A Fortunate Meeting of Mysterious Winds

This idiom came from a story, which was originally recorded in the Records of a Fortunate Meeting ( 《玄風慶會錄》 Xuanfeng Qinghui Lu ), a book on the historic meeting between Qiu Chuji, an important figure of the Complete Perfect sect ( 全真道 Quanzhen Dao ) and Genghis Khan, the Mongolian conqueror. In this book, the author used 'a fortunate meeting' to highlight the big event involving Qiu and Genghis Khan, two people with totally different personalities and cultural backgrounds. In the history of the Complete Perfection sect, Qiu's meeting with Genghis Khan carried a big weight. It also had an important impact on historical studies on the Song and Yuan dynasties.

As a nomadic conqueror, Genghis Khan knew nothing about Chinese culture, but he showed very strong interest in Daoist ideas about nourishing life, based on which Qiu explained to the conqueror that a mandated king ought to spread good merits outward while nourishing inner spirit and vital breath. Then, he suggested that the conqueror stop killing innocent people. The suggestion proved to have saved thousands of lives in later battles waged by the Mongolian conqueror. As a result, in the process of transmitting Daoism, patriarch Qiu himself was long remembered as the carrier of the Daoist spirit characterized by respect for life and deep love for peace. 玄風慶會