The 8 immortals are a group of legendary gentlemen which became immortals by means of practicing the Taoist art (living in harmony with nature). The path to immortality includes achieving physical and spiritual harmony through meditation, diet, exercise, breath, control, and the use of herbs.
According to the myth, they lived on a group of 5 islands in the Bohai Sea, which included Penglai Mountain-Island in Eastern China, which only they could traverse due to the "weak water" which would not support ships.
The Bohai Sea, also known as Bohai Gulf, is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea and Korea Bay on the coast of North-Eastern and North China. It is approximately 78,000 sq km/30,116 sq mi. in area and its proximity to Beijing, the capital of China, makes it one of the busiest sea-ways in the World. Until the early 20th century, the area was often called Gulf of Pech-Zhili. Zhili, due to the historic provinces Zhili and Bei-Zhili, in the area surrounding Beijing. There are few important oil reserves in the vicinity of the gulf.
-The 8 immortals are examples of how all can obtain immortality. They were admitted to eternal life as a reward for their acts on earth and bearing gifts to the Old Man of the South Pole, the god of longevity.
The Old Man is the Taoist deification of Canopus, the brightest star of the constellation Carina. The star is essentially bright when seen with the naked eye.
Most of the immortals were common folks who attracted the attention of the gods through suffering unjust treatment without complaint, and gave more to others than themselves. The names of the 8 immortals are: He Xian'gu, Cao Guojiu, Li Tieguai, Lan Caihe, Lu Dongbin, Han Xian'zi, Zhang Guolao, Zhong'li Quan. We are giving a description of some of them.
He Xian'gu, for example, is the only female among the Eight, At birth, she had 6 long hairs on the crown of her head. When she was about 14 or 15, a divine personage appeared to her in a dream and instructed her to eat powdered mica (crystals found scarcely in Europe but in large quantities in Africa and South America) so that her body might become more ethereal than physical mater and immune to death. She did as instructed, vowed to remain a virgin, and gradually decreased her food intake. One day during the Jing-Long era (707-710 CE) in the reign of Emperor Zhong'Zong of the Tang dynasty, she ascended to the sky in broad daylight and became an immortal. She is depicted holding a lotus flower, and sometimes with the musical instrument known as "sheng," or a "feng'huang," to accompany her.
-Cao Guojiu is another example, and is believed to be a descendant of Cao Bin, a general of the early Song dynasty, and a younger brother of Empress Cao, the wife of Emperor Ren'Zong. As none of the emperor's sons survived their father, he designated a younger male relative, who later became Emperor Ying'Zong as his successor. As such, Cao could not have been a maternal uncle of the emperor, so his "Imperial Uncle" status seemed ambiguous. However, as the Chinese character "Jiu,"which means "maternal uncle,"can also means "wife's brother,"the latter meaning applied to Cao. He was the "Imperial Brother-in-Law" of Emperor Ren'Zong rather than an "Imperial (maternal) Uncle" of any Song dynasty emperor. Cao's younger brother, Cao Jing'Zhi, abused his relationship with the imperial family by bulling others and engaging in corrupt practices. Cao tried to persuade his brother to change his ways but he did not listen. In the meantime, Cao also used his family fortune to help the poor and tried to make up for his brother's misdeeds. One day, Cao Jing'Zhi was accused by other officials in the imperial court of corruption and abuse of power. Cao felt so ashamed and disappointed by his brother's misconduct that he gave up his official career and went to the countryside to lead a reclusive life. During this time, he met the immortals Zhong'li Quan and Lu Dong'bin, who taught him Taoist magical arts. After many years of practice and cultivation, Cao himself also became an immortal. He is often depicted dressed in official robes and holding a jade tablet or castanets. He is also regarded as the patron deity of acting and theatre.
-Li Tieguai is sometimes described as irascible and ill-tempered, but also benevolent to the poor, sick, and the needy, whose suffering he alleviates with special medicine from his gourd. Among the 8, Li Tieguai was one of the most popular, and was depicted as a man leaning on a crutch and holding a gourd. The gourd had spirals of smoke ascend from it, denoting his power of setting his spirit free from his body. He was a very handsome man. On one occasion, his spirit travelled to the sky to meet other immortals. He had told his apprentice, Li Qing, to wait for 7 days for his spirit to return. If he did not return by then, Li Qing was to burn the body because that meant that he had become an immortal; but after 6 1/2 days Li Qing had to go to his mother's home to see her one last time before she died. Li Qing thus cremated Li Tieguai's body. On his way to his mother he passed by a dying beggar and did not have time to bury him. Upon returning, Li Tieguai's spirit found that his body had been cremated and had to enter the only body available at the time, the corpse of a homeless beggar who had just died of starvation. The beggar, unfortunately, had a long and pointed head, large ears with one large brass earring, a woolly and disheveled beard and hair. Laozi appeared and gave him a medicine gourd that never emptied. Li then brought his apprentice's mother back to life using the liquid from his gourd. Li Qing was then dismissed as his apprentice, after being given a small pill and being told he would work hard enough to become an immortal himself. This turned out to be true. Laozi also used the bottle to make him an iron crutch that would never rust nor break. he then told Li that he was ready to join the immortals. From then on, Li was tasked with curing the sick and he travelled to many lands and could be found wherever the sick lay dying or the poor were persecuted.
