“Heaven has abandoned China owing to its haughtiness and extravagant luxury.
But I, living in the northern wilderness, have not inordinate passions.
I hate luxury and exercise moderation.
[...] At military exercises, I am always in the front, and in time of battle am never
behind.
In the space of seven years, I have succeeded in accomplishing great work and uniting the
whole world in one empire.
I have not myself distinguished qualities.”
So opens a letter from Mongol Emperor Chinggis Khan in 1219.
Emphasizing his qualities and extreme humility, it’s easy to imagine this as part of the
many ultimatums the Mongols sent demanding submission by the will of Eternal Blue Heaven.
However, this was not sent to any monarch, but a Taoist sage, and the letter goes on
to describe the graces of Qiu Chuji, begging him to come and provide his wisdom- and the
secret to eternal life- to Chinggis Khan.
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Three great belief systems, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, have long intertwined with and
influenced Chinese life and government.
In the mid-12th century emerged a Taoist sect that combined elements of Buddhist and Confucian
thought: the Quanzhen sect.
Founded by Wang Zhe, a man more noted for his eccentricity than sanctity, the Quanzhen
soon was associated with prolonging life through controlling one's internal alchemy via, among
other things, total celibacy.
Thus the Quanzhen leadership, including Qiu Chuji, were invited to the Jin capital of
Zhongdu in 1188 to share their knowledge with the ailing emperor, Shizong of Jin.
The fact that Jin Shizong died the next year, and that Wang Zhe died at age 57, did little
to dispel the association of longevity.
Qiu Chuji was among Wang Zhe’s earliest disciples, and after his master’s death,
became one of the sect's lead figures, earning the title of Master Changchun.
After Shizong of Jin’s death, Qiu Chuji was largely confined to his home region in
Shandong, where he and other Quanzhen leaders cultivated the sect’s popularity until it
became one of North China’s most prominent.
As his fame grew, Qiu Chuji received invitations from both the Jin and Song Dynasties.
Both were declined, but the messenger from Chinggis Khan in 1219 could not be so easily
ignored.
Chinggis Khan learned of Qiu Chuji through his personal physician, a defector from the
Jin Dynasty named Liu Zhonglu.
It was he who heard of the Taoist sage and brought him to Chinggis’ attention, having
heard rumours Qiu Chuji was over 300 years old.
He told the Khan that the Taoist would be able to share these secrets and prolong his
life.
The meeting was also encouraged by another adviser, the Khitan scholar Yelu Chucai [Yalu
choots-eye], perhaps the most famous non-Mongolian administrators of the empire.
Descended from the former Khitan Liao ruling clan and a well-educated Buddhist, Chucai
was well known for his effort to curtail violence under both Chinggis Khan and his successor
Ogedai.
Entering Mongol service in 1218, he impressed them with his knowledge, loyalty, height,
deep voice, and long beard, for which they called him Urtu Saqal.
Chucai hoped the Taoist would help pacify the Khan’s more violent tendencies, and
it is likely Chucai drafted the letters to Qiu Chuji, though he later regretted it.
Regardless of whether the man could offer the secret to eternal life, Qiu Chuji was
an influential religious leader within the territory the Mongols wished to conquer.
To have him on their side was valuable in both the spiritual realm- for his prayers
could entice Heaven’s continued support for the Mongols- and in the physical world
by encouraging his followers to accept and support Mongol rule.
Declining was not an option for Qiu Chuji when Liu Zhonglu arrived with the Khan’s
message and twenty armed Mongols in late 1219.
Qiu Chuji and several disciples, including one who wrote an account of the journey, set
out with Liu Zhonglu in early 1220, traveling through war-torn north China.
In April they reached the Mongol occupied ruins of Zhongdu, renamed Yen, where Qiu Chuji
was received by ecstatic crowds.
There the party learned that Chinggis had set out against Khwarezm.
