Greatest Daoist masters?

[blackfence]

Other than Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi, who are the greatest of all time?

 

Any who lived in the 20th century?

 

Any living now?

[Stosh]

I vote for Mh

[idquest]

Seven immortals including Lu Dongbing? Eva Wong has a translation if you are interested.

[lifeforce]

Liu I Ming

 

[Mudfoot]

Technically, most of the above are just authors known in the West. 

[Marblehead]

4 hours ago, Mudfoot said:

Technically, most of the above are just authors known in the West. 

I'm not an author.  But after my many years on this forum I am fairly well known around the word.  I know there are a few women who will never forget me.

 

[Walker]

 

8 hours ago, Marblehead said:

I'm not an author.  But after my many years on this forum I am fairly well known around the word.  I know there are a few women who will never forget me.

 

 

Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffftttttttt. I got money sez you actually kind of believe this. 45,358 posts? Hot damn, son. 

 

To the OP, of the 20th century masters, one name I have heard come up numerous times is that of Master Kuang Changxiu (匡常修), seen below looking rather dapper. If whispers circulating on the Daoist grapevine are to be believed, then he is one who reached very high levels of cultivation before leaving this world.  

 

 

Other than Laozi and Zhuangzi, in terms of semi-legendary ancient Daoists of great historical importance, Lu Dongbin (呂洞賓), is without a doubt numero uno. He is widely credited with being the source of transmission for many, many schools of inner alchemy. Master Lu, master of swordsmanship and poetry, also cut quite a dashing figure and worked his way deeply into the imaginations of Chinese novelists and playwrights of the last millennium. 

 

 

Women's names are recorded with far less frequency in the Chinese historical record than men, but this does not mean that Daoism has only known male masters. In addition to the well-known immortal Sun Bu'er (孫不二, who you can find described in the Eva Wong translation mentioned above), another great female Daoist master was Cao Wenyi (曹文逸) of the Northern Song era, who wrote The Song of the Great Dao's Numinous Source (《靈源大道歌》), which is still studied today. Unfortunately I couldn't find her portrait online. 

 

Finally, not particularly well-known in the English-speaking world is that the fellow of convinced/importuned Laozi into writing down the Daodejing before he left civilization, Guanyinzi (關尹子), star of Waysun Liao's novel Nine Nights with the Taoist Master, is credited with himself becoming a great master and passing down a very powerful set of inner alchemy teachings. 

 

As to whether or not there are any masters alive in this day and age on par with these historical greats, I do not know, and I suspect that few if any people on this board know, either. 

Edited September 9, 2018 by Walker

[Rocky Lionmouth]

One to the sky for Wei Boyang, credited for creating the Zhouyi Cantong Qi in original before transmitting it.

 

All of the major traditional lineage holders count as Big Shots for me, meaning those who have dedicated themselves to ensuring the transmission. They may only be of real importance to their students and not gain any fame, they may be world famous. That is irrelevant. If they are ensuring the transmission of their living art then their effort is immortalized for as long as their art still lives.

 

That is of course merely my thinking and of no consequence, but since the question was open i spoke.

 

Ploughs to rust, swords to the sea.

5k

Edited September 12, 2018 by Rocky Lionmouth

[Rocky Lionmouth]

On 2018-09-08 at 8:11 PM, Marblehead said:

 

... there are a few women who will never forget me.

 

 

I like how you refrain from saying if those memories are fond or not, very gentlemanly.

[Walker]

4 hours ago, Rocky Lionmouth said:

Shoutout to Wang Li Ping for instance for keeping the Longmen Quan Zhen up and running to his best abilities.

 

Heaven help us. 

[Rocky Lionmouth]

On 2018-09-10 at 11:34 AM, Walker said:

 

Heaven help us. 

 

That bad huh?

[Walker]

7 hours ago, Rocky Lionmouth said:

 

That bad huh?

 

Pretty bad. The fact that WLP's actual role in Longmen Daoism is far smaller than what many outside of the Chinese-speaking world imagine has been discussed more than once on this forum. This issue was talked about in some depth (amid the acrimony) here.

 

[liminal_luke]

On 9/9/2018 at 10:20 PM, Rocky Lionmouth said:

 Shoutout to Wang Li Ping for instance for keeping the Longmen Quan Zhen up and running to his best abilities.

 

 

I`ve not met Master Wang but several other Bums have (Silent Thunder, Taomeow) and they`ve said only glowingly good things about the experience.  

[Rocky Lionmouth]

Edited September 12, 2018 by Rocky Lionmouth
Damage control

[Walker]

47 minutes ago, Rocky Lionmouth said:

 

Oh, so he is of little importance and i thought he was a lineage holder. Sorry to have disturbed your sense of order, i had no idea that this had been discussed so much. Thanks for the info, i will not bring his name up again.

 

He is almost certainly a Dragon Gate lineage holder, but so are lots of people, including some who grace this board from time to time. If you envision the entire Dragon Gate sect as a very big tree, WLP is somewhere out on the branches, not on the trunk; nobody you could place near the trunk has been alive for a very, very long time. Generally speaking, it doesn't really mean much that anybody is a lineage holder, unless that person happens to be your own master. Wang Liping is of great importance to the relatively small number of people who train with him and his students, and to those practice using the books attributed to him. To the rest of Daoism, he's really neither here nor there--lots of Longmen monks, nuns, and lay students don't even know who he is. To illustrate this, three days ago I mentioned WLP's fame in the English-speaking world to a Longmen monk of 30 years who has spent time on many of the famous holy mountains in China. He had to think for a minute before he could remember having heard of Wang. 

[lifeforce]

7 hours ago, Walker said:

 

He is almost certainly a Dragon Gate lineage holder, but so are lots of people, including some who grace this board from time to time. If you envision the entire Dragon Gate sect as a very big tree, WLP is somewhere out on the branches, not on the trunk; nobody you could place near the trunk has been alive for a very, very long time. Generally speaking, it doesn't really mean much that anybody is a lineage holder, unless that person happens to be your own master. Wang Liping is of great importance to the relatively small number of people who train with him and his students, and to those practice using the books attributed to him. To the rest of Daoism, he's really neither here nor there--lots of Longmen monks, nuns, and lay students don't even know who he is. To illustrate this, three days ago I mentioned WLP's fame in the English-speaking world to a Longmen monk of 30 years who has spent time on many of the famous holy mountains in China. He had to think for a minute before he could remember having heard of Wang. 

 

I mentioned something along these lines a few years back and got slated from a few folks here. It was as if WLP was beyond any criticism. I'm so glad someone else has posted this.

[Wu Ming Jen]

All the methods taught at the temple are meant to help all living beings, to be in service to others, and to help others open doors.

 

Studying methods is a serious issue, and the methods transmitted should not be used for performance or game. Pay attention to teach in a peaceful environment, with pure thoughts, so as to transmit a pure energy field. In order to teach, you need to start teaching from the foundation.

 

Teaching high level content to a beginner would be like erecting a high building on sand, and may lead the student into crooked paths. Do not mix the contents, methods and principles of Chi Gong Healing and Inner Alchemy Cultivation with other contents, methods and principles taught in other places. Contents that were transmitted secretly to individuals can not be taught.

 

I support all teachers that transmit according to these requirements. These are the greatest Taoist masters of all time

 

 

[Rocky Lionmouth]

I reiterate:

I had no idea, i was ignorant of these things concerning the issue. Nobody is beyond criticism nor do i wish to start yet another ”X vs Y” feud, i will redact the post in question so the issue will hopefully be ignored, i am sorry i brought it up.

[Marblehead]

No sorry.  It was something on your mind while in this thread.

 

But if this was the first mistake you ever made then, welcome to the club of mistake makers.

 

[Walker]

Nothing to apologize for. There's no reason not to discuss the conceptions people have about Wang Liping. 

[Gerard]

YOURSELF...if practice is correct and you align yourself with the Tao.

 

“Dao cultivators are all doctors,” Daoist Zhang asserted. It is because unless one knows his physical body structure and invisible qi system clearly, and understands how they work respectively and interact with each other and with external environment, there is no way he can practice Daoism property.

 

 

Modern Chinese Hermits.

 

...and you shall become a hermit too, if you practice correctly.

[Gerard]

On 12/09/2018 at 9:58 PM, lifeforce said:

 

I mentioned something along these lines a few years back and got slated from a few folks here. It was as if WLP was beyond any criticism. I'm so glad someone else has posted this.

 

I did but as usual politely.

 

There is a Chinese saying:

 

"Big hermit lives in the city, small hermit lives in a mountain."

 

1. Barefoot Taoist...walks barefoot in the snow (I would like to see that!)

2. Levitation

3. Five Thunder Palm

4. Eight Trigram Balls

5. Shallowimg alchemical pill

7. etc.

 

Aren't all these practices extreme asceticism (something that Buddhism rejects as they ultimately lead nowhere). I fully agree with Buddhism here. Who really cares whether one can levitate or not!

 

Religions, religions. 

 

[Mudfoot]

2 hours ago, Gerard said:

Who cares whether one can levitate or not

That would be Void..., who cares so much he recently started a thread on the subject in the general section. I'm glad to be able to answer your question though 🤪

[Stosh]

On 9/12/2018 at 11:00 AM, Rocky Lionmouth said:

I reiterate:

I had no idea, i was ignorant of these things concerning the issue. Nobody is beyond criticism nor do i wish to start yet another ”X vs Y” feud, i will redact the post in question so the issue will hopefully be ignored, i am sorry i brought it up.

That's a respectable position. Very nice.

[Rocky Lionmouth]

10 hours ago, Stosh said:

That's a respectable position. Very nice.

 

I wish people would tell me that irl sometimes... how sad is that?

Wait, were you being ironic? 

 

On 2018-09-12 at 9:32 PM, Marblehead said:

 

welcome to the club of mistake makers.

 

 

I would like to thank my parents for making this possible and all those who contributed to the process leading me here, the mods for allowing it to happen and the good folks over at th- *que the wrap-it-up-orchestra swell* 

Thank you bye!