Tang Shoucheng

Tang Shoucheng, a Taoist priest of Wudang during the Song Dynasty, was from Suizhou, Hubei Province. According to the "Great Mountain Taihe Mountain Annals" of the Ming Dynasty, Tang was born with a loose body like a crane and a strange appearance. Since childhood, he became a monk on Wudang Mountain and was taught Taoist arts by an extraordinary person. Tang Shoucheng was well-versed in the Yin-Yang and the Eight Trigrams, skilled in interpreting the I Ching, and capable of predicting people's fortune and misfortune. Every prediction made by others comes true. This person has a strange temper and loves to humiliate others. Strangely enough, all who are insulted by him will be blessed. Therefore, people of that time all took pride in being scolded and humiliated by him. Tang's life is unpredictable; even in the depth of winter, he can lie still in the snow for a long time. Often, he would lie by the roadside for ten days, and tigers and leopards would always guard him. He often hung dozens of medicinal gourds on his shoulder from a single vine staff. He traveled between Junzhou and Fangling to treat patients. People at that time called him Tang Fengxian. This person was not ordered by an official. In the year of Renzi of the Chunyou era (1252 AD), Cheng Jin, the governor of Junzhou Prefecture, invited him to open the Five Dragons Incense Offering, but he refused. Cheng Jin, in order to promote Wudang and restore the great righteousness of the Xuanmen school, pleaded with him in every possible way. He then accepted the order and succeeded Wang Li as the permanent leader of Wudang. All the high-ranking officials and dignitaries treated him with great respect and courtesy. During the Weiwei period of Kaiqing (1259 AD), Tang Fengxian suddenly disappeared without a trace.