Daoism in Sichuan: Leshan, Emeishan, and Li Xiyue’s Community in the Nineteenth Century

Sichuan and the surrounding region of south-west China has long been an active center of religious knowledge production, a node of religious networks that originate and/or develop within it and extend beyond it, and has given birth to important religious movements. This article attempts to uncover a part of the history of Daoism in Sichuan that has not been fully analyzed, in terms of the geographical area, the time period, the community, and the practices described. It discusses Li Xiyue 李西月 (1806–1856) an influential teacher, scholar and practitioner, and his community, the Western School of Daoism, located in the area of Leshan 樂山 and devoted to two popular gods: Zhang Sanfeng 張三丰 and Lüzu 呂祖. This article gives a comprehensive overview of this community through the description of its involvement in spirit writing and religious publishing, locating their activities in the wider constellation of communities also receiving and publishing religious scriptures in Sichuan. The article also recovers and makes more visible a different religious identity for mountains like Leshan and Emei, which have mostly been described as Buddhist, by highlighting how a Daoist community also inhabited, used, and was inspired by these places and spaces.