I'd like to thank all of you, first of all, for coming this evening on such a beautiful

early summer evening with slightly cooler temperatures.

So really, I appreciate you being here in the audience.

I'd also like to thank more generally the IKGF for hosting me here in this fellowship.

It's just so delightful, and I am incredibly grateful for this community of wonderful people.

So look around.

You're included in this wonderful community of people, and I really value this time that

we've spent together.

And maybe especially I can give a little shout out to our tiny dreams research group.

You know who you are, and I really benefited immensely from our sessions together.

So thank you.

I'd like to start with a legend, and the main characters are the He brothers, and the site

is Nine Carp Lake.

According to an eighth century inscription, once there were nine brothers with the surname

He, who left their home to retreat to the mountains in Nine Carp Lake, which is in present

day Fujian province.

There they practiced inner alchemy, succeeded at this task, became immortals, and then transformed

into Nine Carp Spirits.

According to the Xianxi Zhi of 1257, one of the earliest local gazetteers, the Nine

He brothers moved from present day Jiangxi province after studying Taoist alchemical

practices with the compiler of the Huainanzi.

They settled at Nine Carp Lake.

Now we move into the Ming dynasty, and the legend grows.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, Nine Brothers escaped the rage of

their father by hiding in the mountains of what is now Nine Carp Lake.

There they cultivated the art of longevity.

They practiced inner alchemy and refined cinnabar.

They fed the cinnabar to the red carp living in the lake.

The carp turned into beautiful red dragons.

The Nine Brothers became immortal and rode the dragons up to heaven.

After becoming immortal, the brothers left for Fuzhou's Jade Mountain in the company

of another immortal at the invitation of a mortal king.

There they demonstrated their magic skills.

Before taking their leave, they left the king a bamboo stick.

The Fifth He brother transformed the stick into a dragon.

In honor of this event, a temple was constructed on the mountain there, and the stone mortar

that they used for their alchemy apparently can still be seen today.

And now from a temple publication in 2005.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, there lived Nine Brothers, all of

whom were blind from birth, except for the oldest brother who could see out of only one

eye.

Their father was a very famous governor and could not bear that his sons were disabled

and he wished to kill them all.

The family intervened in their favor and the brothers were cloistered away from their father.

One day the father hosted a banquet and the Nine Sons suddenly burst into the room, much

to their father's embarrassment and despair.

The guests, however, spoke to the brothers and asked what they wanted.

We only wished to retire to the mountain as hermits.

Fearing that they would become beggars and further humiliate him, their father refused.

The visiting guest, however, promised to supply them with provisions and took them himself