Bao Jing鲍靓

Style & Daoist names

Taixuan (courtesy name), Bao Taixuan

Period

Eastern Jin

Dates

? — ?

Role

Fangshi (Master of Methods)Official

Birthplace

Donghai (one tradition holds Shangdang)

Places of activity

Mount Luofu

Life

Bao Jing, style name Taixuan, was a fangshi of the Eastern Jin who rose to the office of Governor of Nanhai. The 'Biographies of the Arts' in the Book of Jin states that he was 'versed in both the inner and outer learning, and understood astronomy and the River Chart and Luo Writing'; he once obtained the Sanhuang Wen in a stone chamber on Mount Song associated with Master Liu, and studied under Yin Changsheng (one account says Zuo Ci) to receive the technique of liberation from the corpse. When Ge Hong travelled south to Guangzhou, Bao Jing 'saw Hong and held him in great regard, giving him his daughter in marriage,' and transmitted to him the Sanhuang Wen and other texts; Bao Jing's daughter was Bao Gu. He once lived together with Ge Hong at Mount Luofu, cultivating the Dao, and is regarded as both Ge Hong's father-in-law and teacher, as well as one source of the transmission of the Sanhuang Wen. Tradition holds that as a boy he claimed to have been the son of a Li family of Quyang who died falling into a well at the age of five and was reborn as a son of the Bao family, which may serve as evidence for early Daoist belief in reincarnation. His dates of birth and death are unknown; he reportedly died at Mount Luofu at over a hundred years of age.

Contributions & Influence

• Transmitted the Sanhuang Wen and other Daoist methods to Ge Hong
• As Governor of Nanhai, supported Ge Hong's alchemical practice at Mount Luofu

Legends

Tradition holds that at the age of five he could recall a previous life as a son of the Li family of Quyang; that he once visited Xu Mai by night and transformed into two swallows flying into Danyang; and that after liberation from the corpse he was buried at Shizigang, and later his grave was found to contain only a large sword.