ABSTRACT
As in Tao Yuanming's tale, “The Peach Blossom Spring” (“Taohuay-uan-ji”) (Japanese-French edition Tao, 1990, vol. 2, pp. 152ff.; French edition Tao, 1990, pp. 245ff.), real valleys lead to a cave, the narrow passage through which one reaches Immortality. But if by misfortune its secret is not kept, the path will be lost forever and it will be useless “to look for the ford” (wen jin, an allusion to Confu-cius' Analects and the symbol of the search for knowledge).
