Eight Immortals: Lu Dongbin

Lu Dongbin is considered by some as the leader of the Eight Immortals. He had the Taoist name of Chun Yangzi and was born with the name of Lu Yan. Out of all of the Eight Immortals Lu Dongbin is the most famous and most mentioned.  His talisman is a magical sword that subdues demons and evil forces. Lu Dongbin can also be recognized not only by his sword but by the scholar clothes he wears.
Lu Dongbin is the patron of jugglers, magicians and barbers.

At the time of Lu Dongbin’s birth a divine fragrance was with the house and as a child he was intelligent. He could even memorize thousands of lines a day. By the age of twenty Lu Dongbin hadn’t married and he had taken imperial examination twice but failed.

Lu Dongbin was at a tavern at a place called Chang’an where he met a man called Zhongli Quan. While Zhongli Quan was cooking a pot of yellow milled Lu Dongbin fell asleep. Lu Dongbin had a dream, that he took the imperial examination and did great. That he had became a government official and later prime minister. In this dream Lu Dongbin was also married twice with both wives from families of wealth and position and with children of his own.

However, despite the success in his dream, he dreamt that people were jealous of his success who accused him of a crime which lead to his possessions being confiscated, and to his wives and children being separated. From dreaming of gaining fame to being a solitary outcast, Lu Dongbin awoke to find the yellow millet still being prepared. To this Lu Dongbin realized the impermanence of fame, glory and wealth to which he went with Zhongli Quan to cultivate Tao.

Over the years Zhongli Quan instructed Lu Dongbin but refused to teach Lu Dongbin how to attain immortality unless Lu Dongbin did a least three thousand good deeds. The amount of good deeds was eventually reached and Lu Dongbin was active in the mortal world after attaining immortality, often testing people, giving rewards for those proving themselves virtuous.

Lu Dongbin himself is said to be a ladies man, even after becoming immortal, so people don’t really invoke Lu Dongbin with romantic problems. Not only that, but Lu Dongbin is also known for his bouts of drunkenness and soon after becoming immortal himself deformed a riverbank in a bout of anger.

There is a Chinese proverb, “dog bites Lu Dongbin”, meaning an inability to recognize goodness and repay kindness with vice.

Eight Immortals: He Xiangu

He Xiangu is possibly the only female of the Eight Immortals. Some will say that she is the only female of the Eight Immortals, others will claim that there is another female within the group. He Xiangu is the only certain female of the Eight Immortals and also known as Female Immortal He or Immortal Woman He. She also owns a talisman that is a long-stalked lotus flower with the ability to improve both physical and mental health. He Xiangu is often pictured with her lotus flower but is also pictured with a musical instrument called the Sheng or with a bird called the fenghuang. He Xiangu is the patroness of the home, family life, virgins, unmarried women, cooking and housekeeping.

He Xiangu is the daughter of He T’ai who lived in the prefecture of Guangdong and was notably born with six long hairs on the crown of her head. When she was about fourteen He Xiangu had a dream where she was instructed to eat powered mica in order for her body to possibly become immune to death. He Xiangu did eat powdered mica and vowed to stay a virgin.
Over time she gave up ordinary food, eating fruits found on the mountains where she one day found a peach that she ate. It is said that this peach He Xiangu ate is the very peach that made her immortal.

He Xiangu’s parents arranged their daughter a marriage not long after she ate the peach she found. He Xiangu didn’t voice her opinion on the matter except the wedding day. He Xiangu was later found to have been missing from her bedchambers and had left a poem on a screen to which her parents did not understand.

A few years after this incident a Taoist priest who had came down from Luofu Mountain went to the He’s house. He Xiangu’s parents learnt that an apprentice by the name of He Xiangu instructed to bring her shoes back and this is how He Xiangu’s parents learnt that He Xiangu herself was studying Taoism.

It is said that Empress Wu summoned He Xiangu, but while on the way to see Empress Wu it is said He Xiangu disappeared. During the Jing Long period (about 707CE) He Xiangu  ascended to Heaven during daylight.

He Xiangu is also said to have met Lu Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals, and successfully tried to bring He Xiangu into the Tao. Lu Dongbin apparently also gave He Xiangu a Peach of Immortality.