Difference between revisions of "Li Tieguai" - New World Encyclopedia

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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

Main article: Ba Xian

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

<intro>

By all accounts, Li Tieguai was a likely candidate for the attainment of immortality, as he is universally described as a handsome, self-possessed and motivated man who achieved fame for his ascetic and philosophical acumen. By his early thirties, he was able to go for weeks without eating or drinking, and could become so attuned to the Dao that he was like unto a dead man. Word of these exploits eventually reached the divinized Laozi, who returned to earth to become Li's patron and mentor.

Under Laozi's expert tutelage, Li's expertise at various magical and superhuman feats flourished, eventually earning him a following of devoted pupils and admirers. Eventually, Laozi taught Li how to make a voyage of the spirit - separating his soul from his body in order to travel to the celestial realms. After this final lesson, the Old Master invited his pupil to visit him in the heavenly abode of the immortals and gods. Duly excited, Li Tieguai instructed his most prized student in how to care for his material body while he was away. As a contingency, he advised his student that his body should be immediately cremated if he did not return within seven days.

While Li Tieguai's spirit was off among the celestial spheres, his pupil received some troubling news: his beloved mother had taken ill. Conscious of his duty to his master, the young apprentice continued his vigil over Li's lifeless body, all the while fretting about his mother's health. However, on the evening of the sixth day, this stress proved to be too much. The student, sure that his master had forever departed the material realm, quickly burned his body and rushed home to tend to his mother. Soon after, Li's soul returned to our plane, only to find that his fine-featured body had been reduced to a pile of ashes. Fearful that he should be extinguished, Li quickly found the first available material form that he could - the body of a recently expired beggar-man.

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.

<extro> (Zhuangzi and the ugly teachers)

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.

Area of Patronage

Notes

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

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.

Credits

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History of "Li Tieguai"

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@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 <intro>
-He was born during the [[Western Zhou Dynasty|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.
+By all accounts, Li Tieguai was a likely candidate for the attainment of immortality, as he is universally described as a handsome, self-possessed and motivated man who achieved fame for his ascetic and philosophical acumen. By his early thirties, he was able to go for weeks without eating or drinking, and could become so attuned to the [[Dao]] that he was like unto a dead man. Word of these exploits eventually reached the divinized [[Laozi]], who returned to earth to become Li's patron and mentor.
-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 [[cremation|cremated]] his body. (In another version, the apprentice found his inanimate body, and mistakenly assumed that the master had died.)
+Under Laozi's expert tutelage, Li's expertise at various magical and superhuman feats flourished, eventually earning him a following of devoted pupils and admirers. Eventually, Laozi taught Li how to make a voyage of the spirit - separating his soul from his body in order to travel to the celestial realms. After this final lesson, the Old Master invited his pupil to visit him in the heavenly abode of the immortals and gods. Duly excited, Li Tieguai instructed his most prized student in how to care for his material body while he was away. As a contingency, he advised his student that his body should be immediately cremated if he did not return within seven days.
-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.
+While Li Tieguai's spirit was off among the celestial spheres, his pupil received some troubling news: his beloved mother had taken ill. Conscious of his duty to his master, the young apprentice continued his vigil over Li's lifeless body, all the while fretting about his mother's health. However, on the evening of the sixth day, this stress proved to be too much. The student, sure that his master had forever departed the material realm, quickly burned his body and rushed home to tend to his mother. Soon after, Li's soul returned to our plane, only to find that his fine-featured body had been reduced to a pile of ashes. Fearful that he should be extinguished, Li quickly found the first available material form that he could - the body of a recently expired beggar-man.
 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.
@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 As one of the more popular immortals, numerous tales depict Li Tiegui's exploits following his assumption into the ranks of the ''Ba Xian''.
-<extro>
+<extro> (Zhuangzi and the ugly teachers)
 ==Iconographic Representation==