Section Two: Development and Transformation

The Yellow Turban Uprising had greatly interrupted the normal lives of the nation. During the immediate period after the fall of the uprising, the central government had practiced very restricted policies toward Taoist, which exerted a quite negative influence over the development of the entire religion. Zhang Lu, the grandson of Zhang Lin, after 30 years of independent ruling of a region with his family Daoism practice (Wu Dou Mi Daoism), was forced to accept the relocation of his religious and political infrastructure to Hanzhong where his main political adversary Caocao ruled. Although Wu Dou Mi Daoism was not publically banned as the Tai Ping Daoism, it was definitely closely watched and restricted. From this time on and for next few hundred years Wu Dou Mi Daoism and Daoism in general entered into a period breaking up and very slow development due to continuous social turbulences throughout the nation, and survived only by secret practices among the peasants and the family clans of the rich and powerful.  

This was the period of the family clans, who dominated all aspects of social landscape with their greediness for power and wealth, which in turn breaded all kinds of corruptions. In contrast to their dominating life styles was the lacking of spiritual practice and the need for religious believe, which gave rise to the ever popularization of Daoism and searching for eternal life among the members of the better off . In order to satisfy this new need of the ruling classes and protect their dominance at the same time, some of the Taoist theorists began to make modifications to the earlier Daoism. These modifications were mainly focused at taking out doctrines speaking the concerns of the common people, and replacing them with ones addressing the needs of upper classes. One effect of these modifications was the overall systematizing of Daoism religion including its basic believes, general theories, rituals and organizations.    

Some of the Taoists who had contributed to the creation of the new Daoism theories for the rich and powerful were Ge Hong, Kou Qian Zhi, Tao Jing Hong, and etc.

Ge Hong lived from 284 A.D. to 364 A.D. during the East Jin Dynasty, a person of Jiang Su Province, he was also known by the name Bao Pu Zi. Ge Hong was a very well known Taoist theorist, alchemist and medical expert. He was the grandson of the Immortal Ge Suan, and a student of the famous scholar Zhen Yin. Ge Hong’s Taoist emphasis was on self cultivation, he had left us a rich collection of writings titled “Bao Pu Zi ”. In this collection of 70 volumes, Ge Hong described in detail various recipes for good health and immortality, the way of ghosts and goblins, and the methods to expel evil spirits and avoid disasters.

Volume 17 of the “Bao Pu Zi” is designated for various spiritual practices such as the way to expel evil spirits and methods to achieve immortality. In this volume there is a story speaks about a man used a mirror to identify and eventually killed a ghost. Such types of practices are part of Fangshu (witchcraft type of practices). Fangshu makes up an important part of Taoist heritage; is one of the main origins for the Golden Elixir schools of Daoism. Ge Hong actively devaluated the Daoism of the ancient, his creative combination of Daoism ideas with the principles of Confucianism laid an important foundation for the official Daoism of the ruling classes.

During the period from 420 A.D. to 589 A.D., Daoist Kou Zhi Qian with the support of Tai Wu Emperor of Wei Dynasty, made some significant changes to Wu Dou Mi (Five Bucket Rice) Daoism. He abolished many practices of Wu Dou Mi Daoism, such as collecting tax on rice, jointed spiritual practices by man and woman, and etc. Kou Zhi Qian had invented many new things, such as using music to accompany Daoism rituals. He also insisted that one should focus on praying and worshipping, assisted with consuming of herbs and self practices, to reach one’s religious goals, instead of any other approaches. In year 424, with the help from the premiere Cui Hao of the state of Wei, Kou Zhi Qian inaugurated the creation of Altar of Celestial Master, a new branch of Daoism called New Celestial Master Daoism, or Northern Celestial Master Daoism, differentiated from the Celestial Master Daoism created by Zhang Dao Lin. It was named the official religion of the nation for many years.

During the period of Emperor Ming of Song Dynasty, Taoist Lu Xiu Jing on orders of the Emperor collected Taoist books nationwide. After careful identification and selection, Lu assembled a grand collection of 1228 volumes. The books in the collection were further indexed into three categories, Dong Zhen, Dong Xuan and Dong Shen. Later this collection became the most important part of the grand collection of Taoist books, “Dao Zang”. Lu also wrote and compiled a book collection of 100 volumes on Taoism rules and restrictions, which marked the maturation of Taoist ritual system and related procedures. In Lu’s Daoism theory, three types of activities must be performed all the time. They are, the performance of rituals to curb the body from the impulse of improper sex, killing, stealing; the reading of Taoist Cannons to stop the mouth from speaking improper words; and the thinking of gods of the heaven to stop the mind from various desires. It is clear Lu’s theory was set up according to the moral standards of his time, which fitted very well with the expectations of the ruling classes. By combining the ideas of many different schools, Lu had created a new school of Daoism called South Celestial Master School.

Another Taoist in this era, Tao Hong Jing was also appreciated by the Emperor and his government. Tao was very knowledgeable. Emperor Liang Wu Di consulted him on almost every major event. Tao was hence been called the “Shan Zhong Zai Xiang” which means the “premier inside the mountain”. Tao had constructed a quite detailed organization chart of all important immortals in the heaven; he had also suggested in his book “Zhen Gao”, that three major religions in the nation shared many important ideas and should be united. Tao lived in Mao Shan (mountain) since meddle age and taught the way of Shang Qing School Taoism. His system is therefore being called Mao Shan School, and Mao Shan became the home base for Shang Qing Schools in general.

The new Daoism for the rich and powerful was well accepted by the ruling class. It was used extensively to manipulate the views of religious followers and population in general. From the time of Sui Tang to North Song Dynasty, Daoism entered into one of the best times of development in Chinese history. Although in Shui Dynasty, the imperatorial court held Confucianism as the official philosophy，it did protect Daoism and Buddhism at the same time. For example, both Emperor Sui Wen Di and Emperor Sui Yang Di had named top Taoists as teachers and advisers for themselves.

In Tang Dynasty, Daoism was the official religion of the land. The imperatorial family took a very active stand in supporting Daoism, the reason being the family shared the same last name with the founder of Daoism, Lao Zi. The family believed or wanted people to believe that they were the direct descendents of the Lao Zi. For this reason, Taoists were given special status which compared to that of the imperatorial members; all provinces and major cities were required to build official Taoist temples for worshipping Lao Zi; inside each temple, on two sides of Lao Zi’s statue, pictures of the first five emperors of the dynasty were displayed symbolizing the family was at service to the highest God of the religion. In addition, Tang Government had also set up national holidays to celebrate Taoist events and perform Taoist rituals. Furthermore special schools were established to teach Daoism, a national level test of Taoist knowledge were set up for the general population and anyone can successfully pass the test was given eligibility to serve in the government.    

In Tang Dynasty many new Taoist classics were created, such as “Zuo Wang Lun”, “Ru Yao Jing”, and it also was during this period the first and very important Taoist encyclopedia “Kai Yuan Dao Zang” was assembled.

The most influential Taoist Monk of the Tang Dynasty was Sima Cheng Zhen (647- 735). He had once served as a student of Pan Shi Zheng of the Shong Shan (mountian). Sima Cheng Zhen believed the notion of “Dao of Wu Wei” from Lao Zi, and insisted that the mind should travel to the Great Void, one’s energy should be in accord with the Great Void, and all activities should follow the way of nature. Sima Cheng Zhen also believed that the way of Taoist cultivation involves “retracting” one’s mind (from the outside) and maintaining tranquility. These ideas had greatly influenced the later Taoist branches which take tranquility training as their main approach of self cultivation.

The period of Wu Dai (907 - 960) lasted 53 years, there were 13 emperors from 5 different family clans, among them quite a few were strong believers of Daoism. These emperors had built many temples, recollected dispersed Taoist books, and ordered well cultivated Taoists to preach around the nation.

Famous Taoists of this time include Li Hao, Tan Qiao, Peng Xiao, Tan Zi Xia; they all had put great efforts in researching and building Taoist theories and methods of practice. Their efforts and the imperatorial favors had helped the continuation of the religion through this low period of development. 

The rulers of North Song Dynasty had tried to imitate the examples of their predecessors of Tang Dynasty by stating an immortal as their family ancestor. The imaginary immortal ancestor was called Zhao Xuan Lang, he was given a imaginary wife and a title of “Life Giving and Protecting Lord of the Heaven”. The official saying was that the couples were gods of the heaven. It implied that the imperatorial rights were gods given, and they themselves should be worshipped as well. Through out the period of North Song, Daoism religion did received many favorite treatments from the government, such as being given free land, government build temples and tax free status and etc. One Emperor even ordered the government to pay salary to all Taoist monks.  

During North Song Dynasty, with the successful effort by many well known Taoists such Chen Tuan and Zhang Bo Duan, Internal Elixir practices were rapidly popularized. It inherited the ancient teachings by Wei Bo Yang, Liu Zhi Gu, Cui Xi Fan, Zhong Li Quan, Lu Dong Bin, Shi Jian Wu, and Peng Xiao; and the practice was further enriched by stating that it is necessary to understand the way of heaven and the way of human for searching immortality.  

The whole life of Chen Tuan was devoted to Cultivation of the Dao, and Chen had made major contributions to the theory and methodology of Daoism. His ideas were expressed in a series of charts or painting, and the most famous one was the chart carved on the cliff of Hua Shan (mountain) named “Chart of Wu Ji”. Later in history appeared a branch of philosophy which interprets the principles of “Yi Jing” using charts instead of elaborated words, this charted approach got its birth from the charts of Chen Tuan.

