WEBVTT - The Cauldron, Part 2 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:14.800 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.880 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.920 we're back with part two of our series about cauldron's. 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:25.680 That's right. In the last episode, we talked about cauldrons, uh, 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.080 and mostly an introduction into the idea of the cauldron 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:33.440 is both a mundane tool for heating water and making soup, 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.520 but also getting in a little bit to the idea 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:38.360 that okay, this is something that also ends up taking 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:45.040 on sacred and supernatural characteristics in various traditions. Um. But 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.920 for the most part, we we talked about soup technology, 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.120 which in and of itself is pretty fascinating. Yeah. We 0:00:52.200 --> 0:01:00.000 pondered the foggy distant prehistory of salmon soups in Japan. Yeah. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.680 So a lot of this episode is going to look 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:08.240 at the cauldron in Chinese traditions and in Chinese history 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:13.040 and mythology. So in Chinese culture and history, the ancient 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:17.560 cauldron is known as the ding a cooking cauldron with 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.120 two looped handles and three or four legs. The three 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.800 legged ones tend to have a more of a circular pot, 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.760 while the four legged ones tend to have a rectangular 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.280 pot and appear more like what we might think of 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.720 as a chest or something in Western traditions, it's maybe 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:37.600 a little less recognizable as a cauldron if you're basing 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:42.000 your expectations just on cauldrons in Western traditions. Yeah, it 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.000 made me wonder, like, wait a minute, why are pots 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.840 always round? I mean, they don't have to be. So 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.320 this is a pot that's that's got corners and it 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:53.920 looks like something that link would pop open and pull 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.520 a treasure out of. Oh it's the hook shot. Yeah. Well, 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:01.440 I mean these are ultimately artifacts that have a number 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:07.400 of supernatural associations with them. But in terms of actual 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.640 Chinese cauldrons or ding that have survived, uh, for instance, 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:15.400 one example of that that that came up in my 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.280 researches from the Warring States period around from around four 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.160 thirty three b c e. Found in the Lego Doun 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.079 tombs in central China. Upon its discovery, it still had 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.400 ox bones inside it and soot on its base, meaning 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.120 that it was apparently used for cooking, perhaps as part 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.760 of a funerary feast. It was made of bronze and 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:42.320 also included lifting hooks and a ladle lifting hooks, Does 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.560 that mean something you'd like put some some hooks in 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.919 to move it out of the fire. Correct in this 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:52.000 In this case, now, when we get into later discussions 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.280 of of cauldrons, you also get into the idea of 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.640 flesh hooks for your cauldron. They have to do with 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.840 the obviously, for the manipulating of flesh. Uh, you know, 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:03.560 some sort of meat that you're cooking inside of said cauldron. 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:05.800 But these I believe, Yeah, we're just to to move 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:10.079 the cauldron around while it was heated. Okay, So a cauldron, 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.160 we know, can be used for the chores that sustain 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:17.440 everyday life, cooking food and washing and so forth. But 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:23.080 in Chinese traditions, cauldrons have a much more culturally and 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.239 religiously charged significance. Even though they could be used for 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.839 those same mundane tasks, they might also decide the very 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:33.799 fate of your existence. That's right, and and uh and 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:35.200 and I do want to stress that a lot of 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:37.640 this will also end up lining up with traditions in 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:39.480 the West as well, that we'll get into much later. 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.240 But but yeah, this this thing that for all intents 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.120 and purposes, is about heating water for soup or maybe 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.720 for laundry or something like that ends up taking on 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.800 greater significance. So in Chinese tradition, the ding became associated 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.560 with power and landownership, and it was used not only 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.320 for food production and also for oridge. It was also 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:05.200 used to make sacrifices to the gods. And the idea 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.600 of gods here might also well include ancestral spirits, right 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.360 They're sort of a blurring of the distinction there that, 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.440 like appeasing one's ancestors, was believed to