Some elements in Daoist tradition discuss at length a type of salvation from mortality itself. That is quite different from the kind of salvation Muslims and Christians look forward to, which is something closer to salvation in spite of mortality. For Daoists, the most spiritually accomplished individuals are capable of so purifying themselves that they can actually live on eternally in the Paradise of Immortals. They might appear to die and be buried, but only because they allowed that to happen as a concession to widespread belief and socially acceptable convention. In fact, they are able to substitute something else for their body and to slip away to Paradise unnoticed.

What about ordinary people incapable of such lofty feats? They can still hope to receive an immortal body after resurrection, a belief with some similarity to classic Christian notions of bodily resurrection. Another important distinction between Daoist notions of salvation and, for example, Christian beliefs, is that there is no single savior figure in Daoist thought.