The “Chart of Wu Ji” can be viewed from two opposite angles, the angle of moving forward and the angle moving backward. The “Forward” angle refers to normal way of life that is the universe and all lives in it are going forward from birth to death. The“Forwarding” way can be divided into 5 stages: During the first stage Wu Ji breaks down into Tai Ji; during the second stage Yin the stillness and Yang the active maintains their characteristic status; at the third stage the Five Qi (Five Elements) will spread throughout the world; at the fourth stage , Mankind are created; at the last stage all other things in the universe are created.

The “Reversed” angle implies the correct way to reach the Dao and immortality as all Taoists endeavor to do. “Reverse” in order to obtain the Golden Elixir is a common expression in Daoism. The “Reversed” way can also be divided into five stages. They are: finding the Gate of Mystery; cultivation of the self; unification of relevant components; acquiring the medicine of immortality; birth of the celestial body and returning to the Void.

According to Daoism, the key to “reverse” is to master the balance between the “fire” and “water” elements of the body, to heat the “water” with “fire” (in order to nourish the body), and to make the “heart” and “kidney” interact with each other in harmony. Once the balance and harmony is reached, aging will be reversed and life is therefore extended.  

Chen Tuan’s theory on immortality practice and on the creation of the universe had its origin from four different sources. First, it came from the theory of Yi Jing on the creation of the world; Second, it came from “Dao De Jing” where it says “Returning to the origin is called tranquility; tranquility is called the rejuvenation of life”; Third, it inherited the view of “Can Tong Qi” of Wei Bo Yang on theory of Taoist Elixir; Fourth, it absorbed the ideas of Golden Elixir by Zhong Li Quan and Lu Dong Bin. 

Zhang Bo Duan, commonly known as Zhang Zi Yang, was born in 987 A.D. and lived till he was 95. Zhang was a well learned scholar of many domains, including all three major religions in China. Zhang wrote a very famous Taoist book called “Wu Zhen Pian”; the title of the book means “meditation on the truth”. It is a book about internal alchemy or the approach of Golden Elixir practice. This book has been called the king of all books on internal alchemy. “Wu Zhen Pian” is made of many prose and poems, they elaborated in detail the important aspects and procedures of internal alchemy. In the view of this book, internal alchemy involves two aspects and four stages. The two aspects are the cultivation of one’s body and the cultivation of one’s mind. The four stages are, building of the foundation, turning one’s energy from the state of Jin to Qi, turning the energy from Qi to Shen, and turning Shen into original state of all, the Void. The cultivation of one’s body is unique in Daoism; it is the process of repairing, refining one’s physical body, and extending one’s life span. The aspect of mind cultivation is concerned about the purity of one’s consciousness and trying to return it to the state before creation. Only with the cultivation of both the mind and body, can one then make real progress in the process of finding immortality, can one then eventually reach the state of Heavenly Immortality with total enlightenment. The theory and approach of Zhang was inherited from famous immortals Zhong Li Quan, Lu Dong Bin, Chen Tuan and Liu Hai Chan. His book “Wu Zhen Pian” is unique on elaborating the processes of immortality which made great influences on Daoism in general. 

During the Dynasty of Song and Yuan, there existed a Taoist branch called Jin Ming Dao (The Dao of Purity and Serenity), which is based in Xi Shan (mountain) of Jiang Xi Province. Jin Ming Dao shared the belief of immortality, the practice of incantation and talisman, with other branches such as the Celestial Master branch, Mao Shan Branch. But it was unique in the way that it put refinement of one’s behavior and social characters as the most important requirements for its followers. These requirements include loyalty towards authorities, filial petty towards one’s elderly and etc.

The ideas of Jin Ming Dao can be traced back all the way to Xu Xun of Jin Dynasty. According to the “Biography of Xu Xun”, Xu was born in 239 AD. He had once served as the commissioner of a county, and later retired to be a Taoist. In year 374, Xu and his entire family succeeded in Dao and flied away in broad day light. Xu once said that the way of Dao is to take loyalty, filial petty as basics of all Taoist endeavor, and as long as one can keep one’s heart pure, the mind clean, as long as one can follow the moral standards of the society, one will sooner or later, become insightful and attuned with the Dao”.

Another Taoist branch appeared during the Jin and Yuan Dynasty was Tai Yi Daoism. Tai Yi Daoism was the mind child of Taoist Xiao Bao Zhen. Tai Yi Daoism accepted the ideas of Lao Zi and his “Dao De Jing”, and considered the way of talisman-incantation as the right approach for helping the society. Tai Yi Daoism is very similar to Celestial Master Daoism, and after 7 generations of independent passage, it merged into the Celestial Master Daoism Sect. 