Qiu Chuji did not want to make the trek to Central Asia, but Liu Zhonglu forced him on.
Qiu Chuji’s next stalling tactic was directed at the large group of young girls Liu Zhonglu
was collecting to present to the Khan, which the celibate Qiu Chuji refused to travel with.
A flustered Liu Zhonglu sent a messenger to Chinggi, and they spent most of 1220 near
Yen awaiting the Khan’s reply when in winter messengers arrived from Chinggis’ youngest
brother, Temuge [te-moo-guh], who wished to hear his words.
In February 1221 they set out after receiving the Great Khan’s response, but not before
Qiu Chuji told his adherents in Yen he would return in three years’ time.
Traveling north, they passed through the fortifications which the Mongols had broken through in 1211.
Crossing the Yehuling, the site of the bloody battle of the Badger’s Mouth Pass, they
saw the ground still littered with human bones.
When the party reached Temuge’s encampment in northeastern Mongolia in the spring, Temuge
inquired about the secrets to prolonging life.
Qiu Chuji told him it was improper for the prince to learn before the emperor, and Temuge
smartly supplied them with oxen and carts to hurry them onto his older brother.
The voyage provides a fascinating view of early imperial Mongolia, visiting the Orkhon
Valley and encampment cities like Chinqai Balasaghun, where they met the eponymous Chinqai,
a senior minister of the empire who expedited their journey.
Jurchen and Tangut princesses that Chinggis had taken as wives came out to greet Qiu Chuji,
as did the Chinese who were transplanted west in Mongol service.
In their lengthy and difficult journey westwards, they followed roads cut by Mongol armies and
at times were forced to tie ropes around carts and animals to lift or lower them through
mountain passes.
In December 1221 they reached Samarkand, Qiu Chuji wintering in the palace of the late
Khwarezm-shah Muhammad II.
Here he met Yelu Chucai and discussed religion and philosophy.
The Khitan scholar promptly learned that Qiu Chuji knew almost nothing of Buddhism, and
soon regarded the Taoist as a charlatan.
Judging from the writings of Qiu Chuji’s disciple, the master found great pleasure
in Samarkand, particularly in its gardens, describing them as finer than those in China.
He noted that Samarkand had a quarter of its former population, and was now full of Chinese,
Khitans, Turks, and Tanguts who had traveled with the Mongol army.
The party lounged in Samarkand until April 1222, when Chinggis’ messengers summoned
them, as Chinggis was making his way north after his victory over Jalal al-Din Mingburnu
in November 1221 at the Indus.
Qiu Chuji met Chinggis Khan in what is now Afghanistan on the 22nd of May 1222, where
the Khan was joyed that this old man had made such an arduous voyage to meet him.
After allowing him a meal, the Khan asked: “Sainted man, you have come from a great
distance.
Have you a medicine of immortality?”
To which Qiu Chuji replied: “There are means for preserving life, but
no medicines for immortality.”
Publicly, Chinggis Khan lauded Qiu Chuji for his honesty.
For an elderly man to travel such a distance only to tell the World Conqueror, “no,”
required quite some courage, and the Khan always respected that.
Chinggis was not yet finished with him and pitched him a tent beside his own.
They were to travel together into the Hindu Kush to wait out the summer heat, though Chinggis
spent the next months putting down local rebellions, allowing Qiu Chuji to return to Samarkand
to enjoy melons and baths.
By the end of August, Chinggis Khan was ready for him.
Chinggis once more showed the master great respect and patience, something the Taoist
did not quite reciprocate.
Qiu Chuji was not required to bow or kneel before the Khan, and when the Khan offered
him airag, the fermented mares’ milk so beloved by the Mongols, Qiu Chuji refused
to drink it.
Every day Chinggis invited Qiu Chuji to join him for dinner, and every day he declined,
saying he preferred seclusion.
