Taoism's Original Texts 3: Immortality, Alchemy & the Eight Immortals

Thank you for visiting. This article is the third installment in a series explaining the original texts of Taoism.

Up to last time (Articles 1 and 2), I explained the philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi. This time, I look at the world of the “immortality thought,” aiming at living forever, which makes Taoism a presence distinct from other religions.

For an overview map of Taoism’s original texts as a whole, please see this summary article.

Taoism's Original Texts: Lao-Zhuang Thought and the Daozangen.senkohome.com/myths-religions-origins-taoism/

What Is Immortality Thought — Aiming at the Undying “Immortal Sage”

Whereas many religions preach “salvation after death,” Taoism has an extremely this-worldly and bold wish — “to not die in the first place, and live forever in this world.” That is the “immortality thought.”

Its goal is to become an “immortal sage.” An immortal sage is a transcendent being who, through practice, gains undying eternal life, flies freely through the sky, and lives on eating mist. This wish was rooted in ancient Chinese faith, and, joined with Lao-Zhuang thought (non-action and naturalness, unity with the Tao), came to form the core of Taoism.

Its appeal was tremendous, moving even the powerful who craved immortality. Qin Shi Huang, who first unified China, is told to have commanded his retainer Xu Fu to send a fleet to the eastern immortal island “Penglai” in search of the medicine of immortality. The Han Emperor Wu, too, pursued immortality throughout his life.

An Illustrated Introduction to the World’s 5 Great MythologiesView on Amazon → World Mythology for Beginners (illustrated)View on Amazon →

How to Become an Immortal Sage — Alchemy

So, how can one become an immortal sage? Its concrete technique is “alchemy.” This developed largely in two directions.

One is the “external elixir.” This sought to make, by compounding minerals such as mercury (cinnabar) and gold in a furnace, an “elixir” held to make one immortal if drunk. It can be called a forerunner of chemical experiment, but ironically, much of the elixir was a deadly poison containing mercury and the like, and not a few emperors and nobles shortened their lives by drinking it.

So what gradually became the mainstream is the other, the “internal elixir.” Rather than relying on medicine, this seeks to refine the “qi” within one’s own body through meditation, breathing methods, and exercises, ordering body and mind to approach immortality. This internal-elixir technique became the source of the later qigong and tai chi, and various health practices.

What systematically gathered the theory of such immortal arts is the “Baopuzi,” written by the 4th-century Taoist “Ge Hong.” As a compendium of immortality thought — does the immortal sage really exist, how can one become immortal, how is the medicine made — it is an important original text of Taoism.

The Practices for Becoming an Immortal Sage — Daoyin, Dietetics, Embryonic Breathing

Under the great directions of external and internal elixir, Taoism devised many concrete health arts aiming at longevity. Not a few of these connect to modern health practices too.

In Taoism, it was thought that within the human body dwell three life-energies (the three treasures), “essence, qi, and spirit.” The internal elixir was, so to speak, an attempt to make an elixir within the body — refining essence into qi, and qi into spirit, raising an undying “sacred embryo” within the body. On the other hand, there were also beings held to hinder longevity. It was believed that within a person’s body are three worms called the “three corpses,” which slip out of the body on the night of gengshen, tell the Heavenly Emperor of that person’s sins, and shorten their lifespan. This became the basis of the custom of “keeping the gengshen vigil (spending that night without sleeping),” which was transmitted to Japan too.

Even Immortal Sages Have Ranks — Heavenly, Earthly, and Corpse-Liberated Immortals

Even saying “immortal sage” in one word, it was thought that the state has ranks. Ge Hong’s “Baopuzi” and others divide the immortal sage largely into three stages.

Especially interesting is the “corpse-liberated immortal.” This is the idea of, on the surface meeting death like an ordinary person, in fact shedding that body (corpse) and “emerging” into an immortal, and many legends remain that one vanished leaving only a sword or staff. In reinterpreting even “death” as a stage of passage toward the immortal, the tenacity of the immortality thought, seeking immortality at all costs, seeps through.

The Eight Immortals — Eight Popular Immortal Sages

Even among the many immortal sages, the ones boasting tremendous popularity in China are the “Eight Immortals.” A group of eight distinctive immortals, they have been favored in painting and crafts as an auspicious sign.

The story in which they each use their treasure (supernatural power) to cross the sea, “the Eight Immortals cross the sea,” is especially famous, and has become a proverb meaning “each shows their own special power.” One can see well that immortal sages have been beloved not as unapproachable transcendents, but as lovable beings full of human warmth, fond of wine.

The Queen Mother of the West — the Goddess Governing Immortality

The being revered as ruling the world of immortals is the goddess “Queen Mother of the West.”

The Queen Mother of the West dwells on the sacred mountain “Mount Kunlun,” towering at the western end of the world, and is held to govern immortality. In her garden grow peaches of immortality, the “flat peaches,” which bear fruit only once in 3,000 years, and one who eats them gains eternal life.

The Queen Mother of the West is an important goddess in Chinese mythology too, also known from the tale of giving the medicine of immortality to the hero Hou Yi (the anecdote of his wife Chang’e ascending to the moon). In Taoism, this Queen Mother of the West gathered tremendous faith as the highest female immortal who leads the immortal maidens.

The Immortal Realms — Penglai, Kunlun, the Peach Blossom Spring

Immortality thought also richly cultivated images of the ideal lands (immortal realms) where the immortal sages are held to dwell.

Among them, the “Peach Blossom Spring” derives from the story depicted in the poet Tao Yuanming’s “Record of the Peach Blossom Spring.” A fisherman goes up a river and strays into an “ideal land where peach blossoms bloom,” deep within a grove of peaches in full bloom, where people who fled war live peacefully, knowing nothing of the outside world. From this story, “Peach Blossom Spring” became a byword for an ideal land apart from the secular world. Its figure of living simply in nature, apart from civilization and conflict, also resonates deeply with the ideal of “the small state with few people” that Laozi preached.

The Original Texts That Convey Immortality Thought

Finally, let me organize in what books (original texts) the immortality thought seen so far has been recorded.

In particular, Ge Hong’s “Baopuzi” powerfully claimed that “immortality can be achieved by effort,” and became the theoretical pillar of external-elixir arts. In time, from reflection on the successive deaths from elixirs of mercury and the like, the center of gravity of practice shifted from making the elixir outside the body to the “internal elixir,” refining qi within one’s own body. These original texts are the record of the inquiry unique to Taoism — “how can a person become an immortal sage.”

To Learn More

Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.

The Origins of Religion: Why We Needed a ‘God’View on Amazon → A Complete History of Philosophy and ReligionView on Amazon →

Conclusion

In this article, I explained in detail Taoism’s immortality thought and the world of living forever. How was it?

Taoism was a religion with the this-worldly and bold wish of aiming to become an undying “immortal sage.” The external elixir, making medicine from minerals; the internal elixir, refining qi within the body; the popular Eight Immortals; the Queen Mother of the West, who governs immortality; and the Peach Blossom Spring — such rich images have colored Chinese culture and art.

In the next Article 4 (the final installment), I will explain the “Taoist religion,” in which such thought and faith were organized, and its scripture compendium, the “Daozang.”

Taoism's Original Texts: Lao-Zhuang Thought and the Daozangen.senkohome.com/myths-religions-origins-taoism/

I hope you’ll read the next article too.