Liu Yuanchang留元长

Style & Daoist names

styled Changyuan, self-styled Ziyuan

Period

Southern Song

Dates

? — ?

School

Southern Lineage of the Golden Elixir (Nanzong)

Role

Internal Alchemy MastersSuccessor of the Southern Lineage

Birthplace

Min (present-day Fujian)

Places of activity

Lesser Grotto 16: Mount Wuyi

Life

Liu Yuanchang, styled Changyuan, sobriquet Ziyuan, a native of Fujian, was a disciple of Bai Yuchan. During the Jiading era he traveled and studied with Bai Yuchan, who wrote for him the 'Ziyuan Wendao Ji Xu' and transmitted to him alchemical methods. According to his own account and Bai Yuchan's recorded sayings, he repeatedly questioned his master about the alchemical Way, Thunder Rites, and the distinction between external and internal alchemy, and Bai Yuchan's pieces such as the 'Kuaihuo Ge' and the 'Xiuxian Bianhuo Lun' were largely written in answer to his questions. Liu Yuanchang compiled the master-disciple exchanges into the Haiqiong Wendao Ji, an important source for the study of Bai Yuchan's alchemical thought and the activities of the Southern Lineage's religious community. Together with Peng Si, Lin Boqian, and Xiao Tingzhi, he is counted among the important disciples under Bai Yuchan; his dates of birth and death are unknown. His compilation complements the recorded sayings compiled by Peng Si, and together they form the basic materials by which later generations understand Bai Yuchan's teachings, with the exchanges concerning the relationship between internal alchemy and Thunder Rites especially valued by scholars.

Contributions & Influence

• Compiled the Haiqiong Wendao Ji, preserving the master-disciple exchanges of the Southern Lineage
• Transmitted Bai Yuchan's internal alchemy and Thunder Rites in the Fujian region
• Recorded Bai Yuchan's discussions of the relationship between internal alchemy and Thunder Rites

Works

• Collected Questions on the Dao at Haiqiong (compiled)