The Liu Zhiyuan 刘志源

Liu Zhiyuan (1170-1243) was a native of Xiangzhou during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, which is now part of Henan Province. His Taoist title was "Qinglingzi" (Master of Clear Coolness).

As recorded in Ganshui Xianyuan Lu (Records of Immortal Origins from Sweet Water): Liu Zhiyuan lost his father at an early age and was known for his filial piety while attending to his mother. After his mother passed away, he went directly to Hongyang Mountain in Chanzhou, where he became a disciple of Reverend Lang and was initiated as a Taoist monk.

He traveled between Kaizhou and Weizhou, promoting Taoist doctrines. During the Chongqing era (1212-1213), he traveled east to Tiecha Mountain and paid a visit to Wang Yuyang. Wang Yuyang took a liking to him and imparted all the esoteric secrets of the Quanzhen School to him.

At that time, wars broke out frequently, so Liu Zhiyuan secluded himself at Yanhua Terrace in Chanyuan, where he chiseled a stone niche to live in. In the winter of the 2nd year of the Yuanguang era (1223), when Qiu Changchun (Qiu Chuji) returned south, Liu Zhiyuan went to Xuande to meet him. Qiu Changchun held him in high regard and appointed him to oversee Taoist affairs in the Daming Circuit.

From then on, Liu Zhiyuan’s reputation in the Taoist community grew day by day. He established more than a hundred Taoist hermitages and temples, and initiated hundreds of disciples into the Taoist order. In the 7th year of the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Yuan Dynasty (1235), the Taoist master Zhenren Qinghe (Yin Zhiping) ordered Liu Zhiyuan to restore the Shangqing Taiping Palace on Zhongnan Mountain, and also entrusted him with assisting in managing the ancestral court of the Quanzhen School on Zhongnan Mountain and preaching Taoist teachings.

Liu Zhiyuan then led his disciples into the Guanzhong region (central Shaanxi plain). Within a few years, the palace was completed, and he took charge of Taoist affairs on Zhongnan Mountain. He passed away due to illness in the 15th year of the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Yuan Dynasty at the age of 74.

In the 2nd year of the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Yuan Dynasty (1252), he was posthumously awarded the title "Zhenren of Pure Virtue and Wonderful Accomplishment" ("Chunde Miaocheng Zhenren").