What is Shen (Deity) & Xian (Immortal)? (神與仙)

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Upon request, here's a quick review & brief introduction on the terms Shen (神), Xian (仙), Sheng (聖), Zhi (祗), etc.

In All Religions, Shen (Deity aka God) is being use to describe/address on the Images or Appearance of certain Spiritual Characters that the people believe-in, honour-upon or follow-after, etc.

In-order to minimize the misconception and misunderstanding, the Chinese word Shen is seldom being used alone, usually other characters are used together with the word Shen.

In English term, in-order not to have any conflicts with other Religions, that pray/honour to an Only God, in Taoism we dont use the term God or Gods to address our Deities, etc.

So what is Shen (神) in our Taoist Context?

Shen, an overall term used to describe/address all the Deities, Immortals, Sages, etc, in the Three Realms (or the Whole Dao 三界與大道之中).

Shen inclusive of:

All Pre-Heavenly-formed Deities (Xian Tian Shen 先天神), such as San Qing (三清), Jade Emperor of Heaven (玉皇大天尊), Dou Mu (斗姆), etc

All Post-Heavenly-formed Deities (Hou Tian Shen 後天神), such as Wen Chang Di Jun (文昌帝君), Long Wang aka Long Shen (Dragon Deities 龍王與龍神), etc

All Sages aka Sheng, in Taoism, Sheng is different from the term that used in other Non-Taoist Religions. In Taoism, Deities that being given the title Sheng are usually those with very High Position in the Deity System or those hold-on to very Superior Authorities.

All Immortals aka Xian or Zhen (inclusive of certain groups of Spirit).

In-order to give people a better understanding on the different rankings, positions and authorities of the different Deities, Shen is later being separated into another set known as Zhi.

So what is Zhi (祗)?

Zhi refers to the Deities that exist in the Mortal World or can be described as Deities that closely related with the Living Beings.

Zhi are Natural Deities that being appointed to take-charge of Earth, Mountains, Hills, Valley, Mortal Issues, etc, in some contexts, they are being address as Di Shen (地神).

One very popular Deity that is being given the Official title Zhi is Hou Tu Huang Zhi (後土皇祗) aka Heavenly Emperor of Earth.

Then what is Xian (仙) or Zhen (真)?

Zhen, to be more accurate/exact, is a group of higher level Immortals comparing to the Xian Group.

In "Taoist Deity Positioning System", Zhen Group is above Xian Group and below Sheng Group.

Xian is the last group located in the "Positioning System" for the Deities.

So what are the differences of Xian & Zhen?

Making things much easier to understand, I will keep it short.

Here's the intro:

Zhen, can be described as Deities who (make vows) returned to the Mortal World to do salvation of Mortals & Souls (usually known as Re-incarnation or Reborn), after their tasks completed, they gained any round of Immortal-hood using the existing Reborn-form, or any Predestinated Cultivated People. This group will be known as Zhen.

After getting Immortal-hood, for the Zhen Group, they will be known as Zhen Xian (真仙) or Zhen Ren (真人), in some contexts, Zhen Jun is being used to address them.

Example: Heavenly Master Zhang Dao Ling (張道陵天師), Heavenly Master Xu Xun (許遜天師), Ma Zu (媽祖), Guan Gong (關公), etc.

Xian, usually refers to Living Beings (no direct connection with any existing Deities) who do self-cultivations, gaining of credits & merits and then, attain Immortal-hood.

After their Enlightenment, their old physical bodies are being destroyed and yet, the physical outlooks are being retained. This Group is being known as Xian.

Example: General Yue Fei (岳飛), Spiritual Masters such as Huang Chu Ping (黃初平) aka Huang Da Xian (黃大仙), Li Chun Feng (李淳風) aka Master Liu Ren (六壬仙師), etc.

For Xian, a few more sub-groups are being categorized, such as Di Xian (地仙), Shi Jie Xian (尸解仙), Yao Xian (this sub-group refers to those Spirits who put in effort to do Upright Cultivation 妖仙), etc.

Addressing term will be Xian Ren (仙人).