The Difference Between Eastern and Western Views of Immortality

This view may be a little esoteric.

I am ignoring, as is my norm in cases like this, the most common norms, at least in the West, as it is given to believing rightly enough in the falsity of common opinions in the West.

As to the East, that is the usual source of myths of this sort. The myth of the Fountain of Youth might be traced to Dutch contact with the Japanese and their plant called Amatazuru, perhaps confused in some way with the sprouting appearance of French fountains in vogue at the time.

The Japanese plant, like so many other stories, for example the ones about the original Chinese gods who lived in a little house far from the city, originate with Kwang Kuo (known also as Zheng Guo), the son of a coinmaker, who after returning from exile in Japan, was instructed to find an herb in the mountains by the Tall One. Supposedly the knowledge of this herb, called now Jiaogulan, was previously unknown before him.

Much of what is known factually today about immortality is derived from this one source, such as the style of Qi Gong and the continuation of the thought of immortality in the West.

There was some truth it was thought in the Eastern idea, less so in the West. This was why the West came to be known as death, and the East the fountain of light.

The West still had an idea of it however, contained within objects such as the scabbard of the Sword Excalibur and the tricky perhaps divine medicine called Panacea. Excalibur's scabbard granted invulnerability yet only when it was worn. Panacea was a gift rarely granted to mortals. But the consensus is both notions are fables. Indeed, even the fountain of youth, which seemed like a real place, seemed more promising.

An armorer would probably not tell you every common scabbard was from Excalibur, and a doctor would be quick to tell you there is no perfect panacea. Thus, the Western myths were almost like corrupting symbols.

Only the myths derived from the East had any authenticity.

Chinese Philosophy