Li Xiyue李西月

Style & Daoist names

originally named Yuanzhi, courtesy name Pingquan, sobriquets Hanxu and Changyi Shanren (Mountain Man of Changyi)

Period

Qing

Dates

1806 — 1856

School

Western Lineage of Internal Alchemy (Xipai), Sanfeng Lineage

Role

Internal Alchemy MastersFounder of the Western Lineage (Xipai)Compiler

Birthplace

Leshan (present-day Leshan, Sichuan)

Life

Li Xiyue, sobriquet Hanxu, a native of Leshan in Sichuan, was the founder of the “Western Lineage” of Qing internal alchemy. He studied the Confucian classics in his youth, and illness led him to the study of the Dao; he claimed that on Mount Emei he encountered Zhang Sanfeng and Lü Dongbin, who descended to transmit alchemical methods to him, and he honored Zhang Sanfeng as his founding patriarch, thereafter styling himself of the “Yinxian (Hidden Immortals) Lineage.” He compiled the Zhang Sanfeng Xiansheng Quanji (张三丰先生全集, Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng), attributing a large body of alchemical poetry and prose to Zhang Sanfeng and thereby systematizing the “Sanfeng alchemical method”; he also wrote works of his own, including the Secret Purport of the Three Vehicles, Talks on the Aperture of the Dao, the Jiuceng Lianxin (九层炼心, Nine Stages of Refining the Mind), and the Taishang Shisan Jing Zhujie (太上十三经注解, Commentary on the Thirteen Scriptures of the Most High). He advocated the Dual Cultivation of Nature and Life, combining pure cultivation with the dual cultivation of yin and yang, and expounded the “Three Vehicles” and “Nine Stages of Refining the Mind,” representing Sichuanese alchemical study in the Qing. Because his teaching stood opposite the “Eastern Lineage” of the Ming-dynasty Lu Xixing, later generations called it the “Western Lineage.” His teaching was transmitted in Sichuan and Yunnan down to the Republican era, and has also influenced modern research on internal alchemy.

Contributions & Influence

• Founded the Western Lineage of internal alchemy, advocating the “Three Vehicles” and “Nine Stages of Refining the Mind”
• Compiled the Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng, constructing the system of Zhang Sanfeng's alchemical teaching
• Annotated the Thirteen Scriptures of the Most High, blending the Three Teachings

Works

• Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng (compiler)
• Talks on the Aperture of the Dao & Secret Purport of the Three Vehicles
• Talks on the Aperture of the Dao & Secret Purport of the Three Vehicles
• Nine Stages of Refining the Mind
• Commentary on the Thirteen Scriptures of the Most High
• Explanation of The Rootless Tree

Legends

His claim to have encountered Zhang Sanfeng and Lü Dongbin, who descended to transmit their teaching to him, belongs to the realm of legend.