Itinerancy and Sojourn: Bai Yuchan’s Travels as the Early Dissemination History of Daoism’s Southern School

Abstract

As the effective founder of Daoism’s Southern School, Bai Yuchan’s travels played a pivotal role in the sect’s early dissemination. Through a close analysis of his poems, prose, and letters, this study reconstructs the key itineraries and motivations of Bai Yuchan’s travels and examines how his itinerant practices shaped the early dissemination of the Southern School. His travels were divided into two phases: a pre-1212 period of Dao-seeking and a post-1216 phase of Dao-spreading, with the impetus for his later journeys arising from resolving internal alchemical cultivation dilemmas, which in reality, inaugurated his career of traveling to spread the Dao. Bai Yuchan established and disseminated the Southern School through sojourns and revisitations in various regions, with karmic opportunity (jiyuan 機緣) largely dictating the selection of sojourn locations during his journeys. Rooted in the Daoist philosophy of harmony, Bai Yuchan adhered to the principle of blending with the mundane while harmonizing one’s light (hunsu heguang 混俗和光) in his travels and interactions, maintaining active engagement within regional areas to foster harmonious relationships with local communities. This explains why Bai Yuchan was able to achieve the widespread dissemination of the Southern School through his itinerant activities over a short period.

1. Introduction

As the effective founder of Daoism’s Southern School (Michel 1980, p. 245), Bai Yuchan 白玉蟾 (fl. 1194–1229) established a theoretical genealogy of inheritance (G. Zhang 2001, pp. 394–403; W. Zhang 2019) and advanced the establishment and dissemination of the Southern School. His activities, such as socializing, initiating disciples, and formulating religious rules and commandments, were all accomplished during his travels after 1216 (Zeng 2007a; Suzuki 2012). Investigating Bai Yuchan’s Dao-spreading (chuandao 傳道) itineraries serves to integrate the chronology and events of early Daoism’s Southern School through the framework of spatial paths. Dao-spreading travels of Bai Yuchan served as the primary driving force behind the Southern School’s founding and dissemination, enabling the sect to attain extensive reach across nearly the entire Southern Song realm within a mere decade. Dao-spreading travels, in essence, entail an external agent entering localized communities to propagate doctrines and establish sectarian networks. Consequently, his Dao-spreading travels comprising cross-regional itinerancy and regional sojourn constitute a crucial dimension of the early dissemination history of Daoism’s Southern School.

Since the 1970s, when Miyakawa Hisayuki 宮川尚志 initiated the study of Bai Yuchan’s life and deeds (Miyakawa 1978, pp. 499–517), numerous evidential studies have been conducted on his career as a Daoist priest. These research findings involve his travels. Furthermore, several scholars have conducted dedicated research into Bai Yuchan’s travels and have broadly outlined his routes (G. Lu 2003; Lan 2008; Suzuki 2012; Huang and Fang 2012; L. Liu 2013b; Feng 2015). Notably, Zeng Jinlian periodizes Bai Yuchan’s travel into two phases, linking the latter phase to the dissemination of the Southern School, thereby elevating the scholarly significance of his travels to the level of the development history of Inner Alchemy (neidan 內丹) Daoism (Zeng 2007b, pp. 189–210). Suzuki Takeo 鈴木健郎 offers a more systematic account of Bai Yuchan’s travel career, attempting to explore the religious ideas and theories underlying his travels (Suzuki 2012). While scholars largely concur on most historical facts regarding Bai Yuchan’s travels, several critical misjudgments persist due to misinterpretations of specific historical sources and the neglect of underutilized texts. Conclusions built on flawed historical facts are inherently unstable. For instance, in the discourse of contemporary scholars, Bai Yuchan is often described as having traveled extensively across multiple regions in a short time, even crossing four or five provinces within a few months (Huang and Fang 2012; L. Liu 2013b). However, none have rigorously examined whether this exceptional mobility constituted a common phenomenon or a rare occurrence. If it indeed represented an atypical circumstance, what contextual factors precipitated its manifestation specifically during the Dao-spreading phase?

Meanwhile, academia has overlooked more critical issues concerning the early historical intricacies of the Southern School. Bai Yuchan’s itinerant journeys can be divided into two stages: How did he transition from Dao-seeking (fangdao 訪道) travel to Dao-spreading travel? What were his fundamental views on Daoist travel? In contemporary descriptions of Bai Yuchan’s travels for religious propagation, he is often described as traveling with an intensity that defied the norm (Suzuki 2012). Given the limitations of transportation and information dissemination at the time, what travel strategies did he employ to expand the Southern School’s influence across multiple regions rapidly? Additionally, Judith A. Berling notes that Bai Yuchan’s openness toward other communities is characteristic of him (Berling 1993, p. 307), a quality also evident in his Dao-spreading journeys. However, as an outsider to local communities, he was not entirely the subject in this openness but may have primarily been the object—the recipient of acceptance. Thus, a noteworthy question arises: how did he, as an outsider, engage with diverse regional communities to establish and develop the Southern School within harmonious relationships? These questions cannot be clarified without examining the details of Bai Yuchan’s travels. Li Fengmao 李豐楙 noted that in Daoist historical studies, materials often dismissed as “religious superstition” in fact constitute primary sources for shaping the narratives of immortals (xianren 仙人) and Daoist practitioners. Due to the passage of time and the lack of sufficient documentation, reconstructing the authentic visage of historical figures remains an inherently incomplete task (Li 1997, pp. 3–6). The advancements in printing technology during the Song Dynasty enabled the publication of extensive records, encompassing not only those directly related to Bai Yuchan himself but, more crucially, details about his social connections, local communities, and broader historical context. It is under such conditions that we can more meticulously reconstruct the historical details of Bai Yuchan’s founding and dissemination of Daoism’s Southern School during his ongoing travels.

This paper attempts to analyze his poems, prose writings, and letters for hints on real places and thereby reconstruct the itineraries and motivations of Bai Yuchan’s travels. Through an analysis of his Dao-spreading itineraries, regional sojourns, and harmonious interactions in diverse communities, we also attempt to elucidate the adaptive strategies and philosophical wisdom embedded in his travels.

2. From Dao-Seeking to Dao-Spreading

An examination of Bai Yuchan’s itinerant career is crucial for understanding the rapid institutionalization of the Southern School. While prior studies have recognized the transformative shift in his travels marked by two primary phases of Dao-seeking and Dao-spreading, the mechanisms underlying this transition remain underexplored. This section examines the chronological and ideological demarcation between Bai Yuchan’s early and late phases, further dissecting his understanding and motivations for travel. It positions his travels as a dynamic interplay between self-cultivation and communal integration within the Southern Song religious landscape.

2.1. Periodization of Dao-Seeking and Dao-Spreading Travels

Travel permeated almost every aspect of Bai Yuchan’s Daoist career, and the Shenxian Tongjian Bai Zhenren Shiji Santiao1 神仙通鑒白真人事跡三條 (compiled by Peng Zhu 彭翥) takes his travel experiences as a crucial component of its narrative of his life(Bai. The Shenxian Tongjian employs a zhanghui-style 章回體, structured in a chronological order. The three sections recording Bai Yuchan in the Shenxian Tongjian are as follows: First, his travels inquire about the Dao before Chen Nan transmitted the secret teachings to him; second, his practice of Daoism under Chen Nan and his subsequent travels to benefit the world and save people after Chen Nan’s death; third, he appeared during the Ming Dynasty and led a supernatural event (Xu 1995, pp. 1161–275). Among these, the third section’s account is fictional, while the first and second sections divide Bai Yuchan’s travels into two successive stages: Dao-seeking travels and Dao-spreading travels. Peng Zhu extracted the passages describing Bai Yuchan from these three distinct chapters, arranging them in chronological order to form a biography of Bai Yuchan.

However, as a late-authored text from the transition between the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Shenxian Tongjian has relatively weak reliability in its biographical records of Bai Yuchan (Yokote 1996). Liu Liang’s source criticism of the Shenxian Tongjian Bai Zhenren Shiji San Tiao fully illustrates this point. He points out that this text was elaborated from the Haiqiong Yuchan Xiansheng Shishi 海瓊玉蟾先生事實, certain local gazetteers (such as the Wuyi Shan Zhi 武夷山志), and Bai Yuchan’s poems and essays (such as the Yunyou Ge 雲遊歌) (L. Liu 2013a). Although the chronological annotations for key events in Bai Yuchan’s life in the Shenxian Tongjian are unreliable, its distinction between the two stages of his travels remains highly instructive for contemporary research. We thus attempt to redivide the Dao-seeking and Dao-spreading phases by analyzing Bai Yuchan’s poems and prose writings.

Bai Yuchan’s early travelling experiences are recorded in Yunyou Ge. According to its words, “Thinking about the difficulty of searching for masters and inquiring about the Dao” 思量尋師訪道難, Bai Yuchan had travelled all over the world in order to search for masters and inquire about the Dao. In addition to Yunyou Ge, Bai Yuchan also mentioned this travelling experience in his prefaces to two Daoist classics, namely, Zhixuanpian Xu 指玄篇序 and Wanghuoshi Leiting Aozhi Xu 汪火師雷霆奥旨序.

I think of the essence of the immortal way (xiandao 仙道), read the classics, seeking the mystery, but also have years to go, not to point to the return of the … paths divergent paths, do not know the tendency … Therefore, with a resolute spirit and in order to visit enlightened masters, I journeyed through all the various grotto-heavens (dongtian 洞天) and also visited places like the Fuqiu Temple on Mount Taihua. However, I did not encounter what he was ultimately seeking … Along the way to the East China Sea, I was fortunate to visit the Cuixu Xianshi and was brought back to Luofu. Sincerely begged, and then again and again, and then obtained the Dan recipe, and then knew that it was not far from the people.

