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Citation: Shen, Jianyu. 2024. The
Gods among Us: A Shared Recipe for
Making Saints in Early Jewish and
Daoist Hagiographies. Religions 15:
222. hps://doi.org/10.3390/
rel15020222
Academic Editors: Huaiyu Chen
and Minhao Zhai
Received: 28 December 2023
Revised: 21 January 2024
Accepted: 25 January 2024
Published: 16 February 2024
Copyright: © 2024 by the author.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Swierland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Aribution (CC BY) license (hps://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
religions
Article
The Gods among Us: A Shared Recipe for Making Saints in
Early Jewish and Daoist Hagiographies
Jianyu Shen
Department of Jewish Thought, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel;
jianyu.shen@mail.huji.ac.il
Abstract: This article examines the earthly journey of the saints in early Jewish and Daoist hagiogra‑
phies. The major texts for comparative reading are Sefer Shivchei Ha‑Ar”i and Shenxian Zhuan, namely,
the foundation stones of each hagiographical tradition. Emphasis is laid on the most signicant
phases in the process of making saints while the candidates dwell in the worldly domain as quasi‑
divine beings: (1) Mystical Birth, (2) Life in Seclusion, and (3) Divine Encounters. During these stages
of transition, the sages were imparted with the esoteric wisdom and the godly features that rendered
them extraordinary exemplars of religiosity. My investigation demonstrates that this recipe is shared
by both hagiographical traditions, despite the distance in time and space, to construct the image of
saints, each expressed with culturally distinct characteristics of their own. I argue that both tradi‑
tions display a paern of human‑centered sainthood instead of the divine‑endorsed type—while the
birth myth shows a discernible degree of predestined sagehood, painstaking periods, such as self‑
isolation and learning with the true masters, are more crucial to the sages’ transformation of identity
in the realm of Earth, the dynamic incubator that breeds holiness for the most qualied souls.
Keywords: hagiography; Kabbalah; Daoism; comparative mysticism; Isaac Luria; Ge Hong
1. Introduction
The phenomenon of saint veneration is a practice widely observed by cultures around
the world; the rich literature of hagiographies produced thereof enables us to probe into
the question of how the image of saints is portrayed by dierent traditions. In this re‑
search, I would like to look for answers to this question by the parallel reading of an un‑
usual pair, namely, the early Jewish and the Daoist hagiographies. Indeed, the paucity of
comparative studies on Jewish and Chinese thoughts may be justied by the scarcity of
historical encounters or mutual inuence between the two ancient civilizations.1Nonethe‑
less, recent decades have witnessed increasing scholarly interest in searching beyond the
familiar framework of comparing culturally related entities. The works by academic pre‑
decessors in this regard, such as Barbara Holdrege, Ji Zhang, Yair Lior, Robert Allinson,
Martin Zwick, etc., have served as both an inspiration and an encouragement to my own
project.2In the same vein, I wish to contribute a mite to the grand project of humanities to
understand the “others” that fascinate “us”, particularly via the transboundary dialogue
between the Jewish and the Chinese cultures, which is still a budding domain yet shows
great potentiality and calls for further scholastic endeavor.
Undoubtedly, a very distinct discrepancy between the two cultural entities is that
Judaism has been very cautious about saint veneration or individual worship due to the
second of the Ten Commandments against idolatry while the deication of extraordinary
humans stands at the center of the Daoist literature. However, sainthood does exist in
the Jewish culture under dierent manifestations, from the biblical heroes and Hellenis‑
tic martyrs to the exceptional rabbis of dierent periods,3as evidenced by the sporadic
accounts of legendary curricula vitae.4The outburst of Jewish hagiographies came rather
late in the seventeenth century when the rst compilation Sefer Shivchei Ha‑Ar”i [In Praise
Religions 2024,15, 222. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020222 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions
Religions 2024,15, 222 2 of 26
of Isaac Luria] came into light. This compilation centers on the mystical rabbi Isaac Luria
(1534–1572), also known as HaAri, one of the greatest gures in Judaism and the Jewish pro‑
tagonist of this article. Both Luria’s theological innovations and his legendary biography
have cast a tremendous inuence on the generations that followed. On the contrary, the
Daoist side has favored hagiographical literature since the Han dynasty. The foundational
compilations of Daoist hagiography are Liexian Zhuan [列仙传, Collective Biographies of
Immortals], whose dating is still controversial,5and its successor Shenxian Zhuan [神仙传,
Biographies of Divine Transcendents] by Ge Hong,6after which piles of other works fol‑
lowed throughout the dynasties.7
Since there are sucient textual materials from each side for investigation, it is sensi‑
ble to focus on the particularly representative ones of the two streams. Therefore, the main
sources of this research are the foundation stones of hagiography on each side, namely: (1)
Sefer Shivchei Ha‑Ar”i, rst published in 1629, a compilation of the miraculous life stories of
the Safedian sage Isaac Luria, based on the leers wrien by Sholomon Shlomiel Dresni
(b. 1572?), a Moravian Jew who immigrated to Safed in 1602;8(2) Shenxian Zhuan, a col‑
lection of legends on practitioners of Dao that successfully obtained eternal life, compiled
by the signicant Daoist adept Ge Hong (ca. 283–343/364),9that profoundly shaped the
hagiographies wrien henceforth. Closely relevant texts, such as the autobiography by
Luria’s major disciple Hayyim Vital; Shivchei HaBesh”t [In Praise of Baal Shem Tov]; Liex‑
ian Zhuan; Ge Hong’s Baopuzi Neipian [抱朴子内篇, Baopuzi Inner Chapters] and Baopuzi
Waipian [Baopuzi Outer Chapters], etc., will be used as supplementary materials.
In the following sections, I will examine the life journey of the saints on Earth, fea‑
turing their transboundary interactions with messengers from Heaven. Emphasis is laid
on the most signicant phases in the process of making transcendence while the sages are
still quasi‑divine beings in the lower reality: (1) Mystical Birth; (2) Life in Seclusion; and (3)
Divine Encounters with heavenly gures, be it angels, ancient sages, or God Himself/gods
themselves. With this shared formula, my purpose is not to rewrite meticulous biogra‑
phies of the saints for the various versions of their legends have already done so over the
centuries. Instead, by investigating the crucial stages of transition that grant them esoteric
knowledge and godly characteristics, I try to understand what “on earth” makes the saints
extraordinary exemplars of religiosity. While the central motifs that constitute the mar‑
velous life experience of these exceptional gures are expressed with culturally distinct
features, I discovered that both traditions display a paern of human‑centered sainthood
instead of the divine‑endorsed type—while the birth myth shows a discernible degree of
predestined sagehood, painstaking periods, such as self‑isolation and learning with the
true masters, are more crucial to the sages’ transformation of identity in the realm of Earth,
the promising land of in‑betweenness and the dynamic incubator that breeds holiness for
the most qualied souls.
2. Mythical Birth
Let us turn to the outset of the heroes’ earthly journey. In both the Jewish and the
Daoist contexts under examination, the motif of mythical birth appears frequently in the
biographies of saints. Disregarding cultural origin, a hagiographical compilation seems
incomplete when this element is missing. Unsurprisingly, Shivchei HaAr”i opens with the
birth legend of the holy rabbi Isaac Luria, the central gure of myth in early
modern Kabbalah:
There once lived a man in Israel, the glorious land, and his name was Rabbi
Solomon, of blessed memory. And this man was whole‑hearted and upright
and God‑fearing and one who shunned evil. Now it came to pass one day, as he
was in the synagogue studying by himself, that Elijah the Prophet—may he be
remembered for good—appeared to him, saying: “Know that I am a messenger
of God and I come to bring you tidings that your wife will conceive and bear
you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. And he will set about to deliver Israel
from evil spirits and through him many souls, now in a transformed state, will
Religions 2024,15, 222 3 of 26
be brought to their perfection. He will reveal the hidden mysteries of the Torah
and the meaning of the Zohar, and his fame will go forth throughout the world.
Therefore take special heed that you do not circumcise him till I myself come and
be the child’s godfather.”
And it came to pass that when he nished speaking he disappeared, and Rabbi
Solomon remained all that day in the synagogue, weeping and praying to God.
And thus he spoke: “Master of the universe, fulll the good tidings that You have
brought me. And though I am not worthy, do it for Your sake and not for mine.
And do not let my sins cause these good tidings to be of no eect.” That night
he went home but he did not reveal this maer even to his wife. And Solomon
knew his wife and she conceived and bore a son, and the whole house was lled
with light and the man rejoiced in his ospring. (Derazni 1970, pp. 5–6)
This miraculous event took place prior to the conception of the child and prophesies
the sage’s greatness in his upcoming life, reminding the readers of the famous Christian
scene of Annunciation,10 although it is not the mother who receives the good news. Instead,
the encounter is between Luria’s father rabbi Solomon and the biblical prophet Elijah, who
usually plays the role of a divine messenger in the Jewish tradition.11 The concise descrip‑
tion of Luria’s father rabbi Solomon and his prayer portrays a pious repenting Jew, spiritu‑
ally qualied to receive the heavenly tidings from the biblical immortal and chosen to bear
one of the greatest gures in the history of the Jewish faith. The revelation scene not only
introduces the name of the child but also foretells the central axis of Isaac’s adult life—he
is born with the messianic mission to restore Israel to a collective perfection through pu‑
rifying the souls of his fellowmen. The esoteric knowledge of the Torah and the Zohar is
the prerequisite for the physician of the soul to heal the cosmos. Moreover, the miraculous
light that lled the house at the sage’s birth reminds us of the same midrashic theme, a
prime example of which is the birth of Moses. According to the Talmud (Sotah 12a), the
rabbinic tradition that designates a divine light to Moses’ birth originates from the discus‑
sion in a baraita [oral traditions external to the Mishnah] that establishes an inter‑textual
relation between two verses within the Pentateuch—Moses’ mother saw her newborn son
was good [tov] (Exodus 2:2) while the scripture used the same wording when God saw that
the light He created was good [tov] (Genesis 1:4)—hence, Moses was born with the divine
light. In our context here, Moses being the hidden light of the nation to save his fellowmen
from gentiles’ oppression, as implied by the Talmudic rendering of light, greatly echoes
with Luria’s messianic mission among his own generation.12
The Shivchei narrative follows that on the day of the boy’s circumcision ceremony at
the synagogue, the father wept and prayed again as Elijah did not show up until an hour
into the ceremony:
And even as he wept, behold, Elijah appeared to him, saying: “Refrain from
weeping, O servant of the Lord. Approach the altar and prepare your sacrice.
Take my seat and I myself will circumcise the child. For I did but tarry to know
whether you would keep my commandments and hearken unto me.
Then Elijah took the child from the woman and circumcised him, but no one saw
him save the father. And as soon as the child arrived home, he was healed as
though he had been circumcised many years before. (Derazni 1970, p. 6)
The fact that Elijah himself performed the circumcision on the baby, beyond his tra‑
ditional legendary role of merely aending the ceremony, further testies to the unusual
destiny of the newborn. Interestingly, for all aendants at the ceremony, what happened
seemed to be an invisible brit milah [circumcision ceremony] since only the father could see
the heavenly messenger, adding to the legendary aura of the scene.
As a prototype for Jewish biographies in the modern era, Sefer Shivchei HaAr”i greatly
inuenced subsequent works of this genre, of which Shivchei HaBesh”t is a prime example.