The master told Chinggis to keep his soldiers distant, for the noise annoyed him, and when
the army moved north in autumn 1222 and wintered near Samarkand, Qiu Chuji was given leave
to take up in the palace once more.
Chinggis Khan and Qiu Chuji had several meetings, accompanied by Chinqai, Liu Zhonglu, and the
Khitan governor of Samarkand Yelu Ahai as translators.
Together they discussed the concepts of the Tao, in which Chinggis was supposedly very
interested.
Qiu Chuji’s disciple failed to provide specific details of these discussions, though we know
he urged Chinggis to show mercy on the Chinese, establish a buffer state in north China and
lift taxes for three years.
In January 1223 their journey east resumed, though the Taoist was displeased with their
speed.
By March he wanted to set out on his own, hoping to return to Shandong before the end
of the year.
Chinggis urged him to stay, saying his sons would soon arrive and that he needed more
information.
Qiu Chuji cooly replied that he had told the Khan everything he knew.
Later that month Chinggis Khan was thrown from his horse while hunting wild boar.
When he learned of this, Qiu Chuji called it a warning from heaven, a sign the Khan
should give up hunting in his old age.
Reluctantly, Chinggis gave up this favourite activity… for two months.
Qiu Chuji’s advice on abstaining from sexual intercourse to prolong his life was likewise
ignored.
Continuing to badger Chinggis to allow him to leave, the Khan finally acquiesced and
in April 1223 they separated.
The master declined the gifts Chinggis Khan offered, except for one: an edict declaring
Taoists exempt from taxation and corvee labour.
Qiu Chuji returned to Yen, modern Beijing, in the first months of 1224, within 3 years
as he had foretold.
He spent the remainder of his life in that city, dying in August 1227, the same month
as Chinggis Khan.
When Chinggis Khan proclaimed Taoists exempt from taxation, the stipulation was that no
more Taoists would be ordained, followed a few months later with a proclamation making
Qiu Chuji the head of all the Taoists and Buddhists of China.
As Qiu Chuji fell ill after his return, the Khan’s edicts were taken advantage of by
ambitious disciples.
As the edict was made known, thousands joined Quanzhen temples to escape taxation and forced
labour for the Mongols.
Likely, thousands of lives were saved through this, and Quanzhen Taoism expanded rapidly.
One scholar, Yuan Hao-wen, estimated that by the late 13th century some 20% of northern
Chinese were adherents.
Even today, it is one of the most popular forms of Taoism in China.
Less positively, was that the Khan’s elevation of Qiu Chuji’s status over Buddhists turned
into a free license to confiscate Buddhist temples, destroy Buddhist artifacts and texts
and force the conversion of Buddhist monks and nuns.
When the Buddhist Yelu Chucai returned to Yen in 1228, he was infuriated by how the
Quanzhen had taken advantage of the privileges granted to them, compounding Chucai’s existing
dislike of Qiu Chuji, who he saw as a fraudster taking advantage of the Khan’s generosity
and power.
In 1229 Yelu Chucai wrote a lengthy work criticizing Qiu Chuji while blaming himself for having
encouraged the meeting.
He accused Qiu Chuji of being complicit in the seizure and desecration of Buddhist temples,
and Chucai tells us that Qiu Chuji died on the toilet.
Yelu Chucai’s work provides a fascinating counterbalance to the more hagiographic account
of the journey provided by Qiu Chuji’s disciple, though Chucai’s writing remained difficult
to access, leaving Qiu Chuji’s reputation intact as a ‘saviour’ of the Chinese.
The influence of Quanzhen Taoism, and its armed conflict with Buddhists continued until
the reign of Chinggis’ grandson Khubilai, when the arson attacks forced the khan to
stop being considerate.
Khubilai, who was a Buddhist, outlawed a number of Taoist books, their privileges were drastically
reduced, and they were forced to return Buddhist temples and property.
This was a critical blow to the influence of Taoism among the Mongols, from which they
never recovered.
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