The Zhou Defang 周德方

Zhou Defang was a native of Haichang, Hangzhou, during the Yuan Dynasty, and his courtesy name was Guangmozi. As recorded in The Stele of Lord Zhou, Guangmozi: In his childhood, Zhou Defang was separated from his parents and wandered to a region where people wore wild horse fur coats. Occasionally, he went to the imperial capital (present-day Beijing) to deliver fruits. When he saw the robes and hats of Taoist priests, he felt a deep admiration for Taoism.

At the age of over fifty, he went to the Laozi Shrine on Jichou Mountain in Wuxing to seek Taoist teachings from True Person Du, and he performed the etiquette of a disciple to him. Wu Quanjie, the Grand Master of Xuanjiao (a Taoist school in the Yuan Dynasty), noticed Zhou Defang’s proficiency in translation and kept him in service. Later, Zhou Defang submitted a petition to the imperial court and obtained an imperial edict, allowing him to reside and manage Longrui Palace in Yue (an ancient region roughly covering present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang).

In the sixth year of the Yanyou era of the Yuan Dynasty (1319), True Person Du passed away (ascended to immortality in Taoist terms). Yao Ji’an, Zhou Defang’s senior fellow disciple, succeeded to take charge of the sacrificial affairs. Only then did Zhou Defang move to live in the Laozi Shrine. He regretted not having studied calligraphy and classics in his youth, so from that point on, he devoted himself entirely to reading and studying.

In his residence on the mountain, he placed a statue of Laozi in his room, with portraits of the "Six Gentlemen of Taoist Studies" lined up beside it; he paid respects to them every morning and evening. He named his room "Buzishu Studio" (literally "the Studio of Not Forgiving Oneself," signifying his strict self-discipline in learning). He lived on a single couch, and his collection of books amounted to several thousand volumes. Whenever he gained insights while reading, he would copy them down on separate papers. Over the years, these notes accumulated into a large collection of manuscripts. He achieved a profound and thorough understanding of Taoist doctrines and integrated such knowledge into his own insights.

From time to time, he put forward questions that no one else had ever raised before. By nature, he did not eat meat and only had one meal a day. He never stepped out of the mountain for more than twenty years and lived to the age of eighty.