the eight taoist immortals - a survey

[tantric]

we'll start with my favorite:

Lan Caihe 藍采和

Lan Caihe is an effeminate teenage boy, always in a state is dishabille - often wearing only one shoe or such. He wears a blue robe and carries a basket of flowers. Each of the flowers has the power to heal one specific illness, and Lan Caihe spends a fair amount of time collecting and distributing them. it is said of him:

Life and death are great affairs, and yet they are no change to him. Though heaven and earth flop over and fall down, it is no loss to him. He sees clearly into what has no falsehood and does not shift with things. He takes it as fate that things should change, and he holds fast to the source

He is often mistaken for a young girl, and enjoys women's clothing and jewelry. He is a wanderer, making his way with charm, song, dance and poetry - when given coins for his performances, he just gives them to the poor. He plays the flute so beautifully and hauntingly that men forget their griefs and regrets, though he also uses castanets, rather like a flamenco dancers. When he is called to heaven, he rides a great white crane.

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[tantric]

Li Tieguai - 'Iron Crutch Li' 李铁拐

Iron Crutch Li is the epitomal crotchety old man with a secret soft heart. He is ugly and dirty, but his hair is held by a gold band. He walks with an iron crutch (often used to smack the deserving) and has a gourd filled with panacea for the needy.

He is noted for having studied with Laozi (AKA Lao-tzu) and having the favor of the Queen Mother of the West. From these exalted beings he learned many great mysteries, including the ability to project his spirit outside his body - and therein lies a tale.

Li was originally a very handsome man, who styled himself 'the Mysterious Li'. At one point he was required to send his spirit on a distant journey, so he instructed his servant to watch over his body for seven days, after which he was to be presumed dead and the body cremated. Over the course of the first six days, Li's body decayed as would any corpse, before the horrified eyes of his servant. On the sixth day, a messenger arrived, pleading with the man to come on a mission of mercy. Seeing only a rotted corpse, the servant went ahead and cremated Li's body.

Upon Li's return on the next day, he was in sore need of a body, but the only one present was a starving and diseased beggar with a crippled leg. Li counted among his powers healing and the lack of need to eat, so he gladly joined with the body. Then he called to his tutelaries, Laozi and the Queen Mother, asking them to restore him to his previous, lovely body. Instead, they gave him his iron crutch and a gourd of panacea and told him to go out and heal, now that he understood the plight of the needy. This became his mission.

 

[Foreigner]

I've always loved the Chinese tales of immortals. What I want to know is, how they became immortal!