Wang Chongyang - Life

Life

Wang was born with his birth name as "Zhongfu" in a wealthy family in 1113. He was educated in Chinese classics and martial arts.

Wang intended to start a rebellion against the Jin Dynasty, which ruled northern China then. According to tradition, in the summer of 1159 when he was 48, he met two Taoist immortals in a tavern, Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin. They trained him in secret forms of Taoism. He changed his name to "Zhe" and adopted the Taoist name "Chongyang".

In 1160, Wang met one of the immortals again and was provided with a set of written instructions called "Ganshui Xianyuan Lu". Those written instructions included the names of two men who would later become his disciples (Ma Yu and Tan Chuduan). Wang built a tomb for himself near Mount Zhongnan and called it "Tomb of the Living Dead". He lived in it for three years.

At the end of the three years, Wang filled the tomb with earth and built a hut on top of it and called it "Complete Perfection Hut." He spent the next four years in the hut studying Taoism and imparting his knowledge to others. During that time, he met Tan Chuduan, who became his disciple after he cured Tan from illness. Qiu Chuji and Tan traveled around the local towns and villages with Wang and founded five Taoist congregations. Wang's teachings were referred to the "Teachings of the Complete Perfection" (after the hut) and his branch of Taoism became known as the Quanzhen School.

In 1167, Wang burnt down the hut and traveled east to Shandong, where he met Ma Yu and Ma's wife, Sun Bu'er. They became his disciples as well. He accepted a total of seven disciples who later became known as "Seven Masters of Quanzhen" or "Seven Elders of Quanzhen". They are also called the "Seven Immortals" or "Seven Perfected Beings".

In 1187, Emperor Shizong of Jin summoned Wang's disciple Wang Chuyi (and, according to some sources, also Qiu Chuji) to preach in his inner palace. Later, he requested the presence of Wang Chuyi at his deathbed. Shizong's successor, Emperor Zhangzong, banned the teaching of Quanzhen Taoism. He considered them as causing heretical and detrimental to society;He converted to Quanzhen's teachings later and let Wang Chuyi stay in Yanjing (present-day Beijing) for a year. Shizong's grandson Wanyan Shou later wrote a biography for Wang Chongyang.