This compilation centers around the life and mystical deeds of rabbi Israel ben Eleazer
(1698–1760), also known as Baal Shem Tov or Besht, who was rendered by tradition as the
Religions 2024,15, 222 4 of 26
founder of Hasidism. In the Beshtian birth myth, Rabbi Eleazer, father of the Besht, was
captured by bandits to a country away from his wife and hometown. Years had passed
when he eventually received the opportunity to return:13
While he was on his journey, Elijah the Prophet revealed himself to him and
said: “Because of the merit of your behavior a son will be born to you who will
bring light to Israel, and in him this saying will be fullled: Israel in whom I will
be gloried.”. (Isaiah 49:3)
He came home and with God’s help he found his wife still alive. The Besht was
born to them in their old age, when both of them were close to a hundred. (The
Besht said that it had been impossible for his father to draw his soul from heaven
until he had lost his sexual desire.) (Ben Samuel [1970] 1993, p. story 3)
In a very similar manner to the birth account of Luria, the biographer of Baal Shem
Tov depicted the annunciation of the sage delivered by Elijah to the father of the child,
though without much detail of the father’s prayer or his constant repenting introspection.
Interestingly, the theme of light also repeats itself here as in the Lurianic story, hinting at
the messianic destiny of the Hasidic Master.
Additionally, among the members of the inner cycle of Luria, his most prominent
follower Hayyim Vital reports a variation of the same theme. Interestingly, in Vital’s auto‑
biography, where he displays overwhelming egocentrism and emphasizes greatly his own
holiness, the autobiographer did not copy the paern of the Elijah‑style revelation (though
he does claim to have a close relation with the prophet) but recorded a humbler version of
the birth myth:
When my father and teacher z”l [of blessed memory] was living outside the land
of Israel, before he migrated there, a great scholar, whose name was R. Hayyim
Ashkenazi, was a guest in his home. He said to him: Know that in the future you
will travel to the land of Israel to live there, and a son will be born to you there.
Call him Hayyim after me. He will be a great scholar, and there will be none like
him in his generation. (Vital and Safrin 1999, p. 43)
The abovementioned accounts and the biblical narratives of the same theme display
the mythical birth with various details concerning the identity of the messenger, the fertil‑
ity of the parents, the time and space of the annunciation, etc. Shared elements are usually
the naming of the unborn child and, most signicantly, the prophecy of his extraordinary
achievements in this life that starts at this narrative point.
On the other hand, the motif of birth is also somewhat downplayed in the Shenxian
Zhuan. Given the general Daoist doctrine that destiny is at one’s own hand (Ge 2011, pp.
519–20)14 and Ge Hong’s particular task of showing that xian‑hood is accessible to every
human being via certain practices, the author makes more eorts to broadcast the eec‑
tiveness of the techniques and advocate the diligence of the practicing adepts rather than
showing how the protagonists are already chosen before they enter the earthly realm.15
Nonetheless, in the extant corpus of Shenxian Zhuan, the account of Laozi seems an excep‑
tional case that provides a relatively rich discussion on the sage’s unusual birth:16
Laozi (Master Lao, or the Old Master) had Chong’er as his name, Boyang as his
style. He was a native of Quren hamlet, Ku district, in the kingdom of Chu. His
mother felt a great meteor enter her, and thus she conceived. But, although he
received his pneumas [气,qi] from Heaven, since he was born into the Li family
he took Li as his surname.17 (R. Campany 2002, p. 194; Ge 2017, pp. 22–27)
Following the typical paern of Chinese biographical writing, the narrative on Laozi
starts with his personal information, including appellations18 and hometown. Although
Ge Hong’s core argument here is that even the godly Laozi was a human being who
achieved deathless xian‑hood via practices, the biographer still preserves the divine concep‑
tion of the Master in the narrative.19 The passage is followed by a list of dierent versions
of the sage’s birth with which the author is familiar but downright disagrees:
Religions 2024,15, 222 5 of 26
Some say Laozi was born before Heaven and Earth were. Some say he was pro‑
duced from celestial cloud‑souls or essences and that he must have been some
sort of deity or numen. Some say his mother carried him seventy‑two years
before nally giving birth and that when he was born he emerged by piercing
through her left armpit; and that he was born with white hair, hence was called
Laozi. Some say that his mother had no husband and that Laozi was the surname
of her family. Some say that his mother gave birth to him under a plum tree and
that, being able to speak at birth, he pointed at the tree and said, “I’ll take this as
my surname.”20 (R. Campany 2002, p. 194; Ge 2017, pp. 22–27)
Historically, the apotheosis and worship of Laozi began in the Han dynasty. By the
time of Ge Hong in the Six Dynasties, the image of Laozi was at a peak of legendary con‑
struction, overdrawing the sage’s godhood.21 This passage demonstrates the author’s fa‑
miliarity with the birth variations of Laozi, none implying a common conception.
After listing the multiple identities (as renowned gures) that the Master took dur‑
ing his continuous transformations throughout history since the era of the ancient Three
Sovereigns (Ge 2017, pp. 22–27; R. Campany 2002, pp. 194–96),22 Ge Hong vigorously
refutes the popular trend of over‑deifying Laozi:
These sorts of speculations are the product of recent generations of practitioners,
lovers of what is marvelous and strange, who have created them out of a desire
to glorify and venerate Laozi. To discuss it from a basis in fact, I would say that
Laozi was someone who was indeed particularly advanced in his aainment of
the Dao but that he was not of another kind of being than we. […] From this
it can be seen that the view that Laozi was originally a deity or numen must
stem from practitioners of the Dao of shallow views who wished to make Laozi
into a divine being of a kind dierent from us, so as to cause students in later
generations to follow him; what they failed to realize was that this would cause
people to disbelieve that long life is something aainable by practice. Why is this?
If you maintain that Laozi was someone who aained the Dao, then people will
exert themselves to imitate him. If you maintain that he was a deity or numen,
of a kind dierent from us, then his example is not one that can be emulated
by practice. (R. Campany 2002, pp. 196–97; Ge 2017, pp. 28–31)
Certainly, this does not mean that Ge Hong intended to dismiss the godhood of Laozi.
Instead, the Inner Chapters, a more systematic guidebook to xian‑hood by the same author,
testies to the bifold image of Laozi that combines humanity and divinity. As Campany
summarizes, the image of Laozi is multi‑faceted, although not lengthy, in Inner Chapters,
which treats Laozi as “(a) a celestial deity or deied transcendent of whom mediating
adepts seek longevity‑inducing visions and to whom alchemy‑practicing adepts direct of‑
ferings; (b) the possibility of achieving transcendence while nevertheless retaining certain
ties to the social world; (c) the very synechdoche of the quest for transcendence, the proto‑
type and ideal of all practitioners who seek to transform themselves into deathless beings;
(d) the source of important methods, texts, and talismans used by transcendence seekers;
these include but are not limited to alchemical methods” (R. Campany 2002, pp. 205–8).
When the author collected the hagiographical materials that were passed down to him in
oral or wrien form, dierent tales had already gained popularity and it was not possible
to overlook these myths. Yet meanwhile, against the trend of apotheosizing Laozi by di‑
minishing his humanity, Ge Hong sticks to his own agenda and tries to neutralize the birth
myth of the sage with moderate deication.23
In short, while the motif of birth myth is given due aention in both the Jewish and
the Daoist hagiographies, it is also downplayed by the authors to a discernible extent, par‑
ticularly in comparison to traditions that emphasize the inherent holiness of the human
embodiment of the high deity, a primal example of which is Christianity. At this point, we
see that the sages in the earthly realm are entirely human, though their godhood enables
them to connect the upper and the lower worlds, even before their own physicality. The
Religions 2024,15, 222 6 of 26
slight tinge of predestined sainthood endorses the extraordinary life of the sages; yet, on
the other hand, the implication here is that it will surely be outshone by the persistent prob‑
ing into the esoteric wisdom and the righteous deeds of the saints on their way towards
true holiness.
3. Life in Seclusion
Mystical seclusion or solitude is another signicant element in both hagiographical
traditions. Being alone in far‑o lands may be a long period before one’s nal enlighten‑
ment or a short‑term withdrawal from the social network as one seeks inspiration from on
high.24 Despite the duration of social retreatment, such hermetic experience is not just a
moment of contemplative enlightenment inspired by the divine but also a liminal state of
empowerment for the adepts to enhance their esoteric skills, an accelerator in the making
of transcendence. In other words, the sage’s life of minimum social connection is a crucial
phase when wonderous journeys into the sacred realm take place with high frequency,
whether spiritually or physically.
For the kabbalists in general, to be alone with God is often referred to as hitbodedut
[seclusion], an important meditative practice not limited to the Lurianic school.25 As Moshe
Idel points out, the biblical and the Talmudic traditions prior to Kabbalah preserved “soli‑
tude” to the sacred men of ancient times, like Moses on Mt. Sinai, the high priest in the
Holy of Holies, etc., when they were separated from this world and alone with the divine
presence.26 This conventional approach saw changes in the ecstatic school of Abraham
Abulaa (1240–1291) who, under Su inuence, started to regard hitbodedut as a practical
method of concentration towards higher spirituality (Idel 1988, pp. 103–8).27 Works by the
great Safedian sage Moses Cordovero (1522–1570) signicantly helped disseminate this
type of hitbodedut among the wider public through his incorporation of such a contempla‑
tive method into the ethical writings as a religious value (Idel 1988, p. 133).28
The very limited documentary materials on Isaac Luria show that he also dedicated
a great portion of his short stay in this world to solitude. Soon after the undue death of
Luria’s father while he was still a child, his mother took him to her brother in Egypt for
shelter. It was probably in the 1560s that Luria lived alone for about six years on a small
island on the Nile called Jazirat al‑Rawda, owned by his wealthy uncle Moderchai Franses,
who was a tax farmer in Cairo (Fine 2003, pp. 29, 35). Shlomiel described Luria’s isolation
multiple times in his enthusiastic leers sent to the Jewish communities in the diaspora—
the textual basis for Shivchei HaAr”i, each with dierent details while the key factors remain
the same:
After marriage he went in solitude with our honorable teacher and rabbi Bezalel
Ashkenazi for seven years. Then he secluded himself for six years. He continued
to sanctify himself with superuous holiness for seven consecutive years in a
house built on the Nile River. He was alone and no one was with him, and he
did not converse with anyone. On Shabbat eve close to darkness, he came to
his house and did not converse with anyone, not even with his wife—except for
great necessity and in the holy language [Hebrew] which is brief and elevating.
There he received the Holy Spirit, and Elijah the Prophet z”l revealed to him the
chapters and he taught him the secrets of the Torah. Every night his neshamah
[soul] ascended and legions of ministering angels came to guard him on the way
until they send him into the Heavenly Yeshiva [school for traditional studies of
Judaism]. They would ask him which yeshiva he chose to sit at. He once chose
the yeshiva of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, once the yeshiva of Rabbi Akiva, once
the yeshiva of Rabbi Eliezer the Great, and once the yeshiva of the prophets.29
(Derazni 1991, pp. 4–5)
Here, the duration of Luria’s isolation is measured with great exaggeration as the to‑
tal already covers nearly half of his short lifespan of 38 years.30 It is still hard to tell the
“when, how, and why” of this period accurately, although there is indeed some time in
the 1560s during which lile record is found of Luria’s activities. Yet we can be sure that
Religions 2024,15, 222 7 of 26
this Egyptian period preceded Luria’s seling in Safed, where he established an unpar‑
alleled reputation in the formation of early modern Kabbalah and became the teacher of
Hayyim Vital (Fine 2003, pp. 36–37).31 When the Master visited home on Shabbat dur‑
ing his self‑desocialization, even the minimum social interactions—conversations with the
closest family member—seemed a mundane interruption to his ascetic lifestyle so he tried
to avoid it as much as possible or sanctify it by using Hebrew only.32 Undoubtedly, what
empowered Luria the most was his initiation into the sacred wisdom of the godhead. Not
only does he receive rst‑hand enlightenment from Elijah but his soul, guided by the an‑
gels, also ascends every night to the godly yeshiva of the greatest rabbis in Jewish history.
The fact that he is free to choose any school among them indicates that the living sage is
guaranteed a position alongside his predecessors in the celestial academy above.
Another version of the same story in Shivchei HaAr”i aributes Luria’s decision on
seclusion to his studying the holy books of secrets:
One day, as he sat praying in the synagogue, a man sat next to him. The rabbi
turned and saw a book in his hand in which he beheld heavenly mysteries. After
the prayer, the rabbi said to the man: “Tell me what is wrien in this book”. The
man answered, saying: “What shall I say, inasmuch as the Lord hath withheld
honor from me. For I am of the Marranos. Seeing that everyone prayed from a
book, in my embarrassment, I also took a book, but I know not what is wrien
therein”. Said the rabbi to him: “In that case, sell me this book and I will give
you a prayer book”. He then said: “Do I lack money that I should sell you this
book? Rather ask your father‑in‑law to remit the taxes on my merchandise and
I will give you the book”. As the rabbi was eager for the book, he entreated his
father‑in‑law, who agreed to his request and obtained the book for him.
The rabbi studied this book and the Book of Splendor—the Zohar—with all his
might while he fasted and aicted himself. Through these acts he merited that in
dreams at night he would sometimes be told that his understanding of a passage
of the Zohar was not correct. Again, at other times, he would be told that he
understood correctly, but not in accordance with the meaning of Rabbi Simeon
bar Johai. At long last he was told that if he truly desired to understand the text,
he must increase his self‑aiction. This he did.
And when he saw that he was on the right path, he retired to the Nile region
in Egypt for six years, and in holiness and purity occupied himself with study
day and night. Thereby he merited that each night his soul was raised up and
asked to which heavenly academy it wished to ascend—to the academy of Rabbi
Eliezer the Great, or the academy of Rabbi Akiba, or to that of Rabbi Simeon
bar Johai. And withersoever his soul desired, there it was taken and awesome
mysteries were revealed to it. When morning came he had not forgoen anything
and would reveal all to his disciples. (Derazni 1970, p. 8)
It can be inferred from the text that this incident occurred during Luria’s early adult‑
hood in Egypt. Interestingly, the hero’s encounter with the mysterious book in the syna‑
gogue almost led the readers to an Elijah‑style revelation of secret knowledge before the
unnamed man revealed his very this‑worldly concern to have taxes remied. The narrative
indicates that Luria’s delving into the sea of the mysterious book and the Zohar directly
triggered his decision to live in solitude.33 However, it seems that studying the concealed
secrets was both the reason for and the result of Luria’s isolation. As a young man, Luria
studied at the academy of David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra (1479–1573), one of the most
eminent Jewish scholars of his time. It is known that in addition to being a prominent le‑
galist of halacha, ibn Zimra also composed several treatises on Kabbalah. Evidence show
that Luria was not at the periphery of ibn Zimra’s circle but a core member of it and he
was well trained in both halakhic and rabbinic studies. Although it is not clear whether
Luria already studied Kabbalah with ibn Zimra, it is sensible to assume such inuence
before his life as a recluse. The period of seclusion is very likely when Luria studied the
Religions 2024,15, 222 8 of 26
Zohar intensively and started his own writings on mystical maers, even though lile of
his teachings were recorded by himself (Fine 2003, pp. 32–37).34 Moreover, this version
notably adds that Luria transmits the secret knowledge to his disciples after visiting the
heavenly schools. Such transmission, alongside his frequent inter‑territorial journeys be‑
tween worlds, depicts the sage as a living Elijah among the earthly scholars who await his
enlightenment. His messianic mission, though not overt in this picture, further elevates
the sage’s status to an even higher position than an angelic messenger.
According to Idel’s research, the sixteenth‑century Safedian Kabbalah inherited “the
traditions and the practices of the ecstatic Kabbalists dealing with hitbodedut as mental con‑
centration and seclusion” and served as a crucial “transmier of the earlier techniques to
both Sabbateanism and Hasidism” (Idel 2000, p. 199). Therefore, supplementing Luria’s
narrative, we may well juxtapose the account of the Besht’s life in seclusion to beer un‑
derstand the signicance of being alone with God in the curriculum vitae of Jewish mystics.
Akin to Luria, the Baal Shem Tov also spent a considerable period in seclusion
after marriage:
The Besht arranged for a place in which she could live, and he secluded himself
in the great mountains. She made her living in this way: two or three times a
week she came to him with a horse and wagon; he would quarry clay, and she
would cart it to town. In this way she made her living.
The Besht fasted hafsakah for long periods. When he wanted to eat he dug a
small pit and put in our and water, which was then baked by the heat of the
sun. This was his only food after fasting. All these days he was in solitude. (Ben
Samuel [1970] 1993, p. story 8)
[…] He lived in a small village and made his living by keeping a tavern. After he
brought brandy to his wife he would cross the river Prut and retire into seclusion
in a house‑like crevice that was cut into the mountain. He used to take one loaf of
bread for one meal and eat once a week. He endured this way of life for several
years. On the eve of the holy Sabbath he used to return home. (Ben Samuel
[1970] 1993, p. story 19)
According to the narrative, not long after his wedding, the Hasidic Master arranged
a place for his wife to stay while he himself went into seclusion in the great mountains.
Obviously, it was not for the ease of quarrying clay in order to make a living but to ensure
that the sage’s spiritual communion with the godhead via fasts and prayers would meet
with minimum distraction, as in Luria’s story. From both biographies, some characteristics
of the sacred solitude could be induced: (a) such temporary asceticism does not conict
with marriage despite the biblical teaching “It is not good that the man should be alone”
(Genesis 2:18) and the wife of the sage is not known to oppose her husband’s decision
(even being supportive in Besht’s case); (b) coming home for Shabbat enjoys higher priority
than staying in complete seclusion and is not considered an interruption to the rhythm of
self‑withdrawal.
Post‑Beshtian mystics continued to value seclusion as an important preparation for
those who wish to surf the waves of the hidden wisdom and this idea became one eminent
feature of Hasidism. Variations, like Nachman of Bratslav’s (1772–1810) treatment of hit‑
bodedut as a means of mystical meditation, further popularized solitude as a daily practice
of elevated communication with God instead of a liminal status for an extended period
in desocialization.35 After all, in the widest sense, “to be alone with God” is reected in
many kabbalistic techniques of spiritual concentration, disregarding duration. Worth not‑
ing, other communicative techniques, such as unication with the holy dead, also require
a certain degree of self‑seclusion (i.e., at the graveyard) for the proper elevation of the soul
to take place (to be discussed anon). In short, the practice of hitbodedut, whether as a phase
of continued isolation or a temporary state of meditative concentration, appears to be an
individualistic approach towards higher religiosity, a disjunctive method very dierent
from the biblical and rabbinic tradition, which is essentially conjunctive (Idel 2000, p. 211).
Religions 2024,15, 222 9 of 26
Now let us look at the Daoist sources where the practice of self‑seclusion also enjoys
great signicance. Akin to the Jewish treatment of solitude as being alone with divinity,
the Daoist seclusion largely denotes the adepts’ aempt to be “alone with the Dao.” A
big portion of the xian‑hood achievers recorded in Shenxian Zhuan have lived in isolation
at certain points in their earthly life36 as it is one of the central practices for the adepts
to cultivate their inner world and obtain higher levels of transcendence. For Ge Hong
particularly, to live in isolation (usually in remote mountains) is vital to his multivalent
archetype of an ideal man that integrates both Confucian and Daoist spirits.
Before turning to the hermetic exemplars in Shenxian Zhuan, it is important to rst un‑
derstand Ge Hong’s general view on seclusion, which is elaborated more comprehensively
in Baopuzi Outer Chapters. While the title of the work implies the Confucian penchant for
“entering the world” as it discusses the “external maers”, the book opens with Ge Hong’s
straightforward support for the hermetic lifestyle, as stated explicitly in the rst two chap‑
ters. The rst chapter, Jiadun [嘉遁, Joyful Eremitism], presents the debate between the
imaginary gures Mr. Huaibing and Mr. Fushi on whether to live in seclusion. The au‑
thor, via the arguments made by Mr. Huaibing, articulates four major reasons for choosing
life in isolation over pursuing a career in the court: (a) the pursuit of wealth and an ocial
career is a path full of dangers; therefore, seclusion keeps the body away from physical
and mental harms; (b) there are enough talents to serve the court already; (c) he lacks the
ability to administer the country but only knows to embrace the classics and write books;
(d) he prefers a free and unfeered way of life (Ge 2013a, pp. 1–46). Yimin [逸民, Hermitic
People], the chapter following Jiadun, further claries the positive eects of the hermits on
the society, directly or indirectly, through the dialogue between an ocial and a recluse:
(a) the recluses voluntarily opt for a simple and humble life and pursue tranquility and
nonaction so their virtues cleanse the social climate and make themselves models for moral‑
ity; (b) they can participate in educational activities and cultivate talents for the country
even in remote mountains; (c) the fame and inuence of the recluses automatically involve
them in the political scene and engage them indirectly into the interior and military aairs
(Ge 2013a, pp. 47–86).
These chapters well exemplify Ge Hong’s tremendous eorts to neutralize the major
discrepancy between the Confucian and the Daoist ideologies, as eminent in the whole
Outer Chapters. Traditionally, Confucianism advocates a very active approach towards po‑
litical maers and the intellectuals are encouraged to serve in the court as a major means
of self‑actualization. On the other hand, the Daoist thinkers take physical and spiritual
self‑preservation as their foremost task and do not prioritize one’s ocial career over the
pursuit of Dao in non‑political ways. Ge Hong’s view on seclusion integrates the Con‑
fucian and the Daoist polars with an inclination towards the laer, pointing out that to
reside in remote mountains for self‑cultivation is also a means to make a contribution to
the society and the regime,37 thus dissolving the conict between the two ideologies.
The reasons for his argument are embedded in the socio‑historical milieu of the Jin dy‑
nasty, a chaotic era suering from the constantly changing regimes after the fall of the Han
dynasty, witnessing countless fatuous rulers, frequent wars, famines, disasters, and con‑
tinual peasant uprisings. The absence of a unied polity with stable sovereignty dismissed
the reverence for Confucian values, which could no longer function as the guiding prin‑
ciple for state administration, disappointing the literati who were believers of the central
Confucian idea to “cultivate oneself, regulate one’s family, govern the state, then lead the
world to peace and justice [修身齐家治国平天下].”38 Yet, on the bright side, the collapse of
Confucian dominance made room for the blossom of other trends. The hermetic ideology
of Daoism to live in tranquility undisturbed by external conditions, as well exemplied by
Zhuangzi,39 was brought to the foreground in such a socio‑historical climate and became
a major alternative for many to fulll their interrupted self‑realization or simply to shun
the “physical and mental harms.”40 However, amplied escapism added to the collapse
of the bureaucratic order while the provocative Daoist thinking of self‑indulgence further
corrupted the upper class. Therefore, to reconstruct the social order was an urgent need.
Religions 2024,15, 222 10 of 26
Ge Hong was among the intellectuals who took on the responsibility to nd a solution to
the social crisis, mainly by combining both Confucian and Daoist ethics. According to his
hybrid ideology, the expediency of escapism is warded o by the recluses’ indirect con‑
tribution to the state and the wellbeing of the people, concomitantly easing the tension
between the priority to preserve one’s physical and spiritual integrity in seclusion and the
social responsibility imposed on the educated elites.41
In other words, Ge Hong’s advocation for living in seclusion and making transcen‑
dence was his solution to oer the literati, including himself, the utmost protection and
freedom in a time of crisis. Although both Confucian and Daoist thoughts relate to seclu‑
sion as an opportunity for self‑cultivation, the former approaches this notion as a passive
and temporary withdrawal in one’s ocial career while the laer actively chooses isola‑
tion as an access channel to a higher state of existence.42 Ge Hong’s overt preference for
the Daoist mode of seclusion is further explained in the Autobiography (which is also the
epilogue) of Outer Chapters, arguing that Dao is not conned in the mountains and forests
yet ancient practitioners resided there to shun the earthly noises and maintain the equa‑
nimity of the mind (Ge 2013b, pp. 1136–37)—such was the way to make transcendence.
