Hao Datong郝大通

Style & Daoist names

personal name Lin, courtesy name Taigu, sobriquets Tianranzi and Guangningzi, Perfected Guangning, Who Penetrates the Mystery, of Great Antiquity

Period

Jin

Dates

1140 — 1212

School

Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Huashan Lineage of Quanzhen

Role

Seven Perfected of QuanzhenFounding Patriarch of the Huashan LineageScholar of the Book of Changes

Birthplace

Ninghai (present-day Muping, Shandong)

Places of activity

Mount Kunyu

Life

Hao Datong, a native of Ninghai, Shandong, was one of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen; originally skilled in divination and the study of the Yijing, he took Wang Chongyang as his teacher in 1168. After his master's death he sat in silent meditation beneath a bridge at Wozhou (present-day Zhaoxian, Hebei) for six years, neither speaking nor moving, and became known as 'the Silent Master'; he later taught in the region of Zhending and Xingzhou, establishing Daoist temples. He drew on the study of the Yijing to expound internal alchemy, writing the Taigu Ji, in which over thirty Taigu Diagrams use hexagram imagery to explain the principles of cultivation — his branch placed the greatest emphasis within Quanzhen on the images and numbers of the Yijing. His lineage, the Huashan Branch, had considerable influence in Hebei and Shandong during the Yuan dynasty through disciples such as Fan Yuanxi and Wang Zhijin. In the sixth year of the Zhiyuan era he was posthumously canonized as Perfected One Guangning, Master of the Mystery and the Ancient Simplicity.

Contributions & Influence

• One of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen; founded the Huashan Branch
• Expounded internal alchemy through the images and numbers of the Yijing, producing the Taigu Diagrams
• Opened up a base for proselytizing in Hebei

Works

• Collection of Great Antiquity
• Concise Explanation of the Zhouyi Cantong Qi (according to one account)

Legends

The account of six years of silence beneath a bridge at Wozhou appears in Quanzhen biographies and carries a legendary character.