Lu Dongbin's 100 character stele

In the previous chapter, we have arrived at Xi’an, the historic central Chinese city that was once known as Chang’an. We discovered the tradition of Pillar Couplets - literary couplets that appear in Daoist temples. The couplet at the Mountain Gate read 玄门奥妙恰似月浮水面拨开水面月还深 — the mysteries of dao are wondrous and mysterious, like the moon floating on water, when you brush away the water, the moon returns to its depths.

In this chapter, we explore the 100-character stele of Lu Dongbin, a Daoist saint, transcendant, or ‘ascended master’. The stele outlines Daoist cultivation methods, and we turn to a Daoist master in Shaanxi whose Xuanmen lecture extensively analyses the stele.

Let’s continue our journey.

We walked through a small alleyway. A large fu 福 symbol was carved on the wall. Raised reliefs of Daoist symbols settled into the grey brick walls; I looked at them all as I followed Daoist Zhang.