Li Tieguai

The hideous aspect of Iron-crutch Li

Iron-crutch Li (李铁拐/李鐵拐, PY: Lǐ Tiěguǎi, WG: Li T'ieh-kuai, Japanese: Tekkai) is the most ancient of the Eight Immortals of the Daoist pantheon. He is irascible and ill-tempered, but also benevolent to the poor, sick and the needy, whose suffering he alleviates with medicine from his gourd bottle. He is portrayed as an ugly old man with dirty face, scraggy beard, and messy hair held by a golden band, walking with the aid of an iron crutch.

He is also called Hollow-eyed Li (李孔目, Lǐ Kǒngmù) or Li Ningyang (李凝阳/李凝陽, Lǐ Níngyáng).

Member of the Eight Immortals

Li Tieguai is one of the illustrious Eight Immortals (Ba Xian), a group of Daoist/folk deities who play an important role in Chinese religion and culture. While they are famed for espousing and teaching Daoist philosophy and cultivation practices, they are also figures of popular myth and legend that are known for their devotion to the downtrodden and their collective lifestyle of “free and easy wandering.” Though they are most often depicted and described in the context of their group, each has their own particular set of tales, iconography, and areas of patronage. Each of these three elements will be elaborated on below.

Legends

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He was born during the Western Zhou period, and was originally named Li Yüan. He studied with Lao Tzu (founder of Daoism) and Goddess Hsi Wang Mu. He is said to have devoted 40 years to the practice of meditation, often forgetting to eat or sleep.

Before becoming an immortal, he was a handsome man. However, on one occasion his spirit travelled to heaven. He had told his apprentice to wait seven days for the spirit to return; but after six days the student had to go home to attend his sick mother, so he cremated his body. (In another version, the apprentice found his inanimate body, and mistakenly assumed that the master had died.)

Upon returning, Li was forced to enter the only body available, the corpse of a homeless beggar who had died of starvation; who unfortunately had "a long and pointed head, blackened face, woolly and dishevelled beard and hair, huge eyes, and a lame leg." Lao Tzu gave him a gold band to keep his hair in order, and turned the beggar's bamboo staff into an iron crutch to help his lame leg.

He then brought the apprentice's mother back to life using a magical potion. At night he makes himself so small that he can sleep inside his gourd bottle.

As one of the more popular immortals, numerous tales depict Li Tiegui's exploits following his assumption into the ranks of the Ba Xian.

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Iconographic Representation

His characteristic emblems are the gourd bottle, which identifies him as one of the Eight Immortals, and his iron crutch. A vapour cloud emanates from the gourd, and within it is the sage's hun (soul); which may be depicted as a formless shape, or as a miniature double of his bodily self. Sometimes the hun is replaced by a spherical object representing the "Philosopher's Stone". He is sometimes shown riding on a chimera.

References

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• The Eight Immortals of Taoism. Translated and edited by Kwok Man Ho and Joanne O'Brien, with an introduction by Martin Palmer. New York: Meridian, 1990. ISBN 0-452-01070-5.
• Fowler, Jeaneane. An Introduction to the Philosophy and Religion of Taoism. Portland, OR: Sussex *Academic Press, 2005. ISBN 1-84519-085-8.
• Goodrich, Anne S. Peking Paper Gods: A Look at Home Worship. Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XXIII. Nettetal: Steyler-Verlag, 1991. ISBN 3-8050-0284-X.
• Kohn, Livia. Daoism and Chinese Culture. Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press, 2001. ISBN 1-931483-00-0.
• Ling, Peter C. "The Eight Immortals of the Taoist Religion." Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society XLIX (1918). 58-75.
• Pas, Julian F. in cooperation with Man Kam Leung. “Li T’ieh-Kuai/Li Tieguai.” Historical Dictionary of Taoism. Lanham, M.D. & London: The Scarecrow Press, 1998. 201-202. ISBN 0-8108-3369-7.
• Schipper, Kristofer. The Taoist Body. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993. ISBN 0-520-05488-1.
• Werner, E.T.C. "Pa-Hsien" in A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology. Wakefield, NH: Longwood Academic, 1990. 341-352. ISBN 0-89341-034-9.
• Wong, Eva. Tales of the Taoist Immortals. Boston & London: Shambala, 2001. ISBN 1-57062-809-2.
• Yetts, W. Perceval. "The Eight Immortals." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Britain and Ireland for 1916 (1916). 773-806. Accessed online at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/journals/jras/1916-21.htm.

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