Zhang Guo Lao
Zhang Guo Lao (張果老) was one of the most prominent figures among the immortals. He demonstrated unique abilities and knowledge, contrary to all the norms and understanding of how to achieve personal development. Guo Lao is one of the Eight Immortals of the Taoist pantheon. Not only his knowledge gives aged people the chance and opportunity to obtain higher qualities and states, but he also helps to acquire the knowledge and understanding of the nature of the female body by adopting from the great He Xian Gue her knowledge of advancing the female principle of development and thus offering women over the age of 49 the possibility to obtain a special body, the body of the Flying woman. It is his knowledge thatunderlies the establishment of the Flying women school where mainly aged women were accepted. The goal of the immortal Guo Lao was to prove the state of immortality by walking the disciples through three levels of knowledge:
- Independence from external breathing
- Independence from weight
- The art of the Bat
All this enabled him to live a long life, demonstrating the independence from time which also allowed him to move through time, migrating between the periods of the legendary ruler Yao, when the world was still forming, and the Tang dynasty
Zhang Guo Lao loved spending time on the Tiaoshan mountain (條山), near Hengzhou (恒州) and Hengshan (恒山) in Shanxi (山西), which, as he thought, was an ideal place to practice the art of the Red Phoenix.
Due to the fact that his knowledge was oriented primarily towards aged people, the most important prerequisite for achieving higher states was the use of infusions from herbs and mushrooms in order to maintain energy qualities and conditions and thus turn back time, as symbolized by the image of Zhang Guo Lao. He is depicted sitting backwards on his mule and his bamboo clappers became a symbol of resonating with the energy, a condition of transformation that turned into the art of tying the energy (mudras) which, in fact, was once successfully practised by the ninjas.
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