More Notes on the Eight Immortals

W. Perceval Yetts

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00053594

More Notes on the Eight Immortals

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

W. Perceval Yetts

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The following notes are intended to supplement an article written in 1912 and published in JRAS. for October, 1916, pp. 773–807. The theme then was the tradition of the group as generally accepted at the present day, and limitation of space confined the study to one hero-tale for each of the Eight. The tales were translated intact from an illustrated compilation of Taoist mythology which continues in popular favour and provides a fairly representative treatment of the subject. With a scope so restricted, the former article made but a small contribution towards a better understanding of an important national cult. It is essayed here to probe a little deeper and in more varied places in search of evidence about the origin and evolution of the conception. The writer feels that apologies are due for the scrappy nature of these notes rather than for reverting to the topic ; for surely there is call for much fuller inquiry, considering the ubiquity of the Eight in the folk-lore and folk-art of the Far East during many centuries, and the scant, attention paid them by Western students.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , July 1922 , pp. 397 - 426

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00053594 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1922

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^{page 397 note 1} Again grateful acknowledgment is due to my friend Dr. Lionel Giles for kindly correcting the translation of several difficult passages and for reading the proofs. His specialized knowledge of Taoist literature has rendered his generous help invaluable.

^{page 398 note 1} Thus these lines of the poet Li Po : “ Having the air of a hsien and my person permeated with Tao, I can wander through boundless space in the company of spirits ”. Also compare the terms , which means “ in every direction ”, and the similar .

^{page 398 note 2} v. Li chi, Legge, , S.B.E., xxvii, 431.Google Scholar

^{page 398 note 3} v. Chavannes, , Mém. Hist., iii, 432seqGoogle Scholar. Ssŭ-ma Ch‘ien says that the Eight Spirits have existed since earliest times ; but he also quotes a tradition that the belief dated from about 1100 B.C. The Eight are the Lords of the Sky, Earth, Sun, Moon, Four Seasons, the Yin and Yang principles, and of War. It is noteworthy that the Roman Catholics have adopted the name of the first, , as their term for God. The same two characters are used for Indra by Chinese translators and writers on Buddhist subjects.

^{page 398 note 4} The term denoted all musical instruments. It included those fashioned from eight kinds of materials : metal, stone, silk, bamboo, wood, earth, skin, or a gourd, v. Shu ching, Legge, , Chin. Class., iii, pt. i, 41Google Scholar. There is no space to discuss here this interesting topic ; it must suffice to mention that “ metal ” comprised bells, “ stone ” sonorous hanging stones, “ silk ” stringed instruments, “ bamboo ” flutes, “ wood ” sonorous box types, “ earth ” things like the ocarina, “ skin ” drums, and “ gourd ” that strange-shaped reed-organ , the body of which resembles a teapot. v. Hsiao hsüeh kan chu, , ix, 12.

^{page 398 note 5} v. Chavannes, Mém. Hist., i, Intro, ccxvii.

^{page 399 note 1} This is a compilation from multitudinous sources published towards the end of the last century by the native scholar Huang Po-lu , who became a member of the Roman Catholic clergy. As its title suggests, the main purpose of the work is to discredit non-Christian beliefs. Its well-arranged pages have provided the basis for much that has been published by Western writers on Chinese religion, though the source of information has not always been acknowledged. It has frequently been consulted in the preparation of these notes.

^{page 399 note 2} Not to be confused with the eight ministers of state under An P‘ing Wang who were called by the same name, Pa Kung.

^{page 400 note 1} v. T‘oung Pao, xix, 318, 404–6.

^{page 400 note 2} v. Pelliot, loc. cit., 406.

^{page 400 note 3} According to the Hsiao hsüeh kan chu, vi, 14, the names of Huai-nan's Eight Worthies were as follows: Tso Wu , Li Shang , Su Fei , T‘ien Yu , Mao P‘i , Lei P‘i , Chin Ch‘ang , and Wu P‘i . But it must be remarked that this list is quite inconsistent with the tale told by Ko Hung if it be intended that it should relate to the eight magicians. The names quoted in this note are those of courtiers and others frequenting the Prince's palace. Thus they constitute yet another group under the style Pa Kung, distinct from the hsien. Dr. Giles has kindly pointed out a variation of the narrative, as told by Ko Hung, appearing in Lu i chi (quoted in T‘u shu, Section xviii, Bk. 229), where the Eight Worthies are made to declare by what names they were known. These are all fanciful pseudonyms of Taoistic import.

^{page 401 note 1} The power of self-multiplication is possessed by many Taoist magicians and is not unknown in Christian hagiology, e.g. St. Anthony of Padua and St. Alfonso of Liguori, both of whom were seen in at least two places simultaneously. Some hsien are credited with being able to reduplicate their persons a hundredfold and more.

^{page 401 note 2} A reminiscence of Tao tê ching, xliii: “ That which has no substance enters where there is no crevice ”. Lieh Tzŭ has a story of a man who could float in and out of a rocky cliff; and a like feat was performed by the first so-called Taoist pope, Chang Tao-ling. Compare also a note in a book ascribed to a third century author which recounts the powers of a number of Taoist magicians who lived under the Emperor Wu Ti of the Wei dynasty: “ They go in and out without using the doors ”.—Po wu chih , v, 1.

^{page 402 note 1} According to the list given in the Tz‘ŭ yüan, they are : cinnabar, realgar, copper carbonate, sulphur, mica, sal ammoniac, nitre, and ochre.

^{page 402 note 2} Taoists distinguish “ Three Purities ” , each being the abode of hsien: (1) “ Jade Purity ” ; (2) “ Upper Purity ” ; (3) “ Great Purity ” . The last, according to Ko Hung, is forty li above the earth and of crystalline hardness.

^{page 402 note 3} T‘oung Pao, xix, 255–433.

^{page 403 note 1} Loc. cit., 406, 407.

^{page 403 note 2} This famous mountain is south-west of Ch‘êng-tu. It is called the “ administrative centre of the hsien ” , and it was the fifth in the series of the Ten Mysterious Palaces of Celestial Places . v. Chavannes, Mém. conc. l'Asie Or., iii, 132, 137 seq.

^{page 405 note 1} “ Famous for his paintings of Taoist philosophers and divinities ”— Waley, Index of Chinese Artists, 5 (London, 1922). Dr. Giles has kindly called my attention to what must be almost a contemporary notice of his work and this picture in particular in T‘ai p‘ing kuang chi , ccxiv, 3. Here the list of the Eight Hsien has Li I , instead of Li Êrh.

^{page 405 note 2} Lived in the third century A.D., assuming that the identification of him with Ko Hsien-wêng be correct. In the prefecture of Ch‘êng-tu there is a hill named after him, from which, so the legend goes, he ascended on high as a hsien. v. Chi shuo ch‘üan chên, 216.

^{page 405 note 3} There is an article on Li O in Shên hsien chuan, x, 4. He used to frequent the market-places of Ch‘êng-tu. Generation after generation saw him still young and showing no sign of old age.

^{page 406 note 1} v. Tu Shao-ling ch‘üan chi hsiang chu , i, 17 seq.

^{page 406 note 2} Loc. cit., 404, 405.

^{page 406 note 3} Entitled Hsiao hsüeh kan chv, v. sup., p. 398.

^{page 406 note 4} v. Giles, Biog. Dict., 2253.

^{page 406 note 5} He took his second degree between 1573 and 1620.

^{page 407 note 1} Though true in regard to the Yüan group, this statement ignores the notice in T‘ai p‘ing kuang chi, referred to in note 1 on p. 405, concerning the older Shu group. The oversight is strange, especially since the notice is headed “Pictures of the Eight Immortals”.

^{page 407 note 2} The name by which Wang Chê was generally known. He was the famous Taoist who drew many disciples to his headquarters at a monastery in Shantung, and became the founder of a Northern School of esoteric Taoism. He is said to have been a pupil of Lü Tung-pin ; but, since he lived in the twelfth century, the tradition can hardly have an historical basis. There is no reason to doubt that one of his pupils was Ch‘iu Ch‘ang-ch'un , so renowned for his great journey at the age of over seventy across China to Jinghiz Khan's camp near the borders of India. His success in turning the Khan to more humane ways is an instance of the moral force of Taoist teachings too seldom recognized.

^{page 408 note 1} The modern Ta-t‘ung in Shansi.

^{page 408 note 2} “ Under the Ch‘in and the Han dynasties the emblem of a Kuang-lu Ta Fu was of silver and had a blue cord. Under the Chin dynasty senior and junior grades of this rank were instituted, one receiving the insignia of a gold seal with a purple cord, the other that of the Kuang-lu Ta Fu as of old. The Southern Ch‘i dynasty was the first to use the titles ‘ Gold-and-Purple Kuang-lu Ta Fu’ and ‘ Silver-and-Blue Kuang-lu Ta Fu’, and succeeding dynasties continued the names, until the Ming who abolished them.”—Tz‘ŭ yüan under . The late Manchu dynasty retained the title Kuang-lu Ta Fu as the first grade of the highest of the titles of honour .

^{page 408 note 3} The passage quoted is to be found in viii, 23. References in these notes to the dynastic histories are to the 1878 edition.

^{page 408 note 4} v. inf., p. 416.

^{page 408 note 5} The biography referred to is in Sung shih, cDlvii, 2–4 ; but it does not contain this passage. Ch‘ên T‘uan was a famous Taoist magician who was unable to talk till the age of four or five when a river sprite suckled him. Thenceforth he exhibited supernatural powers. He was the object of imperial interest under several of the Five Dynasties, and we read the usual tales of his ignoring summonses to Court or obeying them in that off-hand manner characteristic of his kind. Later, the first two Sung emperors requested his attendance and when at last he responded he indulged in his peculiar propensity for going into a trance lasting a month or more. He is said to have departed this world about A.D. 990 at the age of 118. Two works on alchemy in the Taoist Canon (Wieger, Nos. 131, 132) are attributed to him. In pictorial art he is often represented riding on a mule, and so might be mistaken for Chang Kuo.