嘗思仙道精微，覽諸經典，尋求玄奧，亦有年矣，莫得指歸……雜徑歧途，莫知趨向……因慨然奮志，遍游諸洞天，及太華山浮丘等觀，參訪明師，終無所遇……沿至東海之濱，幸謁翠虛仙師，攜歸羅浮。心誠求之，再三再四，方得還丹口訣，始知道在目前，不遠人也。《指玄篇序》

(Bai 2000, pp. 1389–90)

I, by a stroke of luck from a previous life, have been able to follow the Daoist rites. I have visited various places, but I have not fully grasped the essence… I took a detour to Luofu to seek the Dao from the ancestral master, the True Man Cuixu.

余以夙幸得奉沖科，遍參諸方，未盡其要……迂道過羅浮，訪道于祖師翠虛真人。《汪火師雷霆奧旨序》

(W. Wang 1988, p. 262)

As historical texts of distinct genres, these two prefaces and the Yunyou Ge can be analyzed collectively to corroborate the reliability of the latter’s narrative about his Dao-seeking travels. In these two prefaces, Bai Yuchan recounts roaming through various regions in search of Daoist masters and enlightenment yet achieving no breakthroughs until his reunion with Chen Nan. Chen Nan stated in the Luofu Cuixu Yin 羅浮翠虛吟 that he imparted the secret teachings to Bai Yuchan in 1212 at Mount Luofu.

In the autumn of the eighth moon during the Jiading Renshen year (1212), Cuixu Zhenren (Chen Nan) resided on Mount Luofu, where he contemplated the transient nature of existence—worldly affairs dissolving like flowing water, while the vast cosmos framed the solitary flight of a gull. In this liminal space between transcendence and immanence, he resolved to shed his mortal coil for the celestial Jade Palace, entrusting the alchemical mysteries of the golden elixir’s fiery refinement to Bai Yuchan of Qiongshan, whose spiritual insight penetrated the skeletal architecture of cosmic creation itself.

嘉定壬申八月秋，翠虚道人在羅浮，眼前萬事去如水，天地何處一沙鷗。吾將蛻形歸玉闕，遂以金丹火候訣，說與瓊山白玉蟾，使之深識造化骨。

(N. Chen 1988, p. 205)

In Cuixu Chen Zhenren Defa Ji 翠虛陳真人得法記, Bai Yuchan also documented that Chen Nan transmitted the “Taiyi Thunder Rites (Taiyi leiting zhi fa 太乙雷霆之法)” to him in 1212 (Bai 1988c, p. 483). Bai Yuchan’s whereabouts between 1213 and 1215 remain undocumented until the ninth month of the Yihai year (1215) of the Jiading era, when his presence can be traced in historical records through his composition of Yunwo Ji 雲窝记 for Chen Danshu at Mount Wuyi. In the spring of 1216, he departed Mount Wuyi to resume his itinerant life. This period, spanning from 1216 until he died in 1229, marked the zenith of his literary output and is relatively well-documented in surviving sources, with substantial textual evidence illuminating his activities.

According to Mencius, “If you want to observe the water, you must observe the ripples” 觀水有術，必觀其瀾 (Jiao 1987, p. 913). Just as observing the ripples can help appreciate the flowing water, Bai Yuchan’s purposes of travel and states underwent distinct changes in different stages. Shifting social status after 1216 created distinct experiential contrasts between his two phases of travel, with nuanced “ripples of change” documented through comparative analysis of his Yunyou Ge and post-1216 writings:

1. Transportation

During his early period, financial constraints restricted him to traveling on foot. However, in his later travels after 1216, he predominantly traveled by waterways or on horseback.

2. Lodging Conditions

During his early travels, he frequently lacked even basic accommodation, facing rejection when seeking lodging in Daoist temples and enduring exposure to inclement weather. By contrast, in later years, he alternated between staying at temple lodgings, commercial inns, and the private residences of admirers such as Su Sen 蘇森 and Zhou Tangfu 周唐輔.

3. Social Dynamics

The arduous, solitary journey was a defining feature of his early travels. In the later phase, he was occasionally joined by Daoist practitioners who traveled alongside him, and poetic exchanges took place during these journeys. As a result, the state of mind he expressed in his works differs significantly from that depicted in the Yunyou Ge.

His travels after 1216 were closely related to the establishment and dissemination of the Southern School (Zeng 2007b, pp. 196–210). The two defining themes of Bai Yuchan’s travels—his early quest for the Dao and later Dao-spreading endeavors—epitomize the most striking “waves of transformation” in his Daoist career.

2.2. Philosophy of Travel and the Motivations Behind Dao-Spreading

Despite its significance, there has been a paucity of attention paid to the threads of development between Dao-seeking and Dao-spreading. This may be attributable to the protracted interval between the two periods of travel, during which Bai Yuchan pursued his studies under Chen Nan 陳楠 and engaged in rigorous training (Berling 1993, pp. 308–9; Suzuki 2012; Gai 2019). It is often considered a natural progression that, after achieving cultivation success, one leaves seclusion to begin spreading the teachings of the Dao. When considered more thoroughly, it was rather sudden for Bai Yuchan to leave his seclusion for extensive Dao-spreading travels. Moreover, in contrast to Bai Yuchan’s efforts, the four patriarchs of the Southern School, from Zhang Boduan 張伯端 to Chen Nan, did not recruit a large number of disciples (Gai 2013a, p. 487). Therefore, it is necessary to delve into the reasons behind this change.

In the R’yong Ji 日用記, Bai Yuchan said,

Since the age of twenty-three, it seems that the forces of the six thieves have gradually become stronger, and the fire of the three corpses has burned more fiercely. I no longer have the peaceful body and mind as in the previous days

自二十三歲以後，似覺六賊之兵浸盛，三屍之火愈熾，不復前日之身心太平也。《日用記》

(Bai 2000, pp. 249–50).

The birth year of Bai Yuchan is a highly controversial issue in the field of Daoist historical studies2. Miyakawa Hisayuki 宮川尚志maintains, after meticulous textual analysis, that his true birthdate was 1194 and that biographers reinterpreted the cyclical dates with a sixty-year shift, thereby fashioning him into their archetype of a successful Daoist (Miyakawa 1978, p. 501). According to the Chinese traditional age-calculation method (where a baby is considered one year old at birth), Bai Yuchan was precisely twenty-three years old in 1216. In that year, he encountered cultivation difficulties and restarted his travels—a coincidence of these two important events that is by no means accidental. To elucidate the underlying causality, this necessitates a dual analysis that integrates both Bai Yuchan’s philosophy of travel and his embodied practices.

“Lest people misunderstand the meaning of travel” was the motivation for composing the Yunyou Ge, making this poem an embodiment of Bai Yuchan’s philosophy of travel. What puzzles readers considerably is that while Bai Yuchan emphasizes secluded meditation in Yunyou Ge, he himself incessantly engages in travel. Wanghuoshi Leiting Aozhi Xu further illuminates the theoretical framework behind the poem’s meaning of travel, which can serve as a reference for academic analysis.

When devoted practitioners fail to attain efficacy despite rigorous ritual practice, it is not the Dao abandoning them, but their failure to follow enlightened masters and receive orthodox methods. Others who adhere to methods yet remain unfulfilled have neglected precepts. Those truly committed must purify their hearts, reduce desires, grasp the Dao’s essence, penetrate its mysteries, widely seek qualified teachers, diligently cultivate, and properly implement the methods—only then will efficacy manifest.

或有苦心學行持而不見功者，非道負人，皆奉道之士不從明師，而所受非法；或依法行持而不見功者，皆奉道之士不遵戒律，而學法不驗。有志于此者，苟能清心寡欲以明道要，以悟玄機，猶當廣求師資，勤行修煉，依法行持，何患法之不驗哉？《汪火師雷霆奧旨序》

(W. Wang 1988, p. 262)

Bai Yuchan identifies the failure to follow enlightened masters as one of the two primary causes of failed Daoist cultivation, urging practitioners to seek enlightened teachers extensively. A re-examination of Yunyou Ge through this lens reveals that the purpose of travel lies in seeking enlightened masters. Once receiving a master’s guidance, practitioners must engage in diligent cultivation and methodical practice, prioritizing inner refinement over externalized pursuits. Clearly, Bai Yuchan regarded travel as a means to seek communication with enlightened masters. Bai Yuchan believed his cultivation had reached a bottleneck phase, and his master, Chen Nan, had already achieved immortality through water-related means (shuijie 水解, a Daoist term for a specific method of attaining immortality). Given these circumstances, it is highly probable that he embarked on a journey to renowned mountains in pursuit of a breakthrough in his cultivation by engaging in discourse with the “virtuous ones”. It can be surmised that Bai Yuchan’s departure from Mount Wuyi at this time to travel was probably related to his own cultivation predicament and did not have the purpose of Dao-spreading.

The travelling destinations and related episodes of Bai Yuchan in 1216 and 1217, recorded in Wuyi Chongjian Zhizhi’an Ji 武夷重建止止庵記, can support this speculation.

In the royal spring (wangchun 王春) of the Bingzi 丙子 year (1216) of the Jiading 嘉定 period (1208–1224), according to the royal chronology, construction of the site commenced. The workforce was mobilised for the felling of trees for timber and the transportation of bricks. However, the commencement of this undertaking was met with considerable challenges. Shortly thereafter, Bai Yuchan departed for Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang, leaving behind a trail of disruption. It was not until Bai Yuchan’s return that the construction of the nunnery was finally completed.

歲在嘉定丙子之王春，始鳩工斫梓，僝夫運甓,然而開創之難未幾，而白玉蟾拂袖天台、雁蕩矣，玉蟾言旋，而庵始成。《武夷重建止止庵記》

(Bai 2000, pp. 349–50).

On this journey, I shall depart for Mount Luofu, and upon my return, I will surely serve as the abbot of Zhizhi Hermitage 止止庵 for life.

而玉蟾此去羅浮入室，回必永身以住持之。《武夷重建止止庵記》

(Bai 2000, p. 350).

