The _K‘ié-Lan Records at Loh-yang_[329] say: "You cannot trust the hills
in the west. They are too cold. There is snow both winter and summer. In
the hills there is a pool where a bad dragon lives; long ago some
merchants rested near the pool, until the dragon became enraged, abused,
and killed them. A priest,[330] Pan-T‘o, heard of it, and, leaving his
seat to the pupils, went to the kingdom of Wuchang to learn the Po-lo-man
incantations; he mastered them in four years, and returned to his seat. He
went to the pool and invoked the dragon. The dragon was transformed into a
man, repented, and followed the king. The king then removed." Again, it
says: "To the west of the kingdom of Wuchang there is a pool in which the
dragon prince dwells. There is a monastery on the banks of the pool, in
which there are more than fifty priests. Whenever the dragon prince does
anything marvellous, the king comes and beseeches him, using gold,
precious stones, pearls, and valuables, throwing them into the pool.
Afterwards they are cast up and the priests gather them. This monastery
relies upon the dragon for food and clothing and the means to assist
people. Its name is 'Dragon Prince Monastery.'"
The _Ts‘i-ti_ records say there is a well in the city of Ch‘áng-ping at
the brambles; when the water is disturbed a spiritual dragon comes and
goes. So the city is called the dragon city.
The _Shi-San-Tsin_ records say Ho-li has also the name Dragon Gate. Great
fish collect below it, in number one thousand. They cannot ascend. If one
ascends it is a dragon. Those which do not ascend are fish. Hence it is
called the "Pao-sai-lung-man." (Great carp ascend the dragon gate and
become dragons; those which do not ascend prick the forehead and strike
the cheek.) Again, it says: "The Lung-sheu mountains are sixty _li_ long;
the head enters the Wei waters, the tail extends to the Fan streams. This
head is two hundred feet high; his tail descends gradually to a height of
fifty or sixty feet. It is said that long ago a strange dragon came out
from south of the mountains to drink the Wei waters. The road he travelled
became mountain. Hence the name."
The _Kiao-Cheu-Kí_ says: "In Kiao-chi at Fung-ki-hien there is a dyke with
a dragon gate; the water is one hundred fathoms deep. Great fish ascend
this gate and become dragons. Those which cannot pass, strike the cheek
and puncture the forehead, until the blood flows. This water is
continually like the Vermilion pool."
The annals of Hwa-yang say: "Only at Wu-ch‘ing district does the earth
meet the gate of heaven; the dragon which mounts to heaven and does not
reach it, falls dead to this place, hence when excavating you find
dragon-bones."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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