Bestiary of a Hundred Demons of China and the Taoist Illustrated Guide to Vanquishing Demons
Deconstructing the strange demons and baleful spirits from “Classic of Mountains and Seas,” “Records of Searching for the Supernatural,” and “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,” all the way to those of remote mountains and ancient temples: from the drought-fiend of scorched lands and the seductive nine-tailed fox, to the painted-skin rakshasa and the Taoist thunder-rite methods of subduing demons and warding off evil.
Heavenly Calamities, Strange Omens, and Great Misfortunes of War (One-Eyed Fei • War-Rousing Giant Ape Zhu Yan • Human-Faced Hua She)
Fei
The Classic of Mountains and Seas · The Fourth Eastern ClassicIt walks through grass and trees, and they wither; it walks through rivers and streams, and they dry up. With a white head, one eye, and a serpent's tail, when it appears, a great plague sweeps the world.
Zhu Yan
《Classic of Mountains and Seas · Western Mountains, Third Series》Its body is like a white ape with bare feet, and its eyes flash like lightning. When it is seen, the world falls into turmoil, war fires rage on all sides, and a great calamity is imminent.
Hua She
Classic of Mountains and Seas · Second of the Central MountainsHuman face, jackal body, bird wings, serpentine movement. Its voice is like a woman's harsh scolding; when it appears, great floods inundate and drown cities.
Profound Yin of Earth Veins and Corpse-Fiend War Demons (Han Ba • Western Hunan Jiangshi • Tai Sui Flesh Ganoderma • Xing Tian)
Hanba (Drought Demon)
Book of Songs · Classic of Mountains and SeasThe daughter of the Yellow Emperor, Ba, transformed after falling to the mortal world. Wherever she passes, rivers and lakes for thousands of miles dry up, her eyes spew demonic flames, and she is the supreme zombie.
Xiangxi Jiangshi (Jiangshi)
Notes of the Thatched Cottage of Close Scrutiny · Maoshan Corpse Driving ArtAn undead zombie that could not swallow its final breath of life, buried in a fierce corpse-nurturing cave. It jumps with arms outstretched horizontally, invulnerable to blades and arrows, bloodthirsty and violent.
Tai Sui Meat Fungus
Compendium of Materia Medica · Comprehensive Mirror of ImmortalsA living lump of fleshy fungus unearthed from underground, which regenerates when cut. Those who offend it by ‘moving earth over Tai Sui’ will inevitably bring bloody disaster and calamity upon their household.
刑天战魔 (Xingtian)
Classic of Mountains and Seas, Outer Western RegionsAn ancient war god who, decapitated, remains undying. With breasts as eyes, navel as mouth, wielding axe and shield, raging against the heavens.
Illusory Spirits and the Trials of Form and Emptiness (Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox • Painted-Skin Rakshasa • White Bone Demon • Snake Immortal • Thousand-Year Locust Tree Grandma)
Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox
Classic of Mountains and Seas, Overseas Eastern ClassicThree tails appear after five hundred years, nine tails reach heaven after a thousand years. It can transform into peerless beauty, comprehend the mysteries of yin and yang, and is both righteous and evil.
Painted Skin Rakshasa
Strange Tales from a Chinese StudioA green-faced, fanged netherworld evil ghost that uses human blood to paint a breathtakingly beautiful human skin to wear, specializing in gouging out the hearts and livers of pleasure-seekers.
White Bone Spirit
Journey to the WestA ten-thousand-year-old skeletal spirit lurking in White Tiger Ridge, skilled in transformation and disguise, a tempter of the heart that shatters the trust of the pilgrimage team.
Millennium Snake Immortal
Legend of Leifeng Pagoda · Five Great Immortals of the NorthA giant python earth immortal who has undergone a complete transformation after a millennium of arduous cultivation. Master of pharmacology and medical arts, valuing loyalty and righteousness, and does not regret violating the heavenly laws.
Thousand-Year-Old Locust Tree Spirit (Huai Shu Jing)
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio · Nie XiaoqianThe ghost of wood is the locust tree. Its roots plunge deep into a graveyard of a thousand bones, controlling yin wind and ghostly mist, commanding female ghosts to absorb yang essence.
Deep Mountain Wildness, Flying Heads, and Oceanic Spirits (Mountain Mandrill • Deep Pool Water Ghost • Dream Tapir • Flying Head Monster • South Sea Merfolk • Snail Maiden)
Shanxiao (Mountain Giant)
Baopuzi · Climbing and WadingA strange creature with a single foot and long arms in deep mountain forests, able to tear tigers and leopards apart with its bare hands, understands human speech, and imitates crying to lure and kill hunters.
