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Source: "Taoism, the road to Immortality", by John Blofield, Shambala Publications, Boston, 2000


A Recent Inmortal #9 Tale


        In 1939, in in China's leading newspaper,the Ta Kung Pao the

following news item appeared:

        A gentleman of Wan Hsien, Szechuan province, born in the last

year of Ch'ien Lung's reign [1796], worked during the final years

of the following reign as secretary to the military authorities in

charge of the Yangtse River Region. After retirement, he went off

to Tibet in search of medicinal plants, disappearing for so long that

he was given up for lost. However, in the autumn of 1931, at the

age of 135, he returned to his native district where many aged

residents recognised him as someone they had known when still

very young. Despite his grizzled hair, he looked no more than 50

and had scarcely changed at all.

        This curious item brought journalists flocking to the scene and the

same newspaper came out with a photograph of the Wan Hsien

magistrate in company with the sturdy looking ancient. A few months

later, he left on a second journey to Tibet and was not seen again.

This story may seem hard to believe, yet I myself have encountered

at least two Taoist adepts whose colleagues put their ages at around

150 years. There seemed no reason to dispute their claim, the more

so as I remembered meeting a Turkish gentleman who had visited

Cambridge at the age of almost 140, but I do not recall now whether

those aged Taoists attributed their longevity to the use of medicinal

drugs.


Source: Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity, Danierl Reid, Fireside, New York, 1989 pp 345-349.

One of the most remarkable cases of longevity to spill over into the twentieth century is that of the Chinese herbalist and Taoist adept Lee Ching-yuen, who maintained his youthful vigor, sexual potency and perfect health throughout a long, active life. Lee died in 1933, shortly after marrying his 24th wife, and it remains a matter of historical record in China that he was born in 1677, during the early years of the Ching Dynasty. That made him 256 years old when he died, for those who wish to count the years. Lee died with all his own teeth and hair, and those who knew him say that he looked about 50 when he was already over 200.

  • A man who knew Lee Ching-yuen personally, became his disciple and followed his teachings till the end of his days, was the Chinese general Yang Sen, who moved to Taiwan during the Nationalist exodus from the mainland in 1949. Since Lee was a herbalist by profession, Yang naturally learned a lot about life-prolonging supplements from the great master. In addition to the uses of ginseng and pennywort. Lee taught Yang how to prepare the famous Chinese herbal elixir known as Spring Wine"