The Jingu Dong Sect 金鼓洞派

Jingu Dong Sect, a branch of the Longmen Sect of Quanzhen Taoism.

It was founded by Zhou Tailang, the 9th generation of the Longmen Sect, with its dissemination center at Jingu Dong (Golden Drum Cave) in Hangzhou. According to records in The Lamp of the Golden Cover and Annals of Jingu Dong: Zhou Tailang (1628–1711), courtesy name Yuanzhen, Taoist title Mingyang, was a native of Zhenze (present-day Wuxian County), Jiangsu. After his father passed away, he renounced secular life and became a Taoist. Initially, he paid homage to Sun Shouyi (Taoist title Yuyang), the 8th generation of the Longmen Sect, and later took Huang Shouyuan (Taoist title Chiyang) as his teacher, succeeding as the 9th generation of the Longmen Sect. Later, he traveled to the southeast and came to Hangzhou in the 3rd year of the Kangxi reign (1664).

In the 5th year of the Kangxi reign (1666), he built a thatched hut at Jingu Dong, north of Qixia Ridge by West Lake, and constructed a residence for cultivating the Tao, which later became Helin Taoist Abbey. From then on, seekers of profound wisdom and Taoists flocked to him. He successively had disciples such as Dai Qingyuan (Taoist title Chuyang), Gao Qingyu (courtesy name Dongli), Fang Qingfu (Taoist title Ningyang), Xie Qinghan (Taoist title Binyang), Jin Qinglai (Taoist title Jingling), Meng Qinghuang (Taoist title Yiyang), and Xu Qingyang. Min Yide wrote: "At that time, there were over a thousand people who followed the master (referring to Zhou Tailang).

I heard from Qingyunzi (referring to Shen Yibing) that: in the Quanzhen sect, starting from Donghua, it flourished with Chongyang (Wang Zhe). The lineage was passed down through Qiu (Chuji), Zhao (Daojian), Chen (Tongwei), and Zhou (Xuanpu). Zhou passed it to Zhang (Jingding), Zhao (Zhensong), Wang (Changyue), and Huang (Shouyuan), ... until our Master Zhou Mingyang, the Preceptor, emerged and propagated the ancestral Taoism in the south." Together with other masters, they "composed poems in response to each other. The grand gathering of the profound Taoist tradition, since the Yuan Dynasty, has rarely been surpassed." (Biography of Preceptor Zhou Mingyang, Volume 3 of The Lamp of the Golden Cover), indicating that after the Longmen Sect spread to the south, its most prosperous period was during Zhou Tailang's time. Among Zhou Tailang's disciples, Gao Qingyu went to Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang and founded another branch at Tongbai Palace. The remaining disciples who stayed in the mountain continued to propagate the sect at Jingu Dong. Dai Qingyuan passed the lineage to Luo Yizhong (courtesy name Shengzhe), the 11th generation; Luo passed it to Cai Yangshan (courtesy name Tianyi), the 12th generation; Cai passed it to Dai Beizhuang (sect name Dai Laimou), the 13th generation; and Dai passed it to Zhang Fuchun. This was during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty.