Discourse on the Immortal Peach

NMH

25-1-2026

© VQH

Zhuangzi sees Kingfisher fidgeting among the branches of a peach tree and, puzzled, asks:

— Why is it that today Kingfisher is not on the bamboo branch, meditating and catching fish, but instead hopping about on a peach tree like this?

Hearing Zhuangzi’s voice, Kingfisher is overjoyed and replies at once:

— Master, please save me, for my mind is unsettled. For days now, I’ve been thinking about the legend of the Immortal Peach of the Queen Mother of the West, and all the marvelous tales surrounding it, yet my head still can’t make sense of it.

Zhuangzi laughs:

— But I myself have never eaten an immortal peach…

Kingfisher says:

— Yet Master possesses profound dharmic vision; your body and mind have long transcended worldly dust. You can discourse on matters of the world across thousands of years—why must you eat something in order to understand it?

Hearing this argument, Zhuangzi is momentarily stunned, for it seemed entirely correct, and he does not know how to refute it. Seizing the moment, Kingfisher presses on:

— I have heard, Master, that an immortal peach ripens only once every ten thousand years; merely smelling it grants 367 years of life, while eating a single bite bestows a lifespan equal to Heaven and Earth. Thus, the peach is used as a symbol of longevity and of Daoism itself, no less than cinnabar. Is that so?

Zhuangzi grows serious but answers cautiously:

— I have heard of it. I have not eaten it.

Kingfisher continues:

— And in the immortal realms, the gods and immortals all partake of immortal peaches every spring—have you heard this too, Master?

Zhuangzi replies guardedly:

— I have heard. I have not eaten. But why should such matters stir your mind so, making you jump about wildly in the tree?

At this point, Kingfisher reveals his challenge and asks:

— What puzzles me is this: if eating a single bite already grants a lifespan equal to Heaven and Earth—that is, an infinite amount of time—then why must one eat them again and again over many springs, wasting such precious fruit?

Realizing he has encountered a difficult problem, Zhuangzi buys time:

— I, too, have only heard these things. Yet there must be a reason. Tonight, I shall use my dharmic vision to investigate and see what answer emerges.

Kingifisher is secretly delighted—this time, surely the Master is stuck.

[…]

True to his word, the next morning, Zhuangzi sits calmly beneath the peach tree, seemingly waiting for Kingfisher in order to give his explanation. When Kingfisher comes, Zhuangzi beckons him closer and speaks softly:

— Indeed, eating a single bite of an immortal peach grants a lifespan equal to Heaven and Earth—one lives for an infinite time.

Kingfisher looks smug:

— Then eating many peaches would indeed be a waste!

Zhuangzi says:

— Not quite, for infinite time belongs to infinity…

Kingfisher impatiently interrupts:

— But it is still infinite, immeasurable… still a waste.

Zhuangzi frowns slightly:

— Why are you in such a hurry? The point is that there are kinds of infinity that are greater than other kinds of infinity!

Kingfisher gaps in astonishment:

— Infinity is immeasurably vast, yet you say there is an infinity greater than infinity—then infinity would be absurd. Have you made a mistake, Master??

Zhuangzi smiles:

— My dharmic vision has traveled 2,300 years into the future and seen this become a mathematical theorem, taught everywhere in schools. It is only because you possess mere physical sight that you are astonished.

Hearing this, Kingfisher has no choice but to concede. Suddenly, he brightens, seizing the chance to learn something:

— Today, my eyes have been opened. Yet I earnestly beg you, Master, to teach me the secret of cultivating dharmic vision.

Kingfisher thinks this is merely a face-saving question, for how can such a secret teaching be so easily transmitted? Yet to his surprise, Zhuangzi cheerfully whispers:

— Just google “Georg Cantor.”

References

[1] Vuong QH. (2024). Wild Wise Weird. https://books.google.com/books?id=N10jEQAAQBAJ

[2] Zhuang Zhou. (1964). Zhuangzi.

[3] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/