Dream of the Red Chamber, Volume 1

The chapter begins with the mythic story of the origin of a magic stone, which a goddess discarded during a cosmic building project. In finding the stone, the monk Impervioso and Taoist Mysterioso saw its powers and decided to give it a new lease on life. Impervioso and Mysterioso bring the stone to the fairy Disenchantment, who is incarnating many magical objects to give them the opportunity to experience human life and romance. Impervioso and Mysterioso decide to bring the magic stone and return themselves to the land of mortals, to do good and to bring men to enlightenment.

A monk named Vanitas finds the stone after its human life many eons later. After discovering the meaning of the stone’s story to be “love,” he renames himself the “Passionate Monk” and transcribes the story to publish. Many monks retell the story, but the narrator relays the original transcription. The story is about a man named Shi-yin, who lives near Bottlegourd Temple. He dreams of a monk and Taoist bringing a stone to find life on Earth. He wakes to two eccentric men wandering the streets, and the monk tells him that his daughter, Zhen Ying-lian, will bring his family pain: