The Sun Shouyi 孙守一

Sun Shouyi was a native of Gui'an (now part of Zhejiang Province) during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. His original given name was Shangzhi, and his literary name was Yuyang. He had an extensive knowledge and a retentive memory, and was particularly skilled in horseback riding and archery.

At the age of 19, he traveled to Jinling (an ancient name for Nanjing, Jiangsu Province). There, he met Shen Taihe in Taogu (Taogu Valley), and by then he already had the aspiration to renounce secular life. Shen Taihe then took him back to Maoshan Mountain (a sacred mountain of Taoism in Jiangsu Province), imparted to him 36 types of esoteric Taoist texts, and also taught him the core tenets of the Longmen (Dragon Gate) School of Taoism. Shen further instructed him to change his name to "Shouyi".

In the 13th year of the Shunzhi reign (1656), Sun Shouyi retired to Jingai Mountain. There, he met Tao Jing'an, and the two had frequent and in-depth discussions on Taoist doctrines.

In the 4th year of the Kangxi reign (1665), he resided at Dade Guan (Dade Taoist Temple) in Hangzhou. He sent his disciple Zhou Tailang to the temple, gave Zhou a copy of the core tenets of the Longmen School, and instructed Zhou to go and succeed Huang Shouyuan (as Huang's successor). After that, Sun Shouyi embarked on a journey of wandering as a Taoist hermit, and his final whereabouts remain unknown.

Sun Shouyi was the 8th-generation grand master of the Longmen School. Details of his life story can be found in Jingai Xindeng (The Lamp of the Heart at Golden Canopy).