Yang Xiong: courtesy name Ziyun, a famous scholar from Shu during the Han Dynasty. When he was young, he heard that the Daoist priest Yan Junping at Wudu Mountain (Yan Xian Guan) in Mianzhu, Xichuan was knowledgeable, accomplished, and highly respected. Yang Xiong went from Rongcheng (Mianyang, Sichuan) to Wudu Mountain to study under the priest.
Seeing that Yang Xiong had a good aptitude and was honest, Mr. Junping studied the classics with him, taught him the art of alchemy and the changing nature of yin and yang.
Yang Xiong saw that his teacher was always busy with the school and sometimes returned home in a hurry, so he asked him where he was going, but Mr. Junping just smiled and didn't answer. Later, Yang Xiong learned that his teacher had mastered the art of qimen dunjia and that he went to and from Guanghan and Chengdu to sell divinations, using the secret passageway from the temple to the immortal well.
One day, when the teacher had some free time, he went with Ziyun to the mountains behind Wudu. Xiong Jing paid his respects and asked, “Teacher, fortune-telling is about temporary changes, moments of ups and downs. What can you teach people?” The teacher replied with caution, “Temporary changes and ups and downs refer to the advantages and disadvantages. When talking about disobedient and unfilial people, you should respect your parents and set an example to warn future generations. As for the treacherous and rebellious officials, you should tell them about the advantages of serving the country and being loyal to the king. Those who bring disaster to the country and harm the people will forever be cursed and reviled throughout the ages! It is good to guide everyone in the neighborhood and the village to be harmonious, and to remind them that a harmonious village will lead to a prosperous town. If there is no harmony in a town, it will bring disaster to the families and people in the area, and they will suffer...”
After learning from Mr. Junping, Yang Xiong made great progress in his studies and became famous for his talent in Shu. Later, he went to the capital as an official and often praised Mr. Junping for his ability and integrity. He was considered a talented Confucian and a brilliant Taoist.
Du Ling and Li Jiang were good friends with Yang Xiong. When Du and Li were appointed as prefects of Yizhou (Chengdu), they were overjoyed and said, “If we can get Mr. Junping when we go to Yizhou, our wish will be fulfilled!” In private, he discussed it with Yang Xiong and said, “I want to hire you as an official. What do you think?” Yang Xiong was silent.
Du and Li went to Mount Wudu with a large gift and went to see Mr. Junping.
The gentleman sat in the room with the curtain drawn.
Yang Xiong accompanied the two of them to see the gentleman. Du Ling asked with clasped hands, “Sir, today is a warm spring day with the rising sun. Why don't you go out for a walk in the countryside? Won't you get bored sitting in the quiet room all day?” The gentleman replied, “When a person walks in the sunshine, their shadow stays close by. The prefect of Yizhou is visiting Xiaoguan, and the trees and plants all know it. If I were to go out to greet him, first, people would suspect that I am having an affair with the prefect, and second, people would say that I am trying to climb the dragon and attach myself to the phoenix...”
The three of them were silent.
After a while, Li Jiang said with a bow, ”In your opinion, what is the way to become an official?”
“An official is the parent of the people. There are one official in the world, two rich and powerful people, and seven humble, poor and weak people. An official should sympathize with and help the humble, poor and weak. The safety of a region and the prosperity of a country depend on this. If there is a change in the ratio of three to seven, the disaster will be hard to predict and the change hard to calm.”
The three of them got up at the same time and bowed again to the teacher, “What should a subject do to be a good companion to the king?”
The teacher put his hand on his face and said: “The sage said: ‘Divide the benefits and announce the harms to all living beings...’
Yang Xiong worshipped the teacher as a disciple and said: ”Teacher, what is the point of dividing the benefits and announcing the harms?”
The teacher helped Yang Xiong up: “In the past, when the first emperor Liu Bang conquered the world and was talking with the general Han Xin, he asked him: ‘How many soldiers can I lead? Xin replied: ’A hundred thousand. And how many generals? The more the better... These few words actually led to his death in the Weiyang Palace.”
Yang Xiong asked again: ‘Can a person protect himself in life? Please enlighten me, sir.”
The teacher replied: ’A person who drinks a lot is like swallowing an iron spear. If you drink day and night, you will suffer from an iron spear piercing your belly. If you calculate everything meticulously and take risks against the wind, if you seek great profits and huge sums of money, you will surely meet with disaster and lose your life. If you covet other people's gains, if you are jealous of others outperforming you, if you harbour malicious intentions, you will set yourself up for disaster. If you spread slander and lies, inciting discord in your master's household, if you brothers kill each other, if you spend your days fearing that the world will not be in chaos, you will surely die under the guillotine. Cruel and violent, inhumane, not doing a single good deed, even if you wear a helmet and iron armor, you will still inevitably suffer the calamity of losing your children and grandchildren, and the calamity will come through the armor! Those who spend their days in debauchery, seducing other people's wives and daughters, and those who have a wealthy family and store up thousands of granaries, will have their houses collapse before their lives end, and they will freeze, starve, and die in the streets and under bridges. As the saying goes: “A drizzle of rain will wet your clothes, and you will finish your belongings after drinking tofu wine.” Those who work from sunrise to sunset can still have enough to eat and wear. But if you just drink three cups of wine and eat a few pieces of tofu every day, without rest, when there is a natural or man-made disaster, you will inevitably have to face days of hunger and cold. In general, the doors to loyalty, filial piety, wealth, and nobility are all based on frugality and respect. This is the source of self-preservation in life...If a person thinks three times a day, the secrets of self-preservation are within reach.
Du and Li both got up, with great courtesy, and offered a generous gift to explain their reason for coming...
The gentleman didn't say a word.
Yang Xiong bowed to the two dignitaries and said, “The skills that Mr. Junping has studied are aimed at educating the people, and no one will act as a civil servant. Everyone has their own aspirations, so how can you force them...”
The gentleman took Yang Xiong's hands and said, ”No one knows Junping better than Yang Ziyun of Western Shu!”
At this point, Mr. Junping closed the shop and lowered the curtain, focusing on the classics of Lao Tzu and writing hundreds of thousands of words. His works, such as “The Essentials of Lao Tzu's Dao De Jing” and “The Essence of the Book of Changes,” have been passed down to the present day.
Yang Xiong resigned from his official position and traveled extensively to famous mountains and rivers, calling himself Yiren. Today, Mianyang has built the “Zi Yun Pavilion” to commemorate a generation of talented people.
The great Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai praised Junping, saying: “Junping has left the world, and the world has also abandoned Junping; observing the changes in the great Dao, exploring the origin of all life; lonely and writing about the Dao, empty and leisurely and quiet; the mandarin duck does not come in vain, the crested ibis sometimes sings; how do you know that in the Han dynasty, the white sun hung high in the sky; the seafarer has been gone for a long time, who can measure the depths?”