play a role 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:21.400 in determining your fortune. Right now. One of the sources 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.800 I was looking to for for this episode is an 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.560 article titled Visions of Hell in Asia from eighteen published 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:32.280 in the Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia by 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:36.279 scholar Paul Morabel, and in it the author writes, quote, 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.360 in ancient China, the cauldron was the alchemical recipient par 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:45.520 excellence for the sacrifices animals and humans required in order 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.800 to transmute them into immortal creatures when mixed with certain 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.760 minerals and metals. Now, I want to stress that he's 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.520 he's talking very broadly here. This is not to imply 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.320 that all of these various cauldrons, including the specific one 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.400 I just mentioned, was used for any thing like human sacrifice. 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.200 But of course human sacrifice is something that one encounters, 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.920 uh in the ancient traditions of of every human culture. 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:13.039 Just about so. But yeah, this idea that we we 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.440 touched on very briefly in the last episode, that what 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.400 is a cauldron, what is a cooking pot, but other 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:23.640 than something that transforms one thing into another state, Right, so, 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.400 it might transform a say, a tough piece of game 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.920 meat into a nutritious broth and a much more tender 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:36.159 piece of meat. And it might transform various ingredients living 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.880 and dead into a bunch of fumes, a pillar of smoke, 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.840 or a burnt offering that would be seen as pleasing 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:46.279 to the gods or to one's ancestors. Correct. Now, when 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.760 it comes to the sacred thing, there is like we 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.240 mentioned earlier, it also has this this this prestige with it. 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:58.640 It signifies power, and it can also signify divine right 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.160 of rule. And in this there's no greater example than 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.480 the nine cauldrons of You the Great. Now we've discussed 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:07.440 You the Great before and stuff to blow your mind, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.880 as he as the legendary Um ruler of the Shia 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:15.760 dynasty of the second and third millennium BC, born um 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.000 from the belly of his father's corpse. He said to 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.440 have quelled the great floods and established dynastic rule in China. 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.799 His control of the flood is attributed differently in different tales, 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.760 but I think we can summarize it as entailing the 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:35.400 defeat of monsters, the possible prometheum, theft of the sacred self, 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:39.200 renewing soil from the gods, the help of various gods, 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:44.280 and also the use of damn and irrigation technology. So 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.200 he's you know, he's a culture bearer. And oh, he's 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.760 also said to have measured the earth, and in some 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.640 accounts he stands eight feet tall. But the other feet 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.640 attributed to you the great is that he also cast 0:06:55.800 --> 0:07:00.200 the nine cauldrons upon rising to power as young and 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:03.400 in Turner discussed in the Handbook of Chinese Mythology quote, 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.880 those cauldrons had the divine function to teach people to 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:11.240 distinguish between faithfulness and treachery, and to keep evils and 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.920 demons from harming people. So they were treated as national 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.400 treasures and I believe it's uh that this story is 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.360 related to the idea that the cauldron itself is a 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.760 sort of symbol of power, both in a literal and 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.920 metaphorical sense, like that in the literal sense that you 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.800 would have to be a rich and powerful person in 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.640 ancient China to own one or more of these cauldrons, 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.120 and also that the cauldron was kind of like a 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:42.640 symbol of someone's power or political dominance, right, right. And 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.560 in this case, they're they're nine of them because they 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.400 were nine cauldrons for the nine provinces, but then nine 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:54.160 also had um cosmologically important connections as well. There's also 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.480 this tradition of saying that the nine cauldrons uh sometimes 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.960 are scattered and lost and uh, and it was said 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.320 that whoever wished to claim imperial power and reign by 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:08.720 the mandate of heaven would need to collect all these 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.000 nine cauldrons. Yeah. I think I recall reading somewhere that 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.920 there's an expression means something like seeking after cauldrons or 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:19.760 something that means like ambition for power. Yeah. Yeah, there 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.800 There's really are a number of different sayings in in 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.480 in Chinese tradition that allude to cauldrons and and make 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.680 use of the smoke. TIF in the book Chinese Mythology 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.720 and Introduction and Barrel ads that while you the great 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.400 forge the vessels, they are said to have been cast 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:40.120 by feeling the Dragon, god of wind. The cauldrons could 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.400 and would change weight and size, or even vanished completely 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.240 or reappear at will, quote according to the virtue or 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:52.280 decadence of the dynasty possessing them. Whoa, so yeah, this 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:56.000 gets pretty interesting. Forens, if a dynasty is virtuous, then 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.040 the cauldrons would become so massive that they would be 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:01.959 almost impossible to lift. It was said that when the 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.600 child people overthrew the shang, the child's virtue was such 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:08.760 that it took ninety men to lift a single cauldron. 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.360 But then when the Chin overthrew the chow, one of 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.559 the cauldrons just like immediately flew into the river. Oh 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.200 so the inanimate objects have a will of their own. 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:22.560 It's almost like the one ring, except the cauldrons are virtuous, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:27.240 whereas the ring is wicked. Yeah. Yeah. It's also specifically 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.360 noted that it is the weight that is important, not 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.000 the size, So you you might have a dynasty that 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:38.600 is corrupt. Uh, and the cauldrons might look enormous, but 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.560 they weigh a little uh, thus signifying that you know 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:46.920 that they're morally impoverished. But then the opposite is also true. 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:49.800 You might have a noble dynasty and the cauldrons are 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.520 very small, but it would take like ninety thousand men 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:54.840 to lift a single one of them, because such is 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.280 the virtue of these rulers. Oh that that resonates in 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:00.559 a very pleasing way, because you imagine and like an 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:04.040 evil dynasty having these giant cauldrons that are easily blown 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.319 over by the wind, the big surface area and very 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.040 little mass. Yeah, yeah, I think it works on so 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.079 many levels. Uh. They're said to have been cast in 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.520 iron and also said to be illustrated with images of 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:20.200 the gods and forged from metals offered up by the 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:24.400 nine regional stewards. There's also discussion of them being important 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:29.160 to distinguish malign creatures, which are sometimes translated as goblins 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.040 and trolls. So I'm not sure if that's meant to 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:36.160 mean that the cauldrons also depicted these uh quote unquote 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:41.040 adverse beings. But because it doesn't seem like it's explicitly stated, 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.480 but um, at the very least they had images of 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:46.960 gods on them. Now, as for the use of cauldrons 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.520 and sacrifice, and borough includes a wonderful passage from the 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.760 ancient text the Book of Songs or the Classic of Poetry. 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:59.400 The passaging question is celebrating the agricultural culture hero and 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:04.840 god Huji a k lord millet. Here is part of 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:09.280 it in translation, of course, describing the sacrifice, our sacrifice. 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.960 What is it like some pound, some bail, some sift, 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:18.080 some tread. We wash it soaking, soaking wet. We steam it, piping, 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:23.160 piping hot. Then we plan with thoughtful care, gathering southern wood, 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.280 offering rich fat. We take a ram to make the 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:31.040 wayside sacrifice, roasting and broiling to usher in the new year. 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:35.680 The bronze pots filled the brim, the bronze pots and cauldrons. 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.319 As soon as their aroma rises up, God on High 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.160 enjoys it with pleasure. The rich fragrance is right and proper. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.840 For Hoji inaugurated the sacrifice with no fault or blemish. 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.040 His people have continued it to the present day. I 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.040 like the line on here about has the aroma rises up, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.160 God on High enjoys it with pleasure because that that 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:01.680 is not unique to this poem or two Chinese religious traditions. 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:06.559 It's a it's a common feature of many religions mentioning God, 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:11.800 enjoying God, or God's enjoying the smell of a burning sacrifice. Yeah. 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:13.560 So yeah, there's a there's a lot of this that 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:17.760 is that is ultimately a universe universal Um. It's it's 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:26.800 fascinating than now for the second episode in a row, 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:31.079 I'm going to also cite a children's book. Uh, this 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.080 is another children's book. This one is titled Two of Everything, 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:39.760 and Chinese American author Lily toy Hong wrote this It's 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.600 fun and she credits it as being based on a 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:46.040 Chinese folk tale. Um and I'd love to read another 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.080 telling of it, but I haven't been able to find 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.880 find what. I'm sure it's out there, but it does 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.600 involve some sort of a magical pot or cauldron in 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:58.080 this story, which is which has some some wonderful illustrations 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.360 an elderly couple in in China. And this has a 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.120 historical setting, by the way, so it's not I don't 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.920 think it's supposed to be like modern China. But this 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.440 elderly couple they happen to happen upon this pot or 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.560 this cauldron, and they quickly find out that anything you 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.960 drop or place inside the cauldron comes out duplicated. So 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:19.959 you can imagine how this story goes. You know, food, 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:24.400 gold gets duplicated, and finally somebody's gonna fall in that cauldron. 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.000 The old man falls in the cauldron, and now there 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.319 are two old men. So the story ultimately ends on 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.480 a happy note, with a couple deciding, Okay, we're gonna 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.400 put the pot away. We're not gonna use it unless 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:37.720 we absolutely have to. But by this point they're living 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:42.000 side by side with their own doppelgangers who have a 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:45.040 replica of everything that they have. So I was looking 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:47.960 around to try and find another version of this story 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.880 and I was not able to. But in the process 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:54.920 I found another story that includes cauldrons as a as 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.080 a key plot point that I think will transition into 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:59.360 something else we can talk about in a bit. It's 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:03.079 a a wonderful little story called the Wizard's Lesson. The 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:07.760 story appeared in the book Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies, 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.960 ed edited and translated by Moss Roberts, a professor of 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:14.320 East Asian Studies at n y U H. The original 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:18.720 title is to zoo Chun and it is included uh 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:22.840 in the sus Swan Kuai Lu, an early ninth century 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:27.040 CE collection compiled by Li Fu Yen Uh, though there 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:29.200 seemed to be some disagreements on the exact date of 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:33.320 when this this original text was was published or written. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:38.840 This story is awesome. Yeah, um, I think at times perplexing. 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.800 I've seen some some online like some sort of blog 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.160 style discussions where people are like, what is this about? 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:47.040 But um, but it but it has some some wonderful 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.200 wizardry in it. So basically the story goes like this, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:54.480 we have this character to zoo Chun, and he's a scoundrel. Basically, 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.280 he's spent all his money. He's burned all his friends 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.000 and family members, you know, borrowing money and so forth. 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.880 So he finds himself on the street with nothing, and 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.600 then up comes an old man and ask him, hey, 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:08.800 look there, buddy, how much money would it take to 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.160 set you right? Like how many how many strands of 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.960 coins will it take? And Tuzuchon names a sum and 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:17.720 the old man just kind of scoffs and he's like, 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.680 you should probably go higher than that, and he gives 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:24.280 him another sum, and the old man agrees, and he's 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:26.720 he gives him enough cash on the spot for a 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.640 night's rest somewhere and says, meet me tomorrow in the 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.160 market and I'll give you the full amount. So this 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.480 goes exactly as promised, and the next day he receives 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.720 his first millions from the old man like it's a 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.280 it's a true fortune, enough for him to have a real, 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.800 you know, proper start at rebuilding everything in his life, 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.520 and then some but you can imagine what happens next. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.840 He immediately blows it all on a lavish lifestyle, and 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.720 before long he's back on the street again. Then here 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.920 comes the old man approaches him again, and this basically 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.800 the same thing happens one more, only this time he 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.360 squanders an even greater fortune. The third time, however, the 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:09.120 old man warns him that an even greater fortune won't 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.480 do the trick this time. Then there's clearly no helping him. 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.480 So finally Tuzo Chun has a change of heart. He 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.920 finally realizes, okay, who this old man has been so 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.280 kind and patient with me and just overly generous, and 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.680 I've done nothing for him. Uh. He has this change 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.160 of heart and realizes that he shouldn't be spending this 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.000 all on himself. He should try and do some good 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.040 in the world. And he tells the old Man that 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:35.520 he is going to do this. He's going to go 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.520 help the widows and the orphans, he's going to make 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.840 amends with family members and uh. And then at the end, 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:43.520 he's going to meet up with the old Man once 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.840 more and do right by him as well. Okay, so 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.000 you might expect this to be the end of the story. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.920 He's learned his lesson, but no, it keeps going. And 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.320 I I you know, this might be a situation where 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:57.360 you have sort of combined stories, you know, they become 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.280 one at some point. But um, what happens next is 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:03.920 the old man Uh. He you know, he goes out 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:05.440 in the world, he does all the things he's gonna do, 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.000 and he meets up with the old Man again. The 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.159 old Man takes him up to the mountain to a 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:14.320 splendid residence and inside here's an alchemist furnace, guarded by 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.680 a white tiger and a black dragon. Uh. It's written 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:21.040 that jade, white fairy women stand by, and the old 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:23.240 Man is no longer dressed like like the old man 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:25.679 that he met in the market. Those uh, those of 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.320 three times. No, now he's dressed in yellow and scarlet robes. 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:34.280 He's dressed as a dallast wizard. Oh so immediately at 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:37.119 this point, I'm like picturing him as played by Chining 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:41.520 Lamb from the Mr. Vampire movies. Yeah, yeah, that that 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.880 would be a wonderful stern performance of this character. So 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.639 at this point, he presents Touzun with a beaker of 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:52.240 wine and three white pills. He tells him to take 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:56.199 the pills, and no matter what happens, no matter what 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.040 he sees and the visions that are about to hit him, 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.359 he must not speak. Okay, I'm gonna read a quote 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:04.480 from the story here. Take care not to speak. The 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:09.720 wizard cautioned, be it revered spirit, vicious ghost, demon of hell, 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.359 wild beast, hell itself, or even your own closest relatives, 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.080 bound and tormented in a thousand ways, nothing you see 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:20.240 is truly real. It is essential that you neither speak 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.359 nor make any movement. Remain calm and fearless, and you 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.680 shall come to no harm. Never forget what I have said. 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.000 With that, the wizard departed okay, so none of it's 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:31.760 going to be real. As long as you keep your 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.800 mouth shut, you'll be all right, right, And then the 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.480 visions begin to hit him, so it's it's just kind 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.360 of like one wave of visions after the other. So 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.639 first a swarming army rides up on him in a 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.240 ten foot tall general and armor is just referred to 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.000 as the General comes up on an armored horse and 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:54.119 demands that he tell to identify himself. He remains quiet. 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.280 The general leaves in a rage. And then and then 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.520 to Tuzochone is tormented by snakes and spiders and other beasts. 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.639 There's a there's he's harassed by storms. This is the 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.960 devil rides out. This is the Christopher. Lee is like, 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:12.520 he's got him in the circle. Yeah yeah, instead, only 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.560 this time it's the circle is silence. He cannot break 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.320 that silence. Tuzu Chune, I'd rather see you dead than speak. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.640 So after the storms, the general returns, and this time 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.399 he has his men place a great cauldron in front 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:32.440 of Tuzu Chun and uh and in the story it's 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:35.600 written the general return this time leading an ox headed 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.320 sergeant and his soldiers of hell together with other weird 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.040 faced ghosts. They placed a huge cauldron of boiling water 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:46.200 before tuzu Chun and closed in on him with spears, 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.480 swords and pitchforks, and so at this point they threatened 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.480 and they say, look, identify yourself or we're going to 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.200 boil you alive. He doesn't speak, So then they drag 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:57.119 his wife before him and they start beating her, and 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.560 he still refuses to speak, so they chop her up 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:01.920 into a little pieces, and he still doesn't say anything. 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:05.439 And finally the general denounces him as a quote master 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.560 of the Black Arts and has his soldiers behead him. 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.639 Well the scott gory, Yeah, it gets it gets gory, 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.040 and hurry this story. Yeah, but but we've got to 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.040 remember what was said at the beginning. The Taoist wizard 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.160 promised him none of this is going to be real. 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:23.480 It's just visions. Just don't say anything, right, So then 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:27.720 to zu chun soul passes on and he become and 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.600 he comes before the King of the Dead, who identifies him. 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.359 He says, hey, you're that heretic and orders him cast 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:37.199 into the Hell's quote zu Chun tasted the torments of 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:42.400 hell to the fullest molten bronze, the iron rod, pounding grinding, 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.480 the fire pit, the boiling cauldron, the hill of knives, 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.679 the forest of swords. But he kept the wizard's words 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:51.720 firmly in mind and bore the pain without letting a 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:55.000 moan pass his lips. Then the tortures reported to the 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.240 king that the punishments were completed. And at this point 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:01.120 the King of the dead says, Okay, that's good. Uh, 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.199 he can go on and be reincarnated. Now, let's have 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:08.840 him reincarnated as a woman. And so he's born again 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.480 as a small female child. And now the female to 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:16.679 Zoo Chun as an infant, still doesn't cry out, grows 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:22.119 up a mute Mary's has a child herself at this point, 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:26.720 and then her husband finally like has an episode and 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:30.760 and and accused and accuses her of being improper by 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:34.280 refusing to speak to him, and murders their child before her. 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:37.639 So finally, after a life and it's yet, it's it's brutal, 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:41.000 and after a life time of silence, now she finally 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:44.240 breaks her vow and unleashes a cry of anguish. And 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.040 at this point the whole vision collapses, and once more, 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.520 Here's to Zoo Chun himself again, still seated in the 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:53.680 Wizard's pavilion, with an empty wine flask in his hand, 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:56.960 and the wizards just cursing at him for failing. He 0:21:57.000 --> 0:21:59.320 tells him, if he'd only remain silent a little longer, 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.960 you have been able to purify yourself of all your passions. 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:06.680 You'd already purified yourself of all your passions except for love, 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:09.399 and you blew it. And now you're not going to 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.760 be immortal. That is harsh, you know, he already he 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:15.560 got killed, He had watched all his people get killed. 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:18.080 He got killed, he got sent to hell, tortured in hell, 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.720 then lived a whole other life. But but the Wizard 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:23.280 is like, you just had to hold out a little 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:25.080 bit longer. How was he supposed to know how long 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:27.919 it would be? Yeah, he had no idea. He was 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:30.639 just supposed to keep going. But supposedly he was close, 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:33.720 like this was the last testing. It was not able 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:36.440 to overcome it. Remember how this started with this guy 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:41.080 like blowing all his money on parties. Yeah, yeah, it 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:43.040 is a it's a weird story. And when I may, 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:44.840 I may have to look into more to see if 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:48.200 I can, uh, you know, grasp the some of the 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:52.200 the deeper meanings involved here, but on the surface level, 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:56.400 like coming back to cauldrons, it does feature cauldrons twice, 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:00.159 and both of them in a very threatening manner. The 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:02.680 idea that if you don't speak, I'm going to boil 0:23:02.720 --> 0:23:05.200 you alive, and then once you're in Hell you may 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:07.919 be boiled as well. Well, this would not be the 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:12.840 only vision of of hell or negative afterlife that involved boiling, 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:16.560 and in fact, there are some famous boiling uh puddles, 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:19.959 ponds and rivers in Dante's Inferno, though I don't recall 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.080