The Li A 李阿
Paul PengKey Takeaways
- Li A (李阿), also known as Li Babai (李八百, "Eight Hundred Li") for his legendary longevity of 800 years, was a Taoist hermit of the Three Kingdoms period from the state of Shu (present-day Sichuan)
- He lived in caves without consuming food (bigu 辟谷, grain abstinence), sustained himself on qi alone, and was skilled at divining the pros and cons of world affairs
- He later moved from Shu to Wu, where he founded the Li Family Dao (李家道) - a popular Taoist movement that spread across the Jiangnan region through talisman-water healing and precept transmission
- The Li Family Dao is documented in Ge Hong's (葛洪) Baopuzi (《抱朴子》) as one of the popular Taoist movements active in the Jiangnan region during the Eastern Jin period
- His disciples spread throughout the Jiangnan region, making the Li Family Dao one of the most geographically extensive popular Taoist movements of the early medieval period
Li A (李阿), also known as Li Babai (李八百) - the legendary cave-dwelling hermit of the Three Kingdoms period whose movement from Shu to Wu established the Li Family Dao across the Jiangnan region.
Life and Legend
Li A (李阿) was a native of the state of Shu (present-day Sichuan) during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 CE). He was also known as Li Babai (李八百, "Eight Hundred Li") - a name that reflects the tradition's claim that he lived for eight hundred years, a figure that in Taoist hagiography signifies the attainment of extraordinary longevity through cultivation rather than a literal biographical claim.
He lived in a cave without consuming food - practicing bigu (辟谷, grain abstinence), one of the foundational ascetic techniques of early Taoism, in which the practitioner gradually replaces ordinary food with the ingestion of qi (气) and eventually sustains himself on breath and light alone. He was skilled at divining the pros and cons of world affairs, a capacity that the tradition associates with the clarity of mind that sustained inner cultivation produces.
The Li Family Dao
According to legend, Li A later moved from Shu to Wu (the Jiangnan region), where he founded the Li Family Dao (李家道). The Li Family Dao was a popular Taoist movement that spread across the Jiangnan region through two primary activities:
- Talisman-water healing (符水治病) - the use of talismans dissolved in water as a healing medium, a practice shared with the early Celestial Masters tradition
- Precept transmission (传授戒律) - the formal transmission of ethical precepts to lay followers, creating a community of practitioners bound by shared moral commitments
Ge Hong (葛洪, 283-343 CE) documents the Li Family Dao in his Baopuzi (《抱朴子》) as one of the popular Taoist movements active in the Jiangnan region during his lifetime. Ge Hong's account is critical in tone - he regarded the Li Family Dao's practices as insufficiently rigorous compared to the outer alchemy tradition he championed - but his documentation confirms the movement's significant popular following:
“李家道者，以符水为主，徒众甚众。”
(The Li Family Dao uses talisman-water as its primary method; its followers are extremely numerous.)
- Ge Hong, Baopuzi
The movement's disciples spread throughout the Jiangnan region, making the Li Family Dao one of the most geographically extensive popular Taoist movements of the early medieval period.
Bigu: The Practice of Grain Abstinence
Li A's most distinctive personal practice was bigu (辟谷, grain abstinence) - the gradual replacement of ordinary food with qi ingestion. In early Taoist cultivation theory, the five grains (五谷) were understood to nourish not only the body but also the three worms (三尸) - malevolent spirits that inhabit the body and cause disease and death. By abstaining from grain, the practitioner starves the three worms while simultaneously refining the body's qi toward a purer, more luminous state.
The bigu practice that Li A embodied became one of the defining markers of advanced Taoist cultivation in the early medieval period, and its association with longevity - expressed in the legendary figure of 800 years - reflects the tradition's conviction that the purification of the body through qi cultivation could dramatically extend the natural lifespan.
Zhengyi Perspective
In the Zhengyi tradition, the Li Family Dao represents one of the popular Taoist movements of the early medieval period that operated alongside the Celestial Masters tradition in the Jiangnan region. The Li Family Dao's use of talisman-water healing - a practice shared with the early Celestial Masters - reflects the common ritual vocabulary of early Chinese Taoism, in which the talisman's power to heal was understood as deriving from the practitioner's connection to the celestial authorities.
Li A's bigu practice and legendary longevity also reflect values that the Zhengyi tradition shares: the conviction that the cultivation of qi through disciplined practice can transform the body and extend life. The Zhengyi priest who fasts before performing a major ritual ceremony is enacting the same principle that Li A's cave-dwelling asceticism embodied - that the purification of the body is the necessary preparation for effective contact with the sacred.
Related Concepts
- Li Family Dao (李家道): the movement Li A founded Li Family Dao
- Three Kingdoms Period (三国时期): the historical period of Li A's life Three Kingdoms Period
Source Texts
- Zhao Daoyi (赵道一). Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian (《历世真仙体道通鉴》), Vol. 15. Yuan dynasty.
- Zhang Junfang (张君房) (comp.). Yunji Qiqian (《云筈七签》), Vol. 109. Song dynasty.
- Ge Hong (葛洪). Baopuzi Neipian (《抱朴子内篇》). Eastern Jin dynasty.
