Lu Zhongyi
Lu Zhongyi was the seventeenth patriarch of Yiguandao. His religious titles were Tung Li Zu and Jin Gong Zu Shi. Lu is, according to Yiguandao doctrine, the incarnation of Maitreya.
Early life
He was born on May 18, 1853 in 1853, in Jining, in China's Shandong province. He was said to be illiterate, his father died when he was young, left with his mother and sister Lu Zhongjie. He joined the army at age 22 and became an officer in the Manzhou Dongbei government.Yiguandao leadership
In 1895, he was said to have a dream from the Heavenly Mother for three days continuously instructing him to become the student of the 16th patriarch Liu Qingxu and became Liu's household servant for several years. In 1905, in Qingzhou, there is instruction from the Heavenly Mother through spirit writing wrote that Lu Zhongyi was appointed to be the next patriarch and the "celestial mandate" was given to him in that year. Since then he became the 17th patriarch of Yiguandao. Yiguandao followers believe that he is the first leader of the "White Sun" Era, the last era of the Three Stages Final Kalpa, thus he is the incarnation of savior Maitreya or Hotei.At first he tried to spread the teachings in patriarch Liu's hometown of Qingzhou, but it did not go well as many people did not believe in his preaching. In 1919, after patriarch Liu died, Lu Zhongyi brought his teaching to his hometown, Jining, and succeeded in recruiting many followers. He established an altar there and used the “three talents” for spirit writing ritual to spread the teachings on the lower class of the people, resulting in the great development in the countryside. Within a few years, Lu had attracted several hundred followers, based around a small core of twenty-five disciples, some of whom went to the neighboring provinces of Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi to spread the teachings. Lu has 8 main disciples namely Hao Baoshan, Chu Jingfu, Liang Zhaogong, Zhao Huaizhong, Chen Liyue, Zheng Zhenchang, Nie Xijun and Zhang Tianran.
Death
Lu died on February 26 in 1925. On March 3rd of the following year, Patriarch Lu's borrowed the body of a person named Yang Chun-Ling to chant the “True Sutra of Maitreya Buddha Saving from Suffering”. Thus, Lu's younger sister Lu Zhongjie who was believed to be the incarnation of bodhisattva Guanyin, temporarily took over the leadership for twelve years, but later reduced to six years by heavenly instruction.Zhang and Sun became the successors through spirit writing by the Heavenly Mother. However, the other seven major disciples of Lu refused his succession. In 1930, Zhang officially was bestowed the leadership as the 18th patriarch of Yiguandao in Jinan.