Immortals, Deities and Gods

[3bob]

"When the many are reduced to the one, to what shall the one be reduced" (or something close to that)

 

and or when many Beings are reduced to one Being to what is that one Being then reduced to?

 

and or when many immortals are reduced to one immortal, to what is that one immortal then reduced to?

 

Om

[gendao]

^^ Good point. I think the people who originally became xian were probably mostly mountain hermits.

 

Well, there are traditionally several levels of Taoist xian (loosely described here):

 

Ghost xian: Yin shen (astral)

Human xian: Human (yin & yang) with a long physical lifespan

Earth xian: Immortal human (yang & yin)

Spiritual xian: Pure yang shen jalus

Celestial xian: Spiritual xian merging with wuji

Edited October 8, 2010 by vortex

[Xianren]

I have some difficulties to understand why the chinese word "xian"仙 is translated by "immortal". It's etimology suggests more someone like a hermit living in the mountain (人human+山mountain=仙). A more esoteric approach would be a "mountain man".

 

Anyway, an immortal is someone who does not die. It's that simple. Gods? They live very long, but they can die (in all the world's mythologies I know of). So who, or what doesn't die? Everything seem to die...Except the Tao itself. If you are the Tao, you're immortal! If you're one of the 10000 phenomena, you will die sooner or later.

 

More Chinese again...the "shen" 神 are entities worhty of respect... This word is translated by gods or deities. Also, as you probably know, it is one of the three treasures in inner alchemy.

 

Yes this regards to their physical body, for example one of the eight immortals has been burned by his disciple because he came back to late to his original body.But If you have cultivated a Yuanying the Yuanying isn't affected by it. When you have only cultivated your mind , the Yuanshen leaves the body. So their is no problem with their immortality. The only thing is that he cant appear in this dimension.

 

 

Kind regards,

Xian

[devoid]

Yes this regards to their physical body, for example one of the eight immortals has been burned by his disciple because he came back to late to his original body.But If you have cultivated a Yuanying the Yuanying isn't affected by it. When you have only cultivated your mind , the Yuanshen leaves the body. So their is no problem with their immortality. The only thing is that he cant appear in this dimension.

Hi Xian,

 

Thanks for this post.

 

(Please excuse me, but I am not familiar with the Chinese words you used and therefore prefer to ask for clarity:)

 

With Yuanying you mean the cultivation of the spiritual embryo / immortal fetus, right? And with Yuanshen you refer to the enlightened spirit which can exist in either vessels, i.e. in both the physical body as well as in the spiritual embryo / immortal fetus, right?

 

I think I am beginning to see your point about this being a prerequisite exclusively to immortality in the taoist sense.

 

Best regards,

devoid

[3bob]

In well recognized Buddhist text the Buddha mentions the possibility of him remaining (so to speak) for the entire cosmic cycle, the text says he brought up the subject three times but that it was also passed over three times - so he apparently decided otherwise...

 

Anyway, why all the specualation about what these Beings can or can not do? Such is of their merit not ours - and any of them who are truly spiritual would never allow another to stand in their shadow (or shadows of speculation) but insist that they stand on their own!

 

Namaskar

[idquest]

But the majority of Daoist Cultivation Schools concentrate on Truth, or Truthfulness. They wanted to return the the truth or sometimes also called to the origin. Buddhas, are the ones who cultivated compassion. Both are enlightened but on different ways. And the results from this enlightenment aren't 100 % the same. Because the cultivated different things.My intent was to separate from seeing a Xian, or Buddha as one and the same.

Xianren,

 

Would you be able to expand a bit on Truth?

 

I have come across this notion a few times and I think this is perhaps not the best translation from Chinese. What do Daoists mean under Truth? Is it another word for Dao or a Wuji state?

 

Thanks.

[Marblehead]

Xianren,

 

Would you be able to expand a bit on Truth?

 

I have come across this notion a few times and I think this is perhaps not the best translation from Chinese. What do Daoists mean under Truth? Is it another word for Dao or a Wuji state?

 

Thanks.

 

Excellent questions!!! I will just continue to watch responses at the moment but will post if I feel inspired.

[gendao]

[The Observer]

 

There are those who have so influenced humanity that their names and wisdom will never be forgotten.

 

 

Not really. If you notice over time even the names of famous men are slowly forgotten over the course of history.