Deep Pool Water Ghost / Water Monkey (Shui Gui)
Taoist “Taishang Dongshen Dongyuan Shenzhou Jing” (The Most High Cave Spirit and Cave Abyss Divine Incantation Scripture)A cold and malevolent specter formed from the resentment of drowning victims, tangled in reeds and silt at the bottom of waters, dragging people in to drown them so it can seek reincarnation as a substitute.
Evil-Averting Dream Eater (Meng Mo / Baku)
Book of Later Han · Book of TangAn ancient auspicious spirit with an elephant trunk, rhinoceros eyes, ox tail, and tiger feet. It roams the dream realm at night, devouring people’s nightmares and specters, returning clarity and peace.
Flying Head / Luo Tou Clan (Feitou Man)
《Sou Shen Ji》·《Youyang Zazu》During the day like a normal person, but at night the head detaches from the neck, ears spread like wings, and flies out the window; must return before dawn.
Southern Sea Mermaid (Jiaoren)
Records of Strange Things · In Search of the SupernaturalA water-dwelling being living in the abyss of the South Sea. Weaves dragon silk that stays dry underwater, and when deeply saddened, tears turn into round pearls.
Spiral Shell Fairy (Luo Nü)
Soushenji Volume FiveThe Heavenly Emperor took pity on a hardworking and impoverished farmer, and sent the White Conch Fairy to descend into the world as a conch, secretly cooking meals and enriching his household.
Folk Spirit Mediums, Yin Malevolent Deities, and Spirit Armies (Yellow Fox Seeking Investiture • Five Penetrating Gods • Tiger's Minion Ghost • Nine-Headed Bird • Wild Dog Spirit • Five Rampant Spirit Soldiers)
Wutong Shen (Five Communications Evil Deity)
《Yijian Zhi》·《Liaozhai》In Jiangnan folklore, a semi-immortal demon spirit that is both feared and worshipped. It can instantly bring sudden wealth and nobility, but also take away beautiful women, leading to family ruin and death.
Guhuo Bird
《Xuan Zhong Ji》·《Jing Chu Sui Shi Ji》A nine-headed night bird formed from the resentment of a woman who died in childbirth. With feathers, it is a bird; without feathers, it becomes a woman. At night, it snatches human infants to suck their blood and essence.
Chang Gui (Chang Ghost)
Taiping Guangji · Zhengzi TongSouls of those devoured by tigers, enslaved by the tiger's baleful influence. They stretch their necks forward to lure mortals, acting as the tiger's accomplice and aiding the wicked.
Yellow Immortal Seeking Bestowal (Huang Xian)
Legend of the Five Great Immortal Families of Northeast ChinaA hundred-year-old yellow weasel practices Tao to become human, wearing a straw hat at dusk in the mist, blocking the road and bowing: ‘Do you see me as a human or a god?’
Ye Gouzi (Wild Dog)
Liaozhai Zhiyi Volume 1A beast with a human face and corpse-like body that spawns where blood flows in ancient battlefields. It sniffs the death aura of fallen soldiers, bites through skulls to suck out brain matter.
Wu Chang Bing (Five Rampant Soldiers)
Southern Chenzhou Talisman · Meishan Dharma TeachingThe masterless fallen yin generals and fierce soldiers driven by the Meishan sect of the South and Daoist sects. They wear red headbands, barefoot with swords in hand, breaking evil and claiming lives with swift and decisive force.
Daoist Heavenly Principle of Demon-Quelling: Metaphysics of Pure Yang Dispelling Darkness
All creatures of the spirit and monster kind are born from the deviant and chaotic Qi of Heaven and Earth. The divine talismans of Zhang Tianshi of the Orthodox Unity School (Zhengyi), the Nine Heavens Thunder Method of the Supreme Clarity School (Shangqing), and the Demon-Subduing Sword of the Northern True Warrior Emperor (Zhenwu) – their essence is not about wanton killing, but about using the universe's most true pure Yang Qi (thunder and righteous energy) to shatter the field of Yin and evil, and reconstruct a state of physical and mental peace and clarity.
From the perspective of modern cognitive psychology, monsters are the dream projections of human instinctive fears, sexual repression, and greed. Only by recognizing monsters without fearing them can one, through Shadow Work, achieve the deep alchemy and transformation of the Self.