nodded his head and agreed. Then the old Daoist went into his room at the back of the shrine and began reading his books to relieve his boredom. The boy was playing in the courtyard when he heard someone knocking at the gate and went to open it. Looking out, he saw a poor, ragged monk standing there. The Daoist boy asked, “Who is wanted?”
Ji Gong said, “I am looking for the venerable Daoist Liu of your household, to go to our place to chase ghosts. I am inviting him to exorcise and to cure sickness.”
The Daoist boy said, “He can’t. Our teacher has gone into the hills to gather herbs. It is not certain how many days it will be before he comes back.”
Ji Gong said, “You go in there to that old Daoist looking at his book and mention that the old man is here, and then he will see me.”
When the little attendant heard this, he was speechless for a moment and thought to himself, “Huh! How did he know my teacher was at home reading?” Then he said quickly, “Just wait here, monk.”
Then he hurried back to tell the old Daoist. “Teacher, there is a poor monk outside who said he was inviting you to chase a ghost and purify a house. I told him you had gone to pick herbs, and he said, ‘Go in to the old Daoist looking at a book and mention that I have come,’ and that you would see him.”
The old Daoist was quite surprised and remarked, “Probably it’s the old man.”
The boy said, “That’s right. The monk said to tell you that the old man had come.”
The Daoist immediately went to look outside. Naturally it was Ji Gong. The Daoist quickly spoke. “Where did you come from, venerable sir? Your student kowtows to you.”
“Good,” said Ji Gong. “You have led me hither. I came to your shrine to sit for a while and ask you about a certain matter. Since you are no longer exorcising evil spirits and purifying homes, I wondered what the teacher and his several followers were doing to feed themselves.”
The old Daoist said, “Teacher, ordinarily I simply try to cure illness or do anything to get a bowl of rice to eat. Since coming back from the home of the Zhou family, I have been so frightened. How would I dare to perform exorcisms? My shrine really does not have any income. Perhaps, venerable sir, you may have some suggestion. While we are talking, please come in and sit down.”
The monk said, “I could teach you some formulas for obtaining wealth, if you could learn. Then if you wanted gold or silver, you could simply recite them. If you wanted good clothing or good food, it would come as soon as you started to recite.”
The old Daoist said, “If I could only study this, it would be excellent. I would not study anything else. Teacher, venerable sir, please help me to perform such alchemies.”
The monk said, “You could not perform them now. To be able to perform such things, first you must bump your head against the ground in a kowtow one thousand times a day for forty-nine days. You must recognize me as your teacher. You must kneel on the ground and recite the Sutra of the Eternal in Time. Then kowtow and stand and repeat ‘O Mi To Fu.’ That is counted as one time.”
The Daoist said, “I will do it. I will kowtow one thousand times a day, if only at the end of the forty-nine days I will be able to have whatever I ask for. Then I want to do it.”
The monk said, “That is still not enough. When I want to drink wine, who will go for it?”
The old Daoist replied, “I will have one of the boys get it for you.”
The monk said, “I like to eat meat at each meal. Who will go and buy it for me?”
The Daoist said, “I will go and buy it. Morning and evening pastries, three meals a day, I will take care of it all.”
The monk said, “Then we will start early tomorrow morning. But first send out one of your boys to buy some crude spirits and several dishes of food. I will drink first.”
The old Daoist quickly called an apprentice to go and buy wine and some prepared dishes.
The next morning the monk proposed an idea. They would use two old flat-bottomed baskets and buy one thousand yellow beans. The monk would sit on a rush mat. The Daoist would recite the Sutra of the Eternal in Time, knock his head against the ground once, then recite “O Mi To Fu.” Then he would take one yellow bean out of the yellow basket and put it into the red basket. In this way he would remember.
After the old Daoist had knocked his head against the ground several tens of times, his back ached and his legs were very painful. When he had knocked two hundred, he noticed that the monk had shut his eyes and seemed to be taking a nap. The old Daoist thought, “I’ll take a double handful and knock a few times less.” When he saw that the monk really seemed to be sleeping soundly, he quickly took a double handful and put it into the red basket.
The monk opened his eyes and said, “You are an odd one! Trying to practice the spiritual arts by stealing on the sly! Knock harder!” With that he snatched the beans out of the red basket, taking out more than three hundred.
After the old Daoist had kowtowed for five or six days, the silver that he had saved up was all spent. The monk kept calling for someone to go and buy wine and prepared dishes. The Daoist told the apprentice, “Do not take my Daoist robe yet; pawn the gold hairpin. After I have mastered the formulas, I will get it back.” The boy pawned it, and they ate for another five or six days, and again there was no money.
The old Daoist called the manager of the pawn shop and asked him to take the tables, chairs, and stools from the great hall of the shrine. After that there are really no words to describe what went on for what amounted to one month and six days. The last thing that the Daoist had managed to save was his one pair of pants. The apprentices also had lost most of their clothing. Finally the Daoist said to the monk, “Teacher, I really have no money. Teach me the magic formulas now so that I can get something for us to eat.”
The monk said, “If I had been able to work that kind of magic, why do you think I would have had you bringing me wine?”
“Ah, that is true,” said the Daoist when he heard this. “Teacher has hoodwinked me. What is to be done?”
The monk said, “If you have no money, I will be gone.”
The Daoist said, “After the saintly monk is gone, I and my apprentices will starve to death.”
“I will teach you some hocus-pocus that you can master,” said the monk.
“What hocus-pocus?” asked the Daoist.
The monk replied, “Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum.”
The Daoist did not understand what he had heard and said, “Oh, that is gibberish. You are just making noises.”
“That’s right,” said the monk. He repeated it three more times until the Daoist was able to say it. The monk then told him to kneel in the courtyard and repeat it. Just as the Daoist was saying, “Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum,” Ji Gong, who was standing behind him, pointed at the ground with his finger, and a little piece of the brick paving flew up and hit the Daoist on the head, causing a small red lump to appear.
“What happened?” The Daoist asked.
Ji Gong answered, “As soon as you started reciting hocus-pocus, the brick looked at you and then hit you. That
