Wang Zhongyang comes from a wealthy family. His life coincided with the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, the invasion of the Jin people, and the national disaster. In his youth, he was "saddened by the collapse of the motherland and the weakness of the nation." In the spring of this year, he passed the examination of literature and martial arts. He got both Chinese and martial arts and was interested in saving the nation. However, due to the weakness of the Southern Song Dynasty regime, Wang Zhongyang's ambition was not brought into full play, because he abandoned the broad masses of people in the north and lived in peace. After the failure of resisting gold, Wang Zhongyang dug a hole in the ground, called it "the tomb of the living dead" and hung it with a square card. The book says: Wang is crazy (Wang calls himself crazy). Seven years later, Wang Zhongyang walked out of the grave of the living dead and began to realize his dream in another way.
In the seventh year of Dading (1 167), Jin Shizong went to eastern Wang Zhongyang to preach. During his missionary work in Ninghai (now Mu Ping), he reformed the unpopular traditional Taoism founded by Lin Lingsu, Song Huizong's favorite Taoist, and founded Quanzhen religion. Under the background of national disaster and "crossing the country to the south", Wang Zhongyang raised the banner of Quanzhen religion in order to preserve the traditional culture of China and preserve it in religious society and civil society. This is really helpless.
During his missionary work in Shandong, Wang Zhongyang received many disciples, among whom Ma Yu (Danyangzi), Qiu Chuji (Changchun Zi), Tan Chuduan (Changzhenzi), Wang Chuyi (Yuyangzi), Hao Datong (Taikoo Zi), Liu Chuxuan (Xianrenzi) and Ma Yu's wife Sun Buer (Jingsan Ren) were the most outstanding. They were called Beiqizhen, which is what we usually call Quanzhen Seven Children.
After the death of Wang Zhongyang, the seven sons of Quanzhen Sect practiced traditional Quanzhen Sect extensively in the north, and established various factions, namely, Ma Yuxian Sect, Qiu Chuji Longmen Sect, Tan Chuduan Namo pie Sect, Liu Chuxuan Suishan Sect, Haoda Huashan Sect, Wang Chuyi Lushan Sect and Sun Buer Jingpai Sect. Among them, Qiu Chuji and his Dragon School had great influence.
Qiu Chuji, nicknamed Tong Mi, is from Qixia, Shandong. /kloc-at the age of 0/9, he became a Taoist priest. At the age of 20, he took Wang Zhongyang as his teacher. After Wang Zhongyang's death, Qiu Chuji lived in Baoji, Shaanxi Province for seven years, devoted himself to cultivation, founded Quanzhen Dragon School, and gradually became famous. In the first year of Jin Mingchang (1 190), Jin Zhangzong issued a edict to "ban all truth and five elements of Pilu" (History of Jin Dynasty). Zhang Zong Chuanyi), Qiu Chuji had to return to Qixia's former residence, which was closely related to local nobles.
In the second year of Jin Dynasty (12 1 1), Genghis Khan attacked Jin on a large scale. As Jin moved the capital to Kaifeng and Yanjing fell, the general trend of Jurchen ruling the Jin Dynasty was gone. Earlier, in the second year of Jin Zhenyou (12 14), Qiu Chuji pleaded with the rebels in Dengzhou and Ninghai, Shandong Province, saying, "Say it out, you will all go and die, and the two States will decide" (a monument to a real person in Changchun), which made great contributions to Li Jingli and attracted the attention of Genghis Khan.
In the 14th year of Yuan Taizu (12 19), Liu Wen, a famous doctor, recommended to Genghis Khan that Qiu Chuji was 300 years old and had the secret of keeping fit and living longer, so Genghis Khan sent Liu Zhonglu to invite him to the west of Qiu Chuji.
On the one hand, Qiu Chuji knew the overall situation and lost no time in planning the development of Quanzhen religion. "After the soldiers, everyone draws charcoal, and there is no food in the bedroom, all of which are also. When looking at people, you can't lose them! " (mostly Qingyi Guanbei); On the other hand, Qiu Chuji saw Genghis Khan's army killing everywhere, which was extremely cruel. He hopes to take this opportunity to advise Genghis Khan to put people first. So he went west to Central Asia with 18 people. Qiu Chuji gave a poem before he left, which shows his heart of saving the world:
"Who's soldiers fire people sorrow, thousands of none left. Last year, I was lucky enough to have a cold trip this spring. I'm too lazy to go three thousand miles north of Lingling, and I'm still studying in 200 states in Shandong. Poverty is anxiety, and worry is relieved. " (Changchun Journey to the West)1Early Spring Arrived in 2201April 222, Qiu Chuji finally arrived in Central Asia. Qiu Chuji is seventy-four years old.
Genghis Khan's quest for immortality, Qiu Chuji bluntly said: "There is a way to live, but there is no medicine for immortality." "Respect for its sincerity", without criticism ("Changchun Real Journey to the West"), won the praise of Genghis Khan and respected it as a fairy.
Qiu Chuji also put forward many suggestions to Genghis Khan, such as tax exemption for three years and establishing a puppet regime in the Central Plains like Jin, but Genghis Khan did not adopt them. Qiu Chuji's hope of persuading Genghis Khan with the idea that the world is not bloodthirsty was dashed, but Genghis Khan gave Quanzhen many privileges. Genghis Khan handed the drum and imperial edict to Qiu Chuji to take charge of Taoism in the world, exempting Quanzhen Taoist from all taxes and tariffs, but Quanzhen Taoist can also be exempted from killing. (For this historical fact, please refer to Feng Xuan Celebrations. )
Taking this opportunity, Qiu Chuji set up eight fairs in Yanjing Baiyun Temple, such as "Equality", "Lingbao" and "Changchun", and initiated a system of lectures and commandments to recruit disciples. At that time, there were many applicants and Quanzhen disciples all over the world, and Quanzhen was vigorously developed, which was revived in the Yuan Dynasty and spread to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Quanzhen Sect did save some people who suffered because of the privilege granted by Genghis Khan, but it was not like the legend that Qiu Chuji saved the whole Central Plains from being killed.
After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, on the one hand, due to the prosperity of Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties and the decline of Buddhism and Taoism, Quanzhen School was naturally hard to escape; On the other hand, Qiu Chuji linked the establishment of religion with politics, which made Quanzhen religion flourish for hundreds of years, but it was also favored by the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, which gave Quanzhen a chance to recruit middle-level literati and seek more extensive support from powerful people, making Quanzhen a prominent and de facto official religion. After Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan Dynasty, Quanzhen religion, which was favored by the ruling class of the Yuan Dynasty, was naturally not allowed to continue to develop and grow-after all, politics was.
Everything is always developing and dying. Although Quanzhen School has lost its original prosperity, and although most of the hero's stories can only be relived again and again in legends, the courage and talent of Wang Zhongyang School still amazes the younger generation like us. Qiu Chuji's lifelong embrace and contribution to the development and prosperity of Taoism are still remembered by people. They all left a glorious page in the history of Taoism and also had their unique position in the history of cultural development.