Zhang Yulian's "Research on the Literature of Medieval Taoist Immortals" was published by Zhonghua Book Company in January 2023, which makes a more systematic study of the ancient Taoist immortal legends. There is no consensus in the academic community on the historical periodization limited by the "Middle Ages", but out of familiarity and analysis of the research object, the author limits it to "the two Han dynasties to the Tang dynasty". "Legend of Immortals" refers to the identity of the biographer in the biographical works of this period to the "immortals"; On the one hand, "Taoism" affirms the ** of this group of biographical works, and on the other hand, it points out the writing intention of this group of biographical works: to promote Taoism and explain Buddhism.
A Study of Medieval Taoist Immortal Literature
The study of the literature of Taoist immortals in the Middle Ages is to investigate the biographies of Taoist immortals from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty from a literary perspective, study the methods of literature, and evaluate the aesthetics of literature, so as to fully grasp this group of biographical works from an interdisciplinary perspective.
"The Legend of Ancient Taoist Immortals" is not only the research object of the whole book, but also the documentary basis for the analysis and argumentation of the whole book, so it is very important to clarify it.
Under this premise, the author conducts a comprehensive investigation and research on 84 kinds of immortal works ("The Biography of Mr. Hongya", "The Biography of Hu Huichao" and "The Inner Biography of Wu Tianshi" in the Tang Dynasty period are scattered and it is not yet possible to determine whether they are immortal works), involving the bibliographic situation, edition information, reason for writing, creation time, content theme, artistic characteristics and many other aspects of these works, and can give appropriate evaluations in combination with the background of Taoist history and the needs of literary aesthetics, which is the most important part of the author's literary skills.
In this process, in addition to the explanation of the basic situation of this group of immortal biography works, there are also many "academic cases", such as "whether Liu Xiang is the author of "The Biography of the Immortals" and "Who is the 'Twelve True Monarchs' in Hu Huichao's "The Biography of the Twelve True Monarchs", etc., even in the face of the discussion that has been "closed in the coffin" in the academic circles - such as the old title Zhou Jitong's "The Biography of Xuanzhou Shangqing Su Jun", the author can also refer to the Jindan doctrine that arose in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Shangqing faction that was founded in the Jin Dynasty. It is inferred that this biography was written by the Jin people under the pretense of Zhou Jitong, and all of these have unfolded a broad picture of the ancient Taoist immortal literature that can be called "magnificent" for us.
The Legend of the Immortals
However, what is more exciting in this book is not only the above-mentioned examination of the classification of these 84 kinds of immortal biography works, but also the author is more "close", which is mainly reflected in three aspects.
First of all, although these 84 kinds of immortal works have been carried and sunk in the long river of nearly 1,000 years from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, they have the same historical, literary and cultural origins, and they are linked, inherited, influenced and developed with each other. Secondly, although this group of immortal works has a completely different presentation in the creative process:
Some works focus on showing the magic power of immortals, some works focus on depicting the ethereal fairyland, and some works are almost expounding the ...... of the scripturesThere are many names, but they all have the same purpose: immortals are real, and it is possible to seek immortals, which has become the core of the writing of immortal legends in ancient Taoism, and it is also its most fundamental feature.
Finally, what is commendable is that in the process of extensively collecting the immortal legends of the Middle Ages, the author was able to regard them as a whole, and summarized the "double hump situation" of the development of the immortal legends of the Middle Ages from a theoretical height, and in terms of the number of immortals and literary achievements, the peak of the Tang Dynasty was obviously higher. (See Figure 1).
A Cultural Study of the Biographies of Taoist Immortals
Figure 1: The development map of the "double hump situation" of the Middle Taoist immortals.
It was only after the author highlighted these 84 kinds of immortal works like a number of treasures that it was possible to further elaborate them.
At this time, the author divided the text into two ways, all the way into the inner circle of immortals, on the basis of coordinating the content of the immortal legend, in-depth texture summarized the story types of the ancient Taoist immortals: "show the supernatural" type, "seek the Tao to become an immortal" type, "accidentally become an immortal and meet the immortal type", "teach the Tao" type, although these four types of stories seem to be separated, but in fact they are progressive, showing the medieval Taoist immortal legend in the creative process of innovation, its purpose is to point to "the gods are real, the possibility of seeking immortals", and "the promotion of Taoism and interpretation." The intention of the writing echoes from afar.
Sorrow and Travel: The Literature of the Six Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties
Because of this common purpose, the ancient Taoist immortal legend in the selection of the subject matter is inevitably Chen Chen, which is indispensable for "creative rewriting", in which the interesting pen is "immortal road to cure the disease and save people" and "immortal road night teaching tips" two examples, the former immortal Taoist body of the magic treatment method and incredible curative effect, to the work to bring a strong fantasy color and witchcraft color; The latter's choice of a silent night at the time of the immortal path creation creates an indescribable fantasy atmosphere for the work, which has a unique aesthetic significance.
On the other hand, the author has found another way to transplant the "archetype" and "motif" applied by literary criticism to the interpretation of the Taoist immortal legend in the Middle Ages, and in the presentation of this part of the content, the author adopts the method of case study, tracing the relationship between "the world in the pot" and "Pangu opening the world", "immortals" and "wizards", "ascending immortals" and "witchcraft", unveiling the veil of Taoist immortals shrouded in "witches", and taking the Yellow Emperor in "The Legend of the Immortals" as a typical example, stating that his identity is "witch king". With the help of archetypal criticism, from the ancient Taoist immortal biography, the author excavated the "witch wind" hidden in the depths of Taoism, which is very enlightening, and also provides different ideas for solving some problems in the existing Taoist classics.
History of Medieval Taoist Literature and Thought
As mentioned above, the formation of these three motifs is inseparable from the inheritance of the ancient Taoist immortal in the selection of the theme, but in this inheritance, the medieval Taoist immortal legend is also consciously innovating, thus bringing a unique literary interest, such as the "peach eating and cultivating immortals" motif is combined with the "divine treasure protection" motif, and the ever-changing test method in the "test and selection of apprentices" motif, Under the control of the same motif, we can not only see that the ancient Taoist immortal transmission hopes to imperceptibly realize the "promotion of Taoism and interpretation" in the way of "repeated writing", but also can see the continuous change and innovation of the immortal transmission itself, so as to peek into the leopard and deepen the understanding of the development process of Taoism.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the title of "Research on Medieval Taoist Immortal Literature" has an interdisciplinary perspective, and as a part of Taoist classics, it is an important reference for interpreting the teachings and sorting out the history of the development of Taoism. As a biographical work, it is a rich treasure trove for other forms of literary works, and the themes, allusions, and storylines in it all provide convenient conditions for the creation of later literary works.
However, from the perspective of "interdisdisciplinarity", there is always a certain contradiction in directly incorporating such a group of works as the Legend of Ancient Taoist Immortals into the literary vision; The discussion of the immortal legends of medieval Taoism by means of case studies still has a sense of unfinished meaning, and it can also be seen that there is still a certain research space for the research object of the immortal legends of medieval Taoism, however, the pioneering work of this book should not be ignored.
A Study of the Narrative of Tombs in Ancient **
Since 2013, when the author first raised such a topic, to such a heavy work on the desk today, "Research on the Literature of Ancient Taoist Immortals" embodies the author's ten years of hard work.
Throughout the book, this work can unify the knowledge background of Taoist history and literature to carry out a vertical and horizontal, flesh-and-blood analysis and discussion of such a group of immortal works, which not only sees new ideas, but also shows skills, and also provides important reference value for later generations to further explore and research in this field, and also brings a certain reference in research methods.
References: [1] Qing Xitai, editor-in-chief, Zhan Shichuang, deputy editor-in-chief: History of Chinese Taoist Thought [M].People's Publishing House, 2009
2] Zhang Yulian, "Research on the Narrative of Tombs in Ancient **" [M].People's Publishing House, 2013
3] [French] He Bilai, translated by Lu Pengzhi: "Xuanzhou Shangqing Su Jun Biography" Solution" [J].World Religions and Cultures, 2019(6).
4] Zhang Yulian, "Research on the Literature of Ancient Taoist Immortals" [M].Chung Hwa Book Company, 2023