The Seven ‘All True’ Greats II

The All True canon includes Laozi’s Tao Te Ching (道德經) or Treatise of the Tao and Its Power, Prajnaparamita hrdaya sutra (般若心經) or the sutra of Sagaciously Moving Toward That Shore of the Buddhist Way, and Xiao jing (孝經) or the Book of Filial Piety. Xiao jing, however, is not included in the Confucian canon. It is an apocrypha, though widely read and considered one of the fundamental Confucian teachings. All True followers should form a Sangha-like commune to live like Franciscan mendicants. They follow celibacy and are opposed to amulet-writing.

All Seven Greats were mendicants and ascetics as well. Ma, in particular, made it a rule that he ate one alms bowl of food a day, refrained from drinking water in summer and stayed away from a stove to warm himself in winter. As he started acquiring a large following, the Jurchen authorities arrested him and confined him in his hometown of Ninghai (寧海), where he founded a sub-sect of his own, Yu-xian pai (遇仙派) or Meet-the-Immortal branch. He died 1184. In the meantime, his wife became an immortal or xian herself after founding her sub-sect of Qingjing pai (清淨派) or Serenity branch.

Hao Da-tong, another of the Seven Greats, was a well-known Taoist master long before his meeting with Wang Chong-yang. Hao was always on the go, but Wang Chong-yang, who wished to make him an apostle for his All True gospel, finally succeeded in catching him at a small village eatery.

When he found Hao, Wang Chong-yang went into the eatery and sat down with his back facing his would-be disciple. Curious, Hao asked Wang, “Sir, please turn your head back.” Wang replied: “Why don’t you turn your head back?” The Buddhist koan-like question really turned around Hao. He became Wang’s apostle. Hao was “christened” Tianren zi (恬然子) or The Unperturbed. Incidentally, koan in Japanese or gongan in Chinese (公案) is an enigmatic catechetic Zen question for meditation (dhyna).

Hao was truly unperturbed. He set a commandment (sila in Sanskrit) for himself. It is the sila of silence. He made it a rule not to speak. Legend has it that Hao happened to sit down on the riverside right under a bridge at Ouzhou (沃州) for his dhyana. A group of street urchins came to him and surrounded him, teasing him all the while. Then a bully said they should build a pagoda of pebbles atop his head. All the boys obeyed and they built a pebble pagoda on Hao’s head, with an admonition that he should not let it fall. Hao was not perturbed. He sat there without a stir for six long years. The pagoda did not fall.

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