, which can be regarded as a variation story of “Yang Zhengjian”. “While she was picking up the water from a well, a baby jumped up on a rope. She was playing with him for a while and then the baby jumped into the well again. She looked at the well and nobody can be seen. A Taoist priest suggested: ‘You can contain it with a cloth bag’. ‘The girl followed his words and put it in the cloth bag and brought it back,’ and found it was a block of tuckahoe. She steamed it with rice” [28]. The difference is that in “Yong Cheng Ji Xian Lu”, the main character Yang Zhengjian holds the tuckahoe spiritual being directly, while the story of the girl Yang followed the master’s advice and captured the tuckahoe spiritual being with a cloth bag. In the end, “Yong Cheng Ji Xian Lu” only recorded that Yang Zhengjian of Meizhou Tongyi County (眉州通义县) and the Register of Qiongzhou Pujiang County (邛州蒲江县) ascended to become immortals in the same place, while this story also changed the girl Yang’s hometown to Qiongzhou Pujiang County, and connected the stories of the two people together. In this story, the female Taoist priest was also particularly unfortunate. The steamed tuckahoe was not only eaten by her student, but also the Register of the county who was only passing by and eventually became immortal.

The story of “Chinese wolfberry transform into dog”

Among the many medicinal herbs, the Chinese wolfberry spiritual being can be described as a unique existence for it transforms into dogs instead of human beings. This may be due to the pronunciation of the word of Chinese wolfberry is similar with the word “dog”, which is easy to make people think that way. Zhang Zhicong (张志聪) in Qing Dynasty wrote in “Lv Shan Tang class Bian” (侣山堂类辩): “Shen Nong herbal classics” (神农本经) called this plant the Chinese wolfberry, also known as Di Gu Pi (地骨皮), and the wolfberry fruit. Because the Chinese word for the first word of wolfberry (枸) sounds similar to the word dog (狗), while the last word of wolfberry (杞) sounds similar to the word Ji (己), it can be told that the plant is beneficial to the main right kidney while kidney is in charge of bones; and the bones belong to Yin soil, so the Chinese wolfberry has the name of earth bone (地骨). Consuming it for a long time can strengthen the muscles and bones [29]. The names for Chinese wolfberry also have Gou Nai Zi (狗乃子) and Gou Ya Zi (狗牙子). In addition, ginseng and Chinese wolfberries often come in pairs. The “Ji Shen Lu” of Song Dynasty and “Wu Za Zu” of Ming Dynasty mentioned above all recorded stories about ginseng transforming into human beings, and Chinese wolfberry transforming into dogs. In the Book of Ji Shen Lu, the Taoist priest treated guests with babies and dogs and called them “thousand-year-old ginseng and wolfberry” [30]. In “Wu Za Zu”, the old man of Wei Yang treated his guests with also steamed babies and dogs, and called them “ginseng of one thousand years old with root like human beings and Chinese wolfberry of one thousand with root like dogs” [31]. These two stories have been explained in the stories about the ginseng spiritual beings, and will not be repeated here (Figure 2).

Figure 2:

The Chinese wolfberry spiritual being in Chinese folk superstitions [32].

In the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the book of “Xu Xian Zhuan” (续仙传) written by Shen Fen (沈汾) in the Southern Tang Dynasty already recorded a story about Chinese wolfberry transformed into spotted dogs, and those who consume the juice from the Chinese wolfberry root ascend to become immortals. In the story, two spotted dogs were transformed by the wolfberry spiritual being and they have been chased by Taoist Wang and his student Zhu Ruzi (朱孺子) into the wolfberry rock. “Suddenly he saw two spotted dogs wandering by the shore. The student Zhu Ruzi was surprised and chased after them and came under the wolfberry rock” [33]. The two people dug to get two hard wolfberry roots which were shaped just like the two-spotted dogs. Zhu Ruzi loved his master so much that he didn’t eat the root of the wolfberry alone. He just tasted the juice. Unexpectedly, the juice condensed the essence of the wolfberry root, Zhu Ruzi drank it and immediately ascended to become immortal. On the other hand, Taoist Wang Xuanzhen who ate the wolfberry root did not ascend to become immortal even he gained longevity after all. It can be interfered that the root was less effective than the juice. This unnatural setting of the story basically conforms to the pattern of “Master’s desire will achieve nothing while the student’s innocence will present the opportunity of becoming immortal”. There are also two different stories in this book, which were included in the chapter of “Zhu Ruzi”, Volume 24 of Taiping Guangji [34], and the chapter of Zhu Ruzi, Volume 113 of Yun Ji Qi Qian (云笈七签) [35].

The chapter “Yu Yao Cheng Xian” (encounter medicine and become immortal, 遇药成仙) in Huhai Xinwen Yi Jian Xu Zhi of Yuan Dynasty recorded the story about Xu Xian (徐仙) eating the Chinese wolfberry and becoming immortal. The wolfberry spiritual being in the story, often transformed into a yellow dog to linger near the alchemy furnace. Xu Xian, the main character of the story, did not introduce his identity as the Taoist priest, but it can be seen that he was connected to the Taoism because he was refining medicines in the mountain all the time. The Chinese wolfberry spiritual being that transformed into a yellow dog often wandering near the alchemy furnace maybe because it was curious or it needed the medicine. “a yellow dog was wandering near the alchemy furnace and the priest was quite surprised. So, he tied the dog with a red rope. He saw the yellow dog disappeared in the Chinese wolfberry bush with only the red rope outside. He dug the wolfberry bush and found the root with the shape of a yellow doh. He held the root and brought it back, steamed it and the whole room was full of fragrance” [36]. Xu Xian steamed and ate it, became immortal and left, which is basically consistent with the story about the Chinese wolfberry spiritual being described in previous generations. The method of capturing the spiritual being by “tying the neck with a red thread” in this story is similar to the method of capturing the ginseng spiritual being with an “iron needle and a red thread” in the story of “Hou immortal” in the Shanxi Zhi Ji Yao. This may be the result of the mutual influence of the two kinds of stories generated when they spread, or it may be the result of the well-accepted method of using the “red thread” to catch medicinal herbs. The book of “Jian Hu Zhuan” (坚瓠集) by Chu Renhuo (褚人获) in the Qing Dynasty, Volume 3 “Xu Xian” chapter also recorded this story [37].

To sum up, from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, stories about the transformation into spiritual beings are from the three kinds of popular medicines, namely ginseng, tuckahoe, Chinese wolfberry. Among them, ginseng spiritual beings can transform into boys or old men, tuckahoe can turn into children, Chinese wolfberry can transform into dogs. These herbs and spiritual beings do not harm human beings, only to make occasional teasing and tricks. Because these spiritual beings have the magical effect of allowing people to achieve immortality, people often chase after them and consider them as “rare delicacies”. Except for a story about an old ginseng spiritual being devoted itself voluntarily was recorded in the story of “ginseng enhances wisdom” in Yi Shi Zhi of the Tang Dynasty, other medicinal herbs were captured and eaten by human forces. The reflections on the obsession to capture herbs and spiritual beings with all the efforts were also recorded in books of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Such as Yong Na described in “Zhi Wen Lu”: “the heart with desires means the heart is not pure, how could anyone ascend to become immortal with a heart full of mundane dirt?” [22].