A collection of tales and legends about the semi-divine Eight Immortals of Chinese Taoism, each of whom is supposed to have lived as an historical person. However the main role of the Eight Immortals is as symbols of the success of Taoist discipline and magic.

A detailed guide to restoring the eight foundational areas of health • Explains how each of legendary Taoist masters known as the Eight Immortals has a specific area of health as the focus of his or her teachings • Offers practices, techniques and guidelines for each of the Eight Immortal Healer teachings, including the important roles of oxygen and water in the body, nutrition, detoxification, exercise, energy work, emotional pollution, and spiritual hygiene The Eight Immortals are a group of legendary ancient Taoist masters, each associated with a specific area of health or a powerful healing technique. These eight disciplines can bestow vibrant health and well-being and provide the antidote to the stresses, ailments, degenerative diseases, and toxins of modern life. In this guide to the healing practices of the Eight Immortals, Master Mantak Chia and Johnathon Dao share the legends of each Immortal teacher and detail the many ways to apply their wisdom through nutrition, exercises, supplements, detoxification methods, spiritual practices, and energy work. They explain how the first Immortal, born during the 8th century AD, is associated with oxygen, considered in the Taoist healing perspective as the body’s primary nutrient. They discuss how oxygen deficiency is the main culprit in cancer and virus and provide a number of oxygen therapies including the use of hydrogen peroxide and deep breathing to stimulate the metabolism and immune system. The second Immortal Healer centers on water, and the authors explain how chronic dehydration can lead to a host of ailments and offer advice for rehydrating. The other teachings of the Immortal Healers include Nutrition, with guidance on supplements, superfoods, toxic foods, and daily meals; Detoxification, with detailed guidelines for cleansing the body’s organs and glands; Avoiding environmental poisons, with advice on vaccines, dental amalgam fillings, sunscreen, chemotherapy, fluoride, and pesticides; Exercise, with step-by-step instructions for Inner Alchemy practices, yoga, and breathing techniques; Maintenance of the energy body, through acupuncture, chi kung healing, magnet therapy, and photon sound beams; and Emotional pollution and spiritual hygiene, with a wealth of practices for balancing the emotional body and staying connected to Source, including forgiveness, meditation, and karmic yoga. By following these Eight Immortal Healers, you can take control of your health, remove the root causes of the chronic ailments that inhibit well-being and longevity, and choose to live life to the fullest in happiness and radiant health.

The shamanic roots of Taoist practice • Explains the principles of the Taoist Medicine Wheel, including the Five Elements, the animals of the Chinese zodiac, and the trigrams of the I Ching • Includes exercises from the “Wheel of Love” to access the Tao of Ecstasy • Contains illustrated teaching stories about the Eight Immortals Thousands of years ago the immortals known as the Shining Ones shipwrecked on the Chinese coast. Passing their shamanic practices--such as ecstatic flight and how to find power animals and spirit guides--on to the indigenous people, they also taught them the wisdom of the Medicine Wheel. From the Taoist Medicine Wheel came the principles of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, the Eight Forces, the Chinese zodiac, and the I Ching. The Taoist Medicine Wheel can also be found at the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine and the esoteric sexual practices of Taoist Alchemy. In the Taoist Shaman, Master Mantak Chia and Kris Deva North explain the shamanic principles of the Taoist Medicine Wheel, how it is oriented on the Five Elements rather than the Four Directions, how it relates to the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac and the trigrams of the I Ching, and how it aligns with the Eight Forces of the Pakua. Through illustrated teaching stories, the authors show how the energetic principles of each of the Eight Forces are reflected in the Eight Immortals. Revealing the wheel’s application to sacred sexuality, they offer exercises from the “Wheel of Love” to strengthen and deepen relationships as well as providing a means to access the Tao of Ecstasy.

A celebration of Taoist art traces the influence of philosophy on the visual arts in China.

The Palace of Eternal Joy (Yongle gong) is a mammoth cult site dedicated to one of late imperial China’s most popular deities, Lu Dongbin. In one of the first book-length studies of a Chinese sacred site, Paul Katz focuses on the Palace’s role in the development of Lu's legend. This highly innovative approach takes into account the various "histories" of the Palace presented in different texts and surpasses previous scholarship by stressing the ways in which the site both reflected and produced cultural diversity. Katz breaks new ground by analyzing the texts in terms of the textuality--the processes by which they were produced, transmitted, and understood. The study begins with a detailed description of the Palace of Eternal Joy and a brief account of its history. The reader is then introduced to the cult of Lu Dongbin. Special consideration is given to various hagiographical traditions, particularly those that influenced the growth of his cult at Yongle. Throughout late imperial China, a growing number of worshipers (among them scholar-officials, Taoist priests, artisans, and dramatists) created an ever-burgeoning variety of images of Lu, ranging from a patron god of ink-makers and prostitutes to a member of that powerful yet rambunctious group of spirits known as the Eight Immortals. In this context, the author explores the Perfect Realization Taoist movement's adoption of Lu's cult during the Jin and Yuan dynasties and highlight the social and religious factors that led to Lu's immense popularity in north China during the late imperial era. Katz next looks at the four type of inscriptions found at the Palace (commemorative, official, hagiographical, and poetic) and identifies the Palace patrons who worshiped there and contributed to its growth. In the description and analysis of the Palace murals that follow, he divides these works into two types: those painted to provide a setting for, and even an object of, Taoist rituals performed at the Palace; and those used to instruct Perfect Realization Taoists and perhaps pilgrims. The final section traces the reception of the Palace texts among the people of Yongle and its environs. Here Katz examines the ways in which patrons tried to impose their representations of the Palace’s history and the cult of Lu Dongbin on other members of the community and assesses the extent to which these efforts succeeded. Images of the Immortal is richly informed by a wide reading in social, cultural, and literary theory as well as a thorough awareness of previous work in comparative and Chinese religion. Scholars of Taoism, Chinese popular religion, and art history will find it especially rewarding for its thought-provoking reinterpretation of an important religious figure and his cult.

In this seventeenth-century Chinese novel, Han Xiangzi, best known as one of the Eight Immortals, seeks and achieves immortality and then devotes himself to converting his materialistic, politically ambitious Confucian uncle—Han Yu, a real historical figure—to Daoism. Written in lively vernacular prose interspersed with poems and songs, the novel takes its readers across China, to the heavens, and into the underworld. Readers listen to debates among Confucians, Daoists, and Buddhists and witness trials of faith and the performance of magical feats. In the mode of the famous religious novel Journey to the West, The Story of Han Xiangzi uses colorful characters, twists of plot, witty dialogue, and action suitable for a superhero comic book to convey its religious message—that worldly life is ephemeral and that true contentment can be found only through Daoist cultivation. This is the first translation into any Western language of Han Xiangzi quanzhuan (literally, The Complete Story of Han Xiangzi). On one level, the novel is a delightful adventure; on another, it is serious theology. Although The Story of Han Xiangzi’s irreverent attitude toward the Confucian establishment prevented its acceptance by literary critics in imperial China, it has remained popular among Chinese readers for four centuries. Philip Clart’s introduction outlines the Han Xiangzi story cycle, presents Yang Erzeng in his social context, assesses the literary merits and religious significance of the text, and explores the theory and practice of inner alchemy. This unabridged translation will appeal to students of Chinese literature and to general readers who enjoy international fiction, as well as to readers with an interest in Daoism.

This extraordinary spiritual odyssey "transcends the tangible and points to the mysteries of all we can imagine and all we cannot" (Los Angeles Times). Part adventure, part parable, this true story of the making of a Taoist ma ster leads readers through a labyrinth of Taoist practice, martial arts discipline, and international intrigue. Line drawings.

This elegant and lucid introduction to the traditions of Taoism and the masters who transmit them will reward all those interested in China and in religions.

The I Ching , or "Book of Change," is considered the oldest of the Chinese classics and has throughout history commanded unsurpassed prestige and popularity. Containing several layers of text and given numerous levels of interpretation, it has captured continuous attention for well over two thousand years. It has been considered a book of fundamental principles by philosophers, politicians, mystics, alchemists, yogins, diviners, sorcerers, and more recently by scientists and mathematicians. This first part of the present volume is the text of the I Ching proper—the sixty-four hexagrams plus sayings on the hexagrams and their lines—with the commentary composed by Liu I-ming, a Taoist adept, in 1796. The second part is Liu I-ming's commentary on the two sections added to the I Ching by earlier commentators, believed to be members of the original Confucian school; these two sections are known as the Overall Images and the Mixed Hexagrams. In total, the book illuminates the Taoist inner teachings as practiced in the School of Complete Reality. Well versed in Buddhism and Confucianism as well as Taoism, Liu I-ming intended his work to be read as a guide to comprehensive self-realization while living an ordinary life in the world. In his attempt to lift the veil of mystery from the esoteric language of the I Ching , he employs the terminology of psychology, sociology, history, myth, and religion. This commentary on the I Ching stands as a major contribution to the elucidation of Chinese spiritual genius.

Focusing on origins, beliefs, practices, holy texts, and sacred places, this compact introduction to Taoism blends vividly written, accurate commentary with colorful illustrations and photos.