In 1216, Bai Yuchan departed from Mount Wuyi to Mount Tiantai 天台山 and Mount Yandang 雁蕩山, a period that coincided with the reconstruction of Zhizhi Hermitage 止止庵. Following the inception of the project to rebuild the Zhizhi Hermitage, Bai Yuchan departed from Mount Wuyi. The reconstruction of the hermitage was not completed until his return from Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang. A subsequent destination of the travel outlined by Bai Yuchan in Wuyi Chongjian Zhizhi’an Ji indicates his intention to visit Mount Luofu 羅浮山. In 1217, Bai Yuchan departed from Mount Wuyi, proceeding to Fuzhou 福州, where he became acquainted with Peng Si 彭耜. He then continued his journey in a southerly direction, ultimately arriving in Quanzhou 泉州. It is hypothesized that he was en route to Mount Luofu in the southern region (S. Liu 2012, p. 38). It is evident that the destinations of Bai Yuchan’s travels in 1216 and 1217 were Mount Tiantai, Mount Yandang, and Mount Luofu.

Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang are renowned Daoist mountains situated less than 100 km apart. Notably, Tiantai is the birthplace of Zhang Boduan, the founding patriarch of the Southern School of Daoism. Zhang is also believed to have practiced Daoism at the Tongbai Daoist Temple 桐柏觀, in Tiantai, in his later years (Luo 2021). Bai Yuchan’s corpus includes multiple references to Mount Tiantai, as evidenced by the following excerpt from his poem Shanzhong 山中: “When plum blossoms bloom atop Mount Tiantai, The immortals of Tiantai have gone and will not return” 天台山頭梅花時，天台仙人去不歸 (Bai 2000, p. 713). Despite the absence of an exact dating for the poem, it is evident that it captures the state of frustration experienced by Bai Yuchan during his sojourn on Mount Tiantai. This frustration is believed to be associated with his inability to locate the predecessors he sought. Mount Luofu was the place of origin and retirement of the master, Chen Nan, and the location at which the latter studied Daoism under the guidance of his master (Gai 2019). Therefore, the subsequent return to Mount Luofu was a journey back home rather than a journey to spread the Daoist doctrine. When confronted with an impasse in his spiritual practice, Bai Yuchan chose to leave the mountain and undertake a pilgrimage to the sites associated with the patriarchs of the Southern School. His objective was not to disseminate the tenets of Daoism but rather to reestablish contact with immortals.

During his travels, he encountered Zhao Ruqu 趙汝渠, Su Sen, Chen Yuxing 陳與行, Liu Yuanchang 留元長, Li Chen 李諶, Peng Si, and his father, among others. It is recorded that he engaged with them as an individual who had attained a certain level in Daoist practice. The initial segment of Zhuyuntang Ji chronicles the interaction between Bai Yuchan and Zhao Ruqu, who is the host of the Cloud Dwelling Hall (Bai 2000, pp. 324–27). In this exchange, Bai Yuchan elucidates the fundamental tenets of Daoist cultivation. In Ba Xiuxian Bianhuo Lun 跋修仙辨惑論, written by Su Sen in 1216, Bai Yuchan is described as “his bones have already achieved immortality” 先生骨已仙 (Bai 2000, p. 1156), which portrays Bai Yuchan as a person who had attained the Dao. Ba Chenniwan Cuixu Pian 跋陳泥丸真人翠虛篇, written by Chen Yuxing in 1216, demonstrates the onlookers’ comprehension of the impact of Bai Yuchan’s teachings. The text states, “The Dao of Chen Nan became more prominent thanks to Master Bai” 翠虛之道，得白公而益顯 (Bai 2000, p. 1165). In 1217, Bai Yuchan convened with Peng Si, Liu Yuanchang, and several other individuals. According to Chuandu Xie’en Biaowen 傳度謝恩表文, Bai Yuchan formally inducted them into the Daoist order collectively in the following year (Bai 2000, pp. 1213–8). Notably, Peng Si, who was regarded as Bai Yuchan’s foremost disciple, was subsequently honored by Daoist priests as one of the “Seven True Immortals of the Southern School” (nan qizhen 南七真).

Therefore, it can be deduced that the primary motivation behind Bai Yuchan’s resumption of his travels during these two years was likely associated with his personal state of Daoist cultivation, rather than being solely driven by a desire to propagate the Daoist doctrine. Nevertheless, this aligns with his subsequent endeavors to spread the Dao.

An examination of motivations for Bai Yuchan’s travels in 1216 and 1217 reveals that there is not a perfect congruence between his subjective motives and his objective Dao-spreading activities. It can be explained that these two years represented a transitional period between travelling to Dao-seeking and engaging in Dao-spreading. Dao-spreading work constituted an activity that leveraged the opportunities afforded by travel to yield more favorable outcomes, yet it did not encompass the totality of his travel motivations. Consequently, travel functioned as a conduit for Bai Yuchan to engage in two-way communication with the external world.

3. Reconstruction of Key Dao-Spreading Itineraries

While previous studies have outlined the chronology and trajectories of Bai Yuchan’s travels across various regions, inaccuracies persist in assessing his Dao-spreading itineraries, obscuring the historical facts of the early dissemination of Daoism’s Southern School. Below, we conduct textual criticism and corrections regarding three critical episodes in his travels.

3.1. Travels to East Liangzhe Circuit in 1216

Scholars generally believe that in the early spring of 1216, Bai Yuchan journeyed from Mount Wuyi to Yanshan County and then returned to Mount Wuyi to participate in the reconstruction of the Zhizhi Hermitage (Huang and Fang 2012; L. Liu 2013b). Regarding the timing of his journey to Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang, some scholars argue that Bai Yuchan had already arrived in Jinhua by the 15th day of the fourth lunar month and returned to Mount Wuyi by the 15th day of the seventh lunar month (Huang and Fang 2012). Others suggest that Bai Yuchan departed Mount Wuyi for Zhejiang after the 15th day of the fourth lunar month and left eastern Zhejiang for Wuzhong 吳中 prior to the 15th day of the seventh lunar month (L. Liu 2013b). Despite discrepancies in details, they concur in characterizing Bai Yuchan’s itineraries across the East Liangzhe Circuit 兩浙東路 as exceptionally swift. However, the probability of this occurring is minimal. After Bai Yuchan left Mount Wuyi, his first stop was Yanshan County 鉛山縣, and he chronicles the journey from a third-person perspective.

Bai Yuchan constructed a thatched hut in Mount Wuyi. However, he subsequently experienced a sudden and profound desire to travel extensively. Equipped with his walking stick and wearing suitable footwear, he embarked on his journey with ease. Before he had traversed great distances, he cast a backward glance at his former abode, and the apes were startled, and the cranes cried. In an instant, as if with a couple of sleeve-waves, he found himself in Yanshan County without even realizing it. … Two days after the Rain Water solar term (yushui 雨水) in the Bingzi year of the Jiading period, I picked up a writing brush and wrote down the aforementioned content.

白玉蟾結茅于武夷，偶一日，起湖海之興，杖屨飄飄，未數舉步，回首舊廬，猿驚鶴唳，一二揚袂間，不覺已鉛山矣……嘉定丙子雨水後兩日，援筆為記云。《駐雲堂記》

(Bai 2000, pp. 324–31)

It is evident that during the Rain Water solar term in the Bingzi year (corresponding to the 25th day of the first lunar month3), Bai Yuchan embarked on a journey by foot, traversing the expanse from Mount Wuyi to Yanshan County in Jiangxi Province. The origins of his travels were, moreover, entirely fortuitous. The distance from the Zhizhi Hermitage to Cloud Dwelling Hall 駐雲堂 is less than 100 km4. Judging by common sense, it would take no more than four or five days at most, which is consistent with the descriptions of “before taking many steps” 未數舉步 and “in a couple of sleeve-waves” 一二揚袂間. As documented in the previously cited Wuyi Chongjian Zhizhian Ji, construction of the hermitage began during the royal spring (wangchun 王春), a calendrical term referring specifically to the first lunar month of the traditional Chinese calendar. By the 27th day of the first lunar month, Bai Yuchan had already reached the Cloud Dwelling Hall in Yanshan County. It was not feasible for him to return to Mount Wuyi in the same lunar month to participate in the construction. It is reasonable to hypothesize that Yanshan was one of the stops during his journey when he headed for Tiantai and Mount Yandangs.

Following his stay in Yanshan 鉛山, the next location where Bai Yuchan’s arrival is explicitly recorded was Jinhua 金華. Su Sen documented the scene of his first meeting with Bai Yuchan in Jinhua in 1217 in his Ba Xiuxian Bianhuo Lun.

Bai Yuchan happened to come to Jinhua Cave. The moment I saw him, I felt as if we were old friends. I invited him back to my humble abode, and through leisurely conversations, I began to understand his inner thoughts.

偶來金華洞，森一見如故人，延歸蝸舍，從容扣之，始覺其方寸。《跋修仙辨惑論》

(Bai 2000, p. 1155)

Su Sen and Bai Yuchan hit it off immediately upon their first meeting, and Su invited him to stay as a guest at his home. Bai Yuchan composed Lanwengzhai Fu 懶翁齋賦 on the 15th day of early summer of the Bingzi year in the Jiading period.

The older man has a floating home in Jinhua, which was the former residence of his ancestor, the assistant minister

翁有金華之浮家，即其先侍郎之故廬也。《懶翁齋賦》

(Bai 2000, p. 439).

This indicates that the work was written during Su Sen’s study, confirming that Bai Yuchan was already in Jinhua at the time of composition. Bai Yuchan composed the Qugong Shi 曲肱詩, a series of twenty thematically interconnected poems. The thirteenth poem records his journey from Tiantai, returning to Mount Wuyi via Jinhua:

White clouds accompany me as I climb to Tiantai,

Then follow me on the return journey towards Jinhua.

The Phoenix-perching Pavilion fails to detain me,

At the foot of Mount Wuyi, wild apes wail in pain.

白雲隨我上天台，又趁金華路上回。棲鳳亭中留不住，武夷山下野猿哀。《曲肱詩》

(Bai 2000, p. 713)

Taken together, these three records indicate that after leaving Yanshan County, Bai Yuchan first traveled to Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang, then embarked on his return journey, passing through Jinhua (金華) no later than the 15th day of the fourth lunar month.

