LU TUNG-PIN

Pinyin L Dongbin, also called (Wade-Giles romanization) L Yen, or L Tsu, in Chinese mythology, one of the Pa Hsien, the Eight Immortals of Taoism, who discoursed in his Stork Peak refuge on the three categories of merit and the five grades of genies (spirits). He is depicted in art as a man of letters carrying a magic sword and a fly switch. One of numerous legends relates that L rewarded an old woman for her honesty by magically transforming her well water into wine. Another well-known legend recounts L's triple attempt to convert the singsong girl White Peony from her wayward life. The turning point in L's life is dramatized in Dream of the Yellow Sorghum: after meeting as a student with one of the Immortals, L fell asleep and saw in a vision his future successful life suddenly terminated by a disaster. L awoke and renounced the world. He is by far the most renowned of the Eight Immortals and as L Tsu (Patriarch L) is credited with founding a Taoist sect that absorbed Nestorian influence. The Taoist canon contains dozens of treatises attributed to L, among them The Secret of the Golden Flower. See also Pa Hsien.