Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals Who Embodied the Dao through the Ages历世真仙体道通鉴

Also known as

Mirror of Immortals, Comprehensive Mirror of the Perfected Immortals

Author / transmission

Zhao Daoyi (Quanyangzi)

Period

Yuan · Compiled by Zhao Daoyi (styled Quanyangzi), a Daoist priest of the Shengshou Wannian Palace on Mount Fuyun in the Yuan, completed around the mid-to-late Yuan; the main compilation is in fifty-three juan.

Canon division

Dongzhen Section, Records and Biographies Category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongzhen Section, Biographies and Records category.

Category

Immortal Biographies

Fascicles

53 juan (main compilation)

Synopsis

The Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals Who Embodied the Dao through the Ages), abbreviated Xianjian, is the largest-scale collective biographical compilation of perfected immortals in the history of Daoism, modeled in name and chronological spirit on Sima Guang's Zizhi tongjian, and arranged in chronological order. The main compilation, in fifty-three juan, begins with the Yellow Emperor and ends at the close of the Song, recording 745 perfected immortals; there is also a Sequel in five juan recording thirty-four people (including the Seven Perfected of the Northern Quanzhen lineage at the Song–Yuan transition), and a Later Collection in six juan recording 120 female immortals — the three parts together comprise sixty-four juan and 899 people. Zhao Daoyi drew broadly on the official histories, local gazetteers, steles and inscriptions, earlier immortal biographies and internal Daoist records, generally noting the source for each biography, and his textual verification is more rigorous than that of earlier immortal biographies; though still a religious biographical work, it is therefore basic material for the study of the lives of Daoist figures, lineage transmission, and local Daoism. Its accounts of the patriarchs of Quanzhen Daoism and the alchemists of the Southern Lineage also preserve the self-narrated history of the Yuan-dynasty religious order.

Key Ideas

• The largest-scale collective compilation of Daoist immortal biographies
• Arranged chronologically in imitation of the Zizhi tongjian
• Main compilation, Sequel and Later Collection together comprise 64 juan and 899 people
• Draws broadly on official histories, gazetteers and steles, with sources noted
• The Yuan-dynasty religious order's own historical narrative

Structure

Main compilation in fifty-three juan (from the Yellow Emperor to the end of the Song), with a Sequel in five juan and a Later Collection in six juan (on female immortals).

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Zhonghua Daozang edition
• Daozang yaoji xuankan edition

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikisource: Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian
• CTEXT: Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian

Related scriptures

Related figures