Yuanwai returned home with his wife and servants. Without knowing it, his wife became pregnant and after some months gave birth to a boy. At the time of the birth, a red light seemed to fill the courtyard and there was a strong odor of a strange perfume. Li Yuanwai was extremely happy, even though the newborn cried continuously, never ceasing straight through to the third day.
On this third day, just as the relatives and friends in the community came to offer congratulations, some neighbors came in to say that Abbot Gong of the Guojing monastery had come personally to give the official his kind regards and offer his good wishes.
Li Yuanwai went to welcome him and Abbot Gong said, “I can see that you are very happy. Is your son well?”
“From the time he was born, he has cried without ceasing,” Li Yuanwai replied.“I feel very anxious about this. Does the revered monk have some subtle way to cure this?”
Abbot Gong said, “It is easily managed. If you will go into the house and carry your son outside, I will take a look, and then I will understand the cause.”
Li Yuanwai said uneasily, “The child is not yet a full month old. I am afraid it will not be right to carry him outside.”
Abbot Gong said, “There will be no harm. Simply wrap him loosely in a robe. The three lights of the sun, moon, and stars will not harm him.”
As soon as Li Yuanwai heard this reasonable suggestion, he went quickly and carried the child out. The boy, who was born with an attractive face, clear-cut features, and a pleasant personality, was still crying without stopping. As soon as Abbot Gong came over and looked at him, his crying mouth stretched into a smile.
The old monk stroked the top of the child’s head with his hand and said, “Do not smile. Do not smile. I know your past history, you coming and I going. How can the great provincial families be so confident of their futures?”
The child immediately stopped crying, and the monk said, “May I take a disciple’s name and give it to him as a remembrance? He would be called Li Xiuyuan—meaning ‘Li who restores those harmed by malevolent influences, either from their own previous incarnations or from the wrongful acts of others.’”
Li Yuanwai assented and carried the child inside. A little later the father came out, saying that food was prepared for the monk.
The relatives and friends scattered and soon senior monk Gong also left.
Li Yuanwai hired a wet nurse to assist in caring for the child. The child grew and became strong.
Light is like an arrow, the days and months like a weaver’s shuttle. The years passed with the parents hardly aware of them, and Li Xiuyuan reached the age of seven. They had never intended that he should simply gather with the village boys, idly talking and laughing. So his parents decided that his studies should begin. An old graduate, Du Qunying, was hired to teach the boy at the instructor’s home. There were two others in the class. One was Han Wenmei, the son of Han Wenzheng, a military man, filial and upright, from Yongning village. The other was Wang Shi’s nephew, Wang Zhuan, who lived in Jiuning village. He was the son of Wang Anshi, the commander of a military unit. Wang Zhuan was eight years old.
The three boys studied together and truly enjoyed one another’s friendship. Li Xiuyuan was the youngest, but he never forgot what had once passed before his eyes. He advanced rapidly as he studied, and surpassed ordinary students in talent. Master Du thought this remarkable, and often said to people that he had waited long for such a talent as that of Li Xiuyuan.
When he reached the age of fourteen, Li Xiuyuan had great skill in reciting passages from the Four Books of the philosopher Confucius, as well as the Five Classics, and numerous works of other ancient Chinese philosophers discussing Confucianism. Together with the two others, Wang and Han, he was constantly composing poems and reciting them in a loud voice.
That year they were thinking of taking the provincial examinations as degree candidates. But Xiuyuan’s father fell sick and could not get out of bed. He was in a serious condition, too ill to be aware of what other people were doing. Someone sent for Wang Anshi, his wife’s younger brother, to come to his bedside.
Li Yuanwai said, “My dear brother, I will not be long in the world of men. Your nephew and your older sister will need you to take care of them. Xiuyuan cannot always be a student. I have made arrangements for him to marry a girl of the Liu family in the Village of the Thousand Gates. She has no one living in her immediate family. I depend upon you, younger brother, to manage everything regarding this.”
Wang Anshi said, “Husband of my older sister, let your heart be at rest and take care of your illness. You need not instruct me further. I will take care of the matter myself.”
Li Yuanwai also said to Wang Shi, “Dear wife, I am fifty-five years old now and so cannot be said to be dying young. After I die, above all things take care of our boy and teach him to become famous. Even though my soul is beneath the dreadful Yellow Springs, I will be joyous.”
Finally he gave Xiuyuan several sentences of instruction, but alas, his heart was in turmoil and his mouth and eyes closed in death. As soon as Li Yuanwai died, the family wept together.
Officer Wang helped with all the details of the bereavement. Since Xiuyuan remained in mourning, he could not take part in the examinations. That year Wang Zhuan and Han Wenmei both obtained their Xiucai, or bachelor’s degrees, and both families were congratulated.
In the home of Wang Shi there was an upper room that the family called the meditation tower. There, a record was kept of the family’s financial and other affairs up to each year’s end. This would be written in the form of a table and offered up to heaven together with the bills of account, without hiding the truth and keeping nothing back. There Li Xiuyuan began to develop an interest in the study of Daoism. The practice of this religion often included elements of herbal medicine, alchemy, numerology, exorcism, and black magic. Whenever he saw one of the Daoist scriptures, he would read it through without stopping.
Two years passed, and his mother fell sick and died. Li Xiuyuan wept for her alone. Officer Wang helped and managed the funeral arrangements.
Until the age of eighteen Li Xiuyuan continued to like Daoist books. When in that year his mourning was completed, he changed from his mourning clothes and immediately left home. He had been contemplating the red dust of mortality, his broken world, and his various problems. All the affairs at home were being taken care of by his uncle and did not need his attention. Li Xiuyuan went to the family grave, burned some sheets of paper spirit money, left a note for Officer Wang, and then immediately went away.
When Officer Wang had not seen him for two days, he sent a man to look for him. The man did not find the nephew, but he did find the note. Officer Wang opened the note and read, “Xiuyuan has left. You need not look for him. In some other year we will meet and you will know the result.”
Because Officer Wang knew that his nephew had recently been going to the Anguan temple in the neighborhood to study Buddhism and Daoism, he sent someone there to look for the boy. However, the people at the temple had not seen him. Wang also sent men to put up white placards in various places. On them he had written that any person who came with Li Xiuyuan to his home would be given one hundred ounces of white silver in reward; and any person who knew where the boy actually was and sent a letter about him would be given fifty ounces of silver. After three months, Uncle Wang and his people still had no idea where Xiuyuan had gone.
After Li Xiuyuan had broken contact with his home, he wandered aimlessly to nearby Linan. When he had spent all his money, he went into
