Biography of Immortal Ge of Taiji 太极葛仙公传
Paul PengBiography of Immortal Ge of Taiji
Originally attributed to Tan Sixian of Qingyuan Guan.
The book was completed in the Dingsi year of the Zhengtong reign of the Ming Dynasty (1437 AD).
It consists of one volume and is included in the Genealogy and Record Category of The Dongxuan Section within The Daozang.
Biography of Immortal Ge of Taiji
Immortal Ge of Taiji refers to Ge Xuan, a Taoist priest of the Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, whose life story is frequently recorded in Taoist scriptures and immortal biographies. He is revered as the founding ancestor by The Lingbao Sect of Gezao Mountain in Jiangxi during the Song Dynasty. A preface by Zhu Chuo at the beginning of the book states: Gong Weilin of Danyang once obtained a volume of Biography of the Immortal Lord from Gezao Mountain and intended to have it engraved and printed, but passed away before the completion of the work. His disciple Tan Sixian took the manuscript to Zhu Chuo for polishing, and Zhu Chuo "rearranged and compiled it into a one-volume biography". From this, it can be known that the book was actually revised by Zhu Chuo based on the original biography.The entire book is divided into three parts: the main biography, annotations and appendices. The main biography briefly narrates the Immortal Lord's family background, his cultivation of the Dao, encounter with immortals, reception of scriptures, Golden Elixir refinement, ascension to immortality and experience of spreading the Dao. The annotations extract records about the Immortal Lord from Taoist scriptures and immortal biographies of all dynasties, supplementing and verifying the main biography item by item. At the end of the book, the appendices include Epigraph on the Immortal Lord's Elixir-Refining Well by Fang Jun, Stele of Ge Xuan, the Left Immortal Lord of Taiji of Wu by Tao Hongjing, as well as the imperial edict conferring on Ge Xuan the honorific title of "True Lord of Tranquility and Blessing" in the Song Dynasty. The book is extensive in citations and thorough in textual research.
