G2 THE EIGHT IMMORTALS OF THE TAOIST RELIGION 



left of him was only a handful of ashes. Then occurred the 

 strange incident, that his spirit entered the body of a lame 

 and crooked beggar, who had just expired, and in this 

 shape the ascetic, now an Immortal, continued his existence, 

 supporting his halting foot-steps with an iron staff ; and this 

 is the meaning of his pseudonym Tieh-kuai, i.e. "iron staff." 



Tieh-kuai's first act of benevolence was to revive the 

 mother of Yang his negligent disciple. Leaning on the iron 

 staff, and carrying a gourd on his back, he came to Yang's 

 house, where the people were preparing the funeral. He' 

 offered the dose contained in his gourd, which on being 

 poured into the corpse's mouth, revived the woman. Then 

 he made himself known and giving Yang another pill, 

 vanished in a gust of wind. Two hundred years later, he 

 brought his disciple up to heaven also. 



We are told that Tieh-kuai often appeared on earth. 

 Once he became an old man with a gourd slung over his 

 shoulder and sold drugs in the market place of Ju-nan $c ^. 

 There were no cases of illness which could not be remedied 

 by his medicine. He hung a bottle on the wall, and at night 

 jumped into it, coming out again the following day. 



Another time he tried to transmigrate ila watchman 

 into the immortal state. In the person of a pauper he was 

 associated with poor men, not with men of high estate. He 

 walked into a glaring furnace and bade the watchman to 

 follow. The latter was afraid of the demoniacal action, and 

 did not follow. Then he told him to tread on a bamboo 

 leaf on the river, saying it was a boat in which he would be 

 carried away safely. Again the watchman hesitated, where- 

 on T'ieh-kuai said to him that his earthly cares Hi & were 

 too great to carry him to immortality, and leapt into the 

 bamboo leaf himself. Henceforth, he devoted his energy 

 to securing and directing seven other persons who were 

 worthy of the category of the Eight Genii, being Chung 

 Li-ch'uan, Ho Hsien-ku and others. 



2. Chung Li-chuan M t$k $L . 



Chiian was his cognomen, his literary appellation was 

 *&. ii£ and his pseudonyms were 5frJ & ^p and IK? and 

 If B & 4£ • He lived in Yentai M To in the time of the 

 Han dynasty. His father was a tetrarch M fe , hence he 

 was of noble lineage. "At his birth, a strange light shone 

 in the house, which was taken as a sign for the future 

 wonderful career of the new-born infant. His physiognomy 

 indicated a strange career too, having a round pate, broad 

 forehead, thick ears, long eye-brows, deep eyes, red nose, 

 square mouth, high cheeks, and scarlet lips. His arms at 



