The World of the Immortals

160 Chapter 4

Chapter 4 The World of the Immortals

While descriptions of xian immortals and cosmic journeys were prominent in Han-dynasty poetry, accounts of the paradise realms in which these immortals lingered occurred seldom in period verse. Chuci compositions generally focus on the actions, movements, and attributes of the hero, while the divine realms he visits are merely enumerated as defining points of the universe. No scenery is ever described and no details about places or personages visited are pro- vided in the accounts of cosmic journeys. On the other hand, Chuci poems abound in natural and magical imagery—but the various aromatic plants, gem trees, and divine waters they describe are mostly not presented as elements of one single landscape.1 Reduced to their magical or symbolical aspects, they are subject to the ritualized actions of the protagonist: he breaks a rose-gem branch, adorns himself with thoroughwort, sips water from the Flying Spring, and so on. The extraordinary and fantastic figure prominently in the imperially cen- tered Han fu, but here they do not pertain to some distant, inaccessible otherworld of the immortals. Having as their goal the glorification and delecta- tion of the ruler, the poets of the Han incorporated the wonders of paradise into the imperial domain and subjected them to the Son of Heaven. The imperial gardens, hunting grounds, and capitals and their verbal replicas in fu form were conceived primarily as pictures of the cosmos in its entirety and profu- sion—including the exotic, precious, and fantastic. The emperor was extolled as an omnipotent cosmic master, a lord of worldly and otherworldly realms that included deities, paradise lands, and innumerable miracles.2 Some of the earliest descriptions of the isles of immortals Penglai, Yingzhou, and Fangzhang—are in fact found in the grand fu on the capital Chang’an 長安, such as Ban Gu’s 班固 (32–92) “Xidu fu” 西都賦 (Fu on the Western

1 Some of the “Jiuge” songs are exceptions. In the “Xiang furen” 湘夫人 (Lady of the Xiang) the shaman depicts the halls he will build out of aromatic plants for the goddess (Chuci buzhu 2.66–67). In the “Hebo” 河伯 (River Earl), the water palace of the river god is concisely described (ibid., 2.77). 2 There is yet another type of fu that incorporates fantastic imagery—namely fu depicting imaginary journeys of the scholar-official through the universe, such as Zhang Heng’s “Sixuan fu.” These, however, follow the Chuci itineraria model, simply enumerating but not describing mythical paradises and personages.

Capital) and Zhang Heng’s “Xijing fu” 西京賦 (Fu on the Western Metropolis).3 However, these are not imaginary visions of the elusive paradises in the Eastern Sea but descriptions of actual sights: earthly simulacrums of the islands con- structed by Emperor Wu in 104 BC near his Jianzhang Palace 建章宮.4 After the expeditions of earlier rulers in search of the islands of the immortals had failed, Emperor Wu built an artificial lake with replicas of these fairy isles, fit- ting them with sculptures of exotic birds and beasts, in the hope of attracting the immortals to come to his palace. The poetic descriptions of the lake like- wise transformed its scenery into a paradise of immortals. Descriptions of paradisal landscapes often appear as parts of broader themes in the fu written during and after the Han. Otherworldly vistas were naturally incorporated into fu describing the sea, for it encompassed the elusive islands of the immortals that inspired the hopes of immortality seekers and the imagination of the poets.5 Some fu on travels, such as Sun Chuo’s “You Tiantai shan fu” (Fu on Roaming the Celestial Terrace Mountains), also contain depictions of immortals’ paradises hidden in the recesses of the mountains. The early yuefu often incorporate brief glimpses of higher realms within the broader framework of a journey; examples include the songs “Dongtao xing” (Dongtao Ballad) and “Buchu Xiamen xing” (Going Out of the Xia Gate). In songs on immortality by Cao Cao and Cao Zhi, brief depictions of divine vistas frequently appear as couplets or quatrains, squeezed into the account of the cosmic journey. In Cao Cao’s and Cao Zhi’s songs, however, dreams of eternal life are more commonly evoked through scenes involving the immortal inhab- itants of these locations and the feasts taking place there rather than through a description of their scenery. From the fourth century onward, cosmic flight gradually lost its importance as a hallmark of immortality, and the journey theme receded into the back- ground as the previous chapter demonstrates. Many of the poems titled “Roaming into Immortality” (“Youxian”) no longer present the poet’s imaginary flight after the immortals but splendid, festive scenes in paradise, which often comprise longer accounts of otherworldly landscapes. Descriptions of the divine lands became more extended, more detailed, and visually powerful.

3 Wenxuan, juan 1 and 2; trans. Knechtges, Wen Xuan, vol. 1, 99–145 and 181–242. 4 Shiji 12.482 and 28.402. 5 The only completely preserved sea fu is Mu Hua’s “Hai fu”; the others survive mostly in frag- ments contained in Yiwen leiju 8.152–54.