Zhang Sanfeng is undoubtedly a legendary figure. In Jin Yong's novels, Zhang Sanfeng runs through the entire series, which shows Mr. Jin Yong's admiration for Zhang Sanfeng. Wudang Ancestor, Immortal Wind Dao Bone, Divine Gong Gaishi, Zhang Sanfeng is simply an "old immortal" general figure. In the movie "The Demon Sect Leader of the Dragon Slayer in the Heavens", Zhang Sanfeng personally said that he was a hundred years old, and he could still be a pillar of heaven every morning. You say how good he must be!
Zhang Sanfeng's great name not only appears in martial arts novels, but also has records about him in the history books, but Zhang Zhenren's strength in the history books is not because of his "divine feats", but because of his "longevity". According to the history books, Zhang Sanfeng was born in 1247 of the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, in the seventh year of the Southern Song Dynasty, when the Southern Song Dynasty fell, Zhang Sanfeng was more than 30 years old, just in his prime. After that, Zhang Sanfeng actually crossed the Yuan Dynasty in the 98th year of the State Zuo and lived to the Ming Dynasty.
Written in 1461, the "Ming Dynasty Unification Zhi Xianshi" records:
"Zhang Sanfeng lives in Baoji County's East Sanli Jintai Temple. On September 20, 1393, the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu's reign, he died in praise. The people Yang Railshan and other coffins were examined, and the funeral was seen, and Sanfeng was revived."
。 Meaning, on September 20, 1393, Zhang Sanfeng realized that the limit was approaching, "staying in praise and passing away", Yang Railshan and others handled the aftermath for him, the coffin tomb was prepared, and the miracle happened, Zhang Sanfeng died and came back to life!
This was the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, but then various indications showed that there were records about Zhang Sanfeng in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and even during the Qing Dynasty.
The History of Ming records that Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Zhang Sanfeng several times during his reign. In the seventeenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Zhang Sanfeng to go down the mountain with the high-ranking official Houlu, but was refused. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang sent emissaries to invite him again, but Zhang Sanfeng again refused. Zhang Sanfeng knew that Zhu Yuanzhang would not die, so in the "Hongwu Gengwu (1390), whisking his sleeves for a long time, I don't know where it is", leaving Wudang and traveling in all directions. By the time Zhang Sanfeng "died by deception" in the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, he was 146 years old.
Zhu Yuanzhang was unable to see Zhang Sanfeng in the end, and after the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di came to power, he also strongly admired Wudang like his father Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Di "built the Forbidden City in the north and repaired Wudang in the south", sent 300,000 craftsmen in the tenth year of Yongle, and after ten years, built huge engineering buildings such as "Eight Palaces, Two Temples, Thirty-six Nunneries, and Seventy-two Rock Temples" for Wudang, and sealed Zhang Sanfeng as "The Hidden Immortals of the Six Ancestors of The Dragon".
Zhu Diman thought that he had given Wudang such a great benefit, why couldn't Zhang Sanfeng come forward to see him? So in the spring of 1418, Zhu Di personally visited Wudang to visit Zhang Sanfeng. I just didn't expect Zhang Sanfeng to be old-fashioned and not there! Yongle The Great was very faceless and anxious! Ordered the attendant Hu Guang to look for Zhang Sanfeng, and if he couldn't find it, chop it! The emperor's face was not given, where did Hu Guang go to find Zhang Sanfeng?
Helpless, Hu Guang ran to the Wudang Mountain to pray, hoping that Zhang Sanfeng would "remember his sincerity and hardships and should return to Beijing." Zhang Sanfeng naturally could not watch Hu Guang being beheaded, so he appeared in Wudang Mountain to appease the terrified Hu Guang, and told Hu Guang to return to the palace first, and he went to enter the palace to face the saint. Hu Guang immediately rushed back to the palace to report, but when Hu Guang returned to the palace, he learned that Zhang Sanfeng had already seen the emperor and left.
Zhang Sanfeng left Zhu Di a Taoist immortal song called "Visiting the Tao and Seeking Xuan, Walking to the End of the World", and flew away, which is the saying of "the Golden Temple Soaring". The "ascension of the Golden Temple" may be a legend, but one thing is true, Zhang Sanfeng once wrote a letter asking his disciple Sun Biyun to send it to the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di to tell him the way of immortality. Counting up, Zhang Sanfeng was more than 170 years old at this time.
For more than two hundred years, successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty had great respect for Wudang and Zhang Sanfeng. Zhang Sanfeng was given one title after another: "Tongwei Manifestation True Person", "Taoguang Shangzhi True Immortal", "Qing Void Yuan Miao Zhenjun", "Flying Dragon Manifestation Hongren Ji Shi Zhenjun". Zhu Qizhen once had the commandment of the "Royal Gang Zhang Sanfeng Bronze Stele", which was written specifically for the living, indicating that Zhang Sanfeng was still in the world at least at that time, when Zhang Sanfeng was more than 200 years old.
In 1723, at this time, it was already the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, and the news of Zhang Sanfeng was unexpectedly transmitted, "There are Wang Mengjiu, who meet Sanfeng, and show more of his teachings." However, the credibility should not be high, because according to the time calculation, Zhang Sanfeng is more than 470 years old at this time, which has completely exceeded the limits of human beings, and if he is really alive, he can only be explained by "land immortals". According to Mr. Li Shirong's "Ancient and Modern Taijiquan Genealogy and Origin And Origin Interpretation", Zhang Sanfeng died in the second year of Tianshun in the town of Zhu Qi, Emperor Mingying, that is, in 1458 AD, and his life expectancy was 212 years old.
Although Zhang Sanfeng's death year is still controversial, Zhang Sanfeng's longevity is beyond doubt, and the emperors are vigorously pursuing him, but also to seek the art of immortality, hoping to hold power forever. But Daoist alchemists have no desires and no demands, retreat to the world, clean cultivation, quiet and do nothing, "the Tao always does nothing and does nothing, does not seek eternal life and gets eternal life", how can the emperors do it?
[Reference: History of the Ming Dynasty, Ancient and Modern Taijiquan Notation and Origin Of The Secrets, etc.]