Additionally, Ba Xiuxian Bianhuo Lun was written by Su Sen at the time of their parting, which coincided with the Zhongyuan Festival (中元節, Ghost Festival) in the Bingzi year of the Jiading era. At the end of the text, Su Sen’s official title when signing was “Chaoqing Lang, in charge of the Chongyou Guan in Mount Wuyi, Jianning Prefecture 朝請郎主管建甯府武夷山沖佑觀”. Some researchers, based on these records, argue that the two parted ways in Mount Wuyi (Huang and Fang 2012; Suzuki 2012). In fact, there were three types of ci-lu-guan (祠祿官, officials overseeing Daoist temples as nominal posts) in the Song dynasty:

1. Full-time officials who actually handled administrative duties;

2. Part-time officials who largely did not participate in daily affairs;

3. Nominal officials with no involvement in any affairs whatsoever.

(Umehara 1986; S. Wang 1998)

For the third type, sometimes the Daoist temples they were nominally assigned to manage were not even within the Song dynasty’s national borders. For instance, Zhu Xi 朱熹 served three times in positions linked to Hongqing Gong 鴻慶宮, a temple under the control of the Jurchen Jin dynasty 金國. (S. Wang 1998) Su Sen’s official title indicates that he belonged to this third category of nominal officials, and in reality, he had no direct connection to Chongyou Guan. Su Sen’s records indicate that during the Zhongyuan Festival, the two parted ways in Jinhua, and Bai Yuchan continued his journey. The Xie Xianshi Jishu Ci 謝仙師寄書詞, composed by Bai Yuchan on the 24th day of the intercalary seventh lunar month, helps infer the approximate time of his return to Mount Wuyi.

Abruptly, a crane-like messenger presented a beautiful letter, ordering me to return for a meeting in Mount Wuyi. I was in a difficult situation, almost facing the risk of sacrificing my life on Mount Longhu. Without wings to fly, I endured the hardships of traveling in the wind and rain, rushing back to serve you

忽承鶴使擲示鸞箋，戒回會于武夷。有身被沮溺，將捐軀于龍虎。無翅可飛行，雨臥風餐，奔歸侍下。《謝仙師寄書詞》

(Bai 2000, p. 946).

This statement demonstrates that Bai Yuchan returned to Mount Wuyi the month after departing Jinhua.

Therefore, in the first lunar month, Bai Yuchan embarked on a journey from Mount Wuyi, proceeding towards Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang in eastern Zhejiang. By the 27th day of the first lunar month, he had reached Yanshan. By the onset of the fourth lunar month, he had returned from Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang to Jinhua (See Figure 1).

3.2. Travels to West Jiangnan Circuit in 1218

According to Yongcuiting ji 湧翠亭記,

In the Wuyin year of the Jiading period (1218), Bai Yuchan of Qiongshan carried his sword through Yulong, visited Fuchuan, and passed through Wucheng.

嘉定戊寅，瓊山白玉蟾，攜劍過玉隆，訪富川，道經武城。《湧翠亭記》

(Bai 2000, p. 337)

Different scholars have come up with different interpretations of Bai Yuchan’s area of activity in 1218 based on the two ancient place names “Fuchuan 富川” and “Wucheng 武城”. Some scholars believe that Bai Yuchan travelled to Fuchuan and Wucheng counties in Guangxi, while others believe that he travelled to eastern Zhejiang.

The ancient place name “Wucheng” mentioned by Bai Yuchan could potentially refer to two locations. One is Wuning County in Jiangxi Province, and the other is Wucheng County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In the opening passages of Yongcuiting Ji, it is inscribed that

Poets and recluses, when appraising the landscapes and discussing the charm of the wind and the moon, all say: “The south of the Yangtze River is a treasure trove of landscapes, and Jiangxi is a haven of the charm of the wind and the moon.”

騷翁逸人，品藻山水，平章風月，皆曰：江南山水窟，江西風月窩

(Bai 2000, p. 336).

From this standpoint, it can be argued that the composition of the piece should have been written to laud the landscapes of Jiangxi. It also refers to “looking towards the east of the Yangtze River 望大江之東” (Bai 2000, p. 337). When analyzed from the perspective of literary–geographical space, the location of Bai Yuchan is identified as being “the west of the Yangtze River”. In his works, such as Xiaoyaoshan Qunxian Zhuan 逍遙山群仙傳, Bai Yuchan frequently employs the term “the west of the Yangtze River 大江之西” to refer to West Jiangnan Circuit 江南西路 (Bai 1988b, pp. 765–68). This further corroborates the hypothesis that the scenery described in this record is a landscape in Jiangxi. Jiugongshan Zhi 九宮山志, a compendium assembled during the Xianfeng 咸豐 period of the Qing Dynasty, asserts that

“During the Jiading period, Bai Yuchan traversed from Fuchuan to Wuning 武甯, scaled Mount Liu 柳山 and composed the Yongcuiting Ji, and ascended Mount Jiugong and inscribed the Zhenmutang Ji 真牧堂記”

嘉定中由富川過武甯，登柳山作《湧翠亭記》，登九宮山作《真牧堂記》

(Fu 2000, p. 95).

It identifies Wucheng as Wuning in Jiangxi, and contemporary scholars Wu Guofu 吳國富 and Liu Liang also hold the same view (Wu 2011, pp. 195–96; L. Liu 2013b). In Yongcuiting Ji, the surrounding environment of Yongcui Pavilion is described as follows:

I rested on the west of Wucheng… The mountain that soars like a crane dancing in the sky and meanders like a dragon veiled in mist is Mount Liu. With white water chestnuts and red knotweeds, purple bamboos and pale sands, fish swimming in the blue waves, gulls lying under the bright moon, a vast expanse of shimmering waters like glass, and numerous shuttling boats, the river that is as elegant as a fairy’s shawl in the rosy clouds and as clear as the silk of the River-Goddess Xiang 湘娥 is the Xiu River 修江.

憩武城之西……翼然如舞天之鶴，婉然如罩煙之龍者，柳山也。白蘋紅蓼，紫竹蒼沙，魚浮碧波，鷗臥素月，琉璃萬頃，舳艫千梭，窈然如霞姬之帔，湛然如湘娥之毅者，修江也

(Bai 2000, p. 337).

The Xiujiang River and Mount Liu mentioned in the text correspond to specific locations in Wuning County, Jiangxi Province. Before the construction of the Zhelin Reservoir, the Xiujiang River flowed through the southern part of Wuning County’s seat (Fudan and Harvard 2014). Mount Liu is located on the banks of the Xiujiang River, southwest of the county seat. Bai Yuchan rested to the west of Wucheng at night, precisely in a position where he could appreciate these landscapes.

According to modern scholars, another ancient place name, “Fuchuan”, appears in three possible locations: specifically, Fuchuan County in Guangxi, the Fuchun River 富春江 in Zhejiang, and the Fujiang River 富江 in Jiangxi. Yongxing County 永興縣 (present-day Yangxin County, Hubei Province) functioned as the administrative seat of the Xingguo Jun (興國軍, Military Prefecture) during the Southern Song Dynasty. Between the ninth and eighteenth years of the Kaihuang 開皇 period of the Sui Dynasty (581–618), the county was briefly renamed Fuchuan County due to the Fu River located south of the city (Wei 1982, p. 859). Although the place name “Fuchuan” was only used for a brief period during the Sui Dynasty and was not an official place name in the Song Dynasty, it nevertheless persisted as an alternative name for Xingguo Jun until the late Southern Song Dynasty.

The extant historical texts from the Southern Song dynasty amply attest to this phenomenon. Let us first examine the works of Wang Zhi 王質, an intellectual active during the early Southern Song period, as a representative case.

He departed from Qi’an 齊安 and arrived in Fuchuan on the first day of the fourth lunar month. After staying there for seven days, he left and reached Mount Lu 廬山 on the tenth day.

先生去齊安，以四月一日至富川，以七日去，以十日至廬山。《東坡先生祠堂記》

(Z. Wang 1985, p. 79).

From Fuchuan, passing through Qichun, I was going to Wuling.

自富川，過蘄春，將之武陵。《贈日者》

(Z. Wang 1985, p. 166).

Wang Zhi 王質 (fl.1135–1189) was a native of Yunzhou 鄆州. During the occupation of northern China by the Jurchen Jin dynasty, he migrated south and settled in Xingguo Jun. Wang Zhi consistently referred to Xingguo Jun as “Fuchuan” in his writings, as evidenced by the two examples cited earlier: Dongpo Xiansheng Citing Ji 東坡先生祠堂記 and the preface to a poem entitled Zengr’zhe 贈日者. In addition, all the local chronicles of Xingguo Jun compiled in the Song Dynasty were named Fuchuan Zhi 富川志. Although both local chronicles are now lost, their contents were documented in two of the most renowned private bibliographies of the Song dynasty: Zhizhai Shulu Jieti 直齋書錄解題 and Junzhai Dushu Zhi 郡齋讀書志.

The Fuchuan Zhi consists of six volumes, written by Pan Tingli from Kuocang, a professor at the military-run school. The local prefect was Zhao Shanxuan, and the work was completed in the fourth year of the Shaoxi period (1193). The administrative center of the army was Yongxing, which was originally Fuchuan County, thus explaining the nomenclature.

《富川志》六卷，軍學教授括蒼潘廷立撰。太守趙善宣，紹熙四年也。軍治永興，本富川縣，故名。《直齋書錄解題》

(Z. Chen 1987, p. 251).

“The Fuchuan Zhi consists of three volumes. Compiled by Li Shoupeng, the prefect in the Jiashen year of the Jiading period (1224).

《富川志》三卷，右嘉定甲申守李壽鵬修。《郡齋讀書志. 讀書附志》

(Zhao 2011, p. 1129).

Whether in the poetry and prose works of literati-officials or the local chronicles compiled by local governments, people in the Southern Song Dynasty had the habit of referring to Xingguo Jun as Fuchuan. The Fuchuan mentioned by Bai Yuchan should also fall into this category. This travel to Fuchuan is corroborated by Peng Si’s Haiqiong Yuchan Xiansheng Shishi, which may illuminate the purpose of Bai Yuchan.

In the spring of Wuyin year (1218), Bai Yuchan visited Mount Xi. When an imperial decree ordered a ritual (jianjiao 建醮) at Yulong Palace, he initially declined to participate. Envoys intercepted him at the palace gate, compelling him to preside over the state ceremony, which was witnessed by a massive crowd. He was later invited to lead another imperial ritual at Ruiqing Palace on Mount Jiugong.

戊寅春，遊西山，適降御香建醮於玉隆宮，先生避之，使者督宮門力挽先生回，為國升坐，觀者如堵。又邀先生詣九宮山瑞慶宮主國醮。《海瓊玉蟾先生事實》

(Bai 2000, pp. 32–33)

Mount Jiugong was located in Tongshan County under the jurisdiction of Xingguo Jun. Bai Yuchan’s travel to Fuchuan aimed to reach Mount Jiugong, where he also authored the Jiumutang Ji 九牧堂記.

In Daizhi Lishilang Shu 待制李侍郎書, Li Chen’s letter to Bai Yuchan reveals that Bai Yuchan had already returned to Fuzhou 福州 prior to October of that year and did not proceed to Zhedong.

Like a solitary phoenix flying without a fixed abode, you have journeyed to Mount Tiantai, visited Mount Lu 廬山, and now you have passed through Sanshan 三山. It is no different from being in Guangdong in the morning and Wuzhou in the evening… These days, at the transition between autumn and winter, the weather is changeable, with temperatures fluctuating between cold and warm… I, Chen, am seventy-five years old.

一梧孤飛無定處，走天台，遊廬阜，今又過三山，何異朝粵暮梧也。……日來秋冬之初，寒燠不定。……諶行年七十有五。《待制李侍郎書》

(Bai 2000, p. 1167)

Li Chen passed away in the 13th year of the Jiading period (1220) at the age of 77 (Zhen 1989, chap. 42, pp. 10–21). This letter was composed in the year 1218, when the author was 75 years old. In the ancient Chinese calendar, the onset of autumn corresponds to the seventh month of the lunar calendar, while the commencement of winter is aligned with the tenth month. Li Chen’s assertion that “At the transition between autumn and winter, the weather is changeable, with temperatures fluctuating between cold and warm” likely refers to the period preceding the onset of winter in the tenth month. As documented in Chuandu Xie’en Biaowen 傳度謝恩表文, on the 15th day of the 10th lunar month in the 11th year of the Jiading period (1218), Bai Yuchan conducted a centralized transmission of Daoist ordination for numerous disciples (Bai 2000, pp. 1213–18).

Therefore, in 1218, Bai Yuchan undertook a journey through the northern Jiangxi region, centered on the Mount Lu area and its environs(See Figure 2). By the time the autumn and winter months arrived, he had reached Fuzhou 福州, where he conducted a centralized ordination ceremony for the disciples he had recruited during his three-year travels. This year, he did not undertake a circuitous journey across several provinces to travel in Guangxi and eastern Zhejiang.

3.3. Travels to West Guangnan Circuit in 1223–1224

While prior research has established that Bai Yuchan did not travel to Guangxi in 1218, his repeated use of toponyms like Bagui (八桂, an ancient name for Guangxi) and Guilin 桂林 in numerous works indicates that he must have visited the region during his later Dao-spreading travels. Clarifying the specific routes and chronology of his journey to Guangxi would thus fill a crucial gap in his biography.

Previous academic discussions on Bai Yuchan’s travel in Guangxi have overlooked the need to holistically reconstruct his itinerary before and after his journey to the region, while also neglecting the historical value of literary genres beyond the narrative style. Indeed, Bai Yuchan’s works, including Longsha Xianhui Ge Ji 龍沙仙會閣記, Li Yi’an Shiji Xu 黎怡庵詩集序, and Magu Fu 麻姑賦, help to map his route to Guangxi roughly.

Subsequently, Ziqing Bai Yuchan traversed Bagui, navigated the Sanxiang (三湘, Hunan) waterways, sailed along the Mian River (mianjiang 沔江, the ancient alternative names for the Yangtze River), and ascended Mount Lu.

已而紫清白玉蟾道八桂，航三湘，浮沔江，歷廬阜。《龍沙仙會閣記》

(Bai 2000, p. 269)

After spending extensive time with my Daoist master by the seaside, I departed Mount Luofu and entered Mount Wuyi, embarking on an itinerary through the sacred peaks of Jiangxi. I traversed Hongya Cliff, sailed past Yanglan-Zuoli, sojourned in Qiantang, then proceeded via Gusu to Mount Lu. I purified my spirit by the waters of Dongting Lake, gazed upon Mount Jiuyi, and recently wandered with my ritual sword between southern Hunan and northern Guangxi. My sail unfurled across Dongting’s expanse, while the Jiuyi peaks loomed through distant mists, their twenty-four cliffs piercing the heavens. Between Guizhong and the surging Sanxiang rivers, he descended the Jiujiang region, where dragon-like echoes and tiger-like roars reverberated. The moon wheeled above Mount Yusi, as dew descended before the Mount Gezao altars.

後從方外師海邊甚久，出羅浮，入武夷，始行江西閣笥間；過洪崖，下揚瀾左蠡，客錢塘，複由姑蘇而廬山；濯洞庭，眺九嶷，近方攜劍于湘南桂北……揚帆洞庭之上，回顧九嶷，在冥茫二十四岩屹。桂中、三湘舞澎湃。下九江，倏龍吟，忽虎嘯。月自玉笥雲頭轉，露從閣皂山前下。《黎怡庵詩集序》

(Bai 2000, pp. 185–6)

Bai Yuchan set out from Guilin via Mount Heng, arrived at the western bank of the Yangtze River (Jiangxi), then climbed the rugged Chunyan to pay homage.

白玉蟾從桂林道衡山，下大江以西，登孱顏而拜之。《麻姑賦》

(K. Chen 2004, chap. 1. p. 8)

A synthesis of these three sources reveals that Bai Yuchan did not depict his travels to Guangxi in isolation but instead presented his journeys through southern Hunan and northern Guangxi (Xiangnan-Guibei 湘南桂北) as an integrated itinerary. Thus, Bai Yuchan conceptualized Xiangnan-Guibei as a unified geo-cultural region—a perspective we adopt in this study to maintain analytical coherence with his spatial framework. Additionally, these three texts offer two critical insights. First, prior to his wanderings through southern Hunan and northern Guangxi, Bai Yuchan had already undertaken extensive travels to Mount Wuyi, Mount Gezao 閣皂山, Mount Yusi 玉笥山, Qiantang, Gusu, and Mount Lu. Second, after a period of wandering through northern Guangxi and southern Hunan, he proceeded northward to Mount Heng, traversed Hunan by sailing across Dongting Lake, and then moved westward via the Mian River to reach Jiujiang 九江. Finally, he traveled southward to visit sacred Daoist mountains in Jiangxi, including Mount Yusi, Mount Gezao, and Mount Magu. Regrettably, all three works lack specific dates of composition and thus fail to provide relatively precise chronological information. We can only infer the approximate timeframe for his journey to southern Hunan and northern Guangxi from the preceding and subsequent experiences mentioned in the text. Zhaojian Sanqingdian Ji 詔建三清殿記and Pingjiang Hehui Shengtang 平江鶴會升堂 indicate that Bai Yuchan attended the Chunyang Crane Assembly (Chunyang hehui 純陽鶴會) in Gusu on the 14th day of the fourth lunar month in 1221, having arrived there by the third lunar month (Bai 2000, p. 240; Bai 1988a, p. 130). Helin Fayu 鶴林法語 records the historical fact that Bai Yuchan returned to Fuzhou 福州 from Zhejiang in the first lunar month of 1222 (Bai 2000, p. 1299). Consequently, the spring of 1222 must be regarded as the upper chronological limit for the commencement of his “southern Hunan and northern Guangxi” expedition.

A stone inscription authored by Bai Yuchan survives on Mount Wufu 烏符山 in Qiyang County 祁陽縣, Yongzhou 永州, Hunan Province (Zeng 2009). Situated in southern Hunan near the Guangxi border (adjacent to Guilin 桂林), this constitutes the only definitive record pinpointing Bai Yuchan’s presence in the “southern Hunan and northern Guangxi” region within a specific timeframe. The text, as transcribed in Baqiongshi Jinshi Buzheng 八瓊室金石補正, reads as follows:

I first visited the reclusive scholar Jiang Jifu six years prior.

清逸居士蔣君吉甫，余六年之先訪之矣。

(Z. Lu 2002, p. 487)

Dated to mid-summer of the Jichou year ((己丑, 1229), this inscription confirms that Bai Yuchan’s travel to southern Hunan and northern Guangxi occurred in 1223. Bai Yuchan and Huang Tiangu 黃天谷 collaborated on a linked-verse poem (lianjushi 聯句詩) during their travels, titled Xujiang Zhouzhong Lianju 盱江舟中聯句. The poem’s preface states

On the first day of the mid-autumn festival in the Guiwei year of the Jiading era (1223), I journeyed with Huang Tiangu from Xu to Yu, composing these linked verses aboard our boat.

嘉定癸未仲秋之朔，偕黃天谷道盱而渝，舟中聯句。

(Bai 2000, p. 907)

Here, “Xu 盱” refers to the upper reaches of the modern Fu River 抚河, spanning from Guangchang County to Nancheng County in Jiangxi Province. “Yu 渝” denotes the historical name of the Yuan River 袁河, from which the city of Xinyu 新余 derives its toponym. The Yu River flowed eastward from its western headwaters, merging with the Gan River at Linjiang jun 臨江軍. Situated west of the Xu River basin, Bai Yuchan’s phrase “journeyed from Xu to Yu” clearly indicates a westward waterborne route across the Gan River basin. This evidence therefore confirms that Bai Yuchan remained in Fuzhou 撫州 in the early days of the eighth lunar month in 1223, marking the initial phase of his travels to Guangxi.

