Eight Brocades

[Jade02]

Why do some people say that doing the eight brocades leads to immortality yet everybody does the eight brocades and no one's immortal?

[Zhuo Ming-Dao]

Are you sure?

 

Plenty of things lead to immortality. You might even say that eating your broccoli can lead to immortality...or maybe that was for something else

 

In all seriousness though, you have to ask yourself first what the term immortality means to you. The word that we typically translate as "immortal" in Chinese is xian/hsian, which does not itself mean "not mortal" or everlasting life, like in English. Etymologically the character is composed of the radical for "man" next to "mountain." In Japanese this same character is more generally used to mean "mountain man/hermit" or sennin, which would be someone who left society to better themselves spiritually in the mountains and caves. Also in Chinese the term can be used to refer to certain nature spirits that can be found in sylvan forests and is variously translated as fairy, pixie, or sprite depending on the context. The Taoists often used it in a more specialized sense for someone who was an advanced cultivator/hermit, for someone who had achieved immortality of the spirit, or for someone who has immortality of the physical body.

 

The earliest reference that I know of to a xian that was not a nature spirit was in the first chapter of Chuang Tsu, when he describes the man on the mountain who can fly on dragons and live off of qi and dew. By the end of the warring states period they were discussed mostly in terms of a group of powerful people living either on an island in the Pacific (Penglia) or as being on Mount Kunlun in the Himalayas. These people had magical powers, could fly, and lived forever, though it was never clear if they were corporeal, since everyone who visited them did so in there dreams or visions.

 

 

Sooooo... It all depends on what you think an immortal is and what you expect from your practice.

 

 

That said, I would love to hear other people's thoughts on the effectiveness of the 8 Pieces, as this is the only physical qigong routine that I am doing everyday now that school is back in session.

[Teddy]

Good question!