Page 729 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

LIU HAICHAN

fame and riches to become a wan-
dering Taoist, and finally attains
immortality.
As an immortal, Uu seems to
have been especially revered in
the twelfth and thirteenth centu-
ries, when he was associated with
Zhongli Quan and *Ui Dongbin.
The three were famous for roaming
the world and persuading people to
search for Taoist immortality. These
encounters were favorite topics not
only of hagiographic works, but
also of poems and theatre plays.
Although Zhongli and Lti have
enjoyed a more durable popular-
ity, Liu plays an eminent role in a
numbers of stories, especially the
Ningyang Dong zhenren yuxian ji M
~ liS: ~ A ~ fill ~c (Records of the
Real Man Dong Ningyang's En-
counters with Immortals; eT 308).
This semivernacular work tells the
tale of a humble Jurchen soldier,
Dong Shouzhi m ~ J~' (n60-1227),
who repeatedly receives visits and
instructions from Uu, Lti, and
Fig. 54. Liu Haichan. Yan Hui MIilfl (fl. late thir-
Zhongli, and starts a new Taoist
teenth-early fourteenth century). Chion-ji j;Q }g:,
school.
~, Kyoto. See Little 2 0 00b, 330.
Uu was also famous for his
poetry and the calligraphic traces he left on temple walls-a way of creating
new holy places that was also favored by Lti Dongbin. Although Liu's alchemi-
cal poems seem to have been well-known, they have not come down to us
in any anthology, but are quoted in several Song and Yuan neidan works. His
autobiographical "Song on Becoming a Taoist" CRudao ge" A J1! ~ , probably
a Quanzhen apocryphon) was carved on stone in several locations, and is also
included in his standard biography found in the *Jinlian zhengzong ji, which
inspired most later accounts of his life.
Zhongli Quan, Lti Dongbin, and Liu Haichan are considered patriarchs by
both the Quanzhen and *Nanzong lineages. Liu's importance, however, ap-
pears to have waned already by Yuan times, and very few texts are attributed
to him in later anthologies. Unlike Lti Dongbin, moreover, Uu was rarely