Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T11:05:26.921Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

XXI. The Eight Immortals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

W. Perceval Yetts
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

One of the subjects beloved of Chinese artists is a venerable figure in an attitude of profound reverie shown as part of a wild and romantic scene of forest, crag, and torrent. Sometimes below his rocky hermitage there stretches a plain with far-off shadowy outlines of ordinary mortal habitations, of which the faint remoteness suggests the gulf separating him from mundane cares and vanities. Looking at such a one, instinct tells us that he feels, to use the words of Shelley, “as if his nature were resolved into the surrounding universe, or as if the surrounding universe were resolved into his being.” He belongs to a strange race, variously named by Western writers Fairies, Immortals, Genii, Rishi. And here may it be remarked in parenthesis that neither “fairy” nor “immortal” is a term that exactly fits them; nor, indeed, does Arabic jinn or Sanskrit ṛishi. They are a race peculiarly Chinese and apart. Hence it would seem most appropriate to call them by their native name hsien, now commonly written , a pictogram representing perfectly the essence of their cult—the primitive contact of man with Nature typified by the mountains. Hsien, therefore, they will be termed in these pages.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , October 1916 , pp. 773 - 807
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1916

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 774 note 1 Study of this still sufficiently numerous body in its relation to Chinese art has for many years pleasantly occupied the writer's leisure hours. What follows is a fragment of the results, publication of which has of necessity been postponed owing to the War. The exigencies of military service would have rendered revision of even this short article impossible but for the help of my friend Dr. Lionel Giles, who, though faced with similar difficulties, has kindly found time to make many valuable corrections. I wish also to acknowledge indebtedness to Mr. Chu Ch'i , with whose aid some time since in Peking the translation of Chinese texts was first made.

page 774 note 2 See Giles, , Biog. Diet., No. 1300.Google Scholar

page 775 note 1 Taoïsme, vol. i.Google Scholar

page 775 note 2 A translation by Dr. Laloy of nearly all the first chüan was published in the Bulletinde l'Association amicale franco-chinoise, vol. v, No. 4, 1913.Google Scholar

page 775 note 3 Chinese Reader's Manual, pt. ii, No. 251.Google Scholar

page 777 note 1 Now Ta-t'ung Fu , in Shansi.

page 777 note 2 Instances are numerous of distinguished persons exhibiting strange abnormalities at birth. The peculiarities credited to Lao Tzŭ, for example, make a formidable list. Obviously several of them refer to the aged appearance he presented when born. “His hair was white; his complexion yellow; his ears long ; his eves large and wide ” (probably used for or ); “his nose had a double bridge, and each ear three orifices; he had a fine beard and a broad forehead; his teeth had gaps between them; and his mouth was squareshaped. The soles of his feet were inscribed with characters, three on one and five on the other, and the palm of each hand had ten ” (Lieh hsien chuan, i, 1 seq.). Compare also the account of Lü Tung-pin (p. 790), and this passage from the book Shui ching chi : “Li T'ai-po had a figure like a tortoise on the soles of his feet. On the breast of Confucius were inscribed the characters and on that of Śākyamuni a swastika.”

The fact that several parallels to the above are to be found among the “Eighty Lesser Points of Beauty” possessed by a Buddha perhaps points to an Indian influence in these Taoist tales. For instance: “A massive brow, round and full ; ears thick and long ; a prominent nose ; arms reaching to the knees ; hands, feet, and breast marked with lucky emblems ” (see De Harlez, , Vocabulaire Bouddhique Sanscrit-Chinois, p. 15 seq.).Google Scholar It might be as well to remark that in oriental iconography the term “long ears” refers specially to the size of the lower part of the pinna. The Chinese have a proverb: “Ears hanging to the shoulders, a most illustrious person.”

page 778 note 1 The celestial abode of good Taoists. “ The purple mansion is the same as ‘the palace of the Genii’.”—Lockhart, , Manual of Chinese Quotations, p. 471.Google Scholar

page 778 note 2 The supreme deity in the pantheon of later Taoism.

page 778 note 3 or is an expression often occurring in these biographies. It is also used in Buddhist literature for attainment to that most exalted plane of enlightenment which constitutes Buddhahood. To quote Chuang Tzŭ, “Tao is without beginning and without end,” and hence it follows that those who become one with Tao attain immortality, in other words become hsien. This is no place to attempt a discussion of the meaning of Tao, even if there had been anything left unsaid by the many distinguished sinologues who have dealt with the subject. The reader is referred to the writings of Rémusat, Julien, Chalmers, Watters, Legge, H. A. and L. Giles, Balfour, Parker, and De Groot. To indicate the elusive nature of Tao it is sufficient to quote the well-known words attributed to Lao Tzŭ himself: “Those who know about it do not speak, those who speak about it do not know.”

page 779 note 1 This fabulous bird seems to be interchangeable with the phœnix, fêng , both in pictures and literature. It combines the physical character istics of the pheasant and peacock. The luan is associated in Taoist lore with ideas of immortality. It figures among the retinue of the mysterious fairy queen Hsi Wang Mu , and some accounts describe an azure luan as heralding her approach to the Emperor Wu Ti of the Han when she brought him the gift of seven magic peaches of immortality.—Pétillon, , Allusions Littéraires, pp. 178, 510.Google Scholar See also Giles, H. A., Adversaria Sinica, i, p. 9Google Scholar seq. Mei Fu , one of the hsien, was carried up to heaven on the back of a luan.—Lieh hsien chuan, ii, p. 10.Google Scholar

page 779 note 2 Regarded as the patriarch among birds, for according to popular tradition it lives to a fabulous age. It is not surprising, therefore, that the crane is associated with hsien, and constantly makes its appearance in pictures with Taoist motives. Indeed, it is often called . Tung Wang Kung and the God of Longevity are seldom portrayed without one in attendance; and a frequent theme is Wang Tzŭ-ch'iao being carried heavenwards upon the back of a white crane. See also Ts'ai-ho, Lan (p. 807).Google Scholar Perhaps the commonest representation of the crane in the class of picture we are considering shows the bird holding in its beak a rod or tally , as, for example, it does in the accompanying woodcut of Chung-li Ch'üan. Such a combination is usually described by the phrase , which means “Heaven lengthens the span of life”. An explanation of how it comes to have this meaning involves several classical allusions. In the first place a crane may be regarded as synonymous with heaven on account of this passage in the Canon of Poetry: . Then the idea of longevity conveyed by is derived partly from the structure of the character itself, and partly from a well-known anecdote illustrating the endless life of hsien. This little tale has several variations, but the one in the Ch'ou ch'ih pi chi is expressed in as picturesque terms as any. Thus: “Once upon a time there were three ancient men met together, and someone asked of them how old they were. One replied: ‘My memory fails me in counting the years, but this I do remember, that in my youth I had duties to perform under the direction of P'an Ku ’” (A mythical being concerned in the creation of the world. See Mayers, Chinese Reader's Manual, No. 538). “Another said: ‘Each time the sea has turned into a mulberry orchard I have thrown down a slip of bamboo to mark the event, and now I have ten rooms full of these tallies.’” (The sea turned into a mulberry orchard is a metaphor for cataclysms vast enough to change the configuration of the world, and hence for measureless epochs of time. Cf. Lieh hsien chuan, ii, 21.)Google Scholar “The third said: ‘My tutor ate one of the peaches of immortality , and threw the stone down to the foot of the K'un-lun Mountains ’ (in other words, the peach came from the gardens of Hsi Wang Mu), ‘and now the tree that has sprung from it is as tall as the mountain itself.’”

page 780 note 1 The Green Dragon is one of the Four Supernatural Creatures , and is associated with the eastern quadrant of the vault of heaven. Perhaps here it has some astrological significance.

page 780 note 2 The two-edged sword still forms part of every Taoist magician's equipment.

page 780 note 3 A sobriquet of the famous Taoist magician T'ao Hung-ching . See Mayers, , Chinese Reader's ManualGoogle Scholar, pt. i, No. 711, and Giles, , Biog. Dict.Google Scholar, No. 1896. The fact that historically he lived a. d. 451–536 in no way convicts the author of the Lieh hsien chuan of an anachronism; for hsien, of course, are independent of time.