In the Jiading Jia Shen year (1224), on the first day of the first month of autumn, Bai Yuchan composed Xiyutang Ji 喜雨堂記at Mount Ma 麻山 in Jinxian County 進賢縣, situated southwest of Nanchang 南昌. This confirms his return to Jiangxi by this time. The text opens with

In ancient times, the Great Immortal Fuqiu and the Perfected Lords Wang and Guo came from the Southern Sacred Peak (南嶽, Mount Heng), passed through Yuzhang (豫章, Nanchang), crossed Wei Pavilion (魏亭), and lodged at Mount Ma.

昔浮丘大仙與王、郭二真君來，自南嶽過豫章，越魏亭，邸麻山。

(Bai 2000, p. 295)

This narrative, which is the opening sentence of Xiyutang Ji, mirrors Bai Yuchan’s own itinerary. Having recently traveled from Guangxi through Mount Heng back to Jiangxi, he consciously frames the Daoist Immortals’ route as a literary reflection of his own peregrinations.

Based on the aforementioned analysis, Bai Yuchan’s travel itinerary to Xiangnan-Guibei can be reconstructed. In mid-autumn 1223, Bai Yuchan traveled from the Xu River basin in central Jiangxi, passing through the Yu River basin, southwestward to southern Hunan, and then entered Guangxi. After sojourning in southern Hunan and northern Guangxi for a period, he likely utilized waterways to sail northward through Hunan, eventually returning to Jiangxi via the Yangtze River (See Figure 3).

4. Sojourn and Community Interactions During Dao-Spreading Travels

Zeng Jinlan has observed that Bai Yuchan’s Dao-spreading activities were characterized by meticulous planning and stage characteristics. She captured the trend of the expansion of regions where Bai Yuchan’s Dao-spreading activities gradually advanced from the core Southern Song circuits of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to more remote areas, such as Hunan, Hubei, and Lingnan 嶺南 (Zeng 2007b, pp. 196–210). This macroscopic perspective generalizes the approximate manifestations of Bai Yuchan’s Dao-spreading activities, but it is challenging to reveal its micro-operational mechanisms in specific time–space contexts. A clearer understanding can be attained by analyzing the revised Dao-spreading itineraries of Bai Yuchan and considering his regional sojourns and community interactions.

4.1. Regional Sojourn and Revisit

During the stage of his Dao-spreading travels, Bai Yuchan placed significant emphasis on engaging in-depth with local communities and devotees in new regions, often residing there for extended periods upon his initial arrival. Below are documented instances of Bai Yuchan’s stays in specific areas during his first visits, all supported by ample historical evidence.

• 1216: Departing in the first lunar month, he traveled to Mount Tiantai (in Taizhou 台州) and Mount Yandang (in Wenzhou 温州), with a stop at Jinhua (in Wuzhou 婺州). These three adjacent prefectures lie within the East Liangzhe Circuit. Residing in this region until his departure around the Zhongyuan Festival in the seventh lunar month, his stay spanned five or six months.
• 1217: Arriving in Fuzhou 福州 in spring, he did not depart from Fuzhou 福州 until the ninth lunar month, staying in Fuzhou and its surrounding areas for at least half a year.
• 1218: From spring to the tenth lunar month, he journeyed to Mount Xi (in Longxing Fu), Mount Jiugong (in Xingguo Jun), and Mount Lu (in Nankang Jun). These sites, clustered along the border of the West Jiangnan Circuit and the East Jiangnan Circuit 江南東路, were geographically linked, with Bai Yuchan’s sojourn in the area lasting over six months.
• 1221: In the third lunar month, he traveled to Pingjiang Fu 平江府, on the eastern shore of Tai Lake 太湖. Thereafter, he visited Huzhou 湖州 on the western shore of the lake. The two places were adjacent, and both belonged to the West Liangzhe Circuit 两浙西路. Departing only at the end of the year, he stayed in this area for more than six months.
• 1223–1224: Traveling from the eighth lunar month to the following summer in Xiangnan-Guibei (湘南桂北, southern Hunan and northern Guangxi), his journey, accounting for transit time, likely lasted approximately six months.

During Bai Yuchan’s travels, particularly during his initial visits to a region composed of contiguous prefectural-level jurisdictions (including zhou 州, fu 府, and jun 军), he would often reside there for some months (See Figure 4). The regional sojourn enabled him to devote time to Daoist practices—such as rituals, cultivation, and doctrinal lectures—within local communities, as well as conventional social interactions like sightseeing, banquets, and literary creation. Therefore, the regional sojourn conformed to the practical logic of Dao-spreading, endowing his missionary journeys with distinct regional characteristics.

What factors influenced Bai Yuchan’s prolonged stays in specific regions? Zeng Jinlan emphasized that his missionary activities in a given area were characterized by subjective planning, while Suzuki Takeo interpreted his regional movements through the lens of geographical proximity and transportation convenience. More critically, it is essential to note that Bai Yuchan demonstrated a high degree of adaptability to karmic opportunity (jiyuan 機緣) during his travels. Firstly, Bai Yuchan’s decision to embark on a Dao-spreading journey in 1216 was a temporary one. During the reconstruction of the Zhizhi Hermitage, Bai Yuchan left Mount Wuyi due to difficulties in his self-cultivation. In Wuyi Chongjian Zhizhi’an Ji, he stated that upon returning from Mount Luofu, he “would surely stay there as the abbot for the rest of his life”必永身以住持之 (Bai 2000, p. 351). Nevertheless, rather than pursuing this course of action, he embarked on further travels, traversing a variety of regions. Secondly, even when he had pre-arranged appointments with others, he would often make impromptu alterations to his plans. For instance, in 1218, he had an engagement with Liu Yuanchang in Mount Wuyi, yet he reneged on the appointment5. A similar pattern of behavior was observed in the early part of 1223, when he agreed with Peng Si to meet at the end of autumn6 yet again broke the commitment to travel to “Xiangnan-Guibei” (S. Liu 2012, p. 55). Bai Yuchan’s regional sojourns were also primarily influenced by contingent opportunities. For instance, in 1216, he claimed to depart for Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang, yet upon meeting Su Sen in Jinhua, they felt an immediate affinity, and he remained in Jinhua for several months. A similar occurrence transpired in 1217, when he intended to return to Mount Luofu. However, after establishing a bond with Peng Yan and his son in Fuzhou, he remained there for half a year before embarking on his journey once again. In 1218, after performing incense offerings at Mount Lu, Bai Yuchan intended to continue his travels. As his interactions with Daoist priests, such as Chen Zhihe 陳至和 from the Taiping Xingguo Palace 太平興國宮, grew more frequent and deepened, he remained in the surrounding areas for several months. It is an irrefutable fact that itinerant travel was not aimless, but the continuous emergence of “unexpected” situations during the process was more in line with reality. This kind of uncertainty seemingly has no rules to follow, but in fact, it reflects Daoism’s emphasis on opportunities and the wisdom of conforming to nature. Daoist philosophical thought holds that “The Dao follows nature” (Daofa ziran 道法自然) and advocates that “The Dao is constantly in non-action yet there is nothing it does not accomplish” (Dao chang wuwei er wubuwei 道常無為而無不為), which means acting in accordance with the flow of circumstances. For Bai Yuchan, travel was not merely a physical movement but a lived practice of non-action, where intentionality coexisted with receptivity to the unfolding of events. Rather than imposing rigid plans, he allowed his journeys to be guided by the rhythm of circumstances—whether an encounter with a potential disciple, an invitation to preside over a ritual, or the call of a sacred site—thereby embodying the Daoist ideal of harmonizing with the spontaneous nature of things. This approach transformed travel into a dynamic dialogue between the self and the world, where contingency became a pathway to aligning one’s actions with the cosmic order.

Furthermore, there was indeed a cursory and hasty form of travel in Bai Yuchan’s Dao-spreading activities. For instance, the itinerary delineated in Bai Yuchan’s correspondence to Peng Si (dated the 21st day of the 10th lunar month). This is a remarkable feature that cannot be overlooked. Moreover, this letter documents most of Bai Yuchan’s movements in that year.

On the 21st day of the tenth lunar month, Bai, an older man from Qiongshan, sent a letter to Peng Si, the true Daoist scholar from Helin 鶴林 in Fuzhou 福州, at his residence: This spring, I went to Jiangzhou, travelled through Xingguo Jun, reached Yueyang, returned to Yuzhang, passed by Fuzhou 撫州, paid a visit to Mount Huagai, went down to Linjiang Jun, took the route via Raozhou and Xinzhou, and then headed to the East Zhejiang Road (zhedong 浙東). On the first day of the eighth lunar month, I arrived at the imperial capital (xingzai行在means Lin’an臨安), then travelled to Shaoxing, passed through Qingyuan Fu, and returned to Lin’an again… I intend to go to Tiantai.

十月二十一日，瓊山老叟白某致書福州鶴林真士彭卿治所：今春到江州，行興國軍，如岳陽，回豫章，過撫州，謁華蓋山，下臨江軍，取道饒信而浙東。以八月一日詣行在，複遊紹興，過慶元府，再歸臨安……欲往天台.

(Bai 1988a, pp. 137–38)

Over approximately seven months, he traversed four provinces: Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang. At present, while scholars research this letter primarily to complement the details of Bai Yuchan’s travel routes, it is more significant that this record of his itineraries also mirrors another pivotal strategy employed by him during his Dao-spreading travels. The academic community holds diverse views on the writing time of this letter, with four opinions suggesting the years 1217 (Huang and Fang 2012), 1218 (Zeng 2007b, p. 200; J. Chen 2013; L. Liu 2013b), 1219 (Li 2003, p. 89), and 1220 (S. Liu 2012, p. 88), respectively. It can be concluded with a reasonable degree of certainty that the time of composition of the present letter is after 1218 and-therefore either 1219 or 1220. The regions mentioned in the letter, such as Jiangzhou, Xingguo Jun, Yuzhang, Fuzhou, and eastern Zhejiang, had already been visited by Bai Yuchan. On his initial visit to these locales, he customarily spent more than half a year there. Evidently, this journey represented a revisit to the locations where Bai Yuchan had previously delivered sermons, with the intention of fostering and maintaining relationships with his disciples and adherents. As the Dao-spreading areas underwent continuous expansion, Bai Yuchan was unable to dedicate the same level of time to in-depth operations as he had when he first arrived in a region. Consequently, Bai Yuchan resorted to expeditious travels across multiple regions, which proved to be an efficacious means of sustaining the accomplishments of Dao-spreading endeavors. This mode of travel ensured Bai Yuchan’s connection with believers in various regions, enabling him to cover a broader range of areas within a limited time and thereby strengthening the influence of the Southern School in different regions. This constitutes the fundamental reason why such rapid interregional traversal emerged as an integral component of his Dao-spreading activities.

