Xian (Taoism)

A xian (simplified Chinese: 仙; traditional Chinese: 僊; pinyin: xiān; Wade–Giles: hsien) is any manner of immortal, mythical being within the Taoist pantheon or Chinese folklore. Xian has often been translated into English as "immortal".
Traditionally, xian refers to entities who have attained immortality and supernatural or magical abilities later in life, with a connection to the heavenly realms inaccessible to mortals. This is often achieved through spiritual self-cultivation, alchemy, or worship by others. This is different from the gods in Chinese mythology and Taoism, who were inherently supernatural.
Xian is also used as a descriptor to refer to often benevolent figures of great historical, spiritual and cultural significance. The Quanzhen School of Daoism had a variety of definitions about what xian means during its history, including a metaphorical meaning where the term simply means a good, principled person.
Xian have been venerated from ancient times to the modern day in a variety of ways across different cultures and religious sects in China.
Akira Akahori, the author of Drug Taking and Immortality, gives this description:
Victor H. Mair describes the xian archetype as:
Xian were thought of as "personal gods" who were formerly humans, a human who ascended through ascetics, scholarly pursuits and the warrior art's". Taoists would venerate them, and emulate their example in everyday life.
The Eight Immortals are an example of xian, and the role of xian also as folk heroes who can offer assistance to "worthy human followers" and whose existence fosters the relationship between the living and the dead. Sometimes, they and other xian were viewed as similar in nature to ghosts, rather than deities. The Eight Immortals and other xian were thought to have powers linked to their tools that were ultimately of a single nature that can add to or subtract the lifespan of humans depending on the human's level of their discretion.
Xian were also thought by some Taoists to be synonymous with the gods inside the body, and as beings that would sometimes cause mortals problems but could be fought with martial virtue and martial arts. Xian could be good or evil. Not all Xian are Taoist, but they are usually associated with Taoist adepts who have ascended to immortality and godhood through spiritual practice and mastery.
Besides enlightened humans and fairy-like humanoid beings, xiān can also refer to supernatural animals, including foxes, fox spirits, and Chinese dragons. Xian dragons were thought to be the mounts of gods and goddesses or manifestations of the spirit of Taoists such as Laozi that existed in a mental realm sometimes called "the Heavens".
The mythological húlijīng (狐狸精; Húlíjīng; 'fox spirit'; "fox fairy; vixen; witch; enchantress") has an alternate name of húxiān(狐仙; Hú xiān; 'fox immortal').
The Zhōng lǚ chuándào jí (鐘呂傳道集; "Anthology of the Transmission of the Dao from Zhong [li Quan] to Lü [Dongbin]") is a Song dynasty Taoist compendium, following the Zhōng lǚ (鍾呂) textual tradition of internal alchemy (neidan), which lists five classes of immortals:
The 4th century CE Baopuzi (抱朴子 "[Book of] Master Embracing Simplicity"), written by Ge Hong, gives some highly detailed descriptions of xian, listing three classes:
However, this is not a true form of immortality. For each misdeed a person commits, the Director of allotted life spans subtracts days and sometimes years from their allotted life span. This method allows a person to live out the entirety of their allotted lifespan and avoid the agents of death. But the body still has to be transformed into an immortal one, hence the phrase Xiānsǐ hòutuō (先死後脱) - "The 'death' is apparent, [but] the sloughing off of the body's mortality remains to be done."
There are three levels of Shījiě immortals:
These titles were usually given to humans who had either not proven themselves worthy of or were not fated to become immortals. One such famous agent was Fei Changfang, who was eventually murdered by evil spirits because he lost his book of magic talismans. However, some immortals are written to have used this method in order to escape execution.
The Chinese word xian is translatable into English as:
The etymology of xiān remains uncertain. The circa 200 CE Shiming, a Chinese dictionary that provided word-pun "etymologies", defines xiān (仙) as "to get old and not die," and explains it as someone who qiān (遷; "moves into") the mountains."
Its writing is a combination of 人 (rén; 'human') and 山 (shān; 'mountain'). Its historical form is 僊: a combination of 人 (rén; 'human') and 遷/䙴 (qiān; 'moving into').
Xian is often used as Chinese compound, such as the Bāxiān (八仙; "the Eight Immortals"). Other common words include xiānrén (仙人; "immortal person; transcendent") xiānrénzhăng (仙人掌; "immortal's palm; cactus"), xiānnǚ (仙女; "immortal woman; female celestial; angel"), and shénxiān (神仙; "gods and immortals; divine immortal").
Edward H. Schafer defined xian as "transcendent, sylph (a being who, through alchemical, gymnastic and other disciplines, has achieved a refined and perhaps immortal body, able to fly like a bird beyond the trammels of the base material world into the realms of aether, and nourish himself on air and dew.)" Schafer noted xian was cognate to xian (䙴; "soar up"), qian (遷; "remove"), and xianxian (僊僊; "a flapping dance movement"); and compared Chinese yuren (羽人; "feathered man; xian") with English peri "a fairy or supernatural being in Persian mythology" (Persian pari from par "feather; wing").
Two linguistic hypotheses for the etymology of xian involve Arabic and Sino-Tibetan languages. Wu and Davis suggested the source was jinn, or jinni "genie" (from Arabic جني jinnī). "The marvelous powers of the Hsien are so like those of the jinni of the Arabian Nights that one wonders whether the Arabic word, jinn, may not be derived from the Chinese Hsien." Axel Schuessler's etymological dictionary suggests a Sino-Tibetan connection between xiān (Old Chinese *san or *sen) "'An immortal' ... men and women who attain supernatural abilities; after death they become immortals and deities who can fly through the air" and Classical Tibetan gšen < g-syen "shaman, one who has supernatural abilities, incl[uding] travel through the air".
The word xiān is written with three characters 僊, 仙, or 仚, which combine the logographic "radical" rén (人 / 亻; "person; human") with two "phonetic" elements (see Chinese character classification). The oldest recorded xiān character 僊 has a xiān; "rise up; ascend" phonetic supposedly because immortals could "ascend into the heavens". (Compare 遷; qiān; "move; transfer; change" combining this phonetic and the motion radical.) The usual modern xiān character 仙, and its rare variant 仚, have a shān (山 "mountain") phonetic. For a character analysis, Schipper interprets "'the human being of the mountain,' or alternatively, 'human mountain'. The two explanations are appropriate to these beings: they haunt the holy mountains, while also embodying nature."
The Classic of Poetry (220/3) contains the oldest occurrence of the character 僊, reduplicated as xiānxiān (僊僊; "dance lightly; hop about; jump around"), and rhymed with 遷; qiān. "But when they have drunk too much, Their deportment becomes light and frivolous—They leave their seats, and [遷] go elsewhere, They keep [僊僊] dancing and capering." (tr. James Legge) Needham and Wang suggest xian was cognate with wu (巫; "shamanic" dancing"). Paper writes, "the function of the term xian in a line describing dancing may be to denote the height of the leaps. Since, "to live for a long time" has no etymological relation to xian, it may be a later accretion."
The 121 CE Shuowen Jiezi, the first important dictionary of Chinese characters, does not enter 仙 except in the definition for 偓佺 (Wòquán; "name of an ancient immortal"). It defines 僊 as "live long and move away" and 仚 as "appearance of a person on a mountaintop".
How Chinese texts describe xian "immortals; transcendents" can vary following the historical changes in how Daoists viewed immortality.
Early text such as Zhuangzi, Chuci, and Liezi texts allegorically used xian immortals and magic islands to describe spiritual immortality, sometimes using the word yuren 羽人 or "feathered person" (later another word for "Daoist" ), and were described with motifs of feathers and flying, such as yǔhuà (羽化, with "feather; wing").
Later texts like the Shenxian zhuan and Baopuzi took immortality literally and described esoteric Chinese alchemical techniques for physical longevity, with techniques such as neidan ("internal alchemy") and waidan ("external alchemy"). Neidan techniques included taixi ("embryonic respiration") breath control, meditation, visualization, sexual training, and daoyin exercises (which later evolved into qigong and tai chi), while waidan techniques for immortality included alchemical recipes, magic plants, rare minerals, herbal medicines, drugs, and dietetic techniques like inedia.
Besides the following major Chinese texts, many others use both graphic variants of xian. Xian (仙) occurs in the Chunqiu Fanlu, Fengsu Tongyi, Qian fu lun, Fayan, and Shenjian; xian occurs in the Caizhong langji, Fengsu Tongyi, Guanzi, and Shenjian.
They are usually found in Taoist texts, although some Buddhist sources mention them. Chinese folk religion and writings on it also use them, such as in Northeast China with the fox gods or "huxian" common in the region.
The Three Sovereigns had similarities to xian because of some of their supernatural abilities and could have been considered such. Upon his death, the Yellow Emperor was "said to have become" a xian.
During the Six Dynasties, xian were a common subject of zhiguai stories. They often had "magical" Tao powers including the abilities to "walk...through walls or stand...in light without casting a shadow."
Two circa 3rd century BCE "Outer Chapters" of the Zhuangzi ("[Book of] Master Zhuang") use the archaic character xian (僊). Chapter 11 has a parable about "Cloud Chief" (雲將; Yún jiāng) and "Big Concealment" (鴻濛; Hóngméng) that uses the Shijing compound xianxian ("dance; jump"):
Chapter 12 uses xian when mythical Emperor Yao describes a shengren (聖 人; "sagely person").
Without using the word xian, several Zhuangzi passages employ xian imagery to describe individuals with superhuman powers, such as flying in the clouds. For example, Chapter 1, within the circa 3rd century BCE "Inner Chapters", has two portrayals. First is this description of Liezi (below).
Second is this description of a shenren (神人; "divine person").
The authors of the Zhuangzi had a lyrical view of life and death, seeing them as complementary aspects of natural changes. This is antithetical to the physical immortality (長生不老; Chángshēng bùlǎo; "live forever and never age") sought by later Daoist alchemists. Consider this famous passage about accepting death.)
Alan Fox explains this anecdote about Zhuangzi's wife.
The 3rd–2nd century BCE Chuci; "Lyrics of Chu" anthology of poems uses 仙; xian once and 僊; xian twice, reflecting the disparate origins of the text. These three contexts mention the legendary Daoist xian immortals 赤松; Chi Song; "Red Pine", and Wang Qiao (王僑, or Zi Qiao 子僑). In later Daoist hagiography, Chi Song was Lord of Rain under Shennong, the legendary inventor of agriculture; and Wang Qiao was a son of King Ling of Zhou (r. 571–545 BCE), who flew away on a giant white bird, became an immortal and was never again seen.
The "Yuan You" ("Far-off Journey") poem describes a spiritual journey into the realms of gods and immortals, frequently referring to Daoist myths and techniques.
The "Xi shi" ("Sorrow for Troth Betrayed") resembles the "Yuan You", and both reflect Daoist ideas from the Han period. "Though unoriginal in theme," says Hawkes, "its description of air travel, written in a pre-aeroplane age, is exhilarating and rather impressive."
The Ai shi ming ("Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast") describes a celestial journey similar to the previous two.
The "Li Sao" ("On Encountering Trouble"), the most famous Chuci poem, is usually interpreted as describing ecstatic flights and trance techniques of Chinese shamans. The above three poems are variations describing Daoist xian.
Some other Chuci poems refer to immortals with synonyms of xian. For instance, Shou zhi (守志; "Maintaining Resolution") uses zhenren (真人; 'true person') translated to Pure Ones above in "Yuan You", which Wang Yi's commentary glosses as zhen xianren (真仙人; "true immortal person")
In at least the latter two centuries of the Han dynasty, the idea of becoming a xian received more popularity than in previous eras of Chinese religion.
In ancient Chinese dynasties such as the Han, various gods were thought to be xian instead in some retellings of their mythology. Hou Yi was one example of this.
The Liezi ("[Book of] Master Lie"), which Louis Komjathy says "was probably compiled in the 3rd century CE (while containing earlier textual layers)", uses xian four times, always in the compound xiansheng (仙聖; "immortal sage").
Nearly half of Chapter 2 ("The Yellow Emperor") comes from the Zhuangzi, including this recounting of the above fable about Mount Gushe (姑射, or Guye, or Miao Gushe 藐姑射).
Chapter 5 uses xiansheng three times in a conversation set between legendary rulers Tang (湯) of the Shang dynasty and Ji (革) of the Xia dynasty.
Penglai Mountain became the most famous of these five mythical peaks where the elixir of life supposedly grew, and is known as Horai in Japanese legends. The first emperor Qin Shi Huang sent his court alchemist Xu Fu on expeditions to find these plants of immortality, but he never returned (although by some accounts, he discovered Japan).
Holmes Welch analyzed the beginnings of Daoism, sometime around the 4th–3rd centuries BCE, from four separate streams: philosophical Daoism (Laozi, Zhuangzi, Liezi), a "hygiene school" that cultivated longevity through breathing exercises and yoga, Chinese alchemy and Five Elements philosophy, and those who sought Penglai and elixirs of "immortality". This is what he concludes about xian.
The Shenxian zhuan (神仙傳; "Biographies of Spirit Immortals") is a hagiography of xian. Although it was traditionally attributed to Ge Hong (283–343 CE), Komjathy says, "The received versions of the text contain some 100-odd hagiographies, most of which date from 6th–8th centuries at the earliest."
According to the Shenxian zhuan, there are four schools of immortality:
Qi (气; "energy"): Breath control and meditation. Those who belong to this school can
Fàn (饭; "Diet"): Ingestion of herbal compounds and abstention from the Sān Shī Fàn (三尸饭; 'Three-Corpses food')—Meats (raw fish, pork, dog, leeks, and scallions) and grains. The Shenxian zhuan uses this story to illustrate the importance of bigu "grain avoidance":
Fángzhōng Zhī Shù (房中之术; "Arts of the Bedchamber"): Sexual yoga. According to a discourse between the Yellow Emperor and the immortaless Sùnǚ (素女; "Plain Girl"), one of the three daughters of Hsi Wang Mu,
The White Tigress (Zhuang Li Quan Pure Angelic Metal Ajna Empress "Toppest") Manual, a treatise on female sexual yoga, states,
Ge Hong wrote in his book The Master Who Embraces Simplicity,
Dān (丹—; 'Cinnabar'; "Alchemy"): Elixir of Immortality.
The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, a Mahayana Buddhist manuscript, in a borrowing from Taoist teachings, discusses the characteristics of ten types of xian who exist between the world of devas ("gods") and that of human beings. This position in Buddhist literature is usually occupied by asuras. Xian as portrayed here are of a different and contrasting type of existence in Buddhist cosmology to asuras. These xian are not considered true cultivators of samadhi ("unification of mind"), as their methods differ from the practice of dhyāna ("meditation").
Ancient Chinese folk religion believed xian were deceased noblemen, such as emperors and ancestors who were nobles, as well as commoner "worthies". However, Taoism changed that belief eventually by making the Taoist view of a xian as a holy human being, who could be good or evil, who went to heaven by following a path that would make the soul stay in the body permanently, along with making the body disappear from Earth, popular among folk religious practitioners.
In 2005, roughly 8% of Chinese folk practitioners believed in "immortal souls".
Taoism is a polytheistic religion. The gods and immortals（神仙） believed in by Taoism can be roughly divided into two categories, namely "gods" and "xian" (immortals). "Gods" refers to deities and there are many kinds, that is, heaven gods/celestials（天神), earth spirits（地祇), wuling（物灵), animism, the spirit of all things, netherworld gods（地府神灵), gods of human body（人体之神), gods of human ghost（人鬼之神）etc. Among these "gods" such as heaven gods/celestials（天神), earth spirits（地祇), netherworld gods（阴府神灵), gods of human body（人体之神） exist innately. "Xian" (Immortal) is acquired the cultivation of the Tao，persons with vast supernatural powers, unpredictable changes and immortality.
Taoists sometimes had the same beliefs as folk religious practitioners about noblemen and noble ancestors, although they invented the ideas that said otherwise.
Many Taoists believed that xian (immortals) were spirits of human origin and that they could become them. It was believed that they could become immortals by refining their bodies throughout their lives by taking drugs and/or performing the correct amount of good deeds and repentant acts to make up for bad deeds throughout their lives. Heaven, and therefore, status as an immortal, was also thought to be accessible through being an unenlightened soul in the afterlife that is prayed for in the collective salvation prayers of Taoist temple worshippers, who pray in the hope that souls will reach a better status in their death.
According to Michael Loewe, the earliest artistic and textual evidence of xian transcendents dates from the fifth or fourth centuries BCE. They were depicted as avian and serpentine hybrids who could fly through the universe, typically either combinations of a bird's body and a human face, or a human with wings sprouting on their back, i.e., a yuren (羽人; "feathered person").
According to John Lagerway, the earliest artistic representations of xian date from the second century BC.
In tomb reliefs from the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE), xian are often bird-human and reptile-human hybrids, depicted as "liminal but spiritually empowered figures" who accompanied a deceased person's soul to paradise, "transient figures moving through an intermediate realm" where they are often joined by deer, tigers, dragons, birds, heavenly horses (天馬; tianma), and other animals. These avian, serpentine, and human hybrid xian are frequently depicted with "secondary characteristics" including androgyny, large ears, long hair, exaggerated nonhuman faces, tattoo-like markings, and nudity; many of these traits also appear in depictions of foreigners, who also lived outside the Chinese cultural and spiritual sphere.
Xian were associated with yin and yang, and some Taoist sects held that the "adept of immortality" could get in touch with the "pure energies possessed at birth by every infant" to become a xian. If a Taoist in these beliefs became a xian, he or she could live for 1,000 years in the human world if he or she chose to, and afterwards, transform his or her body into "pure yang energy and ascend...to [Tiān]".
In modern and historical times, xian are also thought to draw power and be created from the Tao in its aspect as "the source of all being, in which life and death are the same."
Xian are conventionally held to be beings that bring good fortune and "benevolent spirits". Some Taoists beseeched xian, multiple xian, and pantheons of xian to aid them in life and/or abolish their sins.
Refugee communities and their descendants, wanderers, and Taoists who were societal recluses inspired myths of "timeless" worlds where xian lived. In many Taoist sects, xian were thought to "dress...in feathers" and live in the atmosphere "just off-planet" and explore various places in the universe to perform "various actions and miracles." A Confucian cosmology that had immortals in it viewed them as beings of a "heavenly world", which was "above the earthly world" that was distinct "from a dark underworld".
Some mythical xian were worshipped and/or seen as gods or zhenren, and some real Taoists were thought to become xian if they died after performing certain rituals or living a certain way and gain the ability to explore "heavenly realms". These Taoists' spirits after death would be seen as divine entities that were synonymous with xian, and were often referred to by that name.
