Chenzhou Talismans
Chenzhou Talismans. At the Tujia Folk Custom Park in Zhangjiajie, a Tima shaman climbs a ladder of knives, crosses a fire trench, treads on plowshares, and rolls on a thorn bed, thrilling tourists who take it for "black magic" or "qigong." In fact, these extraordinary feats are verifiable true skills, relying on the baffling "Chenzhou talismans." Chenzhou talismans originate in present-day Yuan...
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
The Chenzhou Talisman
At the Zhangjiajie Tujia Customs Park, a Tima master climbs a ladder of knives, walks through a trench of fire, treads on plowshares, and rolls on a bed of thorns. Tourists watch in breathtaking shock, thinking it is "black magic" or "qigong," but it is neither. These peerless feats are all verifiable true skills, and what they rely on is the inexplicable "Chenzhou Talisman."
The Chenzhou Talisman originates in present-day Yuanling County, and it has spread and extended throughout the greater Xiangxi region. Stories of the Chenzhou Talisman's marvels are found everywhere among the people. It is said that in the early Qing Dynasty, Hu Faxiu, the fourteenth-generation inheritor of the Hu Family Thunder Altar, was invited by the county magistrate to the county seat to pray for rain. He used a yin rope to lasso a dark cloud and tied it to the Nuo altar table, drew talismans, formed hand gestures, and transformed water. After striking the altar table with the command tablet, he quickly used the ancestral ritual implement—a large brass tobacco pipe—to poke the cloud, and immediately rain poured down in torrents. Inside the city, water rose three feet; outside the city, not even dust was covered. Debris and grass hung from all four corners of the city wall. The county magistrate crawled out from under the altar table and asked, trembling, where the debris and grass had come from. Hu Faxiu said: "I winched it from the sea with a heavenly cart." Another example: during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, Ma Sigong, a high disciple of the Hu Family Faith Altar, pulled out a hair and cast a yin rope, binding a large log raft from Hongjiang that was in the rapids of Qinglang Beach, stopping it dead. The raft boss had to apologize to Ma Sigong before he would retract the yin rope and let it pass. This incident was long told as a fine tale. Yet another example: a wizard of the Jin Family Thunder Altar once drove the corpse of an official surnamed Jin who had died elsewhere back to his hometown for burial... These legends, though they have become history, have been passed down endlessly.
In the late spring of 1984, mountain torrents broke out. A villager from Lianghekou Village in Dayong County accidentally lost his footing while crossing a stream and was swept away and drowned by the raging flood. Because the corpse was bloated, it could not fit into the coffin, so the body was placed on top of the empty coffin. Someone suggested inviting a wizard to restore the corpse, but the wizard surnamed Zhang was ill and could not walk far, so they carried him fifteen li to the deceased's main hall in Lianghekou Village. Upon arrival, the wizard got down from the bamboo chair, drew talismans on paper, held a bowl of clear water in his left hand, squinted his eyes, and muttered incantations. He then burned the talisman and threw it into the bowl of water, drew several characters above the water bowl with the command tablet in his right hand, circled the corpse once, opened his eyes wide, stamped his right foot hard on the ground, and simultaneously struck the altar table with the command tablet in his right hand. The corpse was seen to fall with a "thud" neatly and flatly into the coffin, drawing a full round of applause from the onlookers. When people asked him what had happened, he said it was the "body-shrinking technique," relying first on talismans, second on hand gestures, and third on the characters.
In the autumn of 1994, a Tujia mountain village witchcraft performance team participated in the Third Traditional Ethnic Minority Sports Games of Hunan Province, performing the knife ladder, treading plowshares, and crossing a fire trench. That evening, twelve plowshares were taken from the charcoal fire, glowing red and bright. A wizard surnamed Jin was seen treading barefoot on the plowshares, "hiss, hiss, hiss..." puffs of blue smoke shot out from both sides of his soles, frightening the women onlookers into screaming "Ah! Ah!" and covering their eyes with both hands, not daring to watch. After the wizard finished walking the plowshares, a cameraman from the provincial TV station asked him to sit down and quickly washed his feet with mineral water. Seeing that his soles were completely intact, he filmed a close-up of both soles and asked him why he had such great ability. He said, "I use the Chenzhou Talisman to transform into snow mountain water; it is as if my feet are not treading on plowshares but on cold stone slabs."
Regarding the transformation of "snow mountain water," there is a complete set of incantations. Master Jin was not secretive and recited the incantations on the spot for the reporter to hear. The reporter recorded them word for word. The incantations are: "Snow gate open, snow gate open, the Snow Mountain Elder comes down the mountain. In the first watch, heavy snow falls; in the second watch, heavy frost falls; in the third watch, heavy snow falls; in the fourth watch, frost is added upon snow; at the fifth watch, golden roosters all announce the dawn, and the mountain snow resounds with a clang. Thunder rumbles, rain is vast, I invoke all the gods of the Snow Mountain to help. The ancestral master summons a thousand years of snow, the root master summons ten thousand years of frost. A thousand li of heavy snow comes to dispel heat, ten thousand li of ice and frost come to dispel warmth. One gust of clear wind, one gust of snow (with oral transmission within the breath), two gusts of clear wind, two gusts of coolness, three gusts of wild wind rise, breaking the sun and moon's bright light (with gestures preserved in mind). When the sun and moon official gesture arrives (herein lies the skill), with sincere devotion I take refuge and bow, invoking the enlightened gods of Hongzhou, the Three Perfected Ones who deliver all living beings. The eldest sister holds the golden crossbow, the second sister holds the light-splitting mirror, the third sister holds the true treasure. They save the world from disaster and protect all beings in difficulty. Their divine power is manifest and responsive, often bringing forth the five grains in abundance. A bowl of immortal water is greatly efficacious, greatly saving the bodies of men and women in the world. Great compassion, great vows, the three Perfected Ones enfeoffed by the Zhou Dynasty, I now invoke you and hope you will come (characters, spray water)!" At the same time, the performance of crossing the fire trench (i.e., "descending into the sea of fire") also uses snow mountain water, but incantations alone are not enough. The main secret is the oral transmission from the master—this is
talismans and characters. Having received the oral transmission means having received the secret and the skill, and only then can one perform rituals with ease. And climbing the knife ladder and rolling on the thorn bed are likewise inseparable from talismans, gestures, and characters; otherwise, danger ensues.
But why exactly the Chenzhou Talisman has such power, people are still lost in a fog five li deep, unable to tell east from west.