Lü Dongbin

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lu.

Lǚ Dòngbīn (呂洞賓) (spelled Lü Tung-Pin in Wade-Giles) is a historical figure and also a deity/Immortal revered by many in the Chinese culture sphere, especially by Daoists/Taoists. Lǚ Dòngbīn is one of the most widely known of the group of deities known as the Eight Immortals and considered by some to be the de facto leader. (The formal leader is more likely said to be Zhongli Quan or sometimes Iron-Crutch Li.) He is also a historical figure who was mentioned in the official history book "History of Song". Lǚ is widely considered to be one of the earliest masters of the tradition of Neidan, or Internal alchemy. He is depicted in art as being dressed as a scholar and he often bears a sword on his back that dispels evil spirits.

Contents

Character

Lü Dongbin is usually portrayed as a scholarly, clever man with a genuine desire to help people obtain wisdom/enlightenment and to learn the Tao. However, he is often portrayed as having some character "flaws", not an uncommon theme for the colorful Taoist immortals, all of whom in general have various eccentricities:

Early life

His name is Lü Yán, with Yán (巖 or 岩 or 喦) being the given name. Dòngbīn is his courtesy name. He is called Master Pure-Yang (純陽子 Chunyang Zi), and is also called Lü the Progenitor (呂祖 lü zŭ) by some Daoist, especially those of the Quanzhen School. He was born in Jingzhao Prefecture (京兆府 Jīngzhào Fŭ) around 796 C.E. during the Tang Dynasty.

When he was born, a fragrance allegedly filled the room. His birthday is said to be on the fourteenth day of the fourth month of the Chinese Calendar. He has been very intelligent since childhood and had many academic achievements. However, according to one story, still unmarried by the age of 20, Lü twice took the top-level civil service exam to become a government official, but did not succeed.

Yellow Millet Dream

The legend has it that one night when Lü Yan was in Chang'an or Handan (邯鄲 Hándān), he dozed off as his yellow millet was cooking in a hotel. He dreamed that he took the imperial exam and excelled, and thus was awarded a prestigious office and soon promoted to the position of vice minister (侍郎 shìláng). He then married the daughter of a prosperous household and had a son and a daughter. He was promoted again and again, and finally became the prime minister. However, his success and luck attracted jealousy of others, so he was accused of crimes that caused him to lose his office. His wife then betrayed him, his children were killed by bandits, and he lost all his wealth. As he was dying on the street in the dream, he woke up.

Although in the dream, eighteen years had passed, the whole dream actually happened in the time it took his millet to cook. The characters from his dream were actually played by Zhongli Quan in order to make him realize that one should not put too much importance on transient glory and success. As a result, Lü went with Zhongli to discover and cultivate the Dao/Tao. This dream is known as "Dream of the Yellow Millet" (黃粱夢 Huáng Liáng Mèng) and is described in a writing compiled by Ma Zhiyuan (馬致遠 Mǎ Zhìyuǎn) in Yuan Dynasty.

In volume 82 of Song's Li Fang (李昉 Lǐ Fǎng)'s Extensive Records of Taiping (《太平廣記》), an earlier version of the story, Lü Dongbin was replaced by Student Lu (盧生 Lú Shēng), and Zhongli Quan by Elder Lü (呂翁 Lǚ Wēng).

The exact age of Lü Yan when this incident occurred varies in the tellings, from 20 years of age to 40.

Ten trials of Lü Dongbin

A story has it that when in Chang An, Lü was tested by Zhongli Quan ten times before Quan took him in as disciple and Lü subsequently became immortal. These ten trials are described below.