Accordingly, Shenxian Zhuan testies to this idea with an impressive amount of immortals
that have lived in seclusion during their earthly life.43 Unexceptionally, this period serves
as a crucial liminality for all these adepts in their pursuit of xian‑hood; the main purposes
are to (a) make elixir; (b) study the sacred texts; (c) concentrate on the inner‑self through
contemplation; and (d) learn the esoteric skills with a divine master who already obtained
transcendence (or at least longevity).44 These elements appear in dierent variations and
combinations and the story of Zuo Ci is a relatively inclusive example:
Zuo Ci, styled Yuanfang, was a native of Lujiang. From his youth he understood
the Five Classics and thoroughly penetrated the principles of interpreting astral
pneumas. Seeing that the fortunes of the Han house were about to decline, he
sighed and said, “As we move into this declining astral conguration, those who
hold eminent oces are in peril, and those of lofty talent will die. Winning glory
in this present age is not something to be coveted.” So he studied arts of the
Dao. He understood particularly well how to summon the six jia spirits, how to
dispatch ghosts and other spirits, and how to sit down and call for the traveling
canteen. During his meditations on Heaven’s Pillar Mountain, he obtained the
Scripture of Nine Elixirs and the Scripture of Gold Liquor from inside a cave;
these were methods from the Central Scripture of Grand Purity. He became ca‑
pable of transforming into a myriad dierent forms.45 (R. Campany 2002, p. 279;
Ge 2017, pp. 197–98)
As a master of esoteric arts from Eastern Han, Zuo Ci has a special relationship with
the Ge family. He was the teacher of Ge Xuan (i.e., the elder brother of Ge Hong’s grand‑
father), who took Zheng Yin as his disciple, and Zheng Yin later became the teacher of Ge
Hong. In this way, the transmission of the esoteric scriptures on making elixir reached Ge
Hong (Ge 2011, pp. 110–12).46
Given the socio‑historical milieu explained previously, another recurrent motif in the
seclusion stories is the adepts’ negative aitude towards ocial careers, frequently articu‑
lated by their abandonment of or refusal of court positions and unpleasant confrontation
with the governor or emperor. Liu Gen is such a case:
Liu Gen, styled Jun’an, was a native of the capital at Chang’an. As a youth he
understood the Five Classics. During the second year of the suihe period of Han
Emperor Cheng’s reign, he was selected as a Filial and Incorrupt and was made a
Gentleman of the Interior. Later he left the world behind and practiced the Way.
He entered a cave on Mount Songgao that was situated directly above a sheer
cli over fty thousand feet high. Winter or summer, he wore no clothing. The
hair on his body grew one to two feet long. His facial complexion was like that of
a lad of fourteen or fteen. His eyes were deep‑set, and he had a thick beard and
Religions 2024,15, 222 11 of 26
temple hair; these were yellowed and were three to four inches long. Whenever
one sat with him, at some point he would suddenly change his appearance, so
that he wore a tall cap and a black gown; yet one would not be aware that he was
donning clothes.
According to a remark once made by Commandant Heng, one of Heng’s ances‑
tors was born in the same year as Liu Gen. During the era of Wang Mang, Heng
repeatedly sent envoys with invitations to Liu, but Liu was unwilling to go. Heng
then sent an adjutant, Wang Zhen, to ask after his welfare, but Liu made no reply.
Heng tried once more, sending his supervisor of labor, Zhao Gong, to the moun‑
tain to see Liu and pay his respects. Liu said only, “Please give my apology to the
Commandant”, nothing more. (R. Campany 2002, p. 240; Ge 2017, pp. 105–9)
Liu Gen’s course of life resonates with that of Ge Hong as they are both among the
sages well trained in Confucian classics, dedicated to ocial careers for self‑realization
in their early years, and turned to the unsociable pursuit of Dao eventually. The author
comes from an aristocratic family of military leaders who had been serving in the court
since Western Han. As a child, Ge Hong lived a well‑o and carefree life until age thirteen
when his father died and the family fell into poverty, forcing him to complete hard labor
in order to make ends meet. He started learning the Confucian classics only from age
sixteen, which was quite late for a Chinese erudite. Meanwhile, he was greatly interested in
preserving the body and practicing various methods of esoteric arts towards transcendence
and became a student of the Daoist master Zheng Yin. When Shi Bing and Zhang Chang
rose up in revolt in 303 CE, Ge Hong, in his early twenties, was appointed the temporary
commander [将兵都尉] and contributed greatly to the suppression of the uprising, hence
receiving the title “General of Appeasing the Waves” [伏波将军]. His military career had
several chances to prosper yet he refused to take high oces and opted for an unsociable
life to write books and cultivate the self already in his thirties. In his later years, Ge Hong
seled down in Mt. Luofu as Deng Yue, the regional inspector of Guangzhou, supported
him with ingredients for alchemical explorations.47 In short, Ge Hong’s own résuméwas
an archetype of a recluse story: a Confucian scholar and military leader disillusioned by
his career in ocialdom who willingly turned to the Daoist pursuit of transcendence.
Moreover, some hermits in Shenxian Zhuan appear as unconventional variations of
the same motif and they are worth mentioning: Zhao Qu went into isolation due to a
contagious disease (leprosy); Kong Yuanfang retreated to practice dietary avoidance in a
basement dug by himself at the bank of a river and people did not know his whereabouts;
Sun Deng dug a pit in the ground in the mountains and sat there to play qin [a string
instrument] and read the Book of Changes, etc.48
To recap, in both Jewish and Daoist hagiographies, self‑seclusion is a crucial period
that empowers the living sages with divine knowledge and esoteric skills. It oers the
saints‑in‑making liminal experience that imitates ordinary earthly living to the least degree.
In this state of in‑betweenness, the sages are both within and beyond the lower realm, with
one step into the higher domain but not there yet.
4. Divine Encounters
Encountering the divine, whether angels, ancient sages, or God Himself/gods them‑
selves, is probably the most signicant booster for the making of saints while they remain
candidates on Earth for heavenly positions. Such experience is an important channel of
communication between the mundane world and the sacred realm and only the worthy
can remain intact and benet greatly from it.
In the Lurianic visitation stories, our Master takes a multivalent role, which is both
passive and active.49 As we have seen above in the section of the birth myth, being the
object of visitation, Luria encountered Elijah both before his birth and at his circumcision
ceremony. The angelic messenger was drawn by the sage’s inborn purity aributed to
the essence of his soul. At this point, the holiness of the infant was not yet a result of
righteous deeds but a kind of chosenness embedded in the exalted status of his soul, which
Religions 2024,15, 222 12 of 26
is rooted in the Primordial Adam from where a chain of holy bodies was born throughout
the Jewish history.
However, as the panorama of his life unrolled, the activeness of the Master’s role in
the visitation accounts became more eminent. As the subject of visitation, Luria had the
power to commune freely with the ancient scholars (though they passed long before his
own time) when he had questions concerning the holy scriptures and initiate visits to the
heavenly court via dierent ascension techniques. One central practice is the yihud [pl.
yihudim; unication], namely, a mystical technique to unify the male and the female at‑
tributes of the realm above, originated centuries before the school of Luria yet was tremen‑
dously popularized by this Safedian circle.50 Via such method, a great tsaddiq [pl. tsaddiqim;
righteous], like Isaac Luria, could communicate with a prophet or a tanna [rabbinic sage
from the Mishnaic period]; the purpose was usually for enlightenment on his studies of
the Zohar.
The following scene of sacred unication depicts Luria’s marvelous capability at the
gravesite of the ancient pair of sages Shmaya and Avtalon (1st century BCE) in Gush Halav
in the vicinity of Safed:
Whenever he desired to speak with a prophet or a certain tanna, he would travel
to his grave and lay himself down upon it with outstretched arms and feet, “puing
his mouth upon his mouth…” [2 Kings 4:34], as did Elisha with Habakkuk. He
would concentrate upon a yihud, and elevate the nefesh, ruah and neshamah of this
tsaddiq through the mystery of the Female Waters… He would bind his [own]
nefesh,ruah, and neshamah to those of the tsaddiq, and bring about supernal uni‑
cation. By means of the yihud, the soul of this tsaddiq would be invested with
a new light, greater than that which he had previously [during his life]. In this
way, the dry bones that lie in the grave revived: the nefesh,ruah, and neshamah
of that tsaddiq descended to his bones, bringing him to actual life, [and] speaking
with him [Luria] as a man speaks to his neighbor, revealing to him all the secrets
of the Torah concerning which he asks of him. All of these yihudim are in my
possession, wrien down, praised be God. (Fine 2003, p. 284; Derazni 1991,
pp. 8–9)
To add to the messianic aura embedded in this rite, Luria’s performance triggered
a reenactment of the dry bones scene from Ezekiel 37. With many sages interred in its
environs, the sixteenth‑century Safed became a city shared by the living and the holy de‑
ceased and, therefore, “a natural locus for visionary contact with the dead” (Chajes 2012,
pp. 33–34). Thus, the gravesite is undoubtedly also a privileged location for yihud as it
is “where the contrasted poles of Heaven and Earth met” (Brown 2015, p. 3).51 Here, sen‑
sory disturbance from this world was cut o so the living sage could experience a mystical
contemplative rite of passage by taking a transitory journey to the meta‑realm.
In this scene, the mighty living took the initiative to contact the holy dead: he con‑
nected at will the various parts of his own soul to those of the ancient sages who lived
centuries prior to his time. Therefore, other than the signature method of Isaac Luria to
communicate with the deceased, the mystical unication is also a testimony to the immor‑
tality of the righteous souls. When performing yihud with these souls, the saint on Earth
is the one that actively cancels the spatial and the temporal dierences and neutralizes the
meaning of life and death in a transcendent dimension.52
Following this scenario at the gravesites of Shmaya and Avtalon in Gush Halav, the
hagiographer continued with the learning result of Luria’s disciples:
All of these yihudim are in my possession, wrien down, praised be God. For the
rabbi transmied them to his disciples, all ten of whom successfully practiced
them. As a consequence, the tsaddiqim [with whom they commune] spoke to
them, answering all their questions. However, they possessed the strength to do
this only during the rabbi’s lifetime. After his death, their eorts were without
success, with the exception of [those of] our teacher, Rabbi Hayyim Calabrese,
Religions 2024,15, 222 13 of 26
may God protect and preserve him, who successfully practices them to this day.
(Fine 2003, p. 284; Derazni 1991, p. 9)
Obviously, Luria was not just a skilled performer of yihud but also a trainer of this
esoteric art.53 Only in the Master’s illuminating presence did most of his disciples manage
to perform the ritual and, thereby, benet spiritually from the liminal practice of convers‑
ing with the holy persons between life and death, Heaven and Earth. Inasmuch as the
immature trainees—indubitably a circle of selected elites themselves—were facing a pro‑
cess replete with dangers and chances to make mistakes,54 they needed constant correction
and detailed guidance from the instructor. One instance from Shivchei HaAr”i records that
a disciple tried to perform the unication rite at the graves but failed to receive revelations
from the ancient tsaddiqim. The Master pointed out that it was simply because he greeted
someone at a certain place despite Luria having instructed him specically not to do so
(Derazni 1970, pp. 20–22). Such careless mistakes impeded the mystics’ reception of con‑
cealed wisdom and only the godly Master could diagnose and rectify their path. Even
for Vital, whose outstanding capability was testied by the hagiographer, yihud was still a
big challenge. Oftentimes, Luria prescribed methods of penance for Vital’s transgressions
since performing the ritual requires great piety and spiritual purity. Despite the guidance
to qualify his soul, Vital failed at the practice regularly and was reproached by his teacher
(Fine 1989, pp. 88–92). In other words, Luria’s overwhelming perfection often mediates
between the deceased sages and the living disciples, enabling their cross‑boundary encoun‑
ters by purifying the semi‑worthy so they become qualied for revelation.
Another type of Luria’s active encounter with the divine gures, as already mentioned
in this research, is his ascension to the heavenly academy where the long‑parted scholars
unveiled to him mystical knowledge. Such inter‑territorial experience is certainly not ex‑
clusive to the period of self‑seclusion and dreams are usually the occasion when revelatory
ascensions occur. In one of the hagiographical accounts, Rabbi Abraham Halevi wondered
at Luria’s sleep‑talking and Luria explained his heaven‑wards journey in detail:
The Ari, of blessed memory, answered: “Always when I sleep, my soul ascends
to heaven by divers paths known unto me, and the ministering angels come forth
to meet me and welcome my soul and bring me before Metatron, Prince of the Di‑
vine Presence, who asks me to which academy I desire to go. In these academies
are revealed to me the secrets and mysteries of the Torah which were neither
heard nor known even in the days of the tanaaim, on whom be peace.” Said
Rabbi Abraham: “Will not my Master reveal to me what they taught him this
time?” The Master, on whom be peace, laughed and said: “I call heaven and
earth to witness that were I to talk for eighty consecutive years, it is no exaggera‑
tion that I would not be able to complete what I learned this time on the portion
concerning Balaam and the ass.”
All this he merited after he came up from Egypt to the Holy Land. (Derazni
1970, pp. 8–10)
The theme of ascension, whether temporary or permanent, is nothing new to the read‑
ers of Jewish literature since there exist rich accounts that depict the upward journeys of
holy persons, ranging from biblical gures to Hellenistic martyrs and rabbinic sages, let
alone kabbalists.55 We see that among the Safedian mystics, with Luria being an archetype,
traveling to the upper realm has become a very applicable method for the living to obtain
heavenly enlightenment—especially to understand the Zohar.56 Thus, the individualis‑
tic perspective that emphasizes the sage’s extraordinary sainthood, overwhelming power,
and charisma was brought under the spotlight; the approach signicantly diers from that
of the biblical or rabbinic tradition, which is essentially collective. In the Lurianic circle, vi‑
sion in ascension appears at an even higher frequency in the autobiographic recordings of
Hayyim Vital. The narrative often sounds less like an eort‑taking technique but comes
naturally as “I dreamed” so and so. People of his social network (including Luria before
and after death), angelic gures like Elijah and Metatron, and even God Himself are all
Religions 2024,15, 222 14 of 26
familiar characters in Vital’s dreams.57 Following this vein, later trends, such as Hasidism,
further disseminated the practice of mystical ascension in a more personal form.58
Moreover, other than being an inquirer and a mediator, Luria was also a revealer,
namely, an Elijah‑like gure who visits others usually in dreams. In this type of visita‑
tion, the sage is not the one who gains inspiration and empowerment through encounters
but turns into the source of revelation and enlightenment. Luria already mastered such
telepathic communication while residing in the earthly domain, as demonstrated by the
instance that he summoned Vital to Safed while the laer sojourned in Damascus:
Every night the Master would remove Rabbi Hayim’s soul from its earthly garb
and hold discourse with him. In the morning Rabbi Hayim would relate this to
his disciples, saying: “There is a learned Ashkenazi in Safed and each night he
holds discourse with my soul and urges me to come to him that he may teach
me the Torah.” And since in his own view he held himself to be wiser than
the Master, he spoke almost with scorn; the more so seeing that he had already
wrien a commentary on the Zohar. (Derazni 1970, p. 12)
Only when Vital was stuck in learning a few passages from the scripture did he think
about visiting Safed. There he was warmly received by the Master who explained two of
the dicult passages to him with ease:
When it came to the third passage, the Master said: “This is the limit of your
understanding. You are not worthy to delve further.” Rabbi Hayim was as a
fox who stands before the lion. Crestfallen, he left him, came to his house, took
o his garments and clothed himself in sackcloth and sat all that day and fasted,
weeping and praying to the Lord that he might nd grace and favor in the eyes
of the Master, so that he would accept him as a disciple.
The next morning he returned to the Master and implored him to take him as
a disciple. Then the Master replied: “By right I should not accept you because
you tarried these three months before coming to me. But your act of penance
yesterday has been in your favor so that I shall accept you and not hide anything
from you.” Whereat Rabbi Hayim prostrated himself before the Ari and cried
out: “May the King live forever.” He sat and studied together with the other
scholars. However, he would always forget what he had learned until one day
the Master went with his disciples to Tiberias and had him drink water from the
well of Miriam. Thenceforth he retained whatever he would learn. (Derazni
1970, p. 12)
As known from the narrative, arrogance retarded the earthly journey of Vital to a
signicant extent—the loss was certainly not just measured by the three months wasted but
was also reected in his unworthiness to be a disciple of Luria until he repented sincerely.59
It is unclear what the immediate empowerment would have been had Vital come to Safed
without hesitation. Yet from a retrospective, we know that the most meaningful outcome of
Vital’s visit to Safed—for him personally and for the Jewish cultural heritage as a whole—
was his apprenticeship under Luria’s guidance. It is known from the symbolic ending of
this narrative that becoming a student of Luria was only the rst step in Vital’s path to
obtain secret knowledge of the Torah and fulll his messianic mission. Well‑learned as
Vital was, he still needed constant guidance from the Master since Luria was his living
fountain of concealed wisdom in the earthly world. After all, theoretical understanding
alone is not sucient to bring God’s presence into one’s daily life. Living with the true
qadosh [holy] provides the disciples with a unique sample of sanctity that imparts precious
instructions that could not be obtained elsewhere.60
Luria’s contact with the disciples continued in dreams even after his death. Thence‑
forth, the sage descended from his heavenly seat to the lower world as an informant and
inspirer of secret wisdom instead of a seeker (as when he was alive). This meaningful
change of Luria’s identity fullled his own prophecy on his deathbed to Isaac Sagis that he
would come back “in a dream or while awake or by whatsoever way it may be” to teach
Religions 2024,15, 222 15 of 26
the disciples, had the generation proven worthy (Derazni 1970, p. 62). The posthumous
communication between the deceased teacher and his disciples did not seem essentially
dierent from that when he was alive. Vital reported on such dreams as soon as three
days after Luria’s death when the Master came to console him:
Three days after my teacher’s death, I saw him in a dream and asked him why
he had died so hastily. He told me: Because I had not found even one who was
complete, as I desired. I said to him: If so. Heaven forbid, I despair of everything
you promised me and of all the good that you told me will come into the world
through me. He told me: Do not despair; when the time comes I will come and
reveal to you what to do. And I awoke.
From then on, he revealed himself to me most nights to console me, that I should
not despair. This continued for twenty years after his death. For the next ten
years he only came to me once a month. From then on he came once every three
months. All the dreams I had of him were always in one form. He taught me
Torah and consoled me that I should not despair. (Vital and Safrin 1999, p. 90)
On another occasion, Rabbi Joshua al‑Boom brought down an angel who was one
of the servants of Zadkiel (the archangel of mercy in Jewish and Christian angelology)
and revealed it in a glass mirror. The messenger explained to Vital that the decreasing
frequency of Luria’s visitations was because Vital distanced himself from his messianic
mission. The whole world depended on him and he should have continued preaching and
reproving people, urging them to repent. However, he isolated himself completely in a
corner so the departed sages stopped speaking to him via mystical unications and his
holy teacher also refrained from contacting him (Vital and Safrin 1999, pp. 62–63).
Despite the mist created by the sagesʹ supernatural power which may hinder our vi‑
sion to discern a historical reality, it can still be inferred from the tales that communication
between the living and the dead was a very common practice in sixteenth‑century Safed,
taking place both in the mystic’s sleep and while awake, merging Heaven and Earth in
specic liminal moments. In a broad sense, cross‑boundary journeys between the realms
above and below are a recurrent element in mystical writings and folklore, with the Jewish
tradition as no exemption. Nonetheless, the Safedian kabbalists made theological innova‑
tions mainly by absorbing external inuences via the Conversos. As Roni Weinstein points
out, for the Lurianic circle, “direct contact with the divine realms was one source of pres‑
tige” and “it furnished the basis for their claim that in order to understand the Zohar—the
grounds for all theological, halakhic, and ritual innovations—one needed to contact the
same founts of inspiration that had inspired the composition of the book in the rst place.
Hence the Lurianic school’s claims to the monopoly on mystical truth and the priority of
the new kabbalah” (Weinstein 2016, p. 160).61
On the other hand, I would suggest grouping the encounter stories in Shenxian Zhuan
into “accidental” and “intentional” cases. The former type refers to unplanned encoun‑
ters between the adepts and the holy masters while the laer appears to be bi‑directional:
they may be initiated by the mortal practitioner’s arduous and persistent search for xian,
as well as by the transcendent’s own will to transmit the esoteric knowledge to those who
possess outstanding qualities.62 In both types, encountering the saints is often the point
where the amateur Dao lovers turn into full‑hearted practitioners, indicating that instruc‑
tions from the transcendence achievers are crucial in the making of a xian.63 The story of
Ma Mingsheng [Master Horseneigh] is a representative example of the rst type of liter‑
ary expression:
Master Horseneigh was a native of Linzi. His original surname was He, and his
given name was Junxian. When he was young, he served as a district‑level lictor,
rounding up bandits, and he was once injured by a bandit and temporarily died.
But he suddenly encountered a divine person on the road, and this person gave
him medicines and saved him, bringing him back to life. Master Horseneigh had
nothing with which to repay this divine person, so he quit his oce and followed
Religions 2024,15, 222 16 of 26
him. So it was that he took Master An Qi as his teacher, following him all over
the world and enduring all manner of hardships for many years so as to prepare
himself to receive scriptures. At rst he merely wanted methods for making gold;
only later did he realize that there was a Way of long life. He followed An Qi
for a long time, carrying his writings for him. To the west they reached Nüji
Mountain; to the north, Xuandu; to the south, Lujiang. An Qi nally bestowed
on him two alchemical scriptures, the Grand Purity and the Gold Liquor. He entered
mountains and rened the medicine. When it was completed, he took only half
the dose, as he took no delight in ascending to Heaven but preferred to become
an earthbound transcendent. He traveled about through the nine provinces for
over ve hundred years, no one realizing that he was a transcendent, as he built
himself a house and raised animals just like ordinary people, moving every three
years or so. People did wonder at his nonaging, however. Then one day he
ascended to Heaven in broad daylight.64 (R. Campany 2002, p. 325; Ge 2017,
pp. 91–93)
Ma Mingsheng’s biography depicts his encounter with the transcendent as neither
planned by the protagonist nor by the Master but triggered by a fatal incident at work.
Out of his simple wish to pay back the divine savior, Ma daringly made a life‑changing
decision to quit his ocial position and follow the master of esoterica to the edge of the
familiar world. With the historical background of Ge Hong’s time explained previously in
this chapter, we see the hagiographer’s choice of career and ideology projected on the life
track of Ma Mingsheng.65 Moreover, Ma’s ignorance of the ways towards longevity and
immortality before his whole‑hearted dedication further enhanced the accidental feature
of this account. In other words, Ma’s pursuit of the ultimate Dao was far from an elaborate
plan, showing that resolution, persistence, and diligence are more important prerequisites
than prior knowledge or even interest in the adept’s onerous path of making transcendence.
Many accounts in Shenxian Zhuan aest to this point that Ge Hong raised in Inner Chapters
(Ge 2011, pp. 395–97).
