This thesis focuses on Su Shih''s poems about the immortals and explores the literary implication and value with the immortal thought as the core. Su Shih had rich experience in life. At times, he was appointed and promoted by the emperor, and at times, he was demoted and expatriated to remote areas. All the different trials and adversities in life formed this poet’s multiple thinking. Since he had been enlightened by Confucian education in childhood, he was determined to strive for the benefit of the world. Afterward he was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Taoism and was eager to pursue immortality. Especially in old age when he was stumbled and frustrated, he wandered in the southern China. However, the beauty of the wonderland provided a resting platform for purifying his soul.
Su Shih''s writing is flexible, creating a frame of fairy literature by exploiting strengths and avoiding weaknesses. He pursued the freedom of immortals, the tranquility of the heaven, and the blessings of the earth. He used his body as the Dan furnace to gather and refill the spirits. He concentrated his attention and refined all the tips of the immortals’ good health and long life. Through the way of chanting and writing poetry, he learned from the immortals about quietness and simplicity, staying away from the dusty world, abandoning fame and fortune, and imitating the immortals’ tips of lengthening life to achieve longevity.
Su Shih revealed his true nature with his poems about the immortals. He adapted himself to the changes of the contemporary situation. He used imagination of fairy thinking, constructed the image of the immortals, and reflected life with literature. Moreover, he combined literary art with religious beliefs, exerted meditation and imagination, and made Penglai and Kunlun become fairylands. His poems not only enriched the implication of Xianxue culture but also boosted the development of health education. Su Shih eased and released the depression and sorrow of life in the tone of the immortals, who were traveling throughout the heaven and the earth. In his poems, the poet sailed a boat, traveling in vast space, combining the essence of Confucianism and Buddhism, and showing the great vision of his own life. In the meantime, his poems showed his respect for life, exalted the spirits of nature and humanity, and made Xianxue culture and artistic aesthetics influential.