^{page 408 note 6} Sung shih, cDlxii, 8.

^{page 409 note 1} In Shensi.

^{page 409 note 2} The passage is in Sung shih, cDlvii, 2. In the original it says : “ He lived to be more than a hundred, yet had the face of a youth.”

^{page 409 note 3} Ch‘ang-li is the hao of Han Yü, and is derived from the name of the ancestral home of his family in Chihli.

^{page 409 note 4} This book was written by a contemporary of Han Yü. v. Wylie, Notes on Chin. Lit., 193, 2nd ed.

^{page 409 note 5} This applies only to the Ch‘ing so kao i. The Yu yang tsa tsu, xix, 4, makes the miracle take place after Han Yü's banishment, which quite spoils the story.

Strictly, son of a male paternal third cousin.

^{page 410 note 1} This poem is not included in Han Yü's collected works.

^{page 410 note 2} The town of Lan-t‘ien, in the Shensi prefecture of Hsi-an, is near the Ch‘in Range.

^{page 410 note 3} cclxxvi, 14.

^{page 410 note 4} Sung shih, cDlxii, 7. Here his name is given as Li Liang . It does not appear that Taoist myth claims for him such longevity as to identify him with the Li Pa-po mentioned above, p. 404. The Sung shih has this anecdote of him : “ Once when passing the Dragon Gate of San-shan, Li Pa-po, hearing the sound of the waters, turned to the bystanders and said that there must be some jade at the bottom. Forthwith he threw off his clothes, plunged into the river and emerged clasping a boulder which turned out to be real jade.”

^{page 411 note 1} ccxlii, 10.

^{page 411 note 2} A collection of miscellaneous anecdotes. It dates from the Northern Sung dynasty (960–1126), but the author is unknown.

^{page 411 note 3} According to the Sung shih, about A.D. 1004 there was a wonderfully clever youth named Shu , whose tzŭ, was T‘ung-shu .

^{page 411 note 4} v. Wylie, Notes on Chin. Lit., 2nd ed., 198.

^{page 412 note 1} According to the biography in his collected works, I-shan hsien-shêng wên chi , he lived 1190–1257. His hao was Hao-wên .

^{page 412 note 2} A poet and official of the fourth century noted for his beauty.

^{page 415 note 1} The date here given indicates that this Wang Ting-kuo cannot be the famous statesman of that name who lived 962–1024, unless the poem was dedicated to him after his death.

^{page 416 note 1} v. Couvreur, Li Ki, i, 620 seq. Also v. Shih ching, i, iv, 1.

^{page 420 note 1} v. Lü Tsu, ch‘üan shu, ii, 9.

^{page 420 note 2} Giles, Biog. Dict., 535.

^{page 422 note 1} v. San ts‘ai t‘u hui , Section on Dress, i, 23.

^{page 423 note 1} Tea entered into the composition of many Taoist nostrums.

^{page 424 note 1} See note in former article, p. 783.

^{page 424 note 2} One of the Isles of the Blest in the Eastern Sea. P‘êng-lai is the most famous of the group ; indeed, its name is often used alone to represent this ocean paradise myth of the Taoists. It seems that P‘êng-lai is exalted above its fellows; for according to the Record of the Ten Islands it is accessible only to those hsien who can fly, and in palaces of heavenly splendour crowning its peaks live some who rank among the holiest of adepts . It is the home, too, of the “Nine Ancient Worthies” . v. Yetts, Folk-Lore, xxx, 35–62.

^{page 424 note 3} Names for Tung Wang Fu and Hsi Wang Mu respectively, who in Taoist mythology appear to be male and female embodiments of cosmic forces, and also to exercise special control over the destinies of mortals at the time when they attain the goal of hsienship. These two early provided a subject for pictorial representation, as exemplified in the Shantung scuptures and in the decoration of several Han mirrors reproduced in Chin shih so.

^{page 424 note 4} Lang Yüan , one of the terrestrial abodes of hsien. In the famous art catalogue of the Emperor Hui Tsung (A.D. 1101–26) entitled Hsüan ho hua p‘u , there is mention of Yüan Kao as painting pictures of female hsien and landscapes of the Jasper Pool (Yao Ch‘ih ) and the Lang Yüan. The Jasper Pool is one of the wonders, of the fairyland in the K‘un-lun Mountains presided over by Hsi Wang Mu. Both Yao Ch‘ih and Lang Yüan occur frequently in the euphemistic phraseology of poets and essayists. They are, for instance, used as names for Peking.