Biography of the Perfected Lord Xu许真君仙传

Also known as

Record of the Eighty-Five Transformations of the Perfected Lord Xu of Xishan (related), Biography of the Two Perfected Lords Wu and Xu of the Filial Way (related)

Author / transmission

Author unknown (Song–Yuan)

Period

Song–Yuan · Author unknown, compiled around the Song–Yuan transition; one scroll. The Daozang also contains related texts such as the three-scroll Record of the Eighty-Five Transformations of the Perfected Lord Xu of Xishan and the Biography of the Two Perfected Lords Wu and Xu of the Way of Filial Piety.

Canon division

Dongxuan Section, Jizhuan Category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongxuan Section, Biographies category

Category

Immortal Biographies

Fascicles

One Fascicle (Juan)

Synopsis

The Biography of the Perfected Lord Xu records the life and wonders of Xu Xun (c. 239–374) of the Eastern Jin: styled Jingzhi, a native of Nanchang, he once served as magistrate of Jingyang County before resigning office to retire to Xishan, where he established his teaching on filial piety, loyalty, and trustworthiness, slew a flood dragon to end its depredations, and controlled the waters to bring peace to the people; tradition holds that in the second year of the Ningkang era of the Eastern Jin (374) he and his entire household of forty-two, along with their chickens and dogs, ascended to Heaven together with their dwelling. This biography is the doctrinal basis on which the Jingming Way of Loyalty and Filial Piety venerates Xu Xun as its founding patriarch, and is also the canonical text of the cult centered on the Wanshou Palace of Xishan (Yulong Wanshou Palace) in Jiangxi. The biography's two great themes — 'loyalty and filial piety' and 'slaying the flood dragon to control the waters' — combine Daoist immortality cultivation with Confucian ethics and local memory of water conservancy, making Xu Xun a deity with the dual identity of local protector god and sectarian patriarch. After the Jingming Way rose to prominence in the Southern Song, this and similar biographies stood alongside the Complete Book of Jingming Loyalty and Filial Piety as complementary texts; the pilgrimage to the Wanshou Palace of Xishan on Xu Xun's birthday, in the eighth lunar month each year, remains one of the largest Daoist temple fairs in Jiangxi today.

Key Ideas

• The life of Xu Xun and the legend of his household's ascension
• Founding a teaching on loyalty and filial piety, and slaying the flood dragon to control the waters
• The doctrinal basis for the Jingming Way's veneration of its founding patriarch
• The canonical text of the cult of the Wanshou Palace of Xishan
• The dual identity of local protector god and sectarian patriarch

Structure

One scroll, chronological narrative with an appendix of miraculous deeds.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Zhonghua Daozang edition

Full Text & Online Resources

• CTEXT search
• Wikipedia: Xu Xun

Related scriptures

Related figures