Zhang Guo张果

Style & Daoist names

Zhang Guolao (Old Zhang Guo), Master Tongxuan (Tongxuan Xiansheng)

Period

Tang

Dates

? — ?

Role

Daoshi (Daoist Priest)RecluseEight Immortals

Birthplace

Unknown (lived in seclusion on Mount Zhongtiao)

Life

Zhang Guo, a Daoist priest of the time of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the prototype for "Zhang Guolao," one of the later Eight Immortals. The Biographies of Masters of Techniques in the Old History of the Tang records that "it is not known where he was from"; he lived in reclusion on the Zhongtiao Mountains and "claimed to be several hundred years old." Empress Wu and Xuanzong repeatedly summoned him; in the twenty-first year of Kaiyuan (733) he responded to a summons and came to Luoyang, where Xuanzong wished to marry him to Princess Yuzhen, which he firmly declined; he was granted the title Silver-Blue Grand Master of the Palace and given the honorific "Master of Penetrating Mystery," after which he asked to return to Mount Heng (Hengshan), and "died not long after." The official histories already record his skill in "abstaining from grain and ingesting qi" and various strange tales about him. Works such as the Miscellaneous Records of Emperor Ming and the Extensive Records of the Taiping Era added further legends, such as riding backward on a white donkey, folding the donkey up and placing it in a case, and drinking poisonous juice without dying; from the Yuan and Ming dynasties onward he was counted among the Eight Immortals. Works attributed to Zhang Guo include the Commentary on the Yinfu jing and the True Instructions on the Great Divine Cinnabar of the Jade Cavern, most of which are pseudepigraphic.

Contributions & Influence

• Renowned for the arts of ingesting qi and abstaining from grain, a famous hermit-Daoist under Xuanzong
• Became the prototype for "Zhang Guolao" among the Eight Immortals

Works

• Commentary on the Yinfu jing (attributed to Zhang Guo)
• True Essential Instructions on the Great Divine Cinnabar of the Jade Grotto (attributed title)

Legends

Legends recount that he rode backward on a white donkey, traveling tens of thousands of li a day, and when resting folded it up like paper to place in a case; that he claimed to have lived since the time of Yao; and that Xuanzong tested him with poisonous juice, which did not kill him. All belong to legend.