Cui Hao崔浩

Style & Daoist names

style name Boyuan, childhood name Taojian

Period

Northern Wei

Dates

381 — 450

School

Northern Celestial Masters

Role

StatesmanSenior Official Who Revered DaoismHistorian

Birthplace

Dongwucheng, Qinghe (present-day Wucheng, Shandong)

Life

Cui Hao, courtesy name Boyuan, of the Cui clan of Qinghe, was the leading strategist and counselor at the court of Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, rising to the office of Situ (Minister of Education). His significance in the history of Daoism lies in his all-out support for the Mount Song Daoist Kou Qianzhi: in the first year of the Shiguang era (424), Kou Qianzhi brought the New Code of Precepts Chanted in the Clouds (Yunzhong yinsong xinke zhi jie) to Pingcheng, and while the court and populace doubted its authenticity, Cui Hao alone submitted a memorial championing it, declaring that "its words and meaning are profound and subtle, without parallel since antiquity," and personally studied Kou Qianzhi's methods under him, bringing about the establishment, by imperial order, of a Celestial Master ritual precinct (the New Celestial Master altar) southeast of Pingcheng, where Kou Qianzhi's program of "purifying and rectifying Daoism and eliminating the false methods of the Three Zhangs" was put into practice. In the sixth year of the Taiyan era (440), Emperor Taiwu, on the basis of a talismanic mandate presented by Kou Qianzhi, changed the reign title to "Taiping Zhenjun" (True Lord of Great Peace); in the third year of the Taiping Zhenjun era (442) he personally went to the ritual altar to receive talismans and registers, and thereafter it became institutional practice for successive Northern Wei emperors to receive registers upon accession — Daoism became, for a time, the state religion of Northern Wei. Cui Hao also worked together with Kou Qianzhi to promote the suppression of Buddhism; in the seventh year of the Taiping Zhenjun era (446) Emperor Taiwu issued an edict to eradicate Buddhism — Kou Qianzhi had counseled against it, but Cui Hao held firm. In the eleventh year of the Taiping Zhenjun era (450), Cui Hao was condemned for "exposing the faults of the state" while overseeing the compilation of the dynastic history; he was executed and the Cui clan of Qinghe exterminated, with the affair implicating a great many others, and Northern Wei's policy of favoring Daoism shifted course as a result.

Contributions & Influence

• Strongly recommended Kou Qianzhi, securing state recognition for the Northern Celestial Masters
• Prompted Emperor Taiwu to change his reign title to Taiping Zhenjun and personally receive registers at the ritual altar, briefly making Daoism the state religion
• Helped establish the institution whereby Northern Wei emperors received Daoist registers upon accession
• Played a pivotal role in promoting the suppression of Buddhism (the point on which his historical reputation remains most contested)

Works

• (Chief compiler of) the National History of Northern Wei (Guoshu, lost)
• Han Ji Yinyi (Sounds and Meanings of the Han Ji, lost)
• Cui Hao's preface to the Shi Jing (Classic of Food), preserved in citations in the Qimin Yaoshu