by Ying-shih Yü
xian only singly. With the Yellow Emperor, ascension to Heaven included his
harem and some of his ministers. With the Prince of Huainan, not only his
whole family but also his dogs and cocks were added, and in the case of Tang
36 l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina
Gongfang, in addition to his family and his domestic animals, even his house
was translated to Heaven. This transition to worldliness suits Han times par-
ticularly well, for at that time, family ties were becoming more close- knit under
the infl uence of Confucian teachings.
In light of the above discussion, we can now better understand Ban Gu’s
general criticism of the cult of xian immortality: “The xian immortal is one
who preserves his life truly and yet seeks to transcend [life]. He clarifi es his in-
tention and pacifi es his mind, so that he has no fear in his heart. But since
there are people who make [the art of xian immortality] their special profes-
sion, lit er a ture of a deceptive and strange nature increases unceasingly. This is
not what the sage- kings intended to teach [us].”111 This criticism was undoubtedly
directed at the vulgarization of the cult that we have been tracing. Therefore, in
Later Han times, the idea of xian became almost identical with longevity and “no
death,”112 and otherworldly terms, such as “transcending this world,” and earthly
ones, such as “no death,” were used indiscriminately by writers to mean physical
immortality.113
T H E I D E A O F I M M O R TA L I T Y I N
P O P U L A R T H O U G H T
Before turning to popu lar thought, let us fi rst glance at the literati’s attitude
toward the cult of xian immortality. The literati’s general view may be con ve-
niently characterized as a rationalistic and naturalistic one. Although most of
that class considered longevity desirable and worth seeking, they generally
ruled out physical immortality as something humanly impossible to attain. For
instance, Yang Xiong (53 b.c.e.– 18 c.e.) vigorously rejected the doctrine of im-
mortality through magical techniques by saying that immortality is non ex is-
tent and death is inevitable.114 A con temporary thinker, Huan Tan
, was also
of the opinion that the doctrine that immortality may be obtained through
learning was but the empty words of the fangshi.115 Wang Chong, the greatest
critical phi los o pher of the fi rst century c.e., devoted a whole chapter of his Lun-
heng
(Balanced Inquiries) to the refutation, point by point, of the possibil-
ity of achieving immortality.116 According to Ying Shao of the second century
c.e., a common saying among the literati stated, “gold cannot be transmuted
[from other materials] and xian immortality cannot be achieved [by man].”117
In spite of the literati’s skepticism, the idea of physical immortality struck
deep roots in popu lar thought. From Wang Chong’s criticism of the prevailing
ideas of the time, we know that people generally believed in vari ous ways of
achieving physical immortality. For instance, they believed in ascension to
Heaven by performing feng and shan sacrifi ces, as in the case of the Yellow Em-
peror; by taking immortality drugs, as in the case of the Prince of Huainan
(both of which we have discussed above); or by drinking an elixir of gold and
l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina 37
gems and eating the fl owers of the purple boletus, which, it was said, would
make the body light, as in the case of a certain Lu Ao
.118 There were also
people who believed that physical immortality could be achieved by following
Laozi’s teaching of quietism and dispassionateness,119 by abstaining from eating
cereals,120 by regulating the breath as well as cultivating nature,121 or, even more
strangely, by metamorphosing the human body into the shape of a bird.122
Wang Chong’s report has the merit of providing us with a general picture of
the widespread belief in physical immortality. Moreover, the fact that he used
such terms as dushi (transcending this world), busi (no death), shengtian (as-
cending to Heaven), xian (becoming an immortal), changsheng (long life), and
shou (longevity) indiscriminately to denote physical immortality indicates that
the demarcation line between otherworldly and worldly immortality had be-
come increasingly blurred.123 His occasional use of the word shou (longevity) as
a synonym for physical immortality also shows that people of his time prob ably
regarded immortality and longevity as belonging more or less to the same cat-
egory.124 The fact that there were long- lived people much strengthened the
popu lar belief in the possibility of achieving immortality. In Wang Chong’s
own words: “ There are no instances of anyone having obtained Dao, but there
have been very long- lived persons. People remarking that these persons, while
studying Dao and the art of immortality, become over one hundred years old
without dying, call them immortals.”125 When immortality and longevity were
thus made out to be identical, a further step was taken to divert the traditional
otherworldly immortality in the direction of this- worldliness.
