Later Collection of the Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals历世真仙体道通鉴后集

Also known as

Later Collection of the Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals, Biographies of Female Immortals

Author / transmission

Zhao Daoyi (Quanyangzi)

Period

Yuan · Written by Zhao Daoyi, in six scrolls, devoted entirely to the biographies of 120 female immortals.

Canon division

Dongzhen Section, Records and Biographies Category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongzhen section, Biographical category

Category

Immortal Biographies

Fascicles

Six fascicles

Synopsis

The Later Collection of the Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals Who Embodied the Dao through the Ages (Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian houji), in six scrolls, is the largest collection of female immortal biographies after Du Guangting's Records of the Assembled Immortals of the Fortified Walled City. It records 120 female Perfected, arranged by period, from deified female immortals such as the Queen Mother of the West, the Mysterious Woman of the Nine Heavens, and Lady Yunhua, down to historical Daoist priestesses such as Wei Huacun, Lady Fan, Magu, Xie Ziran, Cui Shaoxuan, and Sun Bu'er. Besides drawing on the Records of the Assembled Immortals of the Fortified Walled City and the Supplementary Biographies of Immortals, it also draws on Tang and Song miscellanies, local gazetteers, and Quanzhen internal documents. Its particular distinction is the inclusion of Jin- and Yuan-dynasty Quanzhen Daoist priestesses (such as Sun Bu'er and her dharma successors), reflecting the maturation of the institution of female monastic cultivation within Quanzhen Daoism. Together with the main compilation and its sequel, this collection completes the whole of the Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals; it is the genealogical text through which Ming- and Qing-era writings on female alchemy (such as the Dharma Words of the Primordial Sovereign Sun Bu'er and Collected Texts on Female Alchemy) traced their lines of transmission, and it is a fundamental historical source for the study of women's cultivation traditions in Chinese religion.

Key Ideas

• One of the largest collections of female immortal biographies
• Records 120 female Perfected
• Adds Jin- and Yuan-dynasty Quanzhen Daoist priestesses
• Expands upon the Records of the Assembled Immortals of the Fortified Walled City
• The basis for later genealogies of female alchemy

Structure

Six scrolls, arranging brief biographies of female immortals by period.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Zhonghua Daozang edition

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikisource: Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian houji
• CTEXT Search

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