Chinese Lives by Victor H. Mair

Author:Victor H. Mair
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thames & Hudson

59. QIU CHUJI (CHANGCHUN; C. 1157–1227)

Daoist leader

Qiu Chuji, a Daoist monk, was born into a peasant family in coastal Shandong. Orphaned in childhood, he received little education until he was taken on as a pupil by Master Chongyang in 1167, when he was given the formal name Chuji and the Daoist name Changchun (‘eternal spring’).

Despite its renaissance during the Northern Song, especially under Emperor Huizong (Biography 53), Daoism faced many challenges, not the least in Jurchen-occupied northern China, stimulating efforts at reform within the movement. The most prominent denomination that emerged in consequence was the Quanzhen (‘completing the true [human nature]’) school, founded by the eccentric Wang Chongyang. Qiu Chuji was the fourth disciple of Master Chongyang.

The Quanzhen sect represented a syncretism of the ‘Three Teachings’ in pre-modern China, namely Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. It imported many notions from Hindu-Buddhist thought, such as reincarnation and retribution. In addition to appropriating the Heart Sutra, it took seriously the Buddhist and Jain tradition of religious asceticism. The Quanzhen priests were required not only to renounce all worldly belongings, but also to maintain strict celibacy, in contrast to the old Daoist tradition that regarded sexual relations as an important means to cultivate ‘vital energy’. In this respect, Changchun could be described as practising Quanzhen teachings to an extreme, for he is said to have undergone self-castration to better concentrate on his religious duties and shun carnal pleasures.

At the time its founder died, in 1170, the Quanzhen sect had spread primarily among the lower classes in northern China. Chongyang’s seven disciples not only continued missionary work among the populace, but also started to promote the new denomination to the upper echelons of society. After years of solitary study and ascetic meditation, Changchun played a major role in the latter process, gaining at least two audiences with the Jin Emperor Shizong in 1188, and thereby greatly enhancing the sect’s influence.

Changchun assumed the abbotship of the Quanzhen founding monastery in 1186 and became the patriarch of the denomination in 1203, working tirelessly for the church’s expansion through social welfare efforts and political associations with people in power.

Moreover, Changchun possessed an extraordinary political vision. Although he had had no direct contact with the Mongols, he nonetheless saw them clearly as the up-and-coming power. From 1216 on, he repeatedly turned down the Jin monarchs’ invitations for an audience. With the Jurchen dynasty crumbling, counties and districts in Changchun’s home province of Shandong started to pledge allegiance to the Song dynasty in the south, but Changchun refused the invitation of the Song envoy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.