Li Quan (; 618 — 907), also known as Daguanzi (), was a

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

, hermit and former military governor. He fond of the way of the immortals who often travelled to spiritual places in the mountains.

Political career

Li Quan was native of Longxi (in present-day

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

) in Tang Dynasty. He served in several official positions during the Kaiyuan reign period (713-41), first as deputy commander of a regional defense force in the south, then as a Vice Censor-in-Chief (Yushi Zhongcheng) at the capital, and finally as a Prefect (cishi) of a prefecture in

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

. His career in government came to an end when he offended the dictatorial chief minister

Li Linfu Li Linfu () (died January 3, 753), nickname Genu (), formally the Duke of Jin (), was a Chinese historian, musician, and politician during the Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor for 18 years (734–752), during the reign of Emperor Xuanzon ...

(?-752) who demoted him. Thereafter, he forsook government service, took up the life of a Taoist recluse and roamed among the holy mountains of China.

As a Taoist

He came to a cave dwelling at the Tiger Mouth Cliff on

Mount Song Mount Song (, "lofty mountain") is an isolated mountain range in north central China's Henan Province, along the southern bank of the Yellow River. It is known in literary and folk tradition as the central mountain of the Five Great Mountains of ...

where he found the scripture ''

Huangdi Yinfujing The ''Huangdi Yinfujing'' (), or ''Yinfujing'', is a circa 8th century CE Taoist scripture associated with Chinese astrology and ''Neidan''-style Internal alchemy. In addition, ''Huangdi Yinfujing'' is also the name of a Chinese Fengshui text on ...

'' (The

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

's Scripture on "Unconscious Unification"). He copied the several thousand new chapters without understanding its meaning. Years thereafter, he came across

Mount Li Mount Li () is a mountain located in the northeast of Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, China. The mountain is part of the Qinling mountain range and rises to a height of 1302 metres above sea level. It is one of the eight scenic spots of the Guanzhong ...

where he encountered

Lishan Laomu Líshān Lǎomǔ () is the goddess of Mount Li in Chinese religion. She is a popular female immortal in the Taoist pantheon, and a high-ranking one according to some late sources. Her origins are said to derive from Nü Wa, the legendary creat ...

. Lishan Laomu explained Li Quan the meaning of the ''Yinfujing''. He made annotations on this classic and published it so as to enrich the theories of Taoist medicine. He also transcribed the text and published it with his commentary ''Yinfujing Jie'' (陰符經解). The text was passed on to other hermits on Mount Shaoshi and was eventually collected in the Taoist canon. He later wrote the military treatise ''

Taibai Yin jing Taibai may refer to: *Taibai County (太白县), of Baoji, Shaanxi *Li Bai (701-762), style name Taibai, Chinese poet *Mount Taibai, mountain peak in Shaanxi Province. ;Towns (太白镇) * Taibai, Dangtu County, in Dangtu County, Anhui * Taibai, Su ...

'' (the Scripture of Venus and Yin, 太白陰經), about checking the enemy by divine surprise and contains the oldest known depiction and description of the

volley fire Volley fire, as a military tactic, is (in its simplest form) the concept of having soldiers shoot in the same direction en masse. In practice, it often consists of having a line of soldiers all discharge their weapons simultaneously at the enemy ...

technique. It was said that he disappeared among the mist and clouds of Mount Shaoshi and was never seen again.

References

{{Reflist Chinese Taoists 8th-century Chinese people