Chapter 12: Kai Kang of the Bamboo Grove

While the Celestial Teacher’s Way grew in popularity among the common people, a small but influential group attracted to Taoist philosophy and the belief in immortality was beginning to emerge within the intellectual community. This group not only experimented with herbs and minerals to create elixirs of immortality but also shunned social conventions, mocked the establishment, and exhibited wild behavior.

Among these nonconformists was a talented musician, poet, and essayist named Kai Kang. Kang was a virtuoso on the zither. Even as a child he wrote and played his own music. When his family encouraged him to pursue a career as a court musician, Kai Gong replied that he had no interest in performing for the nobility.

“Musicians who pander to the tastes of the leisure class are no different from dogs who wag their tails in the presence of their masters,” he said.

Kai Kang left his family and joined a group of intellectuals who followed Zhuangzi’s teachings of  “free and easy wandering” literally and seriously. Kang and his companions often met in a bamboo grove at the edge of town to drink, recite poetry, and discuss Taoist philosophy. Their outrageous behavior and absolute disregard for social norms earned them both notoriety and fame. The group became known as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.

Of the seven, Kai Kang was the most charismatic. Handsome, charming, and elegantly dressed, he carried an air of grace and dignity that won the loyalty of friends and the hearts of women. Obstacles did not exist for Kai Kang: nothing seemed to stand in his way, not even ghosts and spirits.

One time Kai Kang was invited to a housewarming party given by a friend. Expecting a large crowd and lots of fun and merriment, Kang was disappointed that only a handful of guests was present. When he saw the host looking dejected and confused, Kai Kang asked, “What’s wrong? Have you lost all of your friends?”

The host replied, “My house is haunted. My friends are afraid to come.”

Kai Kang was known to be bold and adventurous. “I’d like to meet these ghosts and ask them why they haunt your house,” he said.

“You are welcome to stay in the guest suite,” the friend replied. “The ghosts usually come out around midnight.”

That night Kai Kang took his zither, sat in the gazebo in the garden, and played.

At midnight eight ghostly apparitions appeared. They floated toward Kai Kang, who kept his composure and continued playing.

One of the ghosts approached Kai Kang and said, “You are a very talented musician. I haven’t heard anyone play like that in my lifetime.”

The ghost sat down on the bench next to Kai Kang, closed his eyes, and seemed completely captivated by the music. Presently Kai Kang finished playing, looked at his ghostly visitor, and asked calmly, “Who are you, and why are you haunting this mansion?”

The ghost replied, “We are eight musicians who were robbed and killed by bandits while traveling to the capital to play for the emperor. When your host built a house on this field, our spirits were trapped. We mean no harm to your friend and his family.”

Another ghost floated over to Kai Kang and said, “Our bones are scattered in the backyard near the large tree. Now that you know of our predicament, we hope that you will find our remains and bury them properly. Once our bones are returned to the earth, we can journey to our next life and will no longer haunt the realm of the living.”

Kai Kang smiled and said, “I promise that you will all be given a proper burial.”

“We are indebted to your kindness,” the leader of the ghosts said. “In return, we will teach you a piece of music that has been lost for three hundred years.”

The ghosts hovered around Kai Kang and played and sang until the first light of dawn.

In the morning Kai Kang approached his friend and related to him his experience with the ghosts. The two men went to the backyard, found the remains of the eight musicians, and buried them in proper graves.

It was said that after that incident, whenever Kai Kang played the piece of music he had learned from the ghosts, faint echoes of accompaniment could be heard.

At another time Kai Kang was wandering in the mountains singing and reciting poetry when he saw a strange man climbing nimbly up the rocky slope. The man was dressed in a simple hemp robe and had a zither slung across his back. Kai Kang knew that this must be the immortal musician Sun Deng. Eager to learn from the master, Kai Kang hurried after Sun Deng and followed him into a cave. Sun Deng sat down on a flat boulder and began to play. Kai Kang was mesmerized. The music took him to the realm of the immortals, where he danced on the clouds and swirled with the movement of the stars.

When the music stopped, Kai Kang stepped toward the immortal, bowed, and said, “Teacher, please instruct me in the art of music.”

Sun Deng responded with silence. Kai Kang was not discouraged. He built a hut outside the cave, settled there, and waited patiently for the immortal to teach him.

Three years passed. One day Sun Deng called Kai Kang into the cave. Kang expected the immortal to teach him the music of the celestial realm, but instead he heard Sun Deng say: “Talent, experience, and worldly wisdom are all necessary for preserving your life. You have tremendous talent but not enough experience and worldly wisdom. All your life you’ve taken things for granted. If you don’t acquire worldly wisdom, you’ll lose your life, and if you throw your life away, how can you become an immortal?”

Kai Kang frowned. He did not understand the meaning of Sun Deng’s words. Before he could ask again, the immortal said, “If you can humble yourself and develop worldly wisdom, you’ll have a chance to come back and learn from me.” Sun Deng disappeared into the mist.

Kai Kang returned home. His fame as a musician grew, but so did his disdain for the political establishment. At that time the Wei dynasty had just been toppled. Eager to restore law and order after a hundred years of warfare, the emperor of the new dynasty, Jin, had no tolerance for criticisms of his policies. Oblivious to this change in the political climate, Kai Kang continued to mock the government and nobility with essays and satires.

Knowing that Kai Kang was courting danger, his family tried to dissuade him from making callous remarks about the new dynasty. Kang, however, chose to ignore them.

If Kai Kang were an unknown commoner, the government would probably have overlooked his behavior. But Kang was a famous musician with a large number of admirers. The emperor decided that Kai Kang needed to be silenced. Hoping to avoid a controversy, he sent an emissary to warn the musician not to make further criticisms of the government. Kai Kang responded by composing a poem satirizing the incident. The emperor was outraged and had Kai Kang arrested. Even in prison, Kang was stubborn and arrogant. Denied brush, ink, and paper, he wrote satirical poems on the prison wall with charcoal.

Eventually the emperor’s patience ran out, and Kai Kang was sentenced to death. When his punishment was announced, three thousand government officials, aristocrats, and intellectuals knelt in front of the imperial palace to petition for his pardon. The emperor held his ground, and Kai Kang was led to the city gate for execution.

Kai Kang stepped onto the scaffold, sat down, and asked for a zither. The officer on duty, who was an admirer of Kai Kang’s, ordered that a zither be brought to him. Kang placed the zither across his lap and played the music he had learned from the ghosts.

When the last note faded into silence, even hardened soldiers were weeping openly. Kai Kang sighed, laid down the zither, and said, “Now I understand what immortal Sun Deng meant when he told me to acquire worldly wisdom.”

Kai Kang walked calmly to the execution block and placed his head on it. He was forty years old.

Kai Kang’s death was mourned throughout the kingdom. Even the emperor regretted that he had had the musician executed.

Not long after Kai Kang’s death, a talented but poor musician named Xu Ning happened to pass by a bamboo grove on his way to a music competition. Just as Ning was wondering what he would perform before the examiner, he heard the unmistakable sound of a zither coming from the direction of the grove. Curious, the student musician searched the area but found no one. When Xu Ning was about to leave the area, he heard the music again. This time Ning recognized the piece: it was the song Kai Kang had played on his execution day! The young student committed the music to memory and played it before the competition judge. When the last string of the zither went silent, the master musician smiled and said to Xu Ning, “It is I who should learn from you. In giving you his music, Kai Kang has accepted you as his student.”

It was said that Kai Kang projected his spirit into the immortal realm just before he was executed. Although Kang never attained immortality in bodily form, his spirit dwelled in the immortal realm, and occasionally it would return to wander in the bamboo grove Kai Kang had loved so much in his mortal life.