Li Daochun李道纯

Style & Daoist names

courtesy name Yuansu, sobriquets Qing'an and Yingchanzi

Period

Late Southern Song–Yuan

Dates

? — ?

School

Southern Lineage of the Golden Elixir (Nanzong), Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Central Lineage of Internal Alchemy (Zhongpai)

Role

Internal Alchemy MastersPatriarch of the Central Lineage of Internal Alchemy (Zhongpai)Proponent of the Unity of the Three Teachings

Birthplace

Douliang (present-day Xuyi, Jiangsu)

Life

Li Daochun, style name Yuansu, sobriquet Qing'an, was a native of Xuyi, Jiangsu, and a prominent theorist of internal alchemy in the early Yuan; his dates of birth and death are unknown, and he was active roughly in the late thirteenth century. He came from the lineage of Wang Jinchan, a disciple of Bai Yuchan, and thus belonged to the Southern Lineage, while also receiving the influence of Quanzhen; he was a pivotal figure in the fusion of the Southern and Northern Lineages, and is honored by later alchemists as the patriarch of the Central Lineage (Zhongpai). Li Daochun built his teaching around the concept of "central harmony" (zhonghe), writing the Zhonghe ji (Anthology of Central Harmony), in which he proposed that the Mysterious Pass, the Single Aperture (xuanguan yi qiao) is identical with "the Center" (zhong), and held that the dual cultivation of nature and life should take "guarding the center" as its essential method. He divided internal alchemy into three grades — side gates, gradual methods, and sudden methods — and his exposition, noted for its clarity and system, is regarded as a summation of Song–Yuan alchemical theory. Versed in both Confucianism and Buddhism, he advocated the unity of the Three Teachings, wrote commentaries on the Daodejing and the Zhouyi cantong qi, and his disciple Cai Zhiyi compiled his sayings as the Qing'an Yingchanzi yulu (Recorded Sayings of Qing'an Yingchanzi).

Contributions & Influence

• Fused the Southern and Northern Lineages, becoming the patriarch of the Central Lineage
• Systematized the theory of internal alchemy around the concepts of "central harmony" and the "Mysterious Pass"
• Advocated the unity of the Three Teachings and wrote commentaries on Laozi and the Book of Changes, broadening the intellectual foundations of alchemical thought

Works

• Anthology of Central Harmony
• Recorded Sayings of Qing'an Yingchanzi
• Convergence of Meaning in the Daodejing (Daode Huiyuan)
• Divination according to the Zhouyi (Zhouyi Shangzhan)
• Marrow of the Yi in the Three Heavens (Santian Yisui)
• Secret Essentials of the Mysterious Collection of Quanzhen (Quanzhen Jixuan Miyao)