Chapter 23 Section 5 The Prosperity of Quanzhen Taoism

The founder of Quanzhen Taoism is Wang Zhe [zhe Zhe].Wang Zhe, formerly known as Zhongfu, styled Yunqing, was born in the second year of Zhenghe in the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 1112), from Dawei Village, Xianyang, Shaanxi, and his family was a wealthy local.He studied Confucian classics since he was a child, and planned to take the path of ordinary intellectuals taking exams and seeking officials.But it was the end of the Northern Song Dynasty at that time, and the Jin soldiers quickly swung their swords and went south. The Zhao and Song royal families traveled south and hid in the south of the Yangtze River.Soon, the court of the Southern Song Dynasty proclaimed its ministers to Jin and negotiated peace, which made the hope of the northern Han people to restore their homeland come to naught.In order to consolidate the rule of the north, Jin Ting, who entered the Central Plains, took a series of measures to win people's hearts.For example, imitating the methods of the Han rulers, adopting a policy of supporting religion, and beginning to implement the imperial examination system.Wang Zhe, like other intellectuals from ordinary landlord families, turned around to take the Ginting exam, hoping to gain fame and wealth.It is said that he won the martial arts, but only became a low-ranking official.Until the age of 47, he still hadn't achieved great success, so he decided to practice Taoism and embarked on the life path of a professional religionist.

In the sixth year of Jin Zhenglong (AD 1161), Wang Zhe abandoned his home and ran away. He dug a cave in Nanshi Village, Zhongnan Mountain, and called it the "Tomb of the Living Dead", where he lived and practiced Taoism.In this year, Jin Ting summoned the Taoist priest Liu Deren and bestowed him with Tianchang Temple in the capital.Liu Deren is the leader of "Daoism" (called "True Daoism" in Yuan Dynasty).Before this, Jin Ting also summoned Xiao Baozhen, the leader of Taiyi.Both Taiyiyi and Taoism were founded shortly after the Jin people occupied the Central Plains.In addition to the Quanzhen Taoism founded by Wang Zhe, the Three Dao School founded in the early Jin Dynasty is what is called "New Taoism" in history.To say that they are new is mainly compared to the original Taoism of the imperial talisman school in the north.The old imperial Taoism has long lost its popular base due to internal corruption.With the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, most of the palaces and temples in various places were destroyed by war, and it basically disappeared in the northern land.However, the people in the north who were in the midst of severe war disasters needed to find spiritual comfort, and the Jin ruler also needed Taoism to assist his rule.It was during this historical period that Neo-Taoism emerged.

Taidao uses the "Taiyi Sanyuan Dharma" to pray for gods and cure diseases for people. The main purpose of Daoism is to persuade people to live in poverty and content themselves, and to support themselves by their own farming and labor.Because the leaders of the two religions were poor in culture and their teachings were too simple, they could not meet the needs of all aspects of society at that time, so Quanzhen Taoism came into being. Wang Zhe lived in caves and practiced Taoism in Nanshi Village for several years, probably during this period his new religious thoughts had fully matured.However, he did not find many believers nearby.In the seventh year of King Sejong's Dading (1167 A.D.), Wang Zhe burned down the Mao'an where he lived, left Tongguan in the east, and went to Shandong Peninsula. He officially set up the banner of "Quanzhen" and recruited Ma Yu, The seven great disciples are Tan Chuduan, Liu Chuxuan, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Hao Datong, and Sun Buer.Through his excellent propaganda and agitation, coupled with the assistance of the seven major disciples, Wang Zhe quickly established mass religious organizations in Wendeng, Ninghai, Fushan, and Laizhou.In the ninth year of Dading (1169 A.D.), he led his four disciples Qiu, Liu, Tan, and Ma back to Shaanxi to preach, and died on the way.Wang Zhe's missionary activities in the Shandong Peninsula only lasted three years, but he has already laid the foundation for the prosperity of Quanzhen Taoism in both theory and organization.

In the early days of Quanzhen Taoism, the teaching style was very simple and hardworking.Taoist priests don't build temples, and most of them live by begging everywhere.The seven disciples of Wang Zhe are all ascetic figures.Like Ma Yu, when he was practicing Taoism, he only begged for a bowl of noodles every day, walked barefoot all year round, did not drink water in summer, and did not warm himself in winter.Wang Chuyi once knelt in the gravel until his knees were worn out to expose his bones. He climbed mountains barefoot and defied thorns and rocks. He was called "iron feet".Qiu Chuji begged for food once a day, and always carried a coir raincoat with him, known as "Mr. Coir raincoat".Their actions gradually attracted the attention of the society, which enabled the rapid spread of Quanzhen Taoism.At the same time, it also aroused the suspicion of Jin Ting, fearing that they would encourage the people to oppose Jin, and they were once banned.

