The Li Zhiquan 李志全

Li Zhiquan (1189-1261) was a native of Taigu, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province during the transition between the Jin and Yuan dynasties. His courtesy name was Dingchen, and his Taoist title was Chunchengzi.

As recorded in The Epitaph of Li Chunchengzi by Li Wei, Li Zhiquan’s father, Li Xunzhen, passed the imperial examination by excelling in Confucian classics and their interpretations.

Li Zhiquan had an outstanding ambition that set him apart from others. He upheld his family’s legacy (literally "the old tradition of winnowing baskets and fur coats," a metaphor for family inheritance) and devoted himself diligently to studying and teaching. By the time he reached the age of thirty (the "year of establishment" in traditional Chinese culture, when a person is expected to have a stable career), he unexpectedly encountered frequent wars and chaos, which dashed his hopes of pursuing an official career.

At that time, the emperor was fond of techniques for longevity, so he summoned Qiu Chuji (also known as Real Person Changchun) to travel north and then west to the Snowy Mountains (referring to the Tianshan Mountains or Altai Mountains) to teach Taoist doctrines. This event brought a great revival to Taoism (literally "the mysterious gate," a metaphor for Taoism).

Inspired by this, Li Zhiquan became a disciple of the Quanzhen School, studying under Revered Master Zhang of Heyang.

When Qiu Chuji returned from his journey, he passed through Shanxi. Li Zhiquan, carrying a walking staff, traveled on foot to pay his respects to Qiu at Longyang Taoist Temple in Fengsheng.

Qiu Chuji held Li Zhiquan in high regard, imparted to him the profound essentials of Taoism, and bestowed upon him his current given name (Zhiquan). Later, Taoist Master Song Piyun faced a crisis: the Taoist scriptures in his possession had been burned in a disaster (literally "calamitous fire," referring to wars or accidents). By imperial order, Song set out to recover and reconstruct these scriptures from the ashes. Li Zhiquan, together with Qin Zhi’an and others, extensively searched for surviving fragments, participated in collating and revising the texts, and worked tirelessly day and night. It took nearly ten years for them to complete this task.

In recognition of his contributions, the emperor conferred upon Li Zhiquan the title "Great Master Chuncheng" and appointed him to supervise metaphysical studies (focusing on Taoist philosophy) in Yanjing (later renamed Dadu, present-day Beijing).

A few years later, Li Zhiquan resigned and returned home due to old age. He passed away due to illness in the second year of the Zhongtong era at the age of seventy-two.

His works include Collected Works of Naiquan, which was printed and circulated among the public.

In his daily life, Li Zhiquan also compiled twenty volumes of poems and prose by the "Seven Real Persons" (the seven founding disciples of the Quanzhen School) and other Taoist masters of subsequent generations, titling the collection Literary Garden of Cultivating the True Self (Xiuzhen Wenyuan), which was also passed down to later generations.

Accounts of his life can also be found in Volume 5 of A Study on the Origin and Development of the Changchun Taoist Tradition.