A Gallery of Chinese Immortals - Selected Biographies Tr from Chinese Sources by Lionel Giles MA DLitt.pdf

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A Gallery of Chinese Immortals
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Selected Biographies
Translated from Chinese Sources by
LIONEL GILES, M.A., D.Litt.
[cover]
Several centuries before the Christian
era Chinese mountain hermits, called
hsien,
are said to have succeeded, by
means of dieting, bodily exercises,
regulation of the breath, and mental
cultivation, in prolonging life far beyond
the ordinary span. Later on, Taoist adepts devoted themselves to the
task of compounding an elixir of immortality, indicidentally achieving a
mastery over the forces of nature that enabled them to perform all sorts
of miraculous feats. A book containing short accounts of prominent
figures among the earlier
hsien
appeared towards the end of the former
Han dynasty and this was followed by longer biographical notices of
numerous other "immortals." It is from these sources that this volume
has been selected and translated. -- JOHN MURRAY
[inside dust jacket]
THE WISDOM OF THE EAST SERIES
EDITED BY J.L. CRANMER-BYNG, M.C.
CHINESE IMMORTALS
[1]
EDITORIAL NOTE
THE object of the editor of this series is a very definite one. He desires
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above all things that, in their humble way, these books shall be the
ambassadors of good-will and understanding between East and West, the
old world of Thought, and the new of Action. He is confident that a
deeper knowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental
thought may help to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which neither
despises nor fears the nations of another creed and colour.
-- L.
CRANMER-BYNG. 50, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON, W.I.
[4]
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION
ABBREVIATIONS
I. REMOTE ANTIQUITY
II. CHOU DYNASTY
III. CH'IN DYNASTY
IV. FORMER HAN DYNASTY
V. LATER HAN DYNASTY
VI. THE THREE KINGDOMS
VII. DIVISION INTO NORTH AND SOUTH
VIII. T'ANG DYNASTY
IX. THE EIGHT IMMORTALS
ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF HSIEN
[5]
[6]
INTRODUCTION
READERS of
Gulliver's Travels
may remember that on his way to Japan
the hero of that work came to the Kingdom of Luggnagg, where he first
heard of the existence of certain remarkable individuals called
struldbrugs. They formed but a small part of the population, and were
distinguished at birth by a red circular spot on the forehead which was
an infallible sign that they would never die. Struck with wonder and
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delight, Gulliver began to dilate on the happiness which he felt sure
must be the lot of such fortunate creatures, delivered by the continual
apprehension of death. But he was soon disillusioned on discovering
that the struldbrug's immortality was not accompanied by that
perpetuity of youth, health, and vigour which alone could make life
tolerable. Indeed, when he was brought into the presence of a few
struldbrugs, his reaction was one of extreme disgust at the ghastliness
of their appearance. Still, he was naturally interested in such an
unexampled phenomenon, and hoped to learn more on the subject from
the accounts given by Japanese authors. However, the shortness of his
stay in Japan and his ignorance of the language prevented him from
pursuing his inquiries.
That was a great pity; for the Japanese, having been in touch with the
civilisation of China for many centuries, could really have told him
things about the "immortals" of that country which would have
reawakened all his enthusiasm. These immortals were indeed vastly
superior to the struldbrugs in that they could remain for ever exempt
from both physical and mental decay. By the Chinese they were called
hsien,
a word which in its written form is a character composed of
[7]
two pictographic elements, "man" and "mountain"; thus it appears that
the name was originally applied to men who had retired from the world
in order to live a hermit's life in the mountains. Their activities were
mostly confined to the gathering of certain herbs and roots which, when
eaten, would not only cure disease but also rejuvenate the body and
lengthen life far beyond its normal span. Chief among such plants was
the
ling-chih
or "magic fungus", believed to contain vitalizing elements
of marvellous efficacy. We are told that an aged man once dug up
something like a human hand, very plump and pink. He boiled and then
ate it, whereupon his teeth and hair sprouted anew; his strength
returned, and his complexion became like that of a youth. A Taoist who
met him said: "The thing you ate was a fleshy
chih.