page 780 note 4 “A cosmpgonical term alluding to the condition of all things as one, before the evolution of the Yin and the Yang, the interaction of which gave birth to the phenomena of nature.”—Giles, Dict., No. 5341.

page 781 note 1 In modern Shantung. Famous as the birth-place of Confucius.

page 781 note 2 “In Kansuh.”—Giles, Dict., No. 6597.

page 781 note 3 Four worthies who, to escape the troublous times at the end of the third century b.c., retired to a hermit life. See Mayers, , Chinese Reader's ManualGoogle Scholar, pt. ii, No. 83.

page 781 note 4 This, the most ubiquitous object in Chinese art, has received various botanical names. (See Bretschneider, , Botanicum Sinicum, Journ. Chin. Br. R.A.S., vol. xxv, p. 40Google Scholar, and vol. xxix, p. 418.) Its branches expand into flattened umbilicated extremities with scolloped edges. It is probably largely because of the resistance its wood-like substance offers to decay that it has been adopted as the emblem par excellence of immortality. There are records of its supernatural qualities having been recognized as early as the third century b.c. (see Chavannes, , Mém. Hist., vol. ii, p. 176 seq.)Google Scholar, and to the present day it is sold by native apothecaries as a drug capable of prolonging life.

page 781 note 5 Any representation of the magic peach is a covert allusion to that enigmatical figure, Hsi Wang Mu, the Queen of Taoist Fairyland. See note, p. 779. Among the wonders of her mountain domain was the tree that bore but once in 3,000 years peaches the taste of which gave immortality.

page 782 note 1 Bamboo and pine, being evergreen, are emblems of longevity.

page 782 note 2 The name the narcissus bears is sufficient reason why it should be included in this category.

page 782 note 3 For the meaning of see note by DrLaufer, in T'oung Pao, vol. xvi, p. 192.Google Scholar Perhaps a parallel may be found here between the alchemy of China and the West. Talc, a mineral often confused with mica, figures prominently in the writings of mediaeval alchemists, and as late as 1670 it was advocated as a mysterious preservative of youth and beauty by the Apothecary in Ordinary to the English Royal Household, N. le Febure by name, in his Compleat Body of Chymistry, pt. ii, p. 106 seq.Google Scholar

page 782 note 4 One of the first steps on the road to hsienship. Taoists are often said to have given up the ordinary diet of cereals. Some gradually reduce their food till they die of starvation. So emaciated is their condition that their bodies after death become mummified, and thus they do actually attain a kind of corporeal immortality. Particulars of this aspect of Chinese eschatology are to be found in an article by the writer in JRAS. for July, 1911.

page 783 note 1 The notorious woman who, through the possession of an extraordinary personality and a genius for intrigue, rose from obscurity to become the supreme ruler of China during the latter part of the seventh century See Mayers, , Chinese Reader's ManualGoogle Scholar, pt. i, No. 862; and Giles, , Biog. Dict.Google Scholar, No. 2331.

page 783 note 2 i.e. Ho Hsien-ku eluded the envoy. Chinese legend abounds in instances of summonses to Court being sent to hermit sages and others who had cut themselves off from worldly affairs. The recipients have almost invariably shown a consistent contempt for mundane honours by refusing to comply, and imperial curiosity as to their reputed wisdom or powers of magic has remained unsatisfied.

page 783 note 3 The actual period of the day or night when emancipation from earthly ties takes place and the final stage in becoming a hsien is completed is considered in Taoist lore to have a determining influence upon the subsequent career of the hsien. See, for example, the following passage from the Chi hsien lu : “When (after death) the body remains like that of a living man, the condition is that of release from the flesh, shih chich ; when the legs do not become discoloured nor the skin wrinkled—that is shih chieh; when the eyes remain bright and unsunken, in no respect differing from those of a living man—that is shih chieh; when resuscitation follows death—that is shih chieh; when the corpse vanishes before it is encoffined, and when the hair falls off before the mortal body soars (to heaven)—both of these are shih chieh. Most perfect is the release that takes place in broad daylight, but less complete is the release that occurs at midnight. When it takes place at dawn or at dusk, then the persons concerned are relegated to a terrestrial abode” (i.e. they will not reach the celestial paradise, but remain in haunts of the hsien on earth, such as the K'un-lun Mountains , the Isles of the Blest , and the Five Sacred Hills ).

page 784 note 1 Corresponding to part of the modern prefecture of Ta-t'nng Fu , in Shansi.

page 784 note 2 The chief river of Shansi.

page 784 note 3 A state, which ceased to exist about the middle of the fifth century b.c., comprising parts of the modern provinces of Shansi, Honan, and Chihli. It is still used as a literary name for Shansi

page 785 note 1 See note, p. 783.

page 785 note 2 See note, p. 783.

page 785 note 3 Sixth Emperor of the T'ang dynasty, during whose reign from 712 to 756 there figured many characters famous in Chinese history. At first a beneficent ruler and patron of arts and literature, later he neglected affairs of state to indulge in dissipation, becoming a mere tool in the hands of his concubines and eunuchs.

page 785 note 4 Lo-yang , the modern Ho-nan Fu .

page 785 note 5 Breathing exercises form an important part of the physical training followed by Taoists in their quest for longevity. As described to the writer by a certain aged man, who certainly bore in his person testimony to their efficacy, they consist in a series of deep inspirations alternating with periods during which the air is held in the lungs. The old Taoist explained how the air followed a route comprising the entire circuit of the body. The practice of regulating the breath is, of course, not peculiar to the cult of Tao, and it may have been borrowed from Buddhism, or at any rate from India. For a note on this subject containing references to Buddhist literature, see Johnston, R. F., Buddhist China, pp. 245–6.Google Scholar

page 786 note 1 The tou is a measure containing 10 pints.

page 786 note 2 This magical performance on the part of our hsien was doubtless intended to have an allegorical significance, and goes to prove that he was tactful enough to adapt himself to his surroundings. Considered in the light of his bibulous history it suggests an interesting feature of the Taoist cult.

page 786 note 3 Chief of the palace eunuchs. He was given the post of Prime Minister by the dissolute monarch. Kao Li-shih appears as frequently in pictorial art as he does in historical anecdote. He was the high official whom the Emperor compelled to go down on his knees and pull the boots off Li T'ai-po, after the poet had delighted the Court with some verses penned in a fit of alcoholic inspiration. And he it was who, at the time of the Emperor's downfall, had the lot assigned him of strangling the famous beauty and chief imperial concubine, Yang Kuei-fei.

page 787 note 1 is written here in error for .

page 787 note 2 The real history and significance of this object remains shrouded in mystery. The earliest known representations of the type so familiar to all acquainted with Chinese art are to be found in paintings of the T'ang period. In modern times the ju-i has been used as a gift in token of good will, conveying the wish that the recipient may realize all his desires. Professor H. A. Giles considers that the ju-i was originally a kind of blunt sword (Chinese Pictorial Art, p. 159; Adversaria Sinica, vol. i, pp. 320, 321, 328)Google Scholar. Dr. Laufer has written a comprehensive survey of the subject (Jade, p. 335 seq.)Google Scholar, and suggests that the ju-i may have grown out of one of the early emblems of the Chou period, and that in the beginning it was a symbol of light, generative power, and fertility. bf the three ju-i appearing in plate lxviii of Dr. Laufer's book, fig. 1 has its handle decorated with the emblems of our Eight Immortals; and the object described by the author as “the sacrificial vase tsun” is surely no other than the “fish-drum” of Chang Kuo.

page 787 note 3 A hsien city in the prefecture of Hsi-an Fu , capital of the empire under the T'ang, and now the capital of Shensi.

page 787 note 4 Notoriously credulous and easily imposed upon by Taoist cranks and magicians. A keen sportsman, he enlarged the Shang-lin Hunting Park, which had been begun in the third century b.c.

page 788 note 1 One of the magicians largely patronized by this emperor.

page 788 note 2 The notion that on an important occasion the hair should hang loose and the feet should be bare is possibly based on the fear that any knot or constriction, whether on the head or feet, might impede the attainment of success. Cf. Frazer, , Golden Bough, 3rd ed., pt. ii, p. 310 seq.Google Scholar

page 789 note 1 Chang Kuo being immortal, death of course was merely feigned as a subterfuge to escape returning to Court.

page 789 note 2 Grube, , Zur Pekinger Volkskunde, p. 68.Google Scholar

page 789 note 3 See De Groot, , Les Fêtes Annuelles à Émoui, vol. i, p. 170Google Scholar, for some interesting remarks on this subject.

page 789 note 4 Grube, , loc. cit.Google Scholar

page 790 note 1 In Shansi.

page 790 note 2 Cf. the following from Shui ching chi : “The Patriarch Lü's eyebrows stretched back as far as the hair round the temples, and his cheek-bones were high and prominent ."

page 790 note 3 The foot of ancient China is reckoned to have been about eight of our inches.

page 790 note 4 Another name for Chang Liang , a prominent figure in the history of China of the third century b.c. In his latter years he renounced the world and became a Taoist. See Giles, , Biog. Dict., No. 88.Google Scholar

page 790 note 5 The customary age for men to get married being 19.

page 791 note 1 See Giles, , Biog. Dict., No. 1485.Google Scholar

page 791 note 2 These beautiful mountains are close to the Treaty Port of Kiukiang on the Yangtse.

page 791 note 3 At that time the capital of China.

page 792 note 1 Here follows the famous Yellow Millet Dream . A similar story is related of Lu Shêng . See Giles, , Biog. Dict., No. 1429.Google Scholar

page 792 note 2 . This is an allusion to the fabulous land visited by King Mu of Chou as described in the third book of Lieh Tzŭ; see Giles, L., Taoist Teachings, p. 58 seq.Google Scholar

page 793 note 1 The order in which they appear in the text of the Lieh hsien chuan is adhered to in this translation, though their sequence is perplexing. The first test is described below, p. 795.

page 794 note 1 The text has . These two serve as time marks to denote the season when the element metal starts its annual reign, i.e. the beginning of autumn. See Forke, , Lun-hêng, ii, p. 467.Google Scholar

page 797 note 1 In causing inundations.

page 797 note 2 Now the capital of Hunan.

page 797 note 3 Yo-chou Fu, at the entrance of the Tung-t'ing Lake, Hunan.

page 797 note 4 Now the capital of Hupeh, on the bank of the Yangtse, just opposite Hankow.

page 797 note 5 Now the province of Chehkiang.

page 797 note 6 Now the capital of Honan.

page 797 note 7 This is a pun, the character being composed of the same two elements that make up the first character of his name, Lü .

page 798 note 1 A kind of small coronet made to represent a lotus-bloom.

page 798 note 2 See note, p. 787.

page 798 note 3 The most renowned of China's military heroes. Died in a.d. 219. Countless shrines exist in his honour throughout the country, where he is worshipped as God of War. See Giles, , Biog. Dict., No. 1009.Google Scholar

page 798 note 4 He, together with Liu Pei , shared many of the exploits of Kuan Yü. See Giles, , Biog. Dict., No. 51.Google Scholar

page 798 note 5 In Honan.

page 798 note 6 This day is still kept as the anniversary of Lü Tung-pin.—Grube, , Zur Pekinger Volkskunde, p. 68.Google Scholar

page 799 note 1 Posthumous name of Yo Fei, another famous soldier. See Giles, , Biog. Dict., No. 2501.Google Scholar

page 799 note 2 Prince of Literature, the posthumous title of canonization given to Han Yü.

page 799 note 3 One of the names of Lü Tung-pin, q.v.

page 800 note 1 This poem resembles in many ways the writings of mediaeval alchemists. Both schools, Eastern and Western, use the same fantastic jargon, and I venture to think that it is as difficult, perhaps as impossible, to give an adequate rendering of Han Hsiang as to unravel the mysteries of—say Paracelsus. Having made this statement I offer the following remarks for what they are worth. The pearl is closely associated with yin , the female principle in nature, because of the well-known relationship existing between the pearl and the moon—an ancient idea not confined to the Chinese. See De Groot, , Les Fêtes Annuelles à Émoui, p. 127 seqGoogle Scholar. It is for that reason that the pearl is chosen as a talisman against fire, for fire is merely an active display of the opposing principle yang . Pearls, as well as jade and gold, taken internally are said to confer immortality. See De Groot, , Religious System of China, vol. iv, pp. 331, 332Google Scholar. The Precious Cauldron is said to represent the mortal human body. The Golden Tiger perhaps stands for the male or creative principle in nature. Gold is associated with the sun as opposed to pearls with the moon, and of course the transmutation of other metals into gold was the chief aim of alchemystical researches in China as elsewhere. Tiger, the King of Beasts , is an emblem full of significance. “He is seven feet in length, because seven is the number appertaining to Yany, the masculine principle, and for the same reason his gestation endures for seven months.”—Mayers, , Chinese Reader's Manual, pt. i, No. 182Google Scholar. It is rather disconcerting to find, however, that the sister pseudo-science of fêng-shui regards the tiger as representing yin. The three-legged crow is an ancient symbol for the sun.

page 801 note 1 Near Swatow.

page 801 note 2 This polemic, famous as a literary composition, is called Fo ku piao .

page 802 note 1 The complete poem, included in many anthologies of Chinese verse, is as follows:—

At dawn a sealed memorial presented to the Throne,

At eve condemned to banishment eiyht thousand li away.

To end an evil practice for the Emperor's sake I tried,

Nor did I treasure dearly my few remaining years.

Lost on the far Ch'in Mountains, I cannot find my way,

Snow-drifts cover the Lan Pass, and my horse can do no more.

Thoughtful was the motive that brought you from afar,

To bear my body homewards from these malarious streams.

page 803 note 1 Mayers, , Chinese Reader's Manual, pt. i, No. 763.Google Scholar

page 803 note 2 The empress referred to is famous as one of the women who ruled China successfully. She acted as regent during the illness of her son, the fifth emperor of the line (a.d. 1004-7).

page 803 note 3 See pp. 776, 790.

page 804 note 1 In Shensi. The western one of the Five Sacred Hills.

page 804 note 2 These are the two parts which the Chinese believe together constitute every person's soul. The p'o is the visible personality indissolubly attached to the body, while the hun is its more ethereal complement also interpenetrating the body, but not of necessity always tied to it. The hun in its wanderings may be either visible or invisible; if the former, it appears in the guise of its original body, which actually may be far away lying in a trance-like state tenanted by the p'o. And not only is the body duplicated under these conditions, but also the garments that clothe it. Should the hun stay away permanently, death results. This subject was discussed in a most interesting paper by Professor H. A. Giles, read before the China Society in 1907, and published in Adversaria Sinica, vol. i, pp. 145–62Google Scholar. See also De Groot, , Religious System of China, vol. iv.Google Scholar

page 805 note 1 This story has many points of resemblance with that of Hemotimus of Clazomenae. See Pliny, , Natural History, vii, 52.Google Scholar

page 805 note 2 See note, p. 781.

page 805 note 3 See note, p. 782.

page 806 note 1 Because it shows extraordinary vitality in producing in early spring flowers from apparently lifeless branches.

page 806 note 2 Being one of the last flowers to flourish in late autumn they are credited with unusual vitality. Chrysanthemum seeds enter into the composition of several Taoist nostrums.

page 806 note 3 Other plants with red berries also used in this connexion are the “heavenly bamboo” and kou-ch'i , the former because of the spiritual significance conveyed by its name, the latter because it is used as a drug for the prolongation of life.

page 806 note 4 In view of possible confusion it may be mentioned that a popular representation of the Buddhist patriarch Bodhidharma shows him also with one foot bare. The patriarch, however, has curly hair and beard indicating his Indian origin.

page 806 note 5 Possibly there is here something more than a mere record of the careless ways and disregard for ordinary conventions characteristic of hsien. The statement may have a hidden and symbolic meaning. Bare feet may have been regarded as helping in some magic way towards freedom of the soul—a parallel to the motive underlying a custom in ancient Greece, described by SirFrazer, J. G., Golden Bough, 3rd ed., pt. ii, p. 310 seq.Google Scholar