Accordingly, accounts of Dao‑seekers who take the initiative to approach the masters
of esoterica despite the diculties also reect the author’s emphasis on the good qualities
of the candidates. The story of Yin Changsheng well demonstrates how much eort it takes
for the aspirant to establish a master–disciple apprenticeship:
Yin Changsheng (“Long‑Life Yin”), a native of Xinye, was related to a Laer
Han empress. He was born into a rich and highly placed family, but he had
no fondness for glory and honor, instead devoting himself exclusively to the cul‑
tivation of arts of the Dao. Having heard that Master Horseneigh possessed a
Way to transcend the world, Yin sought him out, and eventually obtained an au‑
dience. Yin treated Horseneigh as if he were Horseneigh’s servant, personally
performing menial tasks for him. But Horseneigh did not teach him his Way of
world‑transcendence; he merely singled him out for lofty conversations on cur‑
rent aairs and principles of agriculture. This went on for over ten years. But
Yin did not give up. During this same time, there were twelve others who served
Horseneigh; but they all quit and went home, and only Yin kept up his behavior
without agging. Finally Horseneigh declared to him: “You truly are capable of
obtaining the Way.”
So he took Yin out to Green Citadel Mountain. There Horseneigh decocted yel‑
low earth to make gold, as a sign to him. Then he raised an altar facing west
and bestowed on Yin the Scripture on the Divine Elixir of Grand Purity (Taiqing
shendan jing). Having done this, Master Horseneigh said farewell and departed.
(R. Campany 2002, pp. 274–75; Ge 2017, pp. 158–60)
After the departure of Ma, Yin went back to make elixir according to the divine scrip‑
ture and succeeded. He took only half a dose and continued to travel in the mortal world as
an earthbound transcendent for another 300 years before his nal ascension in broad day‑
Religions 2024,15, 222 17 of 26
light. Note that in the biographies of Ma and Yin, both masters took their disciples into
the mountains for the training of esoteric arts and making gold and elixir. Although this
period is not overtly referred to as self‑seclusion since a certain degree of social network
remains (with the Master and other disciples), we may well regard it as “communal seclu‑
sion”, which is a collective version of the individual type, both implying a condescending
aitude towards the decayed ocialdom.66
For the masters of Dao, testing the candidates is a convenient way to see whether
they are ethically qualied to receive the sacred knowledge. Examples of qualication
examination are abound in Shenxian Zhuan: Li Babai was disguised as a servant at Tang
Gongfang’s household and tested his kind‑heartedness by feigning illness; Zhang Daoling
predicted that Zhao Sheng would be worthy to impart the elixir scriptures and tested him
seven times; Fei Changfang proved his loyalty to Hu Gong [Sire Gourd, as he lived inside
a gourd] by sweeping the ground of the master’s seat and provided him with daily food
for a long time, etc.67 Nonetheless, it is not an axiom that the disciples have to go through
dicult tests in order to win the mater’s grace. As mentioned above, in the part of self‑
seclusion, Kong Yuanfang made himself an unconventional hideout by digging a spacious
basement at the riverbank:
Now there came a youth from the east whose name was Ping Yu. He loved the
Way. He watched Kong Yuanfang, then went looking for his cave dwelling and
managed to nd it. Kong said to him, “Many people have come out here, but
no one has been able to nd me. You have succeeded in doing so. You seem to
be teachable.” With that he bestowed on him a silk text in two fascicles, saying,
“These are the essential words of the Way. This text is to be transmied to only
one person in every forty‑year period. And if you cannot nd a suitable person,
do not wantonly transmit it just because the year limit is up. If in forty years there
is no one to whom it may be transmied, then within an eighty‑year period there
will be two people to whom it may be given. Receive those two persons promptly,
for if there is an opportunity to transmit the text and you fail to do so, you block
the Way of Heaven. If, on the other hand, you transmit it to someone who is not
worthy to receive it, you leak the Way of Heaven. In either case you will bring
disaster on your descendants. Now that I have accomplished the transmission, I
am leaving here.” And so he abandoned his wife and children and entered the
Western Marchmount. (R. Campany 2002, p. 315; Ge 2017, pp. 230–31)
The lucky young man passed his qualication test simply by locating Kong’s cave,
showing that he was already able to decipher some simple tricks by the Dao master. This
narrative also demonstrates the criteria for transmission, which reminds us of that among
the Jewish mystics, the sacred knowledge is prepared only for the worthy and wanton
impartment should be carefully avoided.
Even luckier are those who did not set out to search for a master but were chosen by
the transcendents for the impartment of the sacred scriptures and techniques. Cai Jing’s
encounter with the transcendent Wang Yuan is such an example. As Wang was passing
through the area of Wu on his way eastwards to Mount Kuocang, he came to the house
of Cai:
Cai Jing was only a peasant, but his bones and physiognomy indicated that he
was t for eventual transcendence. Wang Yuan realized this, and that is why he
went to his home. Said Wang to Cai: “By birth, you are destined to transcend the
world; you will be chosen as a replacement for an oce. But your knowledge of
the Way is scant; your pneumas are few and you have much esh. You cannot
ascend directly in this condition, but must avail yourself of shijie. It’s like passing
out through a dog’s hole, that’s all.” Then Wang declared to Cai the essential
teachings, and left him. (R. Campany 2002, p. 260; Ge 2017, pp. 77–79)
Cai’s shijie [尸解, corpse liberation] process is one of the very few detailed cases of
transcendence via corpse liberation in Shenxian Zhuan. His entire body went hot, as if on
Religions 2024,15, 222 18 of 26
re, and his family had to pour cold water on him for three days until he was left only with
skins and bones. Cai went into his room, covered himself with a blanket, and suddenly
vanished. The family found the outer skin intact in the blanket, like the shell shed by
a cicada. Over a decade later, Cai returned home with rejuvenated physicality, looking
young and strong with thick black hair, and foretold the second coming of his teacher
Wang Yuan.
Reasons for the immortals’ visitation vary greatly in Shenxian Zhuan. As Cai was se‑
lected for his extraordinary physiognomy, the biographies of Mozi68 and Liu Gen, for in‑
stance, report the same kind of chosenness of the protagonist by a divine man, implying a
certain degree of predestination. The case of Shen Xi displays a rare situation in which a
heavenly caravan descended to welcome the mortal because his merit and integrity greatly
touched the upper world—later, Shen was granted a talisman to travel freely between
worlds.69 Sometimes the reason for intentional encounters initiated by the xian is simply
omied, such as in Zhang Daoling’s case—he retreated into the mountains with disciples
to write Daoist books and meditate. One day, countless celestial persons (some with o‑
cial positions in Heaven) descended to bestow on him the newly promulgated methods to
make talismans.70
Here, I shall not exhaust the readers with excessive examples but cast the crucial ques‑
tion: while the Lurianic causal explanation for one’s sainthood and messianic responsibil‑
ity is mainly the doctrine of soul root, what, in turn, are Ge Hong’s criteria for a mortal to
succeed in achieving transcendence? Sensitive readers have noticed the dilemma between
Ge Hong’s belief in the predestination of xian‑hood, as proposed in chapter Bianwen [辩问,
Discerning Questions] of Inner Chapters (Ge 2011, pp. 385–409), and his claim that tran‑
scendence is acquirable by all, as testied by Shenxian Zhuan.71 It is often regarded as an
irreconcilable aw in Ge Hong’s aempt to systemize the Daoist doctrines till his time.72
Some see it as a reection of his anxiety in a position stuck between “entering” and “exit‑
ing” the world, namely, between the Confucius and Daoist values (L. Liu 2003, pp. 37–39);
others take the perspective of historical materialism and claim that the author’s time and
religious piety conned his logical thinking (Ge 2011, p. 386).
My stance follows those who manage to bridge the seemingly irreconcilable gap. In‑
deed, it is Ge Hong’s own writings that relate xian‑potential to the celestial constellations
at the moment when one obtains life. He claims, quoting an unnamed xian scripture, that
those who can achieve xian‑hood are naturally endowed with the “pneuma of transcen‑
dence” in embryo. However, Ge Hong’s concept of inborn sainthood should be under‑
stood as talents and gifts instead of predeterminism. In his copious discussion on the mat‑
ter of xian dispersed in several compilations, emphasis is clearly laid on (a) resolute deter‑
mination, (b) guidance from proper teachers, and (c) correct techniques (including sacred
scriptures, elixir recipes, etc.)—these are the three major factors on which the achievement
of immortality depends. Whether one is endowed with the xian‑pneuma is a deep and
mysterious maer hardly visible to the mortals. Yet it is known that those who possess in‑
nate xian‑root are prone to believe in the existence of transcendents and pursue the Way of
immortality; otherwise, one will not be aracted to the cause of seeking Dao and, therefore,
not be “destined” to obtain xian‑hood. In other words, one’s xian‑root is veried retrospec‑
tively by the end result. Without resolution, diligent practice, and the right methodology,
even those gifted are doomed to fail (Tsung‑Ting 2008, pp. 172–80; Ge 2011, pp. 392–95).
Interestingly, this is a point that echoes the Lurianic doctrine of soul root: although one’s
divine genealogy of the soul means elevated identity in the realms above and below, it
also puts a heavier yoke on the mystic’s shoulders.73 Diligent probing into the world of
concealed knowledge, unremied eorts to bring the nation to repentance, and the fulll‑
ment of all other commandments are required of the sage in order to fasten the coming of
the messianic era. For both traditions, the predestined condition is a minor prerequisite
that by no means guarantees success for the sage’s life mission; despite that, it does pro‑
vide theoretical endorsement to one’s sagehood. It is the will and deeds of the living saint,
Religions 2024,15, 222 19 of 26
as well as the right techniques, that weigh more to the perfection of both the macrocosm
and the micro one.
5. Conclusions
Via the examination of the saints’ earthly journey in early Jewish and Daoist compila‑
tions, it is shown that these culturally remote entities share a recipe for depicting the image
of the saints. While the same motifs might be expressed with distinct characteristics of their
own, a paern of human‑centered sagehood, rather than a divine‑endorsed type, is clearly
indicated by both sides: although the sages’ birth myth displays a discernible degree of
predestined holiness, painstaking practices like self‑isolation and learning with the divine
masters are more decisive to their transformation of identity. By virtue of these dynamic
interactions between the upper and the lower domains, Earth becomes the promising land
of in‑betweenness for the incubation of saints. As the scope of my survey is limited to the
early Jewish and Daoist hagiographies, further investigations are welcomed in the eld
of Judaism–Daoism comparisons, as well as of how this formula may be applied to other
cultures of world mysticism.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Data is contained within the article.
Acknowledgments: I would like to thank Huaiyu Chen, Dandan Zhang and Haiwei Liu for their
generous help in the process of publication. I am deeply grateful to my supervisors Jonathan Garb
and Andrew Plaks for their inspirational comments and kind support to this research. I would also
like to express my gratitude to Xiang Ruan for his professional guidance over the years.
Conicts of Interest: The authors declare no conict of interest.
Notes
1For a brief description of this topic, see, e.g., (Wald 2018, pp. 15–18); see also (Ehrlich 2008).
2Holdrege’s work sets up a model of phenomenological comparison between the Jewish tradition and the Indian one by taking
the Torah and the Veda as symbol systems that transcend their textual boundaries and become a multileveled cosmic reality for
certain ethnic groups, see (Holdrege 2012). Ji Zhang proves that Daoist traditions are no exception to the fact that phenomeno‑
logical dialogue is a meaningful solution to comparisons between entities unrelated in time and space, see (J. Zhang 2012). Fruits
yielded in the comparison of Jewish Confucian thoughts, see (Lior 2020,2015a,2015b;Allinson 2003;Pa‑Shamir and Rapoport
2008). Aempts to compare the Jewish and the Daoist traditions include (Zwick 2009;Chung 2009, pp. esp. 64–80; Levenda
2008;Kutliro 2019).
3For a summary of the saintlike manifestations in Jewish history, see (Cohn 1990, pp. 48–59; Jacobs 1990).
4It is necessary to dierentiate between the “hagiographical stories” and the “hagiographical literature”, see (Dan 1981, pp. 82–
84). The Hasidei Ashkenaz [Jewish Pietists of Medieval Germany], a short‑lived Jewish mystical movement during the twelfth
and the thirteenth centuries, produced several hagiographical works on its leading gures, though such eorts did not result in
a literary trend. See (Zfatman 2020).
