Zhang Daoling's Seven Tests: Zhao Sheng’s Path to the Dao
After Zhang Daoling attained the Dao, he passed down the immortal scripture The Essential Secrets of the Nine Cauldrons to his eldest disciple, Wang Chang. However, he divined that on the noon of the seventh day of the first lunar month, someone would come from the east to study this immortal scripture with Wang Chang. As predicted, at noon on that day, a man arrived at Heming Mountain from the east—this man was Zhao Sheng, who later became a renowned figure in Taoism. Zhang Daoling intended to accept him as a disciple but then decided to test him first to examine his resolve and willpower, and this testing lasted seven times.
The First Three Tests of Resolve
The first test: When Zhao Sheng arrived outside the gate of the Taoist temple, Zhang Daoling not only refused to open the gate for him but also sent someone to insult him. Zhao Sheng turned a deaf ear, camped out in front of the gate, and refused to leave. It was not until the forty-ninth day that Zhang Daoling opened the gate and let Zhao Sheng in.
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The second test: While Zhao Sheng was guarding the crops in a thatched hut in the fields, Zhang Daoling sent an extremely beautiful woman to test him. The woman first asked to stay overnight, and the next day pretended that her foot hurt and could not walk. Thus, Zhao Sheng let her stay for several days. Although they were a man and a woman living under the same roof, he remained calm and composed despite the woman's repeated seductions.
The third test: On his way, Zhao Sheng saw dozens of gold coins left by others, but he was unmoved and walked past them calmly.
The fourth test: One day, when Zhao Sheng went up the mountain to cut firewood, three fierce tigers suddenly appeared, pounced on him, and bit into his clothes without letting go. Zhao Sheng kept a calm face and said to the tigers, "How can you bully the good? I am just a Taoist priest and have never done anything bad. Why are you biting me? Could it be that you were sent by mountain ghosts?" After a while, the tigers let go and left one by one.
The fifth test: Zhang Daoling sent Zhao Sheng to the market to buy silk. After paying the money and about to leave, the stall owner insisted that he had not paid. Without a word, Zhao Sheng generously took off his own clothes and gave them to the stall owner as compensation.
The sixth test: While Zhao Sheng was guarding the grain, a dirty and stinky beggar came, ragged and covered with pus-filled sores, which was disgusting. But as soon as Zhao Sheng saw the beggar, he felt compassion, quickly took off his own clothes to change for the beggar, cooked food with his own rations to feed him, and finally let him take some away.
The Seventh Test and the Path to Ascension
The seventh test: Seeing that Zhao Sheng had passed the six tests, Zhang Daoling was very pleased but wanted to test him once more. On that day, Zhang Daoling led more than 200 disciples to the cliff of Yuntai Mountain. Looking down, he saw a peach tree on the cliff with branches as thick as a bowl, covered with numerous fruits, but the abyss below was bottomless. Zhang Daoling said to his disciples, "Whoever jumps down to pick the peaches back, I will teach him the essential Dao." Upon hearing this, many were eager to try, but when they walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down, they were scared back. If they slipped into the bottomless abyss, they would surely be crushed to pieces. Who would dare to joke with their own lives? Some disciples even did not dare to look down, sweating profusely and trembling with fear. At this time, Zhao Sheng said, "Let me go, disciple. With the protection of the gods and Master, I am not afraid of danger." Then he jumped and landed steadily on the peach tree. He stuffed the picked peaches into his arms until it was full, and then noticed that the stone wall was smooth and steep, making it impossible to climb up. So he threw the peaches up one by one. There were exactly 202 peaches. Zhang Daoling distributed 200 peaches to all the disciples, ate one himself, and left one for Zhao Sheng. Then he shouted to the cliff at Zhao Sheng, "Don't worry, disciple. I'll pull you up right away." 只见 (It was seen that) Zhang Daoling stretched out his hand towards the cliff. His hand immediately lengthened by two or three zhang (a unit of length, about 3.3 meters), reached Zhao Sheng, and pulled him back to the cliff in one go. After Zhao Sheng finished eating the peach, Zhang Daoling smiled and said, "Zhao Sheng was able to land steadily on the peach tree all because of his upright heart. Now I will also try to pick the biggest peach." All except Zhao Sheng and Wang Chang tried to dissuade Zhang Daoling.
Zhang Daoling chuckled and jumped down. Unfortunately, he did not land on the peach tree but fell into the abyss. Everyone was immediately dumbfounded. Looking up, there was only the clear blue sky; looking down, it was a bottomless abyss. Where was there a path to go? At this time, almost all the disciples were sighing and crying, only Wang Chang and Zhao Sheng remained silent. After about an hour, the two of them also resolutely jumped into the cliff. Strangely, they floated safely to the bottom. After landing, they saw Zhang Daoling sitting in a small canopy. Zhang Daoling smiled and said to them, "I knew you would come." Then he taught the essential Dao to Wang Chang and Zhao Sheng.
Later, all three of them ascended to the sky in broad daylight.
