He Zhengong何真公

Style & Daoist names

He Shoucheng (according to one account)

Period

Southern Song

Dates

? — ?

School

Jingming (Pure and Bright) Daoism

Role

Forerunner of Jingming DaoismMaster of Daoist Ritual Methods

Birthplace

Unknown

Places of activity

Wanshou Palace of Xishan (Yulong Wanshