Eliot Weinberger

In The Wu-T’ai Mountains

I.

Chang Shang-ying, in the 11th Century, rose from Honorary Assistant in the Rites Section of the Secretariat to Grand Councilor, the highest official post in the Empire. He became the symbol of the forthright, principled, incorruptible reformer, one who had even accused the Emperor of unfilial behavior for reversing the policies of his father. He led military campaigns against the barbarian tribes; he revised the standard texts of Taoist ritual; his commentaries on the Lotus Sutra and “in defense of the dharma” were admitted into the Buddhist canon; he wrote extensively on political matters. His best-known piece of writing, The Book of Simplicity, claimed to be a manuscript Chang found, written a thousand years earlier by a Taoist patriarch who had received its words from an Immortal. In 1087, he dreamt he traveled to the Diamond Grotto in the Wu-ta’i Mountains...

>> Read the full article in NEW 1_2005 on page 88