Xian (Taoism)

Traditionally, xian refers to entities who have attained immortality and supernatural or magical abilities later in life, with a connection to the heavenly realms inaccessible to mortals.

Immortals usually live in clean and pure places such as high mountains; they do not eat cereals; they appear only to people who perform the proper religious practices or have the right kind of destiny.

(1989:73-98)Victor H. Mair describes the xian archetype as: They are immune to heat and cold, untouched by the elements, and can fly, mounting upward with a fluttering motion.

They dwell apart from the chaotic world of man, subsist on air and dew, are not anxious like ordinary people, and have the smooth skin and innocent faces of children.

[15][16] Xian dragons were thought to be the mounts of gods and goddesses[16] or manifestations of the spirit of Taoists such as Laozi that existed in a mental realm sometimes called "the Heavens".

The Zhong Lü Chuan Dao Ji (Chinese: 鐘呂傳道集; pinyin: Zhōng lǚ chuándào jí), "Anthology of the Transmission of the Dao from Zhong[li Quan] to Lü [Dongbin]") is a Song dynasty Taoist compendium, following the "Zhong-Lü" (Chinese: 鍾呂; pinyin: Zhōng lǚ) textual tradition of internal alchemy (neidan), which lists five classes of immortals: The 4th century CE Baopuzi (抱朴子 "[Book of] Master Embracing Simplicity"), written by Ge Hong, gives some highly detailed descriptions of xian, listing three classes: However, this is not a true form of immortality.

This level was not eligible for promotion to earthbound immortality.Zhìdì jūn (Chinese: 制地君; pinyin: Zhì de jūn)- "Lords Who Control the Earth" - A heavenly decree ordered them to "disperse all subordinate junior demons, whether high or low [in rank], that have cause afflictions and injury owing to blows or offenses against the Motion of the Year, the Original Destiny, Great Year, the Kings of the Soil or the establishing or breaking influences of the chronograms of the tome.

The circa 200 CE Shiming, a Chinese dictionary that provided word-pun "etymologies", defines xiān (仙) as "to get old and not die," and explains it as someone who qiān (遷 "moves into") the mountains."

Edward H. Schafer[30] defined xian as "transcendent, sylph (a being who, through alchemical, gymnastic and other disciplines, has achieved a refined and perhaps immortal body, able to fly like a bird beyond the trammels of the base material world into the realms of aether, and nourish himself on air and dew.)"

The Classic of Poetry (220/3) contains the oldest occurrence of the character 僊, reduplicated as xiānxiān (僊僊 "dance lightly; hop about; jump around"), and rhymed with qiān (遷).

"[36] The 121 CE Shuowen Jiezi, the first important dictionary of Chinese characters, does not enter 仙 except in the definition for 偓佺 (Wòquán "name of an ancient immortal").

And after a thousand years, should he weary of the world, he will leave it and [上] ascend to [僊] the immortals, riding on those white clouds all the way up to the village of God.

This is antithetical to the physical immortality (changshengbulao Chinese: 長生不老; pinyin: Chángshēng bùlǎo "live forever and never age") sought by later Daoist alchemists.

Many conclusions can be reached on the basis of this story, but it seems that death is regarded as a natural part of the ebb and flow of transformations which constitute the movement of Dao.

In later Daoist hagiography, Chi Song was Lord of Rain under Shennong, the legendary inventor of agriculture; and Wang Qiao was a son of King Ling of Zhou (r. 571–545 BCE), who flew away on a giant white bird, became an immortal and was never again seen.

My spirit darted forth and did not return to me,And my body, left tenantless, grew withered and lifeless.Then I looked into myself to strengthen my resolution,And sought to learn from where the primal spirit issues.In emptiness and silence I found serenity;In tranquil inaction I gained true satisfaction.I heard how once Red Pine had washed the world's dust off:I would model myself on the pattern he had left me.I honoured the wondrous powers of the [真人] Pure Ones,And those of past ages who had become [仙] Immortals.They departed in the flux of change and vanished from men's sight,Leaving a famous name that endures after them.

"[49] We gazed down of the Middle Land [China] with its myriad peopleAs we rested on the whirlwind, drifting about at random.In this way we came at last to the moor of Shao-yuan:There, with the other blessed ones, were Red Pine and Wang Qiao.The two Masters held zithers tuned in perfect concord:I sang the Qing Shang air to their playing.In tranquil calm and quiet enjoyment,Gently I floated, inhaling all the essences.But then I thought that this immortal life of [僊] the blessed,Was not worth the sacrifice of my home-returning.

Far and forlorn, with no hope of return:Sadly I gaze in the distance, over the empty plain.Below, I fish in the valley streamlet;Above, I seek out [僊] holy hermits.I enter into friendship with Red Pine;I join Wang Qiao as his companion.

[51] The "Li Sao" ("On Encountering Trouble"), the most famous Chuci poem, is usually interpreted as describing ecstatic flights and trance techniques of Chinese shamans.

[54] The Liezi ("[Book of] Master Lie"), which Louis Komjathy says[55] "was probably compiled in the 3rd century CE (while containing earlier textual layers)", uses xian four times, always in the compound xiansheng (仙聖 "immortal sage").

The Yin and Yang are always in tune, the sun and moon always shine, the four seasons are always regular, wind and rain are always temperate, breeding is always timely, the harvest is always rich, and there are no plagues to ravage the land, no early deaths to afflict men, animals have no diseases, and ghosts have no uncanny echoes.

'—'To the East of the Gulf of Chih-li, who knows how many thousands and millions of miles, there is a deep ravine, a valley truly without bottom; and its bottomless underneath is named "The Entry to the Void".

The first emperor Qin Shi Huang sent his court alchemist Xu Fu on expeditions to find these plants of immortality, but he never returned (although by some accounts, he discovered Japan).

The Shenxian zhuan uses this story to illustrate the importance of bigu "grain avoidance": "During the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Han, hunters in the Zhongnan Mountains saw a person who wore no clothes, his body covered with black hair.

[13] According to a discourse between the Yellow Emperor and the immortaless Sùnǚ (素女—"Plain Girl"), one of the three daughters of Hsi Wang Mu, "The sexual behaviors between a man and woman are identical to how the universe itself came into creation.

[63] The White Tigress (Zhuang Li Quan Pure Angelic Metal Ajna Empress "Toppest") Manual, a treatise on female sexual yoga, states, "A female can completely restore her youthfulness and attain immortality if she refrains from allowing just one or two men in her life from stealing and destroying her [sexual] essence, which will only serve in aging her at a rapid rate and bring about an early death.

[65] The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, a Mahayana Buddhist manuscript, in a borrowing from Taoist teachings, discusses the characteristics of ten types of xian who exist between the world of devas ("gods") and that of human beings.

[73] If a Taoist in these beliefs became a xian, he or she could live for 1,000 years in the human world if he or she chose to, and afterwards, transform his or her body into "pure yang energy and ascend...to [Tiān]".

[77] In many Taoist sects, xian were thought to "dress...in feathers" and live in the atmosphere "just off-planet" and explore various places in the universe to perform "various actions and miracles.

In Korea among commoners who belonged to no specific religious tradition, the desire to become an immortal, imported from China and Korean Taoist sects, mostly manifested itself in the wish for merely longer life instead of living forever.