It was Qiu Chuji who brought Quanzhen Taoism into its heyday.Qiu Chuji, styled Tongmi and nicknamed Changchunzi, was born in Qixia, Dengzhou (now Qixia County, Yantai City, Shandong Province). At the age of 19, he worshiped Wang Zhe as his teacher, and later became the head teacher of Quanzhen Taoism after Liu Chuxuan.He actively carried out social activities, paid special attention to gaining the recognition and attention of Jin Ting, and began to establish a religious activity base centered on Taixu Temple in Qixia County, Shandong Province.In the 28th year of Dading (AD 1188), Jin Shizong called Qiu Chuji to Beijing to ask questions.Zhang Zong, who succeeded Shizong to the throne, also respected him very much.Because of his activities, Quanzhen Dao became stronger day by day.At that time, the Mongols had already risen, and they wanted to compete with the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty for the Central Plains. The three parties all regarded Qiu Chuji's Quanzhen Taoism as an important goal.Qiu Chuji judged the situation and decided that the Southern Song Dynasty was exhausted and the Jin Dynasty was also corrupted.When Xuanzong of the Jin Dynasty and Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty successively sent envoys to Qixia, Shandong Province to summon Qiu Chuji in 1219 AD, neither of them responded.Not long after, Genghis Khan sent his courtier Liu Zhonglu, who was fighting in the Western Regions, to summon him. Qiu Chuji did not miss this opportunity to handover with Mongolia. At the age of 73, he led 18 disciples to trek tens of thousands of miles to Samarkand, Central Asia. Genghis Khan's camp to meet the supreme ruler of Mongolia.Qiu Chuji persuaded Genghis Khan to respect the sky, love the people, refrain from killing, and pursue the way of peace and inaction, which won the favor of the Mongolian Khan and was honored as "Qiu Immortal".Genghis Khan also let him take charge of Taoism in the world, and granted Quanzhen Taoists the privilege of exempting all taxes.

With the freedom to build temples and recruit disciples given by the Mongolian rulers, Quanzhen Sect expanded more rapidly.Many Han intellectuals who were ashamed to serve the Mongolian nobles joined Quanzhen Taoism one after another.It became a paradise for people's spirit and life at that time. After the Yuan unified China, the Quanzhen Taoism in the north crossed the south of the Yangtze River and spread, and the Southern School of the Jindan School in the south of the Yangtze River also merged into the Quanzhen Taoism.At this time, Quanzhen Taoism spread all over the country and reached its peak of prosperity.

Quanzhen Taoism was very popular for a time because of the support of the Yuan rulers, and the teaching style gradually changed.The upper-class Taoist priests of Quanzhen Taoism lived in the capital, interacted with the imperial court bureaucrats, lived in luxury and luxury, and the internal corruption eventually led to its decline.From the mid-Yuan period to the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Quanzhen Taoism had prospered externally and declined internally, and began to decline. Quanzhen Taoism conformed to the current social trend of thought and tried to promote the unity of the three religions. At the same time, it respected the Taishang Laojun of Taoism, Sakyamuni of Buddhism and Confucius of Confucianism; "Prajna Heart Sutra" and Confucian "filial piety" and other classics.

Quanzhen Taoism has quarreled with Buddhism, and it is still about the old problem of "Lao Zi Hua Hu".The reason is that when they built palaces in the north, they invaded and occupied many Buddhist temples.As a result, Quanzhen Taoist lost.But this has not affected it to learn from Buddhism.It learns from the Buddhist saying that "all living beings have Buddha-nature", advocating that everyone can become a fairy.It also imitates Zen meditation and other practice methods.In terms of organizational form, it also imitates Buddhism, saying that the family is a prison, a fire pit, advocating monkhood and so on.

Although Quanzhen Taoism advocates becoming a monk, it attaches great importance to Confucian feudal ethics and puts "loyalty to the king, filial piety to parents and teachers" at the top of its practice.Chen Zhixu said: "The way of the golden elixir is to first clarify the three cardinal principles and five constant principles.... Once the cardinal principles are clarified, the Tao comes out of the general principles. The Confucian Gangchang ethics are touted even higher. After Quanzhen Taoism merged with the Jindan School in the south of the Yangtze River, the Northern Quanzhen Taoism with Wang Zhe as the founder was called Beizong.The inner alchemy practice thought of the Northern and Southern Schools originated from the Zhonglu Jindan School.Different from Nanzong who advocates destiny before nature, Quanzhen Taoism advocates nature before destiny, which is similar to Chen Tuan's theory. It also teaches people to keep their minds first when practicing, so as not to have a single thought. This is called "seeing nature through clear mind".Then adjust the breathing, and refine the gas in order, refine the gas to transform the spirit, and refine the spirit to return the emptiness.Quanzhen Taoism absorbs the ideological content of Buddhism and Confucianism, and ultimately it comes down to the inner alchemy it advocates to cultivate immortality.The inner alchemy theory of Quanzhen Dao believes that the human heart has "true nature", which is also called Yuanshen, Yuanxing, Zhenxin, etc.The basis for becoming an immortal is based on it.Wang Zhe's "Jin Guan Yu Suo Jue" describes the situation that when the primordial spirit reaches the highest stage of refining, the "yang god" comes out of its shell and ascends to the fairy world.Taoist priests of Quanzhen explained the teaching name "Quanzhen", saying that it means to preserve "authenticity".Some people also say that the purpose of Quanzhen Taoism requires the combination of the "true merit" of personal internal cultivation and the "true practice" of helping the society.True skills are the so-called "clear the mind and see the nature", "get rid of emotion and desire" and so on;The combination of both is called Quanzhen.Quanzhen Dao's so-called "clear mind and see nature" true practice method comes from Buddhist thought.Its so-called "true practice" is mostly integrated with Confucian moral and ethical practices.

After the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Quanzhen Taoism did not have much new development in terms of ideology and doctrine.