Han Xiang Zi – or Philosopher Han Xiang – was a student of Lu Dongbin. His emblem is a flute, and he is known as the patron of musicians. The less-than-glamorous story of how Han Xiang Zi became an Immortal is that he fell from a peach tree. Upon landing, his mortal body died, but he, in that moment, attained the status of a hsien (Immortal).
Philosopher Han Xiang was the nephew of a famous statesman. One day, when his uncle was trying to “convert” him to the political life, Han Xiang Zi – in the spirit of the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa - replied with the following verse:
"In a cave mid mists and torrents by green-clad peaks I live;
I sip the dew at midnight that stars the earth like gems,
I make my food the rosy clouds that flush the coming dawn.
I play the Green Jade Melody upon a seven-stringed lute,
And melt in fiery alembics fine-powdered pearls and white;
Within my Precious Cauldron the Golden Tiger dwells;
I grow the Magic Fungus to feed the Snow-white Crows,
With Nature's creative powers my bottle-gourd is stored,
I slay the evil demons with my magic three-foot blade;
Wine fills the empty goblet when I speak the wizard word,
And flowers spring up and bloom in the twinkling of an eye;
Show me the man who doth these things in the way that I have told,
And I will gladly talk with him of the hsien who ne'er grow old."
Han Xiang Zi’s uncle then challenged his nephew to “walk his talk” – to actually demonstrate the Taoist powers he so eloquently spoke of - and handed him an empty gourd. Han Xiang Zi met this challenge by pouring out cup after cup of wine from his “empty” gourd – in a manner similar to the “bread & loaves” incident in the life of the great yogi, Jesus.
