The Piano Man

The Taoist tradition has many folklore about immortals coming to the human world. They would disguise themselves as a bum, a beggar, a hermit or a crazy person. The purpose of such trips to the human world is to spot potential disciples with certain qualities which make them ready for a spiritual transformation. Sometimes, the immortals also disguise themselves to test the prospective disciple to see if s/he is really worthy.

Taoist sages never appear in the form of a successful business man or a Confucian scholar. They always take the form of a social reject, living at the margin of society. The legendary “living Buddha,” Ji Gong, of China is such a character. He was always unkempt, dirty, crazy, half-human and half-immortal. Although he was a monk, he ate meat and drank wine, thus breaking the precepts. At the same time, he healed people of their diseases and taught the dharma.

The Taoist sage is therefore always a kind of “Hippie” and a representative of the counterculture. I have lived in the US for over forty years. The only time I felt the presence of such immortals was when I was living in the dormitory in Washington Square in Greenwich Village. I was a graduate student at New York University then. My dormitory was in Judson Hall on West Fourth Street. I had a window which overlooked the Square. In the 60s and 70s, the Square had a Bohemian atmosphere. Starting from the 80s, the place…