THE EIGHT IMMORTALS OF THE TAOIST RELIGION 07 



gross violation of feminine propriety, and sheer ignominy. 

 Much more would this be the case with virgins in the bloom 

 of youth. 



However it may be, the Taoists do venerate Ho Hsien-ku 

 as one of the Immortals. She is said to have been the 

 daughter of one Ho-So ^J Wi a man of Tseng-Cheng, 1# ftS ®£ 

 near Canton. At the instant of her birth, six hairs were seen 

 growing on the crown of her head. When fourteen years old 

 she dreamed that a spirit gave her instructions in the art 

 of obtaining immortality to achieve which she was to eat the 

 powder of mother-of-pearl M ■& $ft. The advice was fol- 

 lowed, and she actually discovered that her body became 

 light and ethereal. Hence she strongly insisted on celibacy. 

 One day she was met by Tieh-kuai and Tsai-ho who delivered 

 to her the secret of becoming an immortal. Her days were 

 thenceforth passed in solitary wanderings among the hills 

 where she passed to and fro as though endowed with wings, 

 like Mercury of Greek mythology, returning to her home at 

 night with the herbs she gathered during her pilgrimages. 

 On being interrogated as to her doings, she told her mother 

 she had only been communing with the female genii of the 

 mountainous regions. She gradually renounced the use of the 

 ordinary food of mortals ; and the fame of her wondrous mode 

 of life, having reached the Empress 6£ Jo , that sovereign 

 summoned her to the Court; but while journeying thither, 

 she suddenly disappeared from mortal view like Elijah on 

 his way to Jericho. She is said to have been seen once more 

 in A.D. 750 5c r£ X *£ floating upon a cloud of many colours 

 in the temple of Ma Ku Jflt i& J§. Again, some years later 

 j$ M ty she was revealed to human sight in the city of 

 Canton at >h ~B M. The magistrate jni JH was an eye- 

 witness of this, and he memorialized the throne about it. 



Dr. Giles agrees with another tradition saying that she 

 was a native of ^ $£ in Hunan. Lu Tung-pin & M % 

 gave her one of the peaches of immortality, of which she 

 ate one half, and from that time forth required no more food. 

 She is represented as an extremely beautiful maiden bearing 

 a lotus flower, the flower of open-heartedness. 



6. Lu Yen S & • 



His literary appellation was Tung-pin M 5i while 

 $i PJI "J" was his pseudonym. He was born in A.D. 755 

 (Tang dynasty) iL % -f- 0! ¥ in ffi M ?*. m U . Like 

 Chung Li-Chiian, he was of official ancestry. "When his 

 mother conceived him, a' strange perfume filled the room, 

 and celestial music was struck up whilst a white stork flew 



