Lü Dongbin吕洞宾

Style & Daoist names

Lü Yan, Dongbin, Chunyangzi, the Wayfarer Who Returned (Huidaoren), Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin), Sovereign Lord Fuyou (Fuyou Dijun), Sovereign Lord Fuyou Chunyang, Who Proclaims the Right Way and Admonishes and Transforms

Period

Late Tang and Five Dynasties

Dates

传 798 — ?

School

Zhong–Lü Internal Alchemy Tradition

Role

Patriarch of the Internal Alchemy SchoolEight Immortals

Birthplace

Yongle, Hezhong Prefecture (present-day Ruicheng, Shanxi); alternatively Puzhou

Places of activity

Zhongnan Mountains, Mount Lu (Daoist heritage), Yongle Palace (Palace of Eternal Joy)

Life

Lü Dongbin, personal name Yan, courtesy name Dongbin, styled Chunyangzi, is the patriarch venerated by the Zhong–Lü school of Daoist internal alchemy, the most influential of the Eight Immortals, and is popularly honored as "Patriarch Lü." He is said to have been a native of Yongle in Hezhong Prefecture at the end of the Tang, born, according to one account, in the fourteenth year of Zhenyuan (796); he sat for the jinshi examination during the Xiantong era without success, and while traveling in Chang'an he met Zhongli Quan, who converted him through the "Dream of Yellow Millet" (according to another account, through "Ten Trials"), after which he entered the Zhongnan Mountains to cultivate the Dao and attained the way of the golden elixir. Various accounts of his miraculous manifestations were already circulating in the early Northern Song; the History of Song, in its biography of Chen Tuan, mentions that "the recluse Lü Dongbin of Guanxi possessed swordsmanship and, past a hundred years of age, still had the countenance of a child." From the mid-Northern Song his cult spread rapidly, with legends attached to Yueyang Tower, Mount Lu, Yongle township, and other sites; Emperor Huizong of Song conferred on him the title "Perfected Being of Wondrous Penetration," Kublai Khan (Emperor Shizu of Yuan) the title "Perfected Lord Chunyang Who Enacts Rectitude and Admonishes Transformation," and Emperor Wuzong of Yuan further elevated this to "Sovereign Lord Chunyang Who Enacts Rectitude, Admonishes Transformation, and Grants Blessing." Quanzhen Daoism venerates him as one of the Five Northern Patriarchs (Patriarch Chunyang), and the Yongle Palace is his principal shrine-temple. A great many works are attributed to Lü Dongbin, such as the Complete Works of Patriarch Lü, the Qiaoyao ge (敲爻歌, Song of Tapping the Hexagram Lines), Lü Dongbin's Hundred-Character Stele, and alchemical lyrics in the Qinyuanchun (沁园春) meter, most of which were attributed to him by later hands or produced through spirit writing. The cult of Lü Dongbin has had a profound influence on internal-alchemy learning, popular religion, and literature and drama alike.

Contributions & Influence

• The de facto figurehead of the Zhong–Lü internal alchemy tradition, jointly venerated by the Southern and Northern Lineages
• One of the Five Northern Patriarchs of Quanzhen, and the principal deity enshrined at temples such as the Yongle Palace
• The cult of "Patriarch Lü" is among the most widespread popular immortal cults in Daoism
• Alchemical poems and lyrics attributed to him circulated extremely widely, shaping the literature of internal alchemy

Works

• Anthology of Undifferentiated Completion by the Perfected Chunyang (attributed title)
• Complete Works of Patriarch Lü (compiled in the Qing)
• Hundred-Character Stele (attributed title)
• Song of Tapping the Hexagram Lines (attributed title)

Legends

According to legend: the Dream of Yellow Millet; slaying the Yellow Dragon with a flying sword; three drunken visits to Yueyang Tower; converting He Xiangu; and the folk saying "a dog biting Lü Dongbin" — all are legends and folk tales.