Ancient Cultivation Story: Lan Caihe

Lan Caihe was one of the Eight Immortals in Chinese legend, and no one knows from where he came. With one foot bare and the other wearing a shoe, he was always in blue shabby clothes with a wide belt inlaid with six black wooden buttons around his waist. In summer he inserted cotton fiber in his clothes, and slept on the ground with snow in winter, exhaling warm air like steam. He hummed in the town and begged along streets with a long clapperboard in his hands while tramping along the rhythm every day. When he was half-tipsy, he always hummed and walked around with the noisysound from the shoe he wore. It always attracted a lot of people, young and old alike, who followed him to watch his bizarre behaviour.

He was resourceful, quick-witted and had sense of humor. Though his behaviour appeared to be crazy, his words were full of wisdom. When asked question, he could reply with humorous answers immediately, often making others burst into laughter. He sang a lot, and all the lyrics were related to how to cultivate oneself. One of the most famous ones was ”The Song of Walking” as follows:

“I am Lan Caihe, who likes to walk while humming;
How many in the world can live without caring for anything like me?
Beauty is only skin-deep as leaves can only be lush in spring.
Life is short as time flies like an arrow.”

“The ancients have gone gradually and will never come back;
nevertheless, more and more people are coming into the world.
Riding birds and phoenixes at dawn, I fly to the immense cosmos;at dusk numerous silk worms are spotted in the mulberry fields.
The scenery in the space is gorgeous and magnificent;
the marvelous palaces built with gold and silver are high in heaven.”

When people donated money to him, he strung up the coins with a long rope. He roamed around and dragged the money on the ground without paying any attention to the coins coming off the string. When he came across the poor, he would also donate money to them, but he spent most of the money buying wines.

Lan Caihe travelled around the country all his life, and had been to many places. Some people saw him since their childhood, but they found that Lan Caihe still looked young when they were old. When travelling in Hao-Ling, Lan Caihe was intoxicated and slept in a wine house, when heavenly music played with bamboo flutes arose around him. All of a sudden, he gradually ascended up to the clouds floating in the sky. After taking off all the clothes and belt, he ascended slowly again.

(Translated from Yuanming.net (Chinese Clearharmony)
http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200208/11479