Biographies of Suspected Immortals疑仙传

Author / transmission

Wang Songnian

Period

Northern Song · Attributed to Yinfu Yujian (Wang Songnian), probably completed between the end of the Five Dynasties and the early Northern Song; three fascicles, recording twenty-two persons (the number varies slightly between editions).

Canon division

Dongzhen Section, Records and Biographies Category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongzhen Section, Jizhuan category.

Category

Immortal Biographies

Fascicles

3 juan

Synopsis

Biographies of Suspected Immortals, in three fascicles, bears a suggestive title: the 'suspected' (yi) of its name signals that all the figures it records performed extraordinary and unusual feats resembling those of immortals, yet without conclusive proof, so the author dared not assert outright that they were immortals, and records them instead under a mark of doubt. It gathers recluses, occultists, monks and priests, and eccentric figures of the marketplace from the late Tang and Five Dynasties, in short entries with a style close to that of biji (notebook) fiction. This attitude of reserved doubt stands in contrast to the categorical narratives of ascension to immortality found in the Biographies of Exemplary Immortals and Biographies of Divine Immortals, reflecting the rational distance that intellectuals of the Five Dynasties and early Northern Song kept from immortality legends — neither uncritically believing nor entirely dismissing them. As a rather distinctive item among the immortal biographies included in the Daoist Canon, the work occupies a position stylistically between religious biography and literati notebook writing, and may be read alongside the contemporary Records of Extraordinary Persons of the Jiang-Huai Region and Records of Investigating Spirits (Jishen lu) — material for studying early Song conceptions of extraordinary persons and the evolution of immortal tales.

Key Ideas

• An attitude of reserved doubt, marked by the character 'suspected' (yi)
• Extraordinary persons resembling immortals but without conclusive proof
• A style positioned between religious biography and literati notebook writing
• Reflects the rational distance from immortality legends in the early Song
• May be read alongside the Records of Extraordinary Persons of the Jiang-Huai Region

Structure

Three fascicles, containing short biographies of individuals.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Shuofu edition

Full Text & Online Resources

• CTEXT: search
• Wikisource: Biographies of Suspected Immortals

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