<)8 THE EIGHT IMMORTALS OF THE TAOIST RELIGION 



into her bed from the sky, and vanished. . At his birth, he 

 was of very extraordinary physique, with the neck of the 

 stork, back of the monkey, trunk of the tiger, and cheeks 

 of the dragon. His phoenix-eyes curved upwards, and his 

 eye-brows were thick. His shoulders were broad, his nose 

 was rounded. His complexion was yellowish white, and 

 near his left eye-brow there was a black mole. When very 

 young, he was precocious, and could memorize ten thousand 

 words daily. His language was extemporaneously literary, 

 and he was eisht feet two inches tall. He wore a kerchief 

 on his head ^ f^ rji and his garb was brown in colour. On 

 the whole he was handsome like a virgin, and was not 

 married at twenty." 



We may well surmise his early career as a successful 

 scholar. He graduated as Chin-shih *§ rfc corresponding 

 roughly with the doctorate. At this juncture traditions vary. 

 One says that "he held office as magistrate of the district of 

 Teh-hwa (in modern Kiang-si) and there he encountered, 

 it is said, the immortalized Chung-li Chiian among the 

 recesses of the Lu Shan ]j£ III and was instructed by him in 

 the mysteries of alchemy and the magic formula of the elixir 

 of life." It is related (in another legend obviously borrowed 

 from a Buddhist prototype) that when the mystic being de- 

 clared to him who he was, saying "I am fit J§ 5fe 5£ " 

 Lii Yen expressed an ardent desire to fulfil the mission of 

 converting his fellowmen to the true belief, but was pre- 

 liminarily exposed to a series of ten temptations, all of which 

 he successfully overcame ; and hereupon he was invested 

 with the formulas of magic and a sword of supernatural 

 power, with which he traversed the Empire, slaying tigers 

 and dragons like St. George of the Britons, and ridding the 

 earth of divers kinds of evil, during a period of upwards of 

 four hundred years. 



Another tradition recorded by Dr. Giles holds that his 

 official career was not successful; and owing to the dis- 

 quietude of his age he took his family to JH llJ and there 

 became a recluse. Then he fell in with the genius Chung-li 

 Chiian who taught him the secrets of Taoism, and at fifty he 

 attained to immortality. 



It was at the "Stork's Peak" $1 ^ in Lu Shan that 

 Chung-li discoursed on the "five grades of genii," and the 

 "three categories of merits." On being asked whether it is 

 possible to become a genius Chun-li answered, "if you train 

 yourself you will become one. If you do not, you will 

 become a devil." Thus under the tutelage of Chung-li he 

 finally attained to immortality and has always been known 

 as one of the most prominent of the patriarchs of the Taoist 

 sect. 



