Li Xicheng郦希诚

Style & Daoist names

Li Xicheng, Perfected Taixuan

Period

Yuan

Dates

? — c. 1259

School

Zhen Dadao (True Great Way)

Role

Head of the Zhen Dadao Order

Birthplace

Unknown

Life

Li Xicheng was the fifth-generation head of Zhen Dadao in the early Yuan. At the end of the Jin, Zhen Dadao split, and one branch was led by Li Xicheng, who received the support of Emperor Xianzong of Yuan (Möngke Khan); Möngke granted him the title "Perfected of Taixuan" and ordered him to lead the Great Way order in the north, formally fixing the name of the teaching as "Zhen Dadao" to distinguish it from the other branch. Li Xicheng established the Tianbao Palace at Yanjing as the center of the order and expanded its affairs; leadership afterward passed to Sun Defu, Zhang Qingzhi and others. Zhen Dadao reached its height after his time and gradually declined after the middle Yuan. His birth and death dates are unknown; he died around 1259. Yuan-dynasty steles such as the Stele of the Yanxiang Temple of the Great Way record the activities of his order, and scholars generally regard him as the key figure who reorganized the order as Zhen Dadao passed from the Jin into the Yuan.

Contributions & Influence

• Led a branch of Zhen Dadao to gain recognition from the Yuan court, formally fixing the name "Zhen Dadao"
• Expanded the order with the Tianbao Palace at Yanjing as its center
• Brought Zhen Dadao from division toward unity