The Direct Lineage of the Pengzu Transmission
The supreme wellness lineage transmitted by Pengzu, after passing through several generations of transmission, came in its entirety into the hands of the Qin-dynasty adept Xu Fu. For many years Xu Fu cultivated with devoted perseverance, taking over the entire authentic body of practice — the methods of breath and Dao Yin, the harmony of Yin and Yang, and the consolidation of the root for the extension of years — and became the foremost direct-lineage successor of the Pengzu tradition in the closing years of the pre-Qin age.
The First Voyage and the Reorganization of the Fleet
At that time, the First Emperor of Qin had unified the six kingdoms and held the realm in his grasp, his single desire being the secret of longevity. Upon hearing that Xu Fu possessed the arts of the immortals, he issued an immediate decree summoning him, ordering him to set out upon the eastern sea to the three immortal mountains of Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou, to seek the elixir of immortal life. On his first voyage in obedience to the imperial command, Xu Fu traversed many islands of the nearby seas, but after years of arduous wandering he was never able to find the so-called elixir. Having squandered vast quantities of the court's men and treasury in the quest and having accomplished nothing, under the harsh statutes of the Qin he was guilty of deceiving the sovereign, a capital offense, and his life hung by a thread. In this extremity, Xu Fu skillfully explained the failure by citing the obstruction of the great sea-serpents, an account that happened to coincide with a dream the First Emperor had had the same night of a sea-god in combat, and thus he not only escaped execution but was granted permission to reorganize his fleet and prepare a second great oceanic voyage.
Using the Opportunity to Cross Eastward to Japan
The First Emperor allocated a vast abundance of supplies — three thousand young men and women, seeds of the five grains, and craftsmen and artisans of every trade — together with warships and bows, in full support of Xu Fu's expedition. Xu Fu was well aware that no elixir of immortality existed in the world, and in truth he was using this preparation as an opportunity to take the authentic lineage of Pengzu far beyond the seas, to seek a stable land for the transmission of the Way that would lie beyond the reach of the imperial court. In 210 BC, Xu Fu set sail at the head of a great fleet, sailing eastward toward the Japanese archipelago. Upon his arrival he settled there on the spot and never returned to the central plain to render account.
The Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars and the Rupture of the Lineage
When word of these events reached Xianyang, the First Emperor of Qin realized that he had been duped by Xu Fu, that the entire investment of the nation's strength had come to nothing. His dragon countenance blazed with wrath, and he determined that all the adepts of the realm were frauds who had deceived the throne and beguiled the sovereign's heart. He resolved upon a great purge, and thus the famous historical episode known as the Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars broke forth. The emperor commanded the destruction of great quantities of the adepts' classics and writings on immortality and Dao, and ordered the live burial of more than four hundred adepts within the city of Xianyang. Within the court, the great majority of the cultivators of the Way who had aligned themselves with the lineage of Xu Fu were slaughtered to a man, and the official transmission of the Pengzu lineage was thereby utterly severed within the central plain court.
The Way is never solitary; it is sure to find its kin. The Dharma is not private; only by sharing does it become truly public.
On the eve of the great catastrophe, two of the foremost disciples of Xu Fu perceived in advance the deadly intent of the court. Fleeing under cover of night, they left Xianyang in different directions and took refuge by the Eastern Sea, and from that time forth two independent millennial transmission lines were formally established: the An Qisheng lineage of the An family, and the Han Dong lineage of the Han family. The two senior brothers, facing calamity, parted to form their separate lines, each holding the classics and each guarding the teachings, neither interfering with the other, each retiring from the world. They put down hidden roots along the Eastern Sea coast, transmitting in secret among the common people, each generation passing the teachings by word of mouth. The An and Han lineages endured through the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties — more than two thousand years of unbroken yet unannounced concealment, fully safeguarding the ancient Pengzu lineage as received from Xu Fu. These two secret folk lineages continued for ages, and only in the recent modern era did they successively come to an end, becoming the most precious and most hidden chapter of the central plain heritage in the broader history of the Chinese Pengzu-Xu Fu transmission.