5The Han scholar Liu Xiang (77–6 BCE) is traditionally believed as the author of Liexian Zhuan. Such a claim is both supported
and refuted by many scholars, and recent arguments suggest that the work went through layers of editing and addition. For
an outline of the philological debates on the dating and authorship of Liexian Zhuan, see (Yang 2018, pp. 25–27; Wei 2015, pp.
8–9). Although there has not been a consensus, it is known that at least by the time of Ge Hong, Liexian Zhuan had been in wide
circulation and enjoyed great popularity. See (S. Wang 2007, p. preface).
6Other variations of translation apply to the same book, such as Traditions of Divine Transcendents by R. Campany (2002). In this
research, I will resort to transliterations of the Jewish and the Daoist works in most cases to avoid confusion.
7For a framework of Daoist hagiographies throughout the dynasties, see (Penny 2000). On the narrative changes from Liexian
Zhuan to Shenxian Zhuan, see (Li and Xu 2020).
8Shlomiel’s leers were rst published in Joseph Solomon Delmedigo’s work Ta’alumot Hokhmah and later the tales concerning
Isaac Luria were circulated as Shivchei Ha‑Ar”i from the end of the 18th century. See (Scholem and Idel 2007, p. 263). For a
summarized prole of Shlomiel, see (Wilke 2022, pp. 261–64).
Religions 2024,15, 222 20 of 26
9The birth and death years of Ge Hong remain a debatable topic. Two major scholarly traditions regarding his age are 61 or 81
years old. Fortunately, such a discrepancy does not aect this research. Some recent studies on the topic include, for instance,
(Cui 2006;Mei and Dai 2018), etc.
10 Certainly, this is not to say that the revelation to rabbi Solomon about his unborn son is molded after the Annunciation to Mary.
The Christian scene became well‑known by virtue of the popularization of Christianity, including the unremied missionary
eorts, the Renaissance artworks depicting Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, and many other propelling factors throughout history.
As a maer of fact, the motif of annunciation is deeply imbedded in the Judeo‑Christian tradition and multiple variations of the
same theme can be found in the narrative of the Hebrew Bible. For instance, the birth accounts of Ishmael (Genesis 16), Isaac
(Genesis 17:15–19), Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:23–26), and Samson (Judges 13) all center on the divine message that foretells an
impossible conception by the barren parent/s.
11 For the multifaceted role of Elijah the Prophet in Jewish writings and arts, see (Gutmann et al. 2007, pp. 331–37).
12 Unsurprisingly, according to the doctrine of soul roots theorized by the Safedian rabbi, Luria sees himself as the latest reincar‑
nation of Moses and the two share the same soul root. See (Fine 2003, pp. 322–30).
13 For the brief life story of rabbi Eleazer, see (Ben Samuel [1970] 1993, pp. stories 1, 2). Cf. Genesis 37:18–36, 39:1–6, 40, and 41,
namely the biblical account of Joseph who was sold to Egypt and gained success at the foreign court. The biblical paern of the
chosen gaining success in a gentile land resonates with the narrative of rabbi Eleazer to a great extent.
14 On this topic, see also (G. Li 1994).
15 In some paragraphs, Ge Hong does claim a certain degree of predestination, which is to be discussed anon.
16 There are two major textual traditions of Shenxian Zhuan, namely versions accord with the one preserved in Siku Quanshu [Com‑
plete Library of Four Treasures] or that in Guang Han‑Wei Congshu [Supplement to Han‑Wei Collectanea]. The former includes
fewer transcendents and lacks the hagiography of Laozi. Although neither tradition claims uninterrupted transmission from Ge
Hong’s time, it is unlikely that the omission of Laozi ts the author’s intention especially as the Old Master is depicted in a godly
manner in Ge Hong’s Inner Chapters. On the problem of textual versions, see (R. Campany 2002, pp. 121–26; Ge 2017, pp. 9–10).
17 The English translations of Shenxian Zhuan accounts in this research are from Campany’s work unless otherwise noted, followed
by the page numbers of the corresponding Chinese text in Ge Hong’s work. The explanations in square brackets, for instance,
“气qi” here, are by myself; unnoted signs and italicized terms or sentences are part of the original quotation.
18 Other than one’s family name and given name, the most common appellations for Chinese literati are zi [字, style, courtesy name]
and hao [号, pseudonym, art name]. The former is often semantically related to one’s given name as its explanation, synonym, or
antonym; the laer indicates freer derivations. On this topic, see, e.g., (L. Wang 2014, pp. 124–27). In the case of the Old Master,
“Laozi” is an honoric title while there exist many versions of his other names.
19 The earthly mother of Laozi, though not elaborated in Shenxian Zhuan, also claims a cosmic status in her own hagiographical
accounts. Shengmu Yuanjun [圣母元君, Holy Mother Goddess] descends into the lower realm to give birth to the corporeal form
of the sage and ascends back to Heaven in broad daylight at the end of her this‑worldly journey. See (Luo 2013, pp. 569–74).
Further on this female image, see (Despeux and Kohn 2003, pp. 48–63).
20 Tradition renders Laozi’s surname as Li [李], which means plum when used as a noun—the announcement of the infant is
therefore a pun in this regard. Moreover, Buddhist inuence is obvious in the birth variations. Elements such as conception by
a meteor, born from the left armpit, under the tree, etc., greatly overlap those in the birth story of the Buddha. See (R. Campany
2002, pp. 208–10).
21 The process of the apotheosis of Laozi is a miniature of the Daoist history, marked by the canonization of Daode Jing and the
worship of the Old Master inspired by Buddhist tradition in the Han dynasty. Despite the vicissitude of Laozi’s position in the
heavenly hierarchy, his godhood remains a focus of literary and religious creativity, both by the literati who deemed the old
sage as a superhuman thinker and by the Daoist leaders who elevated him as the godly founder of their faith. See (Y. Wang 2013;
Hui Wang 2018;Tan 2007;Z. Liu 2005).
22 I have omied this section for it is not relevant to the discussion on birth. Nonetheless, this historical chain of the Old Master’s
changing identity in dierent bodily forms reminds us of reincarnation, whether in the Buddhist or the Lurianic vocabulary.
Telling from the Daoist context that regards free bodily transformation as one feature of transcendence, I suppose that these
identities are not experienced in various rounds of living but designated to Laozi in one continuous life as long as Heaven
and Earth.
23 To a certain extent, Ge Hong’s stance on the identity of Laozi resonates more with that of the Western Han texts before the
widespread worship of the Old Master since Eastern Han. For instance, both Shiji [史记, Records of the Grand Historian, by
Sima Qian (ca. 145–86 BCE)] and Liexian Zhuan [列仙传, Collective Biographies of Immortals, by Liu Xiang (ca. 77–6 BCE)]
include Laozi’s name, hometown, occupation, extraordinarily long life, and the writing of Daode Jing while neither mentions an
unusual birth. Although the former is more detailed as Sima Qian oers the genealogy of Laozi and places him in the network of
his contemporaries from dierent schools, both authors hold Laozi’s thoughts in high esteem for his mastery of the mysterious
Dao [道] and De [德], enabling him to achieve all through non‑action. In a similar manner, Ge Hong does not shun the man side
of Laozi but rather depicts him as a transcendent who aains divinity through practicing the esoteric techniques that bring one
close to the ultimate Dao. Cf. (Sima 2022, p. chapter 63; S. Wang 2007, p. 18).
Religions 2024,15, 222 21 of 26
24 This is echoed by hagiography‑heroes from numerous other cultures. For instance, Buddha is believed to have dedicated many
years to spiritual striving on his own, and Jesus, according to the New Testament, prayed multiple times alone in the wilder‑
ness, etc.
25 For a general overview of solitude as a preparation for one’s involvement in the knowledge of mysteries, see (Hallamish 1999,
pp. 49–53). Hallamish emphasizes that solitude with the godhead is “suggestive of moralistic manuals rather than of strictly
kabbalistic works.”
26 Similar to the biblical approach towards sacred seclusion, the Qumran sect practiced a kind of collective separation and withdrew
into the desert for the sake of their own spiritual purity, eschewing not just the profane gentiles but also their fellowmen who
chose the wicked ways. See (Schremer 2006).
27 Philosophical and astrological writings were two other medieval sources that greatly inuenced the Jewish mysticism to ap‑
proach isolation in a positive manner. See (Idel 2000, pp. 200–11).
28 Idel also points out that closing one’s eyes is a feature of this concentrative practice. An example from the Lurianic circle is
Hayyim Vital’s Sha’arei Kedushah [Gates of Holiness], an instructive guide for mystics to aain divine inspiration via mediative
practices. In this work, Vital resorted to self‑seclusion as the nal stage in the process of purication for the ultimate purpose of
obtaining prophecy. See (Idel 1988, pp. 132, 135; Vital 1926, pp. 60–61).
29 This is my translation with explanations in square brackets; when this research resorts to the existing English translations of
some Lurianic tales by L. Fine, the page numbers of the corresponding texts in Hebrew found in Shlomiel’s leers are also noted.
In another leer, Shlomiel writes that Luria’s seven‑year isolation together with Bezalel Ashkenazi was dedicated to the study
of the revealed Torah and the Talmud. Elijah came to inform that he should stay alone in an isolated place without talking to
others or any social connection. See (Derazni 1991, pp. 21–22); cf. (Derazni 1991, pp. 99–100).
30 See also (Vital 2016, p. 39). The editor follows Shlomiel’s tradition that Luria stayed in seclusion for twenty years.
31 The documentary record by Hayyim Joseph David Azulai (1724–1806) testies to the six‑year seclusion of Luria. The author
states that he personally saw the birthplace and the prayer house of Luria in Jerusalem as well as his reclusion house in Egypt
where he isolated himself six days every week for six years. See (Azulai 1864, p. entry 332 Rabbenu HaAr”i).
32 Speaking Hebrew instead of vernaculars on Shabbat and festivals was customarily practiced by Luria not just in self‑seclusion,
as Vital provided records about his Master being particularly careful with speech on holy days. See (Fine 1984, p. 76), no. 35.
33 Toledot HaAr”i, the other major source of Lurianic tales, species the identity of this strange man as a Converso who, like many
of his fellow immigrants to the Land of Israel after the 1492 Spanish Expulsion, knew very lile of the Jewish textual tradition.
It is said that he had possessed the book for many years but did not know what was wrien there. See (Benayahu 1967, p. 153).
Nonetheless, the Conversos are one of the most important forces in the Safedian innovation of Jewish mysticism, as already
proved by many scholars. See, e.g., (Weinstein 2016, pp. 142–65). Additionally, in (Magid 2008), the author examines the
Lurianic exegetical tradition of the Scripture against its sociohistorical nexus between Judaism, Christianity (via the Conversos
community), and Islam (via the Ooman Empire), showing that the Lurianic circle integrated contemporary social changes into
their canonical body and reshaped the Jewish metaphysic literature by absorbing inuences from the “others.”
34 Cf. (Vital 2016, pp. 41–49), where the revelatory period of Luria is divided into three stages: (1) the second self‑seclusion of six
years in Egypt; (2) the third self‑seclusion of seven years in Egypt; and (3) his time in Safed of about two years and four months.
After his rst self‑isolation, namely studying the revealed knowledge with his teacher Bezalel Ashkenazi for seven years, it
is believed that Luria started learning the secrets of the Torah, i.e., the Zohar, with the help of the heavenly academy during
the second self‑seclusion, after which he received higher revelation from Elijah the Prophet during the third self‑seclusion. The
Safedian period was the climax of his greatness as Elijah came frequently to teach him face‑to‑face about the hidden wisdom. Due
to the abundance and depth of his spiritual achievements, it was impossible for Luria to conclude and uer his unprecedented
knowledge. Nonetheless, Luria began to write commentaries on the Zohar, e.g., commentary on Sifra DeTzniuta [The Book of
Concealment], while still in Egypt. See (Aviv”i 2008, pp. 32, 81–83). On the various copies of Luria’s writings transmied by his
disciples, see (Aviv”i 2008, pp. 77–97).
