The Old Master's Advice
Hello ATW listeners ! My humble apologies for our lack of ATW stories in the last couple of weeks. We have been hard at work getting the Gold Pass up and running and I had forgotten that you may need some stories before then too. Food for the soul is always needed and it is our privilege to do what we can to help guide that ship.
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Realm in a Jar ( Narrated by Patrick Murphy )
The saying “Heaven and Earth in a Jar” is a Chinese idiom derived from the story of Yuntai Taoist Temple caretaker Zhang Shen from the Donghan Dynasty who always carried a liquor vessel, and called a realm inside the jar “Jar Heaven.” Thus, people called him the “Jar Gentleman.
About three hundred miles away from Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, there is Yuntai Mountain, which is a sacred place in Taoism. According to records from Taoism, Zhang Daoling, who was also the Zhengyitian Teacher, brought 370 of his disciples to Yuntai Mountain to cultivate. Soon after, he saw that the temple didn’t have a caretaker, so he then assigned disciple Zhang Shen to be the Temple caretaker.
Under Zhang Shen’s careful management, the Temple became more and more prosperous. There was a gentleman called Shi Cun who strongly wished to cultivate in Taoism and to become an immortal. He heard that Zhang Daoling assigned a deity called the Jar Gentleman as caretaker in the Yuntai Temple, so he went there to learn from the Jar Gentlemen. There is a remarkable story behind his nickname.
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