Li's characteristic emblems are the gourd bottle and also his iron crutch. A vapor cloud emanates from the gourd, and within it is the sage's soul (Hun); which may be depicted as a formless shape or as a miniature double of his bodily self.
-Lan Caihe's character, is another example. The person's age and sex is not clearly defined. It is usually depicted as a boy or girl dressed in ambiguous clothing and carrying a bamboo flower basket and/or a pair of castanets. Lan Caihe is said to have been in a drunken stupor when they left the human world by riding on a celestial swan or crane. One legend says that they became an immortal with the help of Sun Wu'Kong (a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices), who transferred 500 years of magical powers to them.
-Lu Dong'Bin, real name is Lu Yan, with Yan being the given name. Dong'bin is his courtesy name. When he was born, a fragance allegedly flled the room. He had been very intelligent since childhood and had many academic achievements. He is the most widely known and considered to be one of the earliest masters of the traditional internal alchemy (neidan). The legend says that one night when he was in the ancient capital of Chang'An, he dozed off as his yellow millet was cooking in a hotel. He dreamed that he took the top-level civil service exam and excelled, and thus was awarded a prestigious office and soon promoted to the position of vice minister. He then married thae daughter of a prosperous household and had a son and a daughter. He was promoted again and again, and finally became the prime minister. However, his success and luck attracted jealousy of others, so he was accused of crimes that caused him to lose his office. His wife then betrayed him, his children were killed by bandits, and he lost all his wealth. As he was dying on the street in the dream, he woke up. Although in the dream, 18 years has passed, the whole dream actually happened in the time it took his millet to cook. The characters from his dream were actually played by Zhong'Li Quan in order to make him realize that one should not put too much importance on transient glory and success. As a result, Lu went went with Zhong'Li to discover and cultivate the Tao. The exact age of Lu Yan when this incident occurred varies in the tellings, form 20-40 years of age.
Lu was tested 10 times before Zhong'Li took him as a disciple: 1) One day Lu came back from work and found out that his loved one was dying; without sadness or remorse, he started to prepare the dress and coffin necessary for burial, but later his loved one revived and lived on. Lu was still without sadness or joyous feeling. 2) Lu was selling goods at a marked and there came a buyer to bargain with him. After agreeing on the price, Lu handed him the stuff but the buyer refused to pay in full and then walked away. Lu would not argue and let him walk away. 3) On the 1st day of the lunar calendar, Lu met with a beggar. After giving him some money, the beggar kept asking for more and threw vulgar words at him. Lu left the scene with a smile. 4) Lu was once a shepherd. During his tenure a hungry tiger was eyeing the goats under his care. Lu protected the goats by sending them down to the hillside and stood in front of the tiger. The hungry tiger was awed to see this and left without hurting Lu.
5) Lu was studying at a small hut on a mountain when a beautiful woman came by and asked if she could stay there for the night since she was lost. That night, this beautiful lady was flirting and tried to get Lu to have sex with her, but Lu was untouched by such temptation. 6) One day Lu came back to his house and saw that he had been burglarized and lost all his belongings. Without becoming angry he started to work on his farm. As he dug into the ground he found countless pieces of gold. He uncovered the earth without taking a single piece of the gold. 7) Lu bought some bronze utensils at a market. Upon returning home he realized that all the utensils were made of gold and he immediately returned them to the seller. 8) A crazy Taoist was selling medicine on the street, telling people that his magic potion would have one of two outcomes: either the drinker would die on the spot, or the drinker would become immortal. No one would dare to try, except Lu, who bought and tried the potion. Nothing happened to him. 9) A river was elevated due to heavy rain. Lu and other passengers were on a boat crossing the river. Before reaching the middle of the journey, the weather deteriorated, and most of the passengers except Lu became worried. Lu took it in his stride and never worried about life and death!
10) Lu was alone at home and suddenly weird things happened. Ghosts and monsters were killing each other and wanted to do the same to Lu. Showing no sense of fear, Lu kept on doing his chores without paying attention to them. Another group of devils with blood all over them tried to take Lu's life away by saying to Lu that he owed his previous life to them since in past life Lu took his life. Without any fear Lu said "go ahead and take my life since I took yours in past life, this is fair and square!"All of a sudden the sky turned blue and those ghosts and devils disappeared. Zhong'Li Quan (his teacher and mentor) was looking and laughing at him while these events were happening.
The 10 tests proved that Lu was a pure and dignified person and his master was very satisfied and happy to take Lu to Nan'San'Her'Ling to pass his secret to life and subsequent formed a Zhong-Lu Golden Dan school of Taoism. But Lu was not too fond of the secret and instead changed his formula for inner peace and benefits more human beings. This is his major contribution.
Lu is depicted in art as being dressed as a scholar, clever man with a genuine desire to help people obtain wisdom and to learn the Tao. and he often bears a sword on his back that dispel evil spirits.
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