Some details concerning the popu lar belief in physical immortality as criti-
cized by Wang Chong can still be found in the Scripture of Great Peace. Accord-
ing to this work, not only can physical immortality be achieved but it constitutes
one of man’s most impor tant objectives. This is, of course, only a logical exten-
sion of its general emphasis on life, as discussed above: “Among all things in
the universe, longevity excels the rest in virtue. . . . Heaven is greatly greedy of
longevity, of everlasting life. The immortals ( xianren) are also greedy of long-
evity as well as of life. Those who are greedy of life dare not do evil, because
each of them has to take into consideration the preservation of his person.”126
The only novel, and religious, ele ment in the Scripture of Great Peace concern-
ing immortality would seem to be the theory that one’s life span can be ex-
tended or shortened according to one’s deeds. If one leads a virtuous life, one
can, on that very account, achieve immortality. For instance, ascension to
Heaven in the daytime is mentioned several times in the work as something
defi nitely capable of accomplishment, but only on the basis of virtuous deeds:
There are instances in which people did ascend to Heaven in broad day-
light. Those who ascended in broad daylight behaved in such a way that
their natures were good, their hearts full of light, their wills never
wavered, to goods and profi t they paid no attention at all, and their clothes
38 l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina
were coarse and barely enough to cover their bodies. Heaven, appreciat-
ing their virtuous deeds, therefore appointed virtuous deities to keep
them com pany as well as for their protection, so that they might not be
led astray [by demons]. With the love and care of the celestial deities, they
thus accomplished the feat [of ascension to Heaven]. After all, it is the
fashion in which they led their lives that produced this result. T
rusting
that their fi lial piety was true and sincere, and their conduct free from
fault, Heaven therefore often receives them in broad daylight. There have
been such cases that were witnessed by many people. [Heaven] helped
them to bring about the accomplishment in order to show people the re-
sult of being virtuous. It must be pointed out, however, that not even one
out of a million people could expect to get [access to Heaven ] in broad
daylight. One could do so only under the protection and with the trust of
the great celestial deities.127
To be sure, this theory of retribution was itself not at all novel. Indeed, it was
deeply rooted and widely diff used in Chinese thought,128 but was particularly
in keeping with the climate of opinion of Han times among intellectuals as
well as common people.129
To return to the idea of ascension to Heaven, in the previous section we
traced the worldly transformation of this idea in the Former Han Period. The
frequency with which it is mentioned in the Scripture of Great Peace indicates
that the idea was still regarded favorably by Later Han immortals. The idea that
ascension to Heaven may be achieved through virtuous deeds in addition to, or
even instead of, taking drugs throws further light on the worldly character of
xian, because cultivation of virtue is by defi nition humanistic and therefore
worldly in nature.
We can even fi nd grounds— although no historical evidence—in Later Han
times for the statement in the Scripture of Great Peace that people had witnessed
immortals ascending to Heaven in broad daylight. According to the Hou
Hanshu (History of the Later Han Dynasty), a native of Mixian in Henan,
Shangcheng Gong
by name, returned after a long absence to tell his
family that he had become an immortal and bade them farewell. His family
then saw him go up to Heaven step by step until he was out of sight. The story
also says that Chen Shi
and Han Shao
, both well- known literati of the
period,130 happened to witness the scene.131 This story, unhistorical as it is,
must have had a fairly wide circulation at the time because Zhongchang Tong
, the famous po liti cal phi los o pher of the second century c.e., is said to
have told a slightly diff er ent version of it, in which the name of the hero is
changed to Bu Cheng
( bu presumably being a corruption of Shang )
and the witnesses are not Chen and Han, but their fathers and grand fathers.132
From this instance, we know that the belief in the possibility of ascension to
l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina 39
Heaven was also shared by some of the Han literati, which prob ably accounts
for the severe criticism by Wang Chong.
Apart from ascension to Heaven, the highest form of physical immortality,
such related matters as immortality recipes and immortality drugs are also dis-
cussed at some length in the Scripture of Great Peace; it is very positive about the
existence of such things, but explains the extremely restricted access to them
by referring to the theory of retribution. In answering the True Man ( zhenren
) as to whether immortality recipes are obtainable, the Heavenly Teacher
( Tianshi
) says:
Yes, they are obtainable. The number of immortality drugs stored in
Heaven may be compared to that of grain stored in the imperial grana-
ries; the number of immortals’ clothes to that of government cloth; and
the number of houses of the immortals to that of offi
cial buildings. . . .