35 On Nachman’s hitbodedut, see (Green 1979, pp. 145–48; Mark 2009, pp. 129–47; Persico 2014).
36 The more extreme version is that some practitioners simply end up “transcending away into the mountains” and no one knows
where they travel henceforth.
37 Further on Ge Hong’s view on seclusion, see (Ding and Wu 2009).
38 The moo from chapter Daxue [大学, Great Learning] of Liji [礼记, Book of Rites], one of the core Confucian canons, greatly
summarizes the Confucian ideal of a noble man whose self‑cultivation serves not just to manage interpersonal relations but also
to fulll one’s political ambitions eventually.
39 On Zhuangzi’s view on seclusion, see (Sun 2021).
40 I believe that the Jewish hero Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai who hid in a cave with his son for twelve years in order to ee the Roman
authorities (BT, Shabbat 33b) would well sympathize with this approach.
41 On the historical context of Ge Hong’s hybrid theory of seclusion, see (Di 2020;S. Liu 2021;L. Liu 2003;Han and Lei 2023;Ding
and Wu 2009).
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42 On the dierences and similarities between the Confucian view on seclusion and its Daoist counterpart exemplied by Ge Hong’s
ideology, see (Haiyan Wang 2021;Chen 2017).
43 Ge Hong’s Autobiography mentioned another work titled Yinyi Zhuan [隐逸传, Biographies of the Recluses] which is long lost.
See (Ge 2013b, pp. 1139–40) for the list of Ge Hong’s writings. Fortunately, we nd seclusion to be a crucial theme also in
Shenxian Zhuan.
44 Note that seclusion in the mountains also helps with the practice of keeping special diets, whether herbal, mineral, or complete
avoidance, since rare ingredients are more accessible in places where they grow. Some cases indicate that special diets may also
be kept while living one’s normal social life. Ge Hong dedicated a whole chapter on the “divine medicines” in the Inner Chapters,
see (Ge 2011, pp. 337–84). On seclusion as an ecient way towards transcendence, see (Lu 2010;Campany 2009, pp. 106–8).
45 In a similar manner, Ge Xuan refused to take the court position oered by the emperor.
46 There Ge Hong also confessed that due to nancial distress, he was unable to make elixir according to the scriptures even twenty
years after receiving them from his teacher.
47 On Ge Hong’s biography, see (Ge 2017, pp. Preface 1–4; 2013a, pp. 1098–114, 1129–40, 1144–51). On Ge Hong’s legacy in today’s
Mt. Luofu, see (H. Zhang 2013).
48 For details, see their respective stories in (Ge 2017) under each name.
49 Dierent from my own approach, Yoram Bilu discusses the phenomena of dybbuk [possession by evil spirit] and maggid [angelic
messenger who passes revelation] in Jewish mysticism, following Erika Bourguignon’s categorization of “possession trance”
and “nonpossession trance” as two types of altered consciousness (Bilu 1996;Bourguignon 1973, p. Introduction). To resort to
Bilu’s vocabulary, albeit oversimplied, the cases that I examine in this section, both Jewish and Chinese, are mainly “nonpos‑
session trance.”
50 The earliest use of the yihudim as combinations of the divine names seems to have developed in the writings of the “Circle of
Contemplation” (termed by Scholem due to its central work The Book of Contemplation aributed to R. Hammai) probably in
the 13th century in Castile. The dating and locating of these writings are still under scholarly discussion. See (Verman 1989,
pp. 25–27).
51 In Christianity, the holiness of the deceased extends beyond tombs also to fragments of bodies, physical objects that had made
contact with these bodies, etc.
52 In a more radical sense, it is possible to claim that the departed leaders of the Safedian fraternities were not just considered saints
but also objects of worship. Notably in the Hasidic adaptation of the interworldly communication, the focus is usually the living
sage. See (Garb 2008, pp. 207–8, 226–27).
53 It is reasonable to assume inuence from the Catholic idea of “sacred archaeology”, mediated by the Converso immigrants’
community in Safed, on the Lurianic circle who also showed great interest in discovering the magical power of the tombs and
the deceased. See (Weinstein 2016, pp. 158–61).
54 Individual devotion is discouraged by Luria since the graves of the ancient Jewish sages—that of Rashbi being a prime example—
are infested by demons. Incomplete visitors are very likely to suer from negative consequences and the soul‑to‑soul impartment
of secret knowledge is possessive by nature, hence vulnerable to demonic aacks. See (Garb 2008, pp. 220–23).
55 For a brief list of the sages who ascended into heaven throughout the ages, see (Kohler and Ginzberg 1906, pp. 164–65); see also
(Idel 2005, pp. 23–71). Cf. the famous story of the four sages entering paradise (Tosefta, Hagiga 2:2, BT Hagiga 14b, Zohar I, 26b,
Tikunei HaZohar 40, etc.), an archetype of ascension narrative (though also interpreted in other metaphorical ways) indicating
that only the worthy could travel between realms freely with physicality and spirituality unharmed.
56 Jonathan Garb innovatively relates the mystical movements of ascent and descent of the sages in the Jewish accounts to the
shamanic experience of trance as traveling into the imaginal landscape to rescue the lost souls, namely a journey away from
the social order into the realm of dangers, is a process of psychological healing which often takes place in a trance. Garb takes
the liturgy of nelat appayim as an example of a trance technique and points out that symbolic death is a transformative rebirth
to empowerment. This well applies to Luria’s experience of ascension in dreams since sleep is often understood as temporary
death, especially in mystical writings. See (Garb 2011, pp. 21–36).
57 For instance, see (Vital and Safrin 1999, pp. 78–84, 91–92). Garb interprets Vital’s ascension dreams in terms of trance experience,
indicating a strong connection between ascent and trance. See (Garb 2011, pp. 51–60). It should also be noted that many of Vital’s
rst‑person accounts express a sense of frustration at his failure to complete the messianic mission by bringing his fellowmen to
repentance. See (Weinstein 2016, p. 131).
58 Multiple cases are found in the Beshtian hagiographies, for example, see (Ben Samuel [1970] 1993, pp. stories 78, 146, 227), etc.
59 Vital’s egotistic personality is quite telling in his autobiographic writings where arrogance never seems a surprising trait. In
another dream, he asked a question of kabbalistic wisdom and an old man came to reveal to him secrets. Due to his egotism, he
did not realize that was Elijah in disguise, and the heavenly messenger left without further conversation. See (Vital and Safrin
1999, p. 84).
60 A close relationship between the master and the disciples is commonly seen in the rabbinic tradition. The Safedian mystics of
the sixteenth century formed a new paern of this custom by presenting incredibly intimate details about the sages’ private lives,
Religions 2024,15, 222 23 of 26
eventually giving birth to the writings of autobiography, a genre barely seen in the Jewish literature before. See (Weinstein 2016,
pp. 52–53).
61 See also (Elior 1986). Elior observes that the Lurianic Kabbalah was the culmination of the post‑expulsion preoccupation with
messianism and the tendency to detach Jewish religiosity from historical and rational schemes.
62 I resort to a slightly dierent method of categorization for the encounter stories in Shenxian Zhuan than that for the Lurianic
ones. Contrary to the Jewish exegeses that tend to nd an explanation for the most trivial details in the scriptures, the Daoist
hagiographers preserved very limited room for predestination, thus making more space for “accidental encounters.” Although
the grouping here is still essentially a contrast between the sage’s active or passive participation, the incidental nature of some
cases deserves due aention.
63 As M. Pue has noted, Mircea Eliade’s view of mountains as the axis mundi greatly inuenced scholars of the Chinese Bronze
Age (Pue 2002, p. 32). Despite my own approach here that examines the encounters between the sacred and the profane both
in and out of the mountainous area, it should be noted that Eliade’s notion also inspired studies on the hermetic lifestyle in
Daoism since mountains are indeed the major revenue for the practitioners to establish the master‑disciple relation and make
elixir, hence a crucial location for one’s transformation of identity from mortal to xian. On the signicance of mountains reected
in Shenxian Zhuan and Inner Chapters by Ge Hong, see (Michael 2016;2022, pp. 183–211).
64 Note that the identity of the saintly Master An Qi is specied in Campany’s translation as he integrates various sources of the
same story. See (R. Campany 2002, pp. 325–26, 506). The Chinese text based on the tradition of Supplement to Han‑Wei Collectanea
obscures this point, adding to the mystical aura of the apprenticeship. The historical gure of Master An Qi lived under the reign
of the rst emperor Qin Shi Huang (r. 221–210 BCE). He had a reputation for a long life and was selling medicines by the Eastern
Sea where he met the emperor and inspired the ruler’s later excursion to search for the elixir of immortality. Early mentions of
him are found, for instance, in Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian;Liexian Zhuan, the predecessor of Shenxian Zhuan, also
contains his legendary biography. See (S. Wang 2007, pp. 70–72; R. Campany 2002, pp. 226–27).
65 Although Ma Mingsheng lived in the Eastern Han dynasty—at least over six decades prior to Ge Hong’s birth, the familiar
paern of abandoning one’s ocial career for the path of Dao is distinct in the narrative. Tradition renders Ma as the teacher
of Yin Changsheng (also recorded in Shenxian Zhuan, to be discussed anon), who imparted the secrets of Dao to Ge Hong’s
father‑in‑law, thus also including the hagiographer in this line of transmission. See (Ge 2017, pp. 91, 158).
66 Beyond the scope of hagiographical/biographical writings, the praise of unfeered life in isolation is a signicant theme in ancient
Chinese art, including poetry and drawing, which reects the intellectuals’ pursuit of a noble and unsullied mind away from
worldly corruptions. See, e.g., (He and Li 2022;Zhou 2023).
67 For details, see their respective stories in (Ge 2017) under each name. Note that being tested by the Master is not exclusive to the
encounter stories initiated by the Dao‑seeker. In the case of Li Babai, it is the transcendent who came to the mortal for Li knew
that Tang wished to learn the ways of Dao but did not nd a t instructor. See also (Campany 2009, pp. 104–6).
68 Mozi (ca. 470–391 BCE) was the founder of Mohism, one of the major schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought period.
For a brief review of the historical gure and the hagiographical tradition around Mozi, see (Ge 2017, pp. 304–5).
69 Note that according to Campany, Shen Xi is not considered a complete transcendent as his longevity is sustained by the elixir
given to him at the heavenly court, his travels were enabled by a talisman, and his xed station was on Earth to heal the sick.
See (R. Campany 2002, p. 258). I would regard this as a minor issue in Shen’s xian‑hood and rather take it as an expression of
the various supernatural experiences and capabilities of the adepts.
70 For details, see their respective stories in (Ge 2017) under each name.
71 The argument that xian‑hood is accessible is also a core doctrine in Inner Chapters. For instance, chapter Qinqiu [勤求, Diligent
Seeking] focuses on the importance of a good teacher in one’s path towards sainthood.
72 For the major arguments on this point in contemporary Chinese academia, see (Tsung‑Ting 2008, pp. 168–69).
73 This may also remind us of the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election, a crucial part of the Protestant Reformation in the
sixteenth century (around the same period as Luria). According to Calvinist theology, God chooses those who are to be redeemed
even before the Creation of the world, and only the elected are destined for salvation. In other words, such chosenness is innate,
which resonates with Luria’s doctrine of soul‑root. Yet unlike Luria who, via “predestination”, formed a sacred fraternity with
past sages across time and space for the sake of the great messianic mission, Calvin was more concerned with the theological
issue, namely the certainty of salvation, as his fellow Reformers did. He believed that the Spirit provides such certainty, and
good works are a testimony to one’s salvation—this retrospective approach also coincides with Ge Hong’s explanation of the
practitioner’s xian‑root. On the debates on certainty