They say that Taizong issued a edict pardoning many who had committed crimes throughout the land. For another over four hundred prisoners awaiting execution, he allowed them to go home for one year to set their affairs in order and to bid farewell to their relatives before returning to receive their sentences. The criminals thanked him and retreated. He issued another edict for the care and welfare of orphans, and then released three thousand palace maidens and married them off to military officials. With these edicts, his benevolence was spread throughout the land. There is a poem to prove it.1
After releasing the palace women and prisoners, he issued another proclamation, which said: “Though the universe is vast, every inch is illuminated by the sun and the moon. In this boundless world, neither Heaven nor Earth tolerate evil. If your heart seeks to deceive, the reckoning will come in this life. If your giving exceeds receiving, you will be blessed beyond this life. A thousand clever schemes does not compare to fulfilling one’s role dutifully. Ten thousand violent men are worth less than one living within his means. With a heart filled with peace and benevolence, what need is there to study the scriptures? If your intention is to bring harm to others, even the writings of Buddha won’t save you!”
After that, not one person under heaven was not cultivating virtue. A summons was issued for a volunteer to bear fruits and melons into the Peaceful Realms. The Duke of E, Hu Jingde was sent to Kaifeng in Henan with a warehouse’s worth of gold and silver from the treasury to pay back the Emperor’s debt. A few days after the summons was issued, a sacrificial volunteer came forward. He was man of Jun2 named Liu Quan from a wealthy family. He had scolded his wife Li Cuilian for giving away a gold hairpin as alms to a monk in front of their house, saying she didn’t honor him as his wife, flaunting herself outside their home in such a way. Madam Li was so angry that she hanged herself, leaving behind two young children, who wept continuously in grief.
Liu Quan couldn’t bear to watch them. With no other options, he gave up his life, his family fortune, and his children, and agreed to die to deliver the offering of melons.3 He took the imperial summons can presented himself before the Emperor. The Emperor issued a decree that the man go into Jinting Pavilion, and were a pair of pumpkins were put on his head, yellow money4 put in his sleeve, and medicine put into his mouth.
So Liu Quan died by taking poison. His soul, bearing the melons, soon arrived at the Gate of Ghosts.
The guards questioned him, saying, “Who are you, that you dare come here?”
Liu Quan replied, “I have been sent by His Imperial Majesty, Taizong of Tang, bearing an offering of melons for the ten Kings of Hell.”
The guards gladly admitted him. Liu Quan entered Senluo Palace, came before the Kings of Hell, and said ,”The Emperor of Tang bid me come from afar with a tribute of melons as thanks for your Majesties’ favor.”
The Kings of Hell were pleased and accepted the offering. “What a trustworthy and virtuous man the Emperor of Tang is!” They then proceeded to ask the bearer of the offering his name and where he was from.
Liu Quan replied, “Your humble servant is from Junzhou, named Liu Quan. Because my wife Madam Li hanged herself, leaving behind our children with no one to look after them,5 your servant volunteered to give up his family and life for his country and come here to present this tribute of melons as thanks to your Majesties.”
When the Kings heard this, they immediately ordered an investigation of Liu Quan’s wife, Madam Li. A messenger6 brought her to Senluo Palace and she was reunited with her husband Liu Quan. King Yan looked up their names in the Book of Life and found that both husband and wife were fated to have immortal-like longevity, so quickly ordered that their souls be returned to the land of the living. The messenger came forward and said, “Li Cuilian has been dead for a long time, and her body has not been preserved. Where should we send her soul?”
King Yan replied, “The Imperial Princess, Li Yuying, is fated to an early death this day. Why don’t you borrow her body and send them back?”
The messengered accepted the order and sent both husband and wife back to the land of the living. They journeyed out of Hell with its baneful wind, and to Chang’an, where the soul of Liu Quan was brought into Jinting Pavilion. The soul of Li Cuilian was brought to an inner courtyard of the imperial palace where as Princess Yuying was taking a stroll under the shade of some blossoming trees, a messenger of Hell grabbed her with both arms and threw her to the ground.7 He grabbed the soul of the princess and pushed the soul of Li Cuilian into the princess’s body.8 We won’t speak of the messenger’s return to Hell.
To be continued…
1 and I cannot be bothered to translate it. ↩
2 a province ↩
3 As a parent, I am absolutely baffled, but values were different then. ↩
4 money used in the underworld ↩
5 hello???? ↩
6 the word for messenger here is 鬼使, ghost messenger, uses the same character as angel 天使 heaven’s messenger ↩
7 should I just have written ‘tackled her’? ↩
8 such drama ↩
Etymology Adventures 