What is Longmen School 龙门派?

The Longmen School is the most important and prosperous branch of Quanzhen Taoism. It was founded by Qiu Chuji, one of the Seven Quanzhen Masters. Since Qiu Chuji once practiced in seclusion at Longmen Mountain in Longzhou (present-day Baoji, Shaanxi), the sect was named "Longmen" (Dragon Gate). The Longmen Sect reveres him as its founding ancestor.

The doctrinal thoughts of the Longmen Sect are inherited from Wang Chongyang, the patriarch of Quanzhen Taoism, advocating that purifying the mind and reducing desires is the foundation of cultivating the Tao. During the Qing Dynasty, when Wang Changyue rejuvenated the sect, he strived to restore the original tenets of Quanzhen, emphasizing true cultivation and true deeds, with observing precepts as the foundation and realizing one's nature as the core. Min Yide further integrated Confucianism and Buddhism, establishing the "Longmen Convenient Dharma Gate" which advocates practicing the three teachings together, cultivating one's moral character and avoiding faults. "Controlling anger and restraining desires, integrating Confucianism and Buddhism, abiding by precepts, and diligently practicing inner alchemy" are generally the most basic cultivation viewpoints of the Longmen Sect today.

Inheriting the legacy of its ancestral Quanzhen Taoism, the Longmen Sect is renowned in the world for its proficiency in inner alchemy. It has many famous inner alchemy theorists among its disciples, such as Wu Shouyang, Xie Ningsu, Liu Huayang, and Liu Yiming. The inner alchemy books they wrote, compared with those of their predecessors, have both inheritance and development. The overall characteristics are that the techniques are more detailed and easier to understand.

The center of the Longmen Sect's dissemination was in the south of the Yangtze River (different from the early Quanzhen Taoism which was in the north), so it was inevitably influenced by the Zhengyi Taoism, the native Taoist school in the south, showing a tendency to integrate with Zhengyi Taoism. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, most Longmen Taoists of the Quanzhen Sect in various places also performed prayers and rituals, relying on incense offerings as one of their means of livelihood. Gradually, there was not much difference between Quanzhen and Zhengyi in terms of religious practices.