Tales of the Taoist Immortals

by Eva Wong

As a girl growing up in Hong Kong, Eva Wong heard and memorized many tales told to her by Hong Kong's finest professional storytellers, by actors on the radio, and by her grandmother. These popular tales of the Taoist immortals were also often dramatized in Chinese operas.

The stories are of famous characters in Chinese history and myth: a hero's battle with the lords of evil, the founder of the Ming dynasty's treacherous betrayal of his friends, a young girl who saves her town by imitating rooster calls. Entertaining and often provocative, these tales usually include a moral. The immortals are role models in Chinese culture, as well as examples of enlightenment. Some of the immortals were healers, some were social activists, some were aristocrats, and some were entrepreneurs. The tales chosen by Eva Wong here are of the best-known immortals among the Chinese. Their names are household words and their stories are told and retold by one generation to the next.

Genres: Taoism, China, Philosophy, Mythology, Spirituality, Religion, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published July 24, 2001

About the author

Eva Wong is an independent scholar and a practitioner of the Taoist arts of the Pre-Celestial Way and Complete Reality lineages. She has written and translated many books on Taoism and related topics.

Reviews

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells of the key events in the lives of forty Taoist immortals. While the title (specifically the word “tales”) might lead one to think that this is a book of stories, it is only so in the most general sense of the word “story.” Satisfying stories show a character confronted by barriers to obtaining some desired goal. That isn’t the case in the overwhelming majority of the “tales” in this book, and the few in which the individual is confronted with a challenge she usually uses her superpowers to magic the problem away. (To be fair, Taoist sages aren’t known for being ambitious and thus have few goals to chase after. There are more examples of individuals turning down high offices in these character sketches than there are characters attempting to obtain some objective.)

If you are looking to learn more about key figures in Chinese history and mythology, this book will serve your purpose through brief (2-3 page) character sketches that hit the highlights. However, if you are looking for something like the “Book of Chuang Tzu” with clever morality tales, that’s not at all what you’ll find in this book. There are a couple exceptions, but they are rare nuggets.

Each of the 40 chapters provides one character sketch of life events with a brief bio at the end. The 40 chapters are divided into five parts by the class of individual being mentioned (i.e. the eight immortals, sages, magicians, diviners, and alchemists.) There is a line drawing (reminiscent of block print) for each of the chapters that depicts the immortal in action. The only ancillary matter is a brief introduction.

As I suggested, if one is looking for information about the lives of Taoist immortals, one may find this to be a good source—particularly if one doesn’t want to get bogged down in minutiae. The entire book is less than 200 pages. On the other hand, if one is looking for stories or morality tales, one will likely find this book leaves one wanting.

[Aaron F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a book that I have re-read multiple times over the years, and I always enjoy going back to the book and reading over the wonderful tales of the Taoist Immortals. At its core, that is what this book is. It includes short tales and historical information in relation to some of the more well-known and historically popular Taoist Immortals. I really enjoy how the tales in this collection remind me of listening to a famous storyteller reciting wonderful characters of Chinese myth, legend, and history. It is a fun read, and honestly a book that I always go back to when I am feeling lost or anxious in life. The wonderful tales and characters provide examples of how to be selfless and increase self-identity through wellness/enlightenment.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book with many fantastic tales of the taoist immortals. Mostly myths and legends of taoists that lived during China's long history. Short tales much of which is light but fun reading. Some are historical figures and a few are recognizable such as the Yellow Emperor and the founder of Tai Chi. Purpose of this book is just to collect and tell the stories not really to help cultivate the Tao.

[Jeremy Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taoism is a religion and way of thinking that I don't know much about. This book was recommended as part of a home school curriculum as we learned about the period of time that Taoism was developed. Considering this, I'm not sure how helpful this book really was.

Basically, the book is a collection of very short stories for forty different practitioners of Taoism. The stories are interesting, but can become quite repetitive after awhile. There tends to be a trend of practitioners either working for the government or avoiding government service; a constant seeking of immortality; people who helped men rise to power leaving before they were killed; special events at their births or being exceptional learners at young ages; and Taoists having a variety of powers from weather control to divination.

The positive of this repetition is that it allows you to infer some of the values and beliefs of Taoism, but nothing is really laid out for you. Given this, I can't really say that I have that much more of an understanding of Taoism than I did before this. I can maybe say a few things that seem to be important, but that's about it.

While I did think that the book was interesting and there are some stories that are more unique than others, the stories are overall too similar to really enjoy reading forty of them. I almost would have liked to have about half the stories, but to have the stories be twice as long.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are very short stories about Taoist Immortals. I wish the stories were a little more developed.

[Helmut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kurze, schöne Geschichten über die wichtigsten Unsterblichen

In diesem Band sind kleine Geschichten über die wichtigsten taoistischen Unsterblichen enthalten. Die Geschichten sind 2-3 Seiten lang und enthalten meist eine Anekdote über ein bedeutendes Ereignis aus dem Leben dieses Unsterblichen, z.B. wie Lu Dongbin seinen 20-Jahre-Traum träumte oder warum Li Tieguai eine Krücke hat (die Namen sind aber in Wade-Giles in diesem Buch).

Dies ist KEIN Nachschlagewerk, das Biografien dieser Persönlichkeiten oder detaillierte literaturwissenschaftliche Informationen zur Philosophie und Bedeutung des jeweiligen Unsterblichen enthält, sondern die Autorin hat sich zur Aufgabe gesetzt, die Volksgeschichten, die über diese Unsterblichen kursieren, zu sammeln. Durch die "unwissenschaftliche" Sichtweise bekommt man hier einen sehr charmanten, leicht lesbaren, sehr unterhaltsamen und sogar für Kinder geeigneten Einblick in das wahre Wesen der taoistischen Unsterblichen.

[Aitan]

this book was enlightening on the views and cultures of Taoism. i learned a lot of their values from fun to read fairytales, and a lot of the stories are inked to history: real wars,events,books,encounters and tales. the values taught were, honesty, humility, detachment from material possessions, and to respect others freedom. the book displays these values through many different tales, each with their own moral, or value. like the story about an imortal disguised as an old man, who had tested a farmer rigorously without revealing himself as an immortal to test the mans kindness.

[Will Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

These tales are classic. Insightful and just wonderful stories to read.