Tieguai Li

Daoist compilations, Yuan drama, and later fiction each helped shape Tieguai Li's identity. The best-known story says he lost the body from which his spirit had departed and returned through another. The transformation helps explain his distinctive appearance and makes bodily perfection a subject of narrative reversal, but it is a sacred tale rather than evidence of spirit transfer.

The two Chinese passages differ about cave location, elapsed time, names, and the source of his crutch. His gourd and healing reputation belong to literary and popular religious reception; they do not verify miraculous treatment. Comparing the versions can show how an immortal became a recognizable member of the Eight Immortals without inventing a settled date or birthplace for him.

Tieguai Li, also called Li Tieguai or Iron-Crutch Li, is one of the Eight Immortals. An iron crutch and a gourd are his familiar identifying attributes, while his stories contrast an unconventional outward appearance with religious attainment.

The source preserves several personal names, including Li Xuan and Li Ningyang. These belong to differing accounts, not a securely reconstructed biography. The two common forms Tieguai Li and Li Tieguai refer to the same immortal rather than to separate members of the group.

A recurring story explains his appearance through the loss of his original body during a spiritual journey and his return in another body. Details of the disciple's actions and the teacher who assists him differ. The episode explains a sacred image; it is not an account of a reproducible practice or evidence of bodily transformation.

His crutch supports an impaired leg, while the gourd evokes the healing role described in popular narratives. These features distinguish him in collective images of the Eight Immortals. They should be described without treating disability or poverty as a measure of spiritual worth, or turning stories of aid into promises of medical benefit.