by Caroline Stone
Changchun (Ch’ang-ch’un) 長春 was head of a Taoist sect in northern China in the early 13th century. He made the long and dangerous journey across Central Asia at the request of Chinghis (Genghis) Khan who, in his old age, wanted to know more about the Taoist doctrines of immortality. The account set down by his disciple sheds a fascinating light on the characters of both men, and on the reactions of these Chinese monks to a new and unfamiliar world.
Changchun was born in 1148 and became a Taoist monk in 1166, studying in the mountains near Shandong (Shantung). In 1167, he became a disciple of Wang Zhe (Wang Che), founder of the Completely Sublimated Sect, and after the Master’s death, succeeded him. His reputation spread over northern China and he had several audiences with reigning sovereigns.
As head of a sect distinguished by its extreme asceticism, Changchun was believed to be an adept, skilled in that Taoist obsession, the avoidance of old age and death, by means of an elixir of life composed of gold, cinnabar and other ingredients. In fact, Changchun was much more concerned with the purification of the immortal soul, and the possibility of achieving a synthesis of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, than in practical alchemy. Reports of his spiritual eminence reached the now ageing Chinghis Khan, who sent his personal minister to induce Changchun to visit him at his encampment far to the west. Although himself old, Changchun agreed to go, but refused to spend more than three years on the mission.
The account of the journey was set down by Li Zhichang (Li Chih-ch’ang) 李志常, a pupil of Changchun, who, in his turn, became head of the sect. Li accompanied his Master on the long and arduous journey to Chinghis’s camp near Kabul. There, Changchun met and talked with the Mongol conqueror and preached before him and his court. Of particular importance was the famous sermon of 19 November 1222, in which he set forth the tenets of his belief.
Chinghis Khan was delighted with the Master’s company and would gladly have kept him at his side, but Changchun was determined to return to his monastery. He set out with his disciples, this time taking a more direct route home, and arrived, just as he had predicted, three years after he had set out. Both Changchun and Chinghis Khan died in 1227.
Li Zhichang’s account of the journey, Chang Chun zhenren xiyouji 長春真人西遊記, is a mixture of sketches describing the landscape, practical information about the route and the peoples whom the travellers encountered, and reports of Changchun’s words and actions.
Later on, Li Zhichang was summoned by the new Mongol emperor, Ögödei, to advise on the education of the Crown Prince, and in 1233 was made tutor to the imperial princes at Beijing. Two years later, he was ordered to build a Taoist temple at the new Mongol capital of Karakorum.