Heaven is by no means sparing of the immortals’ clothes or immortality
recipes, but just [fi nds it] diffi
cult to give them to man. Since man does
not make a great contribution to Heaven and Earth . . . Heaven therefore
withholds from man the immortality recipes and immortals’ clothes, which
are to be reserved for people of extraordinary merit. . . . For comparison’s
sake, we may take the example of the grain of the imperial granaries and
government cloth. There are numerous hu and dou of grain in the impe-
rial granaries, but people possessing neither merit nor virtue cannot
expect to receive even a sheng of them. . . . Now man is so wicked that [his
conduct] is not in accord with the will of Heaven; therefore, Heaven no
longer produces good drugs and recipes. . . . So from ancient times through
the middle ages [down to the pres ent day], the true Dao has been declin-
ing day after day, and au then tic immortality recipes have thus become
inaccessible.133
One can easily discern in this passage an apol o getic tone. For centuries, people
had been seeking immortality drugs and recipes to no avail. Not only were such
rationalistic thinkers as Wang Chong skeptical about their existence, but the
illiterate masses must also have been keenly disappointed. With the help of the
theory of retribution, the belief in immortality was capable of a better theoreti-
cal defense against the intellectual attacks of the literati and was reinvigorated
as one of the primary tenets of religious Daoism, which was thus enabled to
attract more followers.
Another statement in the Scripture of Great Peace suggests that the Daoist
immortals were in the early fangshi tradition, that is, seekers of immortality
drugs and recipes for the sovereign. There it is argued that those who know
only how to serve the sovereign loyally and obediently in a passive fashion are
people of medium goodness. People of extreme goodness are those who make
40 l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina
all pos si ble eff ort to acquire strange recipes and immortality drugs for their
sovereign so that his life may be infi nitely prolonged.134
At this juncture, it may be relevant to take a look at the relations between the
cult of immortality and the Han emperors after Han Wudi. Generally speak-
ing, immortality seems never to have ceased to appeal to the sovereigns through-
out the two Han dynasties. A few instances will suffi
ce as illustrations. During
the reign of Emperor Xuandi (73–49 b.c.e.), the cult of immortality was revived
and some recipes for immortality and alchemical formulas,135 which had for-
merly been in the possession of the Prince of Huainan, were rediscovered.
Thereupon, the emperor chose a famous scholar, Liu Xiang
, to take
charge of the experiments made with them.136 Wang Mang, the reformer and
usurper, is reported to have believed in some kind of immortality grain;137
moreover, he was associated with a fangshi named Zhao Jun
.138 In the
Later Han Period, Emperor Huandi (c.e. 147–167) is particularly well known
for the enthusiasm with which he paid homage indiscriminately to both Dao-
ism and Buddhism.139 It is in ter est ing to note that the emperor was interested
in Daoism primarily, if not solely, because he wanted to achieve physical im-
mortality. We are told that he occupied himself with matters concerning physi-
cal immortality and, on this account, not only sent envoys to perform sacri-
fi ces to Laozi at Huxian
; (Henan), the reputed birthplace of the sage, but
also personally performed sacrifi ces to Laozi in the palace.140 Other evidence
tends to show that toward the end of the Later Han, the cult of Laozi was al-
ready fused with that of immortality.141 From these facts, it seems clear that
Daoism succeeded in establishing itself at the Han court through the medium
of the immortality cult. It may be further conjectured that in the Later Han,
many fangshi and daoshi (Daoist priests) carried on the practice of their pre de-
ces sors by winning the trust and favor of sovereigns with extravagant prom-
ises of immortality.
This historical background provides us, I believe, with an impor tant clue to
understanding what the Scripture of Great Peace says about seeking immortality
drugs and recipes for the sovereign.142 Unfortunately, unlike the Rec ords of
the Grand Historian and the History of the Former Han Dynasty, the History of the
Later Han Dynasty tells us almost nothing about the activities of daoshi and
fangshi at the imperial court.143 However, the following case is indicative of the
close association of the Daoists with some of the Later Han emperors. “The
Empress He (wife of Emperor Ling, 168–188 b.c.e.) . . . gave birth to a prince
[named] Bian [who was] brought up in the family of a Daoist by the surname of
Shi
, [and the child was thus] known as Shi Hou (Marquis Shi).” The com-
mentary quotes a passage from the Xiandi chunqiu
(Spring and Autumn
of Xiandi), which explains the event thus: “Emperor Ling had several times lost
his sons. Therefore, he dared not give a formal name [to the child and] had him
brought up in the family of Daoist name Shi Zimiao
and called him Shi
Hou.”144 The importance of this story, simple as it is, can hardly be overstressed,
l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina 41
because it throws much light on Daoist infl uence in the imperial court of Later
Han times. At least two tentative conclusions can be drawn from it. First, the
fact that a prince could be entrusted to the care of a Daoist family shows the
extent to which the Daoists had won the general confi dence of the court. Sec-
ond, the practice of having a child brought up in a Daoist family for the sake of
safety, which became rather common in the period that immediately followed,