Zhen Da Daoism was created in the beginning of Jin Dynasty by Taoist Liu De Ren (1120～1180). This branch also took “Dao De Jing” as its basic cannon, but it did not promote the ideas of alchemy or immortality. Instead, Zhen Da Daoism required its followers to stay away from luxury, to live simple life styles, to have less desires, to work and be self sufficient. The branch went downhill after Yuan Dynasty and gradually merged into Quan Zhen Daoism.

Like Tai Yi Daoism and Zhen Da Daoism, Quan Zhen Daoism Branch was also created in North China around the same time. Quan Zhen Daoism was the largest and most important one among the three. The founder of this branch was Wang Chong Yang.

Wang Chong Yang had seven famous students. They have been called the “Seven Taoists of Quan Zhen”. These seven students had made major contribution for the spreading of Quan Zhen Daoism in North China, particularly Qiu Chu Ji, youngest of the seven. Qiu Chu Ji lived from 1148 to 1227; his Taoist name was Qiu Chang Chun. Qiu became a Taoist Monk at the age of nineteen, and at age twenty became the student of Wang Chong Yang. Qiu was called upon by the Emperor of Song Dynasty in year 1219, but the invitation was declined. Later when Qiu was at the age of 73 he was again called upon by ruler of Yuan Dynasty. This time he accepted the invitation and traveled to the capital of Yuan with eighteen of his close students. The thousands of miles long journey took over two years, and ended with the successful meeting with Genghis Khan. It was during the time of war when Genghis Khan was trying to conquer the entire country, Qiu had advised Genghis Khan to reduce killing as much as possible since taking and ruling of the country should not based on killing but caring of life. When asked about the way of immortality, Qiu answered with “puring the mind and lessening the desires”. The advises were well taken by Genghis Khan who later honored Qiu with the title of immortal and put him in charge of the Taoist organization for the entire country. Genghis Khan had exempted all Taoist monks from paying any taxes. The favorite treatments from the Emperor and his government had greatly boosted the growth of Quan Zen Daoism Sect and Daoism organizations in general. Qiu Chu Ji returned to Beijing then called Da Du, in year 1224. He resided in Tai Ji Gong or the White Cloud Temple as we know today. It was in Tai Ji Gong Qiu created his own Taoism school, the Long Men School Daoism or Dragon Gate School Daoism, and it was in Qiu’s hands that Quan Zhen Daoism Sect entered into the best period of development in history.     

The most famous Taoist of Ming Dynasty was Zhang San Feng. Zhang had lived in Wu Dang Mountain and nobody knows where he ended up. Several emperors at the time had send messengers to deliver invitations, but none had succeeded in locating Zhang. Hence the Emperors resorted to build temples in Wu Dang Mountain instead. In 1459, Ying Zong Emperor of Ming Dynasty had crowned Zhang San Feng with the holy title “Tong Wei Xian Hua Zhen Ren”.

The most famous Taoist of Qing Dynasty was Wang Chang Yue, a follower of Long Men School Daoism under the Quan Zheng Sect. Wang Chang Yue, a person of Shan Xi Province, also known by his Taoist name Kun Yang Zi. Wang was the disciple of the sixth generation patriarch of the Long Men School, he had accepted for multiple times the Binding Rules for Taoists, and the highest set of Binding Rules Wang had accepted were rules for “Heavenly Immortal”. Wang’s approach on Taoist cultivation was emphasized on following the rules. The draft of his speaking “Xin Fa Zheng Yan” (or “straight words on the principles”) was later be compiled into the book “Long Men Xin Fa” or “Methods of the mind for Dragon School Daoism”. This book was the most influential works of Daoism since Wang’s time. It directly caused the thriving of Quan Zhen School of Daoism, and for this reason Wang was consider the Grand Master of Revival.        

In 1949 with the establishment of the new government, China began to take an open policy toward all religions. Within a year China Taoist Association was created at Bai Yun Guan (White Cloud Temple) in Beijing, Yue Cong Dai served as the first president. In 1961, Chen Ning Ying succeeded as the second president granted by the second national assembly of the association.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Taoist temples were extensively damaged or even destroyed throughout the nation. The religion was banned and Taoist Associations at all level were forced to cease their religious functions. After the ten year interruption the religion began to recover; first, started from the top at the National People’s Congress, new policies were set to correct the mistakes made in the history; second many temples around the country began to reopen their doors to the public and 21 of them were put on government list of important religious sites; third at national level a new school of Daoism was created to offer higher education on Daoism; fourth, many temple to reoffer “Binding Rule Acceptance Ceremonies” for monks and Taoists in general.