Two orders, two ways of life

Almost every Daoist priest in mainland China today belongs to one of two orders. Quanzhen (全真, Complete Perfection) took shape in Shandong around 1170, gathered by the preacher Wang Zhe, better known as Wang Chongyang, and is described in the Encyclopedia of Taoism as the first Daoist monastic order. Its members are celibate, take monastic precepts after a novitiate and live in monasteries under the house rules.

Zhengyi (正一, Orthodox Unity) is much older. It traces itself to the covenant revealed to Zhang Daoling in 142 AD, the start of the Way of the Celestial Masters, and has its headquarters at Longhu Shan in Jiangxi. A Zhengyi priest is ordained by receiving a register (箓, lù), may marry and often lives at home, serving local temples and families with rituals such as the jiao offering.

Why it matters for a stay

A residential stay needs a resident community: a dormitory, a kitchen and a daily round of liturgy that a guest can share. A Quanzhen monastery has all three by design. A Zhengyi temple is often looked after by priests who go home at night, so there may be no community for a guest to live alongside.

That is why the Daoist temples that take guests are usually monastery-style temples, and why rules about diet and conduct come with the room. Beijing’s White Cloud Temple (白云观), the main monastery of the Quanzhen Longmen school and the seat of the China Taoist Association, shows what such a monastery looks like, though it is a place to visit rather than a retreat.

Temples that take guests today

Five Immortals Temple, a small temple on White Horse Mountain in the Wudang range, houses foreign students in its own quarters: rooms for one to three people, men and women separate, and three vegetarian meals. Its 2026 courses run for seven to 25 days with teaching, food and lodging in one fee, from 6,900 yuan for seven days. The temple calls itself the only place in Wudang where foreigners can lodge inside a temple; that claim is its own.

Duoyin Guan in Renshou, Sichuan, invited volunteers in June 2026: basic room and board in return for temple service, with the daily chanting and some sitting and standing practice in free time. It takes adults aged 18 to 55 after screening, and its policy on foreign passports is not published.

What a temple stay asks of you

Expect the temple’s rhythm rather than a hotel’s. Meals are vegetarian, men and women sleep apart, and the morning and evening liturgy sets the day. Five Immortals asks students to manage at least an hour of hard training a day and warns that its rooms are basic, with squat toilets and damp in wet weather; its Daoism course also asks for a vegetarian diet and precepts.

Living near a temple is not the same as living in one. Many Wudang schools sit beside Daoist palaces such as Purple Heaven Palace or Yuzhen Palace but are run independently, with their own rooms and teachers. Ask where you will sleep and who runs the programme.

Before you apply

Temple stays are arranged in Mandarin, and most notices say nothing about foreign participants. Ask whether the temple can register a foreign passport, whether you will live inside the temple, whether you may join the liturgy and what work or practice is expected each day.

Places are few and often decided after a conversation. Tell us your dates and experience and we can ask the temple for you.

Find an experience