Wang Zhitan王志坦

Style & Daoist names

courtesy name Gongping, sobriquet Chunhezi, Perfected Chunhe

Period

Jin–Yuan

Dates

c. 1200 — 1272

School

Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism

Role

Quanzhen Head of the Order

Birthplace

Tangyin (present-day Tangyin, Henan)

Places of activity

White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan), Beijing

Life

Wang Zhitan, a native of Tangyin in Henan, was the ninth-generation head of the Quanzhen order. He left home to become a priest in his youth, studying first under a disciple of Qiu Chuji and later serving Zhang Zhijing. He succeeded to headship of the order after Zhang Zhijing's death in 1270, at a time when Quanzhen Daoism was at a low point, having been defeated in the Buddhist-Daoist debates and suppressed by the Yuan court; he was known for prudence and steadiness, preserving the survival of the order, and died in 1272 after only two years in office. He passed on his position to Qi Zhicheng. Wang Zhitan's activities are recorded in the Stele of the Chongyang Palace on Mount Zhongnan and related accounts in the "Treatise on Buddhism and Daoism" (Shilao zhuan) of the History of Yuan (Yuanshi); none of his personal writings survive. He spent most of his life managing the affairs of the order at the Changchun Palace in Yanjing, keeping a low profile, and historical sources record very little of his personal cultivation, but as one link in the sequence of order heads he remains a necessary part of the Quanzhen lineage.

Contributions & Influence

• Preserved the order during a low point for Quanzhen Daoism
• Provided continuity, linking the headships of Zhang Zhijing and Qi Zhicheng
• Directed the affairs of the Changchun Palace in Yanjing, maintaining its operation