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In Strange Tales from Liaozhai: The Daoist Priest, a ragged Daoist priest befriends Scholar Han — a nobleman fond of hosting banquets — and his neighbor Xu.
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The pursuit of Daoist cultivation is a recurring theme in classical Chinese literature. For instance, Journey to the West’s Sun Wukong voyages to the Spirit Terrace, Square-Inch Mountain seeking immortality from Patriarch Subodhi (Subhuti).
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The local gentry are holding a grand banquet for a newly appointed prefect, and many musicians are here to entertain the party.
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A charlatan informed the King of Yan that he could make him immortal, and the prince bade one of his subjects learn this art; but before the envoy could do so the stranger died. Then the prince, in great anger, executed his subject.
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Chapter 24 of the Dao De Jing deconstructs human vanity through paradoxical aphorisms.