Taoist Mythology
Written by Sean Michael Smith
Another pantheon of deities and mythology found in Chinese and Japanese Taoism is very ancient, and influenced the culture of humanity through the silk route. It was culturally enriched by Shinto and oriental shamanic influences. Taoism is similar to the Egyptian magical systems in its great antiquity. Shamanic Taoism teaches several methods very similar to those of Egypt. Both systems have roots so old their origins and founders are mythic in themselves, said to be immortals and gods, but really, they were humans just like us. The Celestial Jade Emperor, the Pole Star God, Shou Lao, Taoist God of Longevity, and Spiritual Logos of Lao Tzu are later said to have helped establish Taoism as well. They had all gained eternal life through seeking the Taoist Way and each set an example of ideal behavior that could be followed by ordinary people to gain enlightenment. Though they were not gods, their immortality gave them superhuman powers: they practiced magic and could fly through the air at great speed. They had many adventures while pursuing their mission to banish evil from the world. Many were cheerfully addicted to wine and cannabis, so they were sometimes called Jiu-zhong Ba Xian — the eight drunken immortals. The Eight Immortals hold a superior status to the gods and elementals. Taoism is said to be started by the Eight Taoist Immortals, beings who lived during prehistory.
Li Teguai was the first immortal. His body was prematurely cremated while his soul was visiting a mountain. As his own body was no longer available to him, his soul had to inhabit that of a beggar, and he used an iron crutch to support himself. Li later revived his disciple's dead mother with a vial of magic medicine, and came to be regarded as the patron of pharmacists.
He Xiangu was the patron of unmarried girls. She was a young woman herself who acquired immortality when a spirit appeared to her on a mountain where she lived. The spirit instructed her to grind and eat a mother of pearl stone. The stone made her weightless and able to fly over mountains. She is usually shown carrying a peach or lotus blossom.
Cao Guojiu carried a golden tablet which allowed him admission to the imperial court, because he was the brother of the empress. He left the court to seek the Way of the Tao but, when he found he had no money to pay a ferryman, he tried to impress him with his court credentials. The ferryman, who was Lu Donghin, another of the immortals, in disguise, pointed out his folly, and Cao threw the tablet into the river. As an immortal, Cao Guojiu was the patron of the nobility.
Han Xiang, Lu Donghin's disciple, was said to be the great nephew of a Taoist philosopher. He was a wandering minstrel who played the flute. During the sea voyage of the Eight Immortals, Ao Bing, son of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, tried to steal the flute and take Han Xiang prisoner. There was great battle to rescue Han Xiang, in which the immortals were, naturally, victorious.
Lu Dongbin's blessing on parents was believed to bestow intelligent children. Therefore, Chinese scholars regarded him especially highly, and he was the guardian of ink makers. When the Eight Immortals decided to cross the primal sea, they each threw down an object on which to ride. Each turned into a sea monster. Lu Donghin used his magic sword and crossed over.
Lan Caihe was a woman. She was the patron of the poor, because she gained her immortality by her kindenss in attending to the needs of a filthy beggar, whose wounds she washed and dressed. The beggar turned out to be Li Tieguai, the first of the Eight Immortals. Lan Caihe was sometimes shown with a basket of flowers, because of her skill in growing marvelous blooms from a small pot of earth.
Zhang Guolao rode on a white mule, sometimes sitting facing the animal's tail. He was a great necromancer, and his mule had extraordinary powers. It could travel over vast distances, but when no longer required, it could be folded up like a sheet of paper and kept in a bag. Zhang Gualoa is often depicted with the bag containing his mule or hitting a bamboo drum. He granted a happy marriage and the gift of children.
Zhong-Li Quan learned the Way from Li Tieguai, then disappeared into the clouds on acheiving immortality and bacame the messenger of heaven. Bald, with a long beard, he carried a feather fan and was the patron of soldiers. Zhong Li Quan was sometimes also shown holding a peach of immortality. The peaches of XI Wang Mu, the Queen Mother of the West, ripened every 3000 years. The immortals ate them to renew their immortality.
Shou Lao, the Taoist god of longevity, was often visited by the Eight Immortals. Originally a stellar deity, the old man of the south pole, he had evolved into an old man who carried a gourd containing the water of life.
The Taoist cosmos is wrought with pure land paradises and parallel worlds, abodes of celestial dragons and aquatic dragons. The Buddhist Pure Lands and complete animism of all elements of nature are among the abodes of the blessed the Eight Immortals visit. The seas possess retinues of spirits and gods as does fire, wind, air, space, the mountains, buildings, and social institutions. As in Shinto, everything possesses a spirit and consciousness of its own life. In Taoist Feng-Shui, unpleasant geological and aesthetic environmental features are said to be inhabited by negative energy gnomes, trolls, and elemental demons. The whole Toaist universe was alive with beings in service to the Tao.
To be considered a Taoist Adept, one would have mastered the Book of Changes and the many meditation manuals for longevity and immortality meditations. One would have mastery over the elements, be able to perform the spiritual powers such as flight, seeing from afar, healing, extension of life, the youthful body in which the physical body ages more slowly. The Taoist Adept was also a master herbalist for his or her geographical location in the tradition of Sheng Nung, the great shaman king and founder of Chinese herbalism. Ultimately the Taoist master attains a light body called a diamond body and cannot perish. Taoism teaches many advanced practices for “circulating the light” and attainment of immortality, as well many integrative practices for attaining balance in nature and with oneself.
A beneficial Taoist practice that works with the breath to circulate the light through the body is done by first simply relaxing. Seated comfortably, visualize the gate at the base of the spine as an area of golden light at the sacrum. Breath slow, full continuous breaths, visualizing the air brought into the lungs as luminous and life giving. A subtle energy current within the air flows into the body through the nostrils, down the spine sparking a fire at the base of the spine, then continues to circulate up the front of the body and back out the nostrils. The body is felt as a hollow alchemical vase with only the light circulating within it. After a short time the energy will spiral on its own, free of the breath. The subtle gates will gradually open and one slowly attains immortality.
To practice the full meditation of this type the reader is referred to the text Secret Of The Golden Flower (1991). Anyone interested in Taoism should read the Tao Te Ching, I-Ching, and for those just beginning, the Shambhala Guide To Taoism (1996) by Wong.
The Eight Immortals of Chinese mythology is Li Teguai He Xiangu Cao Guojiu Han Xiang Lu Dongbin Lan Caihe Zhang Guolao Zhong-Li Quan Shou Lao. Chinese mythology is rich in gods.