Becoming a xian was often seen as a heroic "quest" in Taoist mythos to either become as powerful as a god or multiple gods or gain an immortal lifespan like a god. Given that many Taoists believed that their gods and gods belonging to different ethnic groups and other religions were subject to the roles the Tao made for them, becoming a xian is technically a process that lets a practitioner get enough holy or spiritual power to defy that role, and some Taoists chose to worship xian instead of gods, it is likely that some Taoists believed that even a single xian was more powerful than entire pantheons of the various gods of China. Before and during the early Tang dynasty, beliefs about death that included them were notable among ordinary Chinese than Buddhist counterparts, and some who were inclined towards Taoism or were part of a Taoist religious organization and also thought Buddhist deities existed believed xian, collectively, were more powerful and relevant than Buddhist gods.
Some sects thought they were more worthy to venerate than gods because of their admirable qualities or their being more powerful in only few specific ways, such as comprehension of some heavenly powers and/or the spiritual location they live in, while acknowledging their lack of strength and their typical place in the celestial hierarchy being below gods.
In the Han dynasty and Tang dynasty, the ideas of xian and becoming them were quite popular. Chinese folk religion practitioners in the Tang dynasty when Chinese religious traditions were more entrenched drew symbols of immortality and paintings with Taoist symbolism on tombs so their family members could have a chance at becoming xian, and this happened in the Han dynasty as well before some theological ideas that would become popular later on.
In Buddhist-inspired Taoism and Buddhist traditions that venerated Laozi and/or other Taoist icons, a minority of xian on Mount Kunlun and the wider world spoke Sanskrit and/or other foreign languages, as it was seen as a sacred language and possibly because some xian were thought of as spirits of Indian origin or ascended humans from the same area or other parts of the world.
A pseudo-Sanskrit language that was mixed with Chinese and was often random in its structure and mixture of the two called "the sounds of Brahmā-heaven" was also seen as another sacred language used as a liturgical language, and was frequently confused with Sanskrit. It was thought of as an important godly language that a Taoist version of Brahmā spoke and that some immortals also spoke to a lesser degree which was the embodiment of the Tao, "the esoteric sounds of the heavens", and "the beginning of the universe". The language also represented the harmonious relation between the gods, who Brahmā ruled over, and Indian and Buddhist philosophy thought to be transmitted by Laozi.
In Japan, the image of the sennin was perpetuated in many legends and art such as miniature sculptures (netsuke). Below is a wooden netsuke, made in the 18th century. It represents a perplexed old man with one hand based on the curve of a snag, and the other hand is rubbing his head with concern. He is looking somewhere in the sky and tucked up the right leg. This position was commonly used for art of Sennin Tekkay, whose soul has found the second life in the body of the lame beggar. In shape the beggarly old man this legendary personality portrayed prominent carver of the early period Jobun. A similar humorous depiction of xian in China came in the form of Dongfang Shuo, a deified Han dynasty scholar who was thought to be a "clown" xian after death. There were also legends about him in this state in Japan and Korea.
Sennin is a common Japanese character name. For example, Ikkaku Sennin (一角仙人 "One-horned Immortal") was a Noh play by Komparu Zenpō (金春禅鳳, 1454–1520?). The Japanese legend of Gama Sennin (蝦蟇仙人 "Toad Immortal") is based upon Chinese Liu Hai, a fabled 10th-century alchemist who learned the secret of immortality from the Chan Chu ("Three-legged Money Toad").
In Korea among commoners who belonged to no specific religious tradition, the desire to become an immortal, imported from China and Korean Taoist sects, mostly manifested itself in the wish for merely longer life instead of living forever. Peaks and valleys were commonly named after the xian, and Buddhist principles were also sometimes thought to be important to becoming one in Korea and art communities in Korea often approved of paintings of Taoist immortals and others depicting Buddhist symbolism. Xian were sometimes viewed as gods in Korea.
Xian are common characters in Chinese fantasy works. There is a genre called xianxia, which is part of a larger genre called cultivation fantasy or cultivation, named after the beings where characters usually seek to become xian in a fantasy world that is either militaristic or fraught with other dangers.
Footnotes