Centuries before the Christian era, Chinese mountain hermits, called hsien, are said to have achieved, by means of diet, exercise, breath, and meditation, in prolonging life far beyond the ordinary. Later, Taoist adepts devoted themselves to compounding an elixir of immortality, and achieving a mastery over the forces of nature, that enabled them to perform all sorts of miracles. Initially, short accounts of prominent early hsien, appeared towards the end of the Han dynasty, and this was followed by longer biographies of other immortals. It is from these sources that this book has been selected and translated.… (more)