Ancient explanations of celestial bodies through the theory of “hun-tian” suggest that heaven and earth are one entity, like an egg. When the yolk and white of the egg are undivided, the world remains in a state of chaos. Once the yolk separates from the white, heaven and earth are formed. Humans cannot exist outside this eggshell. Therefore, the Taoist belief in the existence of thirty-three heavens beyond seems somewhat far-fetched.
The region of Guanzhong(关中) has thick layers of soil, often experiencing earthquakes and land fissures, causing entire villages to collapse. During these violent tremors, black water may shoot into the sky, smoke and fire might erupt, or the land may split and then rejoin. However, those buried beneath the collapsed land, the residents and their houses, never resurface, leaving their fate unknown.
In the third year of the Shunzhi era, a tragic incident of land fissures and village collapse occurred in Wuwei, Gansu. There was a man named Dong Yu(董遇) who specialized in practicing Daoist physical arts. He could control his breath and sink into the sea without perishing. Astonishingly, nine days after Dong Yu’s entire family was buried underground due to land fissures, he emerged alone from beneath the earth.
Dong Yu recounted that when he first sank into the earth, he felt his body continuously descending. After a day and a night, he fell into an underground spring. As he descended, his posture seemed to fly yet not fly, to turn yet not turn, it was smooth and comfortable, and he could still converse with his family. However, as soon as he fell into the spring, his entire family drowned.
At that moment, Dong Yu controlled his breath and sank to a depth of over a thousand feet, feeling the surroundings gradually dry up, enveloped in pure yellow on all sides. After a while, as daylight appeared, Dong Yu looked downward to behold a vast expanse of land. Listening intently, he heard the voices of residents, as well as the sounds of chickens and dogs, carried by the wind. Dong Yu thought that this must be the world beyond the heavenly shell. If he could descend to the second heavenly palace, even if he landed on someone’s roof, wouldn’t the residents revere him as a celestial being from above? Thus, he exerted all his strength to descend further but was thwarted by a whirlwind, circling aimlessly in mid-air.
Soon after, a person dressed in ancient attire, standing at twenty feet tall, loudly reprimanded Dong Yu: “This is the boundary of the second heaven. Throughout the ages, immortals and sages have been unable to breach this boundary. Who are you, daring to act so recklessly? Hurry, return to the human world while the land hasn’t yet closed up. Otherwise, once it does, plunging millions of feet deep, although you can pass through water, you won’t pass through earth. Death is inevitable for you.”
Before the person finished speaking, countless beams of golden light surged from afar, scorching and unstoppable.
The person in ancient attire comforted Dong Yu, saying, “Quickly, quickly, the sun has turned this way! Even I need to avoid it, not to mention your mortal body. If you don’t leave now, you’ll turn to ashes.”
Dong Yu shuddered at these words and immediately used his energy to soar upwards. Due to exposure to water, Dong Yu’s face turned as black as charcoal, his clothes sticking to his skin. It wasn’t until a month later that he regained his original appearance. After this incident, he called himself the “Hermit Beyond Calamity(劫外叟).”
I’ve read in the “Huainanzi(淮南子)” that “beneath the temperate zone, there are no living creatures.” According to this, the area near the sun might be what the “Huainanzi” refers to as the “temperate zone(溫帶).”
Translated from 《天殼》in 《子不語》:
渾天之說：天地如雞卵，卵中之黃白未分，是混沌也；卵中之黃白既分，是開闢也。人不能遊於卵殼之外。則道家三十三天之說，終屬渺茫。秦中地厚，往往崩裂，全村皆陷。有衝起黑水者，有冒出煙火者，有裂而仍合者，惟所陷之人民家室，從無再出土者，亦不知何往矣。
順治三年，武威地陷。有董遇者，學煉形之術，能伏氣沉海中不死。全家遭此劫。九日後，竟一身自地下起，云：「初陷時，沉沉然。一日一夜，墜至于泉。其墜下之勢，似飛非飛，似暈非暈，頗為順適，猶與家人答問。一至于泉，則家口盡溺死，董伏氣入水底千餘丈，乃復乾燥，覺四面純黃色。已而漸明，下視蒼蒼然，有天在下。細聽之，人民雞犬之聲，因風而至。我意「此是天殼之外天也，得落第二層天宮固佳，即落在人家瓦上，豈不敬我為天上人耶？」因極力將身掙墜。為罡風所勒，兜捲空中，終不得下。俄而，有古衣冠人，長二丈餘，叱曰：「此兩天分界處，萬古神聖不破此關。汝何人，作此妄想？速趁地未合時，仍歸汝世界，否則大地一合百萬丈。汝能穿水，不能穿土，死矣！」語未畢，忽金光萬道，自遠而來，熱不可耐。古衣冠者撫其背曰：「速行！速行！日輪至矣！我且避去，汝血肉之身，不走，將熾為飛灰。」董聞之悚然，即運氣騰身而上。面目為水土所蝕，黑如焦炭；衣服、肌膚，黏結一片。逾月，始復人形，自稱「劫外叟」。余按《淮南子》曰：「溫帶之下，無血氣之倫。日輪所近，即溫帶矣。」
🎨 《聽阮圖》李嵩, in the Song Dynasty