  1. One day Lü came back from work and found out that his loved one was in serious sickness and dying, without sadness or remorse, he started to prepare the dress and coffin necessary for burial, but later his loved one revived and lives on, Lü was without sadness or joyous feeling.
  2. Lü was selling stuff at a market and there came a buyer to bargain with him, after agreeing on the price, Lü handed him the stuff but the buyer refused to pay in full and the walked away. Lü would not argue and let him walk away.
  3. On the first day of lunar calendar, Lü met with a beggar, after giving him some monies, the beggar kept asking for more and threw vulgar words at him, Lü left the scene with a smile.
  4. Lü was once a shepherd; during his tenure a hungry tiger was eyeing to snatch the goats under his care. Lü protected the goats by sending them down to the hillside and stood in front of the Tiger, the hungry tiger was at awe to see this and left the place without hurting Lü.
  5. Lü was studying at a small hut on a mountain and suddenly a beautiful and gorgeous lady came by and asking for a night to rest since she was lost. That night, this beautiful lady was flirting and trying to get Lü to have sex, but Lü was untouched by such temptation.
  6. One day Lü came back and saw his house was burglarized and lost all his belongings, without throwing temper and showing sign of anger he started to work on his farm, suddenly as he dug further on the ground he found countless of precious gold, without greed he uncovered the earth without taking a single piece of the gold.
  7. Lü bought some bronze utensils at a market and upon returning to home, he realized all the utensils were gold made and he immediately returned to the seller.
  8. A crazy Taoist was selling medicine on the street, telling people that his magic potion would have one of two outcomes: either 1) the drinker would die on the spot, or 2) the drinker would become immortal. No one would dare to try, except Lü, who bought and tried the potion. Nothing happened to him.
  9. A river was elevated due to heavy rain, Lü and other passengers were on a boat crossing the river. Before reaching the middle of the journey, the weather deteriorated, resulting in most the passengers except Lü being nervous and worried. Lü took it in his stride and never worried about life and death!
  10. Lü was alone at home and suddenly weird things happened. Ghost and monsters were killing each other and wanted to do the same to Lü. Showing no sense of fear, Lü kept on doing his chores without paying attention to them. Another group of devils with blood all over them tried to take Lü’s life away by saying to Lü that he owed his previous life to them since in past life Lü took his life. Without any fear Lü said ‘go ahead and take my life since I took yours in past life, this is fair and square !’ All of a sudden the sky turned blue and those ghost and devils disappeared. Zhongli Quan (Who happened to be his Teacher and Mentor in Taoist stories) was looking and laughing at him while all these events were happening.

These 10 tests proved that Lü is a pure and dignified person and Master Zhongli was very satisfied and happy to take Lü to Nan San Her Ling to pass his secret to life and subsequently formed a "Zhong-Lü Golden Dan" school of Taoism. But Lü was not too fond on the secret and instead change his formula for inner peace and benefits more human beings; many until today practiced such path to immortals. This is his major effort and contribution. He is said to have helped many to walk the right path and improve the health as well as living condition of many.

Stories and legends

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, there have been many stories and legends that are connected to Lü Dongbin. The stories were usually about Lü helping others to learn the Tao. According to the official History of the Song Dynasty (《宋史》), Lü was seen several times visiting the house of Chen Tuan (陳摶), who was believed to be the first person to present to the public the Taijitu.

The kindness of Lü Dongbin is demonstrated in the Chinese proverb "dog bites Lü Dongbin" (狗咬呂洞賓 gŏu yăo Lǚ Dòngbīn), which means an inability to recognize goodness and repay kindness with vice. Some say that the original proverb should actually be "狗咬呂洞賓，不識好人心," stemming from a story about the friendship between Gou Miao (狗咬) and Lü Dongbin, who both did for the other great favors, each of which seemed like a disservice initially, signifying the importance of having faith in one's friends.

According to Richard Wilhelm, Lü was the founder of the School of the Golden Elixir of Life (Jin Dan Jiao), and originator of the material presented in the book "Tai Yi Jin Hua Zong Zhi" (《太一金華宗旨》), or The Secret of the Golden Flower. Also, according to Daoist legend, he is the founder of the internal martial arts style called "Eight Immortals Sword" (八仙剑), considered to be one of the martial treasures of Wudangshan.

According to one story, Lü's teacher Zhongli Quan became an immortal and was about to fly to heaven, while saying to Lü that if he kept practicing the Tao he would also be able to fly to heaven himself very soon. Lü Dongbin replied to his teacher that he'll fly to heaven only after he enlightens all the sentient beings on earth (another story says all his relatives). According to the book "The Eight Immortals Achieving the Tao (《八仙得道摶》)," in his previous incarnation, Lü Dongbin was a Taoist master and the teacher of Zhongli Quan.

According to the Taoist book "History of the Immortals" (《歷代神仙通鑒》), Lü is the reincarnation of the ancient Sage-King "Huang-Tan-Shi" (皇覃氏).

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Eight_Immortals Eight Immortals] at Wikimedia Commons
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