The Western Sect

A sect practicing Daoist Inner Alchemy, the Western sect was founded during the reign of the Qing emperor Hanfeng by Li Hanxu, a native of Leshan, Sichuan. He claimed that he had met Lu Dongbing and Zhang Sanfeng on Mt. Emei, where he learned the skills of Inner Alchemy. He was said to have attained Dao in the sixth year of Hanfeng (AD 1856). Like The Eastern Sect, the Western sect attributed its origin to patriarch Lu. On the other hand, it established its own sectarian tradition. Li edited the Compilation on Daoist Relations and the Autobiography of the Elder Lu, which had been written by Lu Xixing, and re-published these works under the title Traces of the Immortals in the Seas and Mountains. He also revised the Chronicle of Patriarch Lu's Life. Li claimed to be Lu Xixing's descendant and the inheritor of his Inner Alchemy skills. Because Li had learnt Zhang Sanfeng's Inner Alchemy skills and integrated them into the Daoist Skills created by patriarch Zhong Liquan and patriarch Lu Dongping, the Daoist Skills of the Western sect differ to some degree from those of the Eastern sect. Li classified the Cultivation of Spiritual Nature into nine stages and the Cultivation of Bodily Life into four stages, which based all Inner Alchemy Skills on attainment to quietude and serenity, placing Integrated Cultivation in a secondary position. Li's Daoist works included Secret Pointers of the Three Chariots, On the Key to Dao, Nine Stages for Refining the Heart, The Thirteen Supreme Scriptures, The Narration of Posterior Heaven, The Book of Wenzhong, etc. 西派