Qiu Chuji

Qiu Chuji, known by his Daoist name Changchun, “Eternal Spring”, was born in 1148 in Shandong and became the youngest of Wang Chongyang’s seven principal disciples. After Wang’s death he spent years in austere retreat in the mountains of Shaanxi, at Panxi and Longmen, and became the most respected of the Seven Perfected.

In 1219 Chinggis Khan, who had heard that the Daoist master possessed the secret of long life, summoned him. Though over seventy, Qiu travelled across Mongolia and Central Asia and met the Khan in 1222 in the Hindu Kush. He told him, according to the account of the journey, that there was no medicine of immortality, only means of preserving life, and urged moderation and compassion for the people. The journey was recorded by his disciple Li Zhichang.

Chinggis granted Qiu and his order exemption from taxes and authority over religious communities, and Quanzhen grew rapidly. Qiu settled in Beijing, at the temple later known as the White Cloud Monastery, where he died in 1227. The Longmen lineage, the main branch of Quanzhen today, traces itself to him.