In the mysterious far east, two pure lands are believed to
have existed on the surface of this earth. One of them is a more well-known
Shambala which is also said to be the pure land of Kalachakra. The other is a
lesser mentioned ‘peach blossom cave’. Some scholars believed the actual ‘peach
blossom cave’ is located in mainland China and they substantiated their
findings with some assumptions. However, the truth is still remained to be
solved as to date.
When I was practising ‘five thunder palm’ (五雷掌)
with my Miao (苗) Taoist master, he told me about the legend of the Peach
Blossom Cave according to old Miao legend. It was said that the so-called ‘Peach
Blossom Cave’ was Miao ancestors’ pure land where the crops grow in abundance
and everyone was living happily for thousands of years. Unfortunately, this
piece of pure land was discovered by the Qin Shi-huang’s (秦始皇)
army and the Qin army ransacked this Peach Blossom Cave. This sudden attack
caused Miao tribe to dispersed all over China and Indo-China. As time goes by, this secret pure land of Miao
tribe is gradually forgotten and its location is only being told in legends.
Perhaps of this influence, I was ‘fortunate’ enough to enter
into Peach Blossom Cave through vivid dreams and again met with my old Miao master
there for many occasions to receive his advices and teachings.
There is only one record written by a Chinese scholar in
Eastern Jin Dynasty, who is known as Tao Yuan-ming (陶渊明) on
the ‘Record of Peach Blossom Stream’ (桃花源记):
During the year 376AD, around the Eastern Jin (东晋), a
fisherman in Wuling (武陵) rolled his boat upstream for quite some time and
suddenly he saw many peach blossom trees growing on both river banks. The peach
trees stretched over a distance of a few hundred steps. All of the trees were
purely peach trees and no other tree species were found in between. The grass
was fresh and green. There were many fallen flowers on the banks. This
fisherman felt very strange, so he proceeded to the edge of the peach blossom
forest.
The edge of peach blossom forest was the originated place of
a stream. A mountain then came into view. There was a small cave on the
mountain and twinkling of lights could dimly be observed. So the fisherman
alighted his boat and walked towards the cave. The cave passage seemed to be
very narrow at first which could only allow one person to pass through. After
walking for a distance of a few more steps, the front view suddenly became
widened and bright.
There was a vast piece of land, the houses were built in
organized rows, the land was fertile wit beautiful lakes and swamps. Mulberry trees
and bamboos were grown in abundance. Mud paths between rice fields
criss-crossed. The singing of birds and howling of dogs could be heard forming
the symphony of a village life. Farmers were working in the field. People in
that places worn costumes that are foreign and distinct from the outside world
of that time. All of the people, young and old were very happy and at ease.
As the fisherman walked by, people in the Peach Blossom Cave
were very surprised to see him. They asked the fisherman where he was from.
After the fisherman told those enquirers, he was invited to their houses and
prepared sumptuous meals to treat him. One of the elders told the fisherman
that their ancestors came to this place to escape the war during Qin Dynasty.
All of them decided to stay put and hide themselves from the civilization.
Slowly, all of the villagers were cut off from the outside world.
After staying for a few days in the Peach Blossom Cave, the
fisherman decided to return home. The villagers asked the fisherman to keep a
secret of their hiding place and he agreed. On his way back, the fisherman made
some marks so that he could return to the Peach Blossom Cave again. When he was
eventually back to the town, the fisherman visited the town mayor and told the
mayor his experience in the cave.
On hearing the fisherman’s story, the mayor dispatched a
team of his followers to the Peach Blossom Cave but the place could not be
found.
As the story goes, there were many attempts over the years
to search for this Peach Blossom Cave. Some people said the location of this
Peach Blossom Cave is in Shanxi (山西) but I doubt it is a physical place
on this earth. Anyway, maybe you will have the opportunity to visit this cave
sometime in future too.
No comments:
Post a Comment