The Eight Immortals ·
Baxian of Daoism

In every Chinese teahouse, in many private homes, on porcelain and in wall paintings you meet them: eight figures who stand together, each with a special object in hand — a fan, a flute, a sword, a jug, a flower. The Baxian (八仙), the "Eight Immortals". They are not gods in the classical sense. They are humans who passed through Daoist practice into a state no longer subject to ordinary life and death.

This article deepens a theme from the Daoism overview "Daoist Shamanism · Wu, Inner Alchemy, Immortals".

A note on roots · Daoist practice does not descend from Buddhism alone. Its roots reach into shamanic Daoism, shamanic mountain religion, and the older Wu-shaman strata of ancient China.

What a Xian is

The word Xian (仙) is composed of two parts: "human" and "mountain". A Xian is literally "a human of the mountain" — someone who has gone into the mountains and there, through practice, reached a form of being that stays strange to people of the cities. Sometimes Xian are described as immortal in the physical sense — they live for centuries. Sometimes as immortal in the spiritual sense — they are no longer bound to the cycle of life and death.

What is certain: the Xian have cultivated control over their own body, breath, and Qi in a way that makes them unusual. They can sink into meditation, perform wonders, communicate with other beings. They are the vanishing-point at which all Neidan-work aims. See Inner Alchemy · Jing, Qi, Shen.

The eight figures

Which eight are they? The list varies slightly in different traditions, but the following version is the most widespread.

Zhongli Quan

The eldest of the group. A former Han-dynasty general who after military defeats went to the mountains and there found the secret of alchemy. He carries a fan with which he can revive the dead.

Lü Dongbin

A Tang-era scholar who saw in a dream his whole life-path and its futility. After waking he renounced career and went to the mountains. He carries a sword with which he fights demons. One of the most beloved Xian — numerous schools trace themselves back to him.

Li Tieguai

"Li with the Iron Crutch". His story is bizarre. On an astral journey his spirit left his body. His companion burned the apparently lifeless body too soon. The returning spirit had to enter the body of a beggar who had just died. Since then he carries the appearance of an old beggar with crutch and gourd — but inwardly is a high Xian.

Zhang Guolao

An old man who often rides backwards on a donkey. His donkey can on demand transform into a piece of paper that he carries in his pocket. He stands for paradoxes — the old can be young, the forward can go backward.

Han Xiangzi

The flute-player of the group. His music is associated with flower-blossoming. He can make plants grow in seconds and make wines dance. The young aspect of the group.

Cao Guojiu

The only noble of the group. He carried a wooden tablet identifying his rank at the imperial court. He stands for the possibility that people from elevated circumstances can also walk the way — if they are willing to leave everything behind.

He Xiangu

The only female Xian. She holds a lotus in her hand. She became immortal through ritualised pearl-mussel consumption and peach diet. For her feminine quality in the group often especially revered — a reminder that the way is also open to women.

Lan Caihe

The most androgynous of the figures — depicted sometimes as a youth, sometimes as a maiden. A beggar who walks the alleys with a basket full of flowers and keeps singing songs. The freest of the Xian — bound to no gender, no convention.

The Baxian are not a team of deities. They are eight different ways to the immortal state · and the message is clear: there is not one way. Every human has their own.

Why exactly eight

The number eight is not accidental. In the Daoist cosmos eight corresponds to the eight trigrams of the Yijing. Each direction has a trigram, each trigram a quality. The eight Xian thus represent the full palette of human possibility. A human can be female or male, young or old, noble or beggar-poor, warrior or artist — in every role the way is possible.

Their meaning for practice

For today's practitioner the Baxian are important for several reasons:

They are models without perfection-imperative. Each had weaknesses and peculiarities. Li Tieguai is outwardly a beggar. Lü Dongbin was a failed scholar. Zhang Guolao rides backwards. The message: you do not need to be perfect to walk the way. You only need to walk it.

They are concrete. Unlike abstract deities the Baxian are personalities. One can address them. One can ask their advice. One can choose a particular Xian as companion for a particular phase.

They are grouped. The Baxian rarely appear alone. They show that spiritual work too has a pack character. No one works for themselves alone.

The Baxian and modern practice

In Chinese Daoist temples the Baxian are still venerated. One of the most important temples is Baxian Gong in Xi'an. There they are honoured with incense; pilgrims ask their support in particular life-phases.

For Western practitioners the Baxian are accessible — concrete, image-rich, personal. One can work with them by turning inwardly to one of them, placing their image or name on an altar, reading their story again and again.

The Baxian at Shamanic Worlds

In the Daoist work at Shamanic Worlds the Baxian are introduced as spiritual conversation-partners. For particular life-situations — a difficult decision, a new beginning, the letting-go of an old identity — one of the eight can be a helpful companion.