Shenxianzhuan 神仙傳

Shenxianzhuan 神仙傳 "Biographies of immortals" is a collection of phantastic stories compiled by the Eastern Jin period 東晉 (317-420) Daoist writer Ge Hong 葛洪. Ge Hong has written a preface to his 10 juan "scrolls" long collection in which he says that the book should serve his disciples' as a prove that immortality can really be acheived. Ruan Cang 阮倉, for instance, a noble of Qin 秦, listed the stories of several hundred immortals, and Liu Xiang's 劉向 book Liexianzhuan 列仙傳 includes the stories of 71 immortals. Using many different, even historiographical books as his sources, Ge Hong compiled a 10 juan "scrolls" long book, selecting a few dozen biographies out of a "possible thousand". Two of the biographies he delivers are also included in the Liexianzhuan, namely that of Rongcheng gong 容成公 and that of Pengzu 彭祖, yet all other biographies are not included in the Liexianzhuan. Mao Jin's 毛晉 version from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) includes 84 biographies, the version in the reprint series Guang Han-Wei congshu 廣漢魏叢書 edition there are 92 biographies. There are some biographies extracted from the encyclopedia Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (like Lu Ao Ruotu 盧敖若土). Liang Su's 梁肅 treatise Shenxianzhuan lun 神仙傳論, which is recorded in the Wenyuan yinghua 文苑英華 from the Song period 宋 (960-1279), speaks of 190 biographies. It can thus be seen that the original shape of the book is not preserved and the received versions are only extracts. The stories about Guangchengzi 廣成子 and the Yellow Emperor 黃帝 were taken from the book Zhuangzi 莊子, others are also mentioned in histories like the Shiji 史記 or the Hanshu 漢書, except the part, for instance, describing Liu An's 劉安 ascension to Heaven. The biographies of Hu Gong 壺公, Jizi Xun 薊子訓, Liu Gen 劉根, Zuo Ci 左慈, Gan Shi 甘始 or Feng Jun 封君 are largerly identical to the biographies of magicians in the official dynastic history Houhanshu 後漢書. The Daoist encyclopedia Yunji qiqian 雲笈七籤 only includes the biographies of 21 persons, the anthology Daozang jinghua lu 道藏精華錄 94 persons.
Another argument for the compilation of the Shenxianzhuan was that the Liexianzhuan was too short and did not stress enough the methods of becoming an immortal. Ge Hong describes that the Daoist adept became immortal by ingesting cinnabar potions, and thus were able to ascend to Heaven. The phantastic stories of the various immortans and their bodily transformations (like Miss Magu 麻姑 who produced claws on her hands) influened the compilation of similar book by later authors. A lot of these stories were not only spread among Daoist believers but were also known by many other persons.
The Shenxianzhuan is included in the reprint series Guang Han-Wei congshu, the Longwei mishu 龍威秘書, Shuofu 說郛, the Daoist Canon Daozang 道藏, the Daoist series Daozang jinghua lu 道藏精華錄, and the Siku quanshu 四庫全書.