扬雄：字子云，汉代蜀中名士。年少时闻西川绵竹武都山 (严仙观)道士严君平先生博学多才，德高望重，便从溶城(四川绵阳)至武都山，拜在先生足下求学。
君平先生见扬雄资质不俗，为人诚直，便悉心与其共研名经华典，授与黄白之术，阴阳朔变。
扬雄见先生操劳学馆，时而匆忙归出，即询问何往，先生笑而不答。后知先生习有奇门遁甲之术，从观内通仙井出没，来往于广汉、成都之间卖卜。
一日先生闲暇，与子云同游武都后山。雄敬礼拜问：“先生卜算，乃一时之变，片刻沉浮。何以教人?”先生慎而回道：“一时变，浮，言其利害。谈忤逆不孝者，当恭敬父母，以身作则，以警后人。权奸乱臣，晓之报国忠君之利。祸国殃民，永落骂名，唾弃千古!善诱乡邻近里人人各顺，提晓：和顺一里，业兴十里。十里若无和顺，必殃及一方家败人亡之大劫……”
扬雄从学君平先生后，学业大进，才华名扬蜀中。后来至京师为官，常称君平先生德才并重。堪称儒家佳才、道门奇秀。
杜陵、李疆，与扬雄交好。杜，李被委以益州(成都)牧之职，喜不自胜地说：“吾到益州，若得君平先生，今生之愿足矣!”私下与扬雄议道：“我欲聘先生为从事，你看如何?”扬雄默然无语。
杜，李备齐厚礼至武都山，进见君平先生。
先生垂帘，静坐室中。
扬雄自随二位面见先生。杜陵拱手问道：“先生，今日春光和暖，旭日高照，何不出外郊游，整日坐于静室不觉闷否?”先生回道：“人行阳光之下；其影寸步不离。益州牧驾临小观，草木皆知。芥民欲行接迎之事，一来众人疑我与众大人有私，其二众生议生有攀龙附凤之举……”
三位默然无语。
片时，李疆拱手道：“依先生之见，为官之道，从何作起?”
“官者，民之父母。天下为官者一，富贵者二，卑、贫、弱者七。为官者理应体恤，拔助卑、贫、弱者。一方之安，一国之兴，在于此举。若有三、七之变，其祸难以测，其变难以平。”
三位同时起身，再拜先生：“为臣者何以为伴君之道?”
先生以手加颜：“圣人云：当剖其利，禀其害而布告众生……”
扬雄以弟子礼拜道：“先生，何为剖利而后禀害呢?”
先生扶起扬雄：“昔日高祖刘邦扫平天下，与三齐王韩信言谈之际，问信：朕能领兵多少?信回：十万之众。将军呢?多多益善……寥寥数语，竟引来未央宫杀身之祸。”
扬雄再问：“人生可否自保，请先生明示。”
先生回道：“嗜酒者，如吞铁矛。日夜嗜酒不息，必遭铁矛穿腹之苦。机关算尽，顶风冒险，好巨利，图巨金，必有丧身之祸。贪图别人之利，嫉妒他人胜过自己，心怀不轨之意，自设丧躯之窖。谗言妄语，挑动主家不和，自家兄弟，互相残杀，整日唯恐天下不乱，必死在断头刀下。残酷暴戾，灭绝人性，片善不行，纵你头顶铁盔，身着铁甲，也难免绝子断孙之祸，透甲而来!终日花天酒地，戏人妻女，家有万贯，储粮千仓，命未绝时已墙倒屋倾，冻、饿、死于街头、桥底。常言：毛毛雨打湿衣裳，豆腐酒喝完家当。那种日出而作、日落而息者，尚能饱暖。就这样日饮三杯，豆腐几块，日无休止，到了天灾人祸之时，也免不了有冻饿之日。大凡忠、孝、富、贵之门，皆以节俭、礼敬为本，此乃是人生自保之源……人若一日三思，自保秘笈随手可拾。”
杜，李二位起身，礼仪有加，献出厚礼，说明来意……
先生一言不发。
扬雄拱手对二位大人道：“君平先生所习之术，志在教化于民，无人仕宦之举。人各有志，岂可强求……”
先生握住扬雄双手：“识君平者，莫如西蜀扬子云矣!”
至此，君平先生即闭肆下帘，专注老子经典，著书数十万言，《老子道德指归经》、《易经骨髓》等著作流传至今。
扬雄辞去官职，遍游名山大川，自称逸人。今绵阳建有“子云亭”，纪念一代才人。
唐代诗圣李白赞君平曰： “君平既弃世，世亦弃君平；观变穷大易，探元化群生；寂寞缀道论，空廉闲幽情；驺虞不虚来，鸑鷟有时鸣；安知汉天上，白日悬高明；海客去已久，谁人测沈幂?”