When observed at a relatively microscopic scale, Bai Yuchan’s itinerancy and sojourn during the Southern School’s formative period embodied an adherence to the Daoist principle of natural spontaneity. By seizing contingent opportunities for extended sojourn lasting several months in a targeted region, he engaged in forging associations with individuals across diverse social strata—including devout Daoist adherents, literati, government officials, Chan Buddhist masters, and fellow Daoist practitioners (Zeng 2007a; Fang and Yu 2015). Such an approach effectively mediated the inherent tension between the Daoist traditions of ascetic withdrawal (chushi 出世) and Communal engagement (rushi 入世). Subsequent revisits can effectively avoid the possible dilution of effects caused by frequent cross-regional itinerancy while expanding the scope of Dao-spreading work. This strategy is consistent with the objective conditions of transportation and information dissemination during the early Southern Song period; moreover, it can also effectively cope with unfavorable situations, such as limited resources and insufficient influence, faced by the religious sect during its initial stage.

Bai Yuchan’s travels were deeply intertwined with his religious thought and theories (Suzuki 2012). His strategy for missionary journeys was rooted in the Daoist concept of harmonization. In Yinyang Shengjiang Lun 陰陽升降論, he asserted, “Humans receive primordial harmonizing qi (chonghe zhiqi 冲和之氣) to be born between heaven and earth, fundamentally sharing the same substance with heaven and earth from the primordial beginning” (Bai 2000, p. 415). This attributes the isomorphism between the human body and cosmos to the infusion of cosmic primordial harmonizing qi. Such ontological cognition shaped his approach to worldly engagement, leading him to establish harmonious relationships in social interactions. When disciple Peng Si inquired about the conduct of Daoist patriarchs, Bai Yuchan cited Zhang Daoling, Xu Xun, and Ge Hong as exemplars who embodied the dialectical wisdom of “their traces being identical to humans’ yet their minds differing from humans’.” He emphasized that the reason he practiced blending with the mundane while harmonizing one’s light (hunsu heguang 混俗和光) was to avoid self-alienation from society. By employing a piscine–feline zoological metaphor, he cautioned that if a fish seeks to differ from its school by abandoning water to leap ashore, it will meet death, and if a tiger seeks to differ from its pride by leaving mountains for the marketplace, it will be captured— thereby symbolizing that social estrangement represents the collapse of existential foundations (Bai 1988e, pp. 410–11). This philosophy crystallized in the eighth precept of Jidu 濟度 within Daofa Jiuyao 道法九要: “Be serene and natural, wander unfettered, harmonize with the mundane world 恬淡自然，逍遙無礙，塵世和同” (Bai 1988d, p. 679). It demands that cultivators integrate spiritual cultivation with worldly engagement in Daoist salvation (jidu 濟度). The concept of blending with the mundane while harmonizing one’s light constituted the foundational philosophy that enabled his preaching through prolonged sojourns and community interactions during his continuous travels.

4.2. Outsiders’ Community Interactions

In the rural societies of ancient China, it was not a simple matter for outsiders to harmoniously integrate into pre-existing local communities. Bai Yuchan explicitly stated in his Song of Wandering Clouds that during his Dao-seeking journeys to Mount Longhu and Mount Wuyi, he encountered inhospitable treatment from local Daoist priests. His Shoumotang Ji 授墨堂記 recorded how Lü Dongbin 吕洞宾, disguised as a Daoist priest surnamed Hui with refined attire and extraordinary demeanor upon visiting Mount Lu, was ignored by the resident clergy at Taiping Xingguo Palace—except for Master Hu (Hugong 胡公), who invited him for tea. This phenomenon underscores the challenges itinerant Dao-spreading practitioners faced in harmoniously integrating with diverse local communities across regions. However, during his missionary travels, Bai Yuchan established harmonious, interactive relationships with local beliefs, such as the Dongyue 東嶽 cult in Fuzhou (Gai 2013b), other Daoist lineages including Jingming Dao 净明道 and Celestial Master Dao 天師道 (Guo 2006; Guo 2008; Gai 2014), as well as Buddhism and Confucianism (Gai 2016). This constitutes a noteworthy phenomenon requiring scholarly interpretation.

Judith A. Berling proposed that the means and channels through which Bai Yuchan connected to diverse traditions of Song religious and intellectual life could be examined from four perspectives: (1) ritual expertise, (2) sacred places, (3) Song religious discourse, and (4) poetry (Berling 1993, p. 313). While ritual expertise, Song religious discourse, and poetry represent modes of communication employed by Bai Yuchan, “sacred places as sites for religious interaction” (Berling 1993, p. 315). An abstract classification of communicative methods fails to illuminate how Bai, as an outsider, initially integrated into local communities upon arrival or how he navigated and engaged with these communities during his residency. Due to space constraints, a thick description of Bai’s entire process of community integration is unfeasible. Instead, we can zoom in on his activities during his first few days in the Mount Lu region, providing a detailed, microcosmic case study.

Mount Lu was explicitly recognized as a sacred Daoist mountain during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period. In 461, Lu Xiujing 陸修靜 established the Jianji Guan簡寂館 on Mount Lu (Sun 2014, p. 161). During the Liang Dynasty (502–557) of the Southern Dynasties period, the female Daoist Li Lingcheng 李令稱 built the Hualin Guan 華林館 independently. (Sun 2014, p. 192) In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong 玄宗 conferred the title Nine Celestial Messengers (jiutian shizhe 九天使者) upon the deity of Mount Lu and constructed a temple in his honor, decreeing that it hold equal status with the temples dedicated to the Perfected Sovereigns of the Five Sacred Peaks (wuyue zhenjun五嶽真君). In the Song dynasty, Emperor Huizong 徽宗 renamed it the Taiping Xingguo Palace and appointed officials to oversee it, solidifying its role as the central locus of Daoist belief on Mount Lu. During the Shaoxing reign of the Southern Song dynasty, Ye Yiwen, an official of Jiangzhou prefecture, compiled Lushan Taipingxingguogong Caifangzhenjun Shishi 廬山太平興國宮採訪真君事實, which collated relevant documents. This book was updated during the Yuan dynasty and later included in the Daozang 道藏 during the Ming dynasty (Ye 1988). It serves as key historical documentation for the local Daoist community that emerged in the 13th–14th centuries around Mount Lu and its environs, a community centered on the worship of the Nine Celestial Messengers and anchored by the Taiping Xingguo Palace. Taking Bai Yuchan’s stay and activities on Mount Lu in 1218 as a case study, we can concretely examine how he, as an outsider, achieved religious dissemination and community integration through his regional engagements.

It must first be emphasized that a local religious community should not be limited solely to Daoist priests with clear sectarian affiliations but must also encompass, within the regional scope, a substantial number of devotees who vary in social status and degrees of religious devotion, as well as local Confucian scholar-officials who held friendly attitudes toward the faith. Regarding the specific composition of this regional religious community in the context of Mount Lu, first are the Daoist priests based at Mount Lu, particularly those serving at the Taiping Xingguo Palace and its branch shrines across different localities; second, temple management officials and local officials who actively supported the community; and more notably, the numerous ordinary devotees residing in the areas surrounding Mount Lu, whose geographical distribution delineates the boundaries of the community. Taiping Gong Xinzhuang Ji 太平宮新莊記composed by Yao Sui, primarily documents the expansion of landholdings at the Taiping Xingguo Palace during the Yuan dynasty. The expansion occurred through three primary channels: purchase, donations, and land reclamation and development. Among the donated lands, six distinct parcels located in six counties are specified in the text. The donors and their places of residence, as recorded in the text, directly reflect the geographical reach of Mount Lu Daoist faith.

The Gao’an in Yongxing County, Xingguo, and the Yuanshan in Huangmei County, Qizhou, had their respective former proprietors: Li Jiansun and Xiang Zhida. The rest were all subordinate counties of Jiangzhou Prefecture: Cuilu in Hukou County, Wan’an in De’an County, Fuxing in Pengze County, and Zhaochen in Ruichang County, whose former proprietors were Zhou Shu, Hu Rong, and Lü Shishan, as well as Qi Yongnian recorded on the stele as serving as Assistant Administrator (tongzhi 同知) of Fuzhou Lu.

惟高岸居興國之永興，元山居蘄之黄梅，其故主則厲堅孫、項至大。餘皆江之屬縣：翠麓湖口、萬安德安、福興彭澤、趙陳瑞昌，其主周恕、胡榮、吕師山，則碑福州路同知者與齊永年。《太平宮新莊記》

(Ye 1988, pp. 695–96)

It can be observed that the distribution of religious communities around Mount Lu was primarily concentrated in counties directly adjacent to the mountain, under the jurisdiction of Jiangzhou, as well as a few nearby counties that directly border Jiangzhou. The process from initial contact and integration into local communities to disseminating ideas, then to initiating disciples and establishing a sect, should follow a gradual developmental trajectory. This process likely involved general, friendly interactions with Daoist priests, local devotees, and officials. Although it remains unclear whether these interactions preceded, followed, or occurred simultaneously with doctrinal exchanges, they undoubtedly played a crucial lubricating role in his Daoist spreading engagements.

According to Bai Yuchan’s Taiping Xingguo Gong Ji 太平興國宮記,

On the Qingming Festival of the Jiading Wuyin year (1218), Bai Yuchan, a Daoist from the Linghuo Tongjing Grotto-Heaven in Fuzhou, approached the Terrace of the Nine Celestial Messengers with sleeves billowing incense in reverence.

皇宋嘉定戊寅清明，福州靈霍童景洞天羽人白玉蟾，袂香趨敬九天御史台下。《太平興國宮記》

(Bai 2000, pp. 226–27)

By the Qingming Festival of 1218, Bai Yuchan had already arrived at the Taiping Xingguo Palace on Mount Lu, where he performed incense offerings to venerate the Nine Celestial Messengers. This likely marked his participation in fasting and sacrificial rituals. That spring, he visited the Yulong Palace 玉隆宮 in Mount Xi 西山 before proceeding to Mount Jiugong in Xingguo Jun. Peng Si recorded that Bai Yuchan presided over state rituals (guojiao 國醮) at these two sacred Daoist mountains. However, Bai Yuchan never mentioned presiding over or participating in “state rituals” in his writings. Peng Si may have revised historical accounts to elevate his master’s influence. Upon arriving at Mount Lu, Bai Yuchan demonstrated respect for local Daoist beliefs by offering incense. Shortly after completing the offerings, Chen Zhihe 陳至和, the administrator of the Taiping Xingguo Palace, hosted him with ritual wine, indicating that his veneration of the Nine Celestial Messengers had gained acceptance within the local community. After the libations, Bai Yuchan continued his journey in an inebriated state. Chen Zhihe dispatched Daoist priests Chen Shoumo 陳守默 and Chen Ruyi 陳如一 to invite Bai Yuchan to compose a text documenting the history of the Taiping Xingguo Palace (Bai 2000, p. 227). The three Daoist priests mentioned here, all from the Taiping Xingguo Palace, shared the surname Chen. Bai Yuchan composed the Taiping Xingguo Gong Dizhu Citang Ji 太平興國宮地主祠堂記, documenting the deeds of the Chen clan landowners during the Tang Dynasty (Bai 2000, pp. 222–26). These priests were likely descendants of the Chen clan landowners and thus requested Bai Yuchan to author the text to honor their ancestors’ charitable act of donating land. Through the incense ritual, Bai Yuchan gained preliminary recognition as a friendly outsider sharing common beliefs, thereby securing an opportunity to leverage his literary talents and begin integrating into the community.

Three days after Qingming Festival, he deepened his engagement with ordinary devotees through collective social activities within the local Daoist community. In ancient Chinese literati gatherings, poetic composition during banquets formed a longstanding literary tradition, exemplified by works such as the Lantingji Xu (蘭亭集序) and the Tengwang Ge Xu (滕王閣序). Bai Yuchan’s Cuilu Yeyin Xu 翠麓夜飲序, composed near Mount Lu at “Cuilu 翠麓,” records his gathering with over 200 individuals, including Chen Shoumo 陳守默, Du Daoshu 杜道樞, Hong Zhichang 洪知常, Zhan Jirui 詹繼瑞, and Wang Jingyi 王景溢, three days after Qingming. The host of Cuilu, referred to as the “Master of Chanxi 蟾溪主人”, was named Zhou Yuanli 周元禮 (Bai 2000, pp. 204–7).

Since “Cuilu” typically denotes verdant mountain foothills rather than a specific toponym, scholars generally interpret it as the foothills of Mount Lu (Zeng 2007a). A comprehensive review of Bai Yuchan’s works reveals that he also composed Cuilu Jishi 翠麓即事, Qingye Yin 清夜吟, Zhongtao’an Xiezhen Zan 種桃庵寫神贊, and Zhou Tangfu Xianjuzhuang Zu o周唐輔仙居莊作 at Cuilu. The poem Zhou Tangfu Xianjuzhuang Zuo states

The Master of Chanxi Unseal the ritual wine vessel, a hundred cups leave me muddled as sludge. Ancient ink adorns the walls of Cuilu Pavilion, and a mournful spring ode echoes through the pine-framed windows.

蟾溪主人拆社甕，百杯醉我爛如泥。翠麓軒壁凝古墨，一闋松窗傷春詞。《周唐輔仙居莊作》

(Bai 2000, pp. 584–85)

This confirms that the “Immortal Dwelling Estate” was also located at Cuilu. Zhou Tangfu 周唐輔 may have been either Zhou Yuanli or a clansman, with Cuilu serving as a Zhou family settlement. Six decades later, during the Yuan dynasty, the Zhou clan of Cuilu maintained close ties with Mount Lu Daoism and the Taiping Xingguo Palace. The Jiutian Caitao Zhenjun Xinggong Ji 九天采討真君行宮記, composed in 1280, documents Zhou Shu 周恕 of Hukou County donating land to construct a branch shrine for the Nine Celestial Messengers, noting that the Zhou clan of Cuilu was a prominent lineage in Hukou with ancestral halls nearby (Ye 1988, pp. 693–94). Zhou Shu was likely a descendant of Zhou Yuanli or Zhou Tangfu, confirming that Bai Yuchan’s Cuilu corresponded to the Cuilu in Hukou County. At this banquet, held over fifty kilometers away from the Taiping Xingguo Palace, participants engaged in wine-drinking, unrestrained singing, dancing, and poetic composition, alongside incorporating Daoist ritual traditions, such as pacing the void (buxu 步虚) and ritual chanting. Bai Yuchan composed Qingye Yin 清夜吟 during the gathering and documented the event, demonstrating his integration into the local Daoist community of the region.

Upon Bai Yuchan’s initial arrival in Mount Lu, he engaged with local officials. In 1218, Qiongshan Poyang Shiji 瓊山番陽事跡, composed by Tang Yu 湯于, documented that Bai Yuchan encountered the provincial graduate (juren 舉人) Cai Yuande 蔡元德 at an inn in Poyang 番陽 on the fifth day of the second lunar month in 1218, but Cai Yuande failed to grasp Bai Yuchan’s teachings (Bai 2000, pp. 1165–66). Tang Yu informed Qiao Lingxian 谯令宪 that one might seek Bai Yuchan at Mount Lu. At the time, Qiao Lingxian served as the Circuit Intendant for Judicial Affairs (tixing xingyu 提點刑獄) of the East Jiangnan Circuit, under whose jurisdiction lay the Nankang Jun南康軍 encompassing Mount Lu. In his Songfengji Xu 松風集序, composed in the spring of 1222, Qiao Lingxian recounted their interactions:

During my tenure holding authority over judicial affairs in Jiangnan East, we shared a profound connection south of Mount Lu. When I later served at the temple granary, he occasionally visited me by the Tiao River.

余持節憲江東之日，嘗相契于廬山之陽。及其祠廩也，時過我於苕溪之上。《松風集序》

(Bai 2000, p. 1148)

According to the Qiao Dianzhuan Muzhiming 譙殿撰墓誌銘, Qiao Lingxian served as Judicial Intendant of East Jiangnan Circuit from 1215 to 1218, oversaw the Mingdao Temple from 1218 to 1221, was appointed Fiscal Commissioner (yunpan 運判) of Fujian in 1221, and passed away in the tenth lunar month of 1222 (Zhen 1989, chap. 44, pp. 18–26). Qiao Lingxian first met Bai Yuchan at Mount Lu in 1218, establishing a close relationship. Thereafter, while Qiao Lingxian resided by the Tiao River 苕溪, overseeing temple affairs, Bai Yuchan visited him multiple times during his travels. Under the rotating official system, officials were transferred to new posts every few years. Although they had departed from the local communities where initial connections were forged, Bai Yuchan maintained ongoing interactions with these officials through frequent travels. That Qiao Lingxian composed a preface for Bai Yuchan’s work in the year of his death underscores the depth of their friendship.

The above analysis dissects Bai Yuchan’s activities after entering a region on finer temporal scales, examining his social engagements as an outsider integrating into local communities. These interactions encompassed Daoist rituals and beliefs, as well as broader, general harmonious interactions. After performing incense offerings at Mount Lu, Bai Yuchan continued his travels, reaching Hukou County, over fifty kilometers from Mount Lu, within two to three days. Thus, Bai Yuchan’s sojourn in a region during his Dao-spreading travels did not entail remaining static at a single location. Instead, he moved within the geographical and social boundaries of the local religious community, engaging with members of diverse social identities, disseminating his cultivation methods and ideas, and recruiting disciples. This dynamic mobility in a targeted region constituted the practical mechanism through which he propagated his teachings during his travels.

5. Conclusions

Bai Yuchan’s fundamental perspective on Daoist travel held that journeying served as a means to seek enlightened masters for exchanging and learning cultivation methods, rather than being a form of Daoist cultivation in itself. His travels can be divided into two phases: an initial period seeking the Dao, followed by a subsequent period spreading the Dao, with a transitional interval between them that was not abrupt. The initial impetus for his later travels stemmed from resolving internal alchemical cultivation dilemmas. Dao-spreading was not the sole purpose of his peregrinations during this second phase; his journeys functioned as conduits for bidirectional interaction between himself and the external world. Textual analysis of Bai Yuchan’s poetic and prose works, along with extant correspondence, enables the determination of geographical locations at verifiable sites. This facilitates the reconstruction of his spatial trajectories during 1216, 1218, and 1223–1224, thereby clarifying previous academic misinterpretations regarding his itinerant activities. Based on reliable historical evidence, Bai Yuchan established and disseminated the Southern School during his travels through the practice of sustained sojourns in various regions and periodic revisitations. Karmic opportunity predominantly determined the selection of sojourn locations during individual journeys. Throughout these sojourns, Bai Yuchan maintained mobility within regional confines, establishing harmonious relationships with local communities. The functional effectiveness of Bai Yuchan’s travel-based proselytizing in disseminating the Southern School stemmed precisely from his ability to blend with the mundane while harmonizing one’s light in his practical conduct. He transformed travel into a vehicle for both personal enlightenment and sect expansion, illustrating how Daoist leaders balanced transcendence with worldly engagement to shape the development of Daoism’s Southern School.