Wudang Langmei Lineage武当榔梅派

Also known as

Langmei Lineage, Wudang Native Lineage, Meilang Lineage

Type

Branch Lineages

Period

Ming to the Early Modern Era

Founded

Formed on Mount Wudang during the Yongle reign of the Ming (1403–1424), named for the auspicious omen of the langmei fruit and the “Perfected Langmei,” Li Suxi

Derived from

Wudang Daoism

Region

Mount Wudang, Hubei (around the Wulong Palace and the Langmei Shrine), later spreading to Getian in Ezhou, Wuhan, and parts of Henan

Ancestral seat

Wudang Mountains

Status

Vanished — The ancestral temple has fallen into ruin and transmitters are extremely few; since the 1980s there has been essentially no systematic transmission activity, and both scholars and the Wudang Daoist establishment regard it as a home-mountain branch on the verge of extinction. The buildings of the Langmei Shrine and the imperial-edict steles before Li Suxi's tomb still survive; in 1998 langmei trees were reintroduced from Mount Qiyun and replanted.

Overview

The Langmei (Elm-Plum) Lineage is one of the resident schools of the Wudang Mountains, taking its name from Wudang's native "langmei" fruit and from Li Suxi, a Daoist priest active in the Yuan-Ming transition who was canonized as the "Perfected Langmei." Langmei is a grafted fruit tree combining plum and apricot native to Mount Wudang; from the Song and Yuan onward it was associated with the legend that Zhenwu (the Perfected Warrior) inserted a plum branch into an elm while cultivating the Dao, and it came to be regarded as an auspicious fruit that "foretold the year's harvest." According to the Wudang gazetteers and Ming-dynasty sources, Li Suxi (c. 1328–1421), a Daoist of the Wulong Palace, sent disciples to present the imperial court with langmei fruit when the trees bore fruit in the early Yongle reign; the Yongle Emperor (Zhu Di) took this as an auspicious manifestation of Zhenwu confirming the Mandate of Heaven behind the Jingnan Campaign, and rewarded him generously — after the eleventh year of Yongle (1413) the langmei fruit was made an annual tribute, an Immortal Shrine of the Langmei was built by imperial decree, and Li Suxi was canonized "Perfected Langmei"; two steles bearing the imperial edicts still stand before his tomb today. Li Suxi studied under Shan Dao'an, who in turn studied under Zhang Shouqing, patriarch of the Wudang Qingwei Lineage, so the Langmei lineage is linked to the Wudang Qingwei and Zhengyi ritual traditions; the school venerates Xuandi (Zhenwu) as its principal deity, belongs to the Zhengyi branch, and — because it exclusively observes the regulations of its home mountain — is also called the "Home-Mountain School of Wudang." Other accounts identify Sun Biyun, a disciple of Zhang Sanfeng, as the founding patriarch of the Langmei lineage, on the grounds that the first character of its generation-name poem, "Bi," matches Sun Biyun's name; but the two accounts rest on inconsistent sources, and contemporary scholarship generally views this as an overlay of legend and retrospective genealogical claims. After the Ming and Qing, the Langmei lineage was transmitted mainly on the periphery of Mount Wudang, with the Douniu Temple in Gedian, Ezhou, Hubei, as an important center of transmission; ordinations were held at the Changchun Temple in Wuhan during the Republican era. The langmei tree died out on Mount Wudang in the late Qing, and in 1998 saplings were reintroduced from Mount Qiyun in Anhui and replanted beside the Langmei Shrine. With its ritual center in ruins and its transmitters dwindling, the Langmei lineage is in modern times close to extinction.

Core Doctrine

The school venerates Xuantian Shangdi (Zhenwu) as its principal deity, and takes as its mission the observance of the regulations of its home mountain and the maintenance of incense and worship at the temples of Wudang; its teachings belong to the Zhengyi talisman-and-register system, while also receiving the influence of Wudang Qingwei thunder rites, emphasizing responsiveness, auspicious omens, and zhai and jiao rites of exorcism and prayer, and stressing that one "moves [the divine] through sincerity and aids others through ritual method." The langmei fruit as an auspicious sign is understood as a symbol of Zhenwu's numinous response and of the communion between Heaven and humanity, forming the distinctive sacred narrative of this school.

Practice & Ritual

The school performs Zhengyi zhai and jiao rites and talismanic rituals, alongside the practice of Qingwei thunder rites; it presides over the incense offerings and annual tribute rites at the Langmei Shrine, the Wulong Palace, and other sites; it recites the various scriptures of Xuantian Shangdi; and at its later centers of transmission it also conducted ordinations. Within the martial arts world there is also a set of boxing forms known as the "Langmei School" (such as Langmei Yumen Boxing), which belongs to a different lineage from that of the temple-based religious school and should be considered separately.

Transmission

The generation-name poem reads: "Bi shan chuan ri yue, shou dao he zi ran, xing li tong xuan de, qingwei gu tai yuan, zhen jing chang you jiu, zong jiao fu shou chang, qing yun chong xiao han, yong yuan da ji chang" (Bi Mountain transmits sun and moon; preserving the Dao, one accords with naturalness; nature and principle attain the mystery; Qingwei, ancient and primordial; true and still, forever enduring; the teaching's blessings and longevity extend; auspicious clouds surge to the Milky Way; eternally, great fortune flourishes). One account traces the line of transmission as Zhang Shouqing–Shan Dao'an–Li Suxi (Perfected Langmei); another identifies Sun Biyun, a disciple of Zhang Sanfeng, as founding patriarch (corresponding to the first character "Bi" of the generation-name poem); both accounts coexist, and each carries elements of later retrospective genealogical construction. Between the Ming and Qing the school spread beyond the mountain, with the Douniu Temple in Gedian, Ezhou, as an important center; during the Republican era there were ordinands at the Changchun Temple in Wuhan; the Douniu Temple was destroyed in the mid-to-late twentieth century.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples