Qiu Chuji

Also known as Zi Tongmi · Haochang Chunzi

Qiu Chuji, courtesy name Tongmi and Daoist name Master Changchun, came from Qixia in Dengzhou. At nineteen he became a disciple of Wang Chongyang in the Kunyu mountains, one of the seven Quanzhen masters alongside Ma Yu, Tan Chuduan and Liu Chuxuan. He declined summons from both the Jin and the Southern Song courts. In 1219 Genghis Khan sent Liu Zhonglu to fetch him, and he set out from Laizhou with eighteen disciples on a journey of nearly three years to the khan's camp near the Hindu Kush, where he urged reverence for heaven, care for the people, and few desires as the way to long life. Back in Yanjing he was charged by decree with all Daoist affairs and lived in the Taiji Temple until his death in 1227 at the age of eighty. His disciple Li Zhichang wrote the journey up as the Westward Travels of the Perfected Changchun (Changchun zhenren xiyou ji), and his remains lie in the hall now within Beijing's White Cloud Temple.