Your longevity will
equal that of the toroise and crane." We also hear much about cassia or
Chinese cinnamon;
shu,
a species of Atractylis with a root resembling
ginger; pine resin, which according to the standard Chinese
pharmocopoeia "renders the body light and prevents the onset of old
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age"; and peaches, the fruit of immortality, which grew in the garden of
Hsi Wang Mu, the Western Queen Mother, who dwelt in the K'un-lun
mountains.
The eccentric behaviour of the typical hsien, and the seclusion in which
he lived, led to the weaving of many legends round him. He was often
credited with all kinds of supernatural powers besides the indefinite
prolongation of life: thus, he might be able to evoke rain, wind, thunder
and lightning, have spirits at his beck and call, pass unharmed through
solid matter or fire, effect a transformation of his bodily shape, move
with incredible speed, or even appear in several places at once. It is not
surprising, therefore, that the hsien cult is soon found in close
association with the amorphous system of Taoism, which seems to
have existed in some form before the time
[8]
of Confucius, and was always ready to assimilate any new movement
dealing with what was strange or miraculous. No precise date, however,
as to the origin of the cult can be extracted from the Taoist writings of
the Chou dynasty. Lao Tzu in the
Tao Te Ching
speaks of the man
possessed of Tao as enduring forever: "By maintaining the unity of body
and soul, can you not escape dissolution?" And in another mystic
passage: "He who has grasped the secret of life will be safe from the
attack of buffalo or tiger. . . And why? Because he has no spot where
death can enter." Such sayings, vague though they are, may have
opened the way to a belief in the posssibility of attaining actual
immortality. Chuang Tzu goes a little further when he describes "a
spiritual being dwelling on a mountain, whose flesh was smooth as ice
and skin as white as snow; he was gentle and submissive as a young
girl, ate none of the five cereals but inhaled the wind and drank the dew;
soaring above the clouds, he drove a team of flying dragons and
roamed beyond the limits of this world." And elsewhere he more than
hints at a regimen of the soul and body which will keep death at bay.
Lieh Tzu, who revels in the marvellous, tells of a man who was seen
passing through solid rock and floating in the midst of flames, but who
when questioned was unable to give any explanation of these feats.
Lieh Tzu himself brought his mental passivity to such a pitch that he
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became wholly unconscious of what his body was resting on, and was
borne this way and that by the wind. But the passage which most
closely foreshadows the later conception of hsien occurs in his
description of the five Islands of the Blest:
The towers and belvederes built upon their heights were all made of gold and
jade, the birds and beasts living there were all spotlessly white.
Trees of pearl and coral bore thick masses of flowers; their
[9]
fruit was delicious to the taste, and those who are thereof knew neither old age
nor death.
The inhabitants all belonged to the race of demi-gods and immortals, and in
countless numbers they would fly across to meet one another
within the space of a single day or night.
Here we have the earliest known occurrence of the character for
hsien,
though the “immortals” thus designated are more like what we should
call fairies than human beings who have won immortality through their
own endeavours.
It is true that in a less exalted mood Lieh Tzu also writes as follows:
“That which has life must by the law of its being come to an end; and
the end can no more be avoided than the living creature can help being
alive. So that he who hopes to perpetuate his life and to shut out death
is deceived as to his destiny.” But enthusiasts were content to ignore
any such warning as this. To them it seemed only natural that Tao, the
ultimate principle of the universe, being itself everlasting, should be able
to impart the same blessing to its creatures; that is to say, if the whole
human personality could be brought into complete harmony with Tao, it
might be expected to share in its immortality. Thus, the great question
came to be, how to achieve this harmony, or as the common phrase
went, how to “attain Tao”. Generally speaking, a twofold process was
considered necessary: (1) cultivation of the mind, with Tao as the
model: quietude, passivity, gentleness, self-effacement were the main
characteristics to be aimed at; (2) a gradual refinement of the bodily
substance by means of physical exercises, dieting, regulation of the
breath, and the taking of appropriate drugs.
All these methods were practised, more or less, by aspirants to
hsienship, but as time went on, more and more importance was
attached to the swallowing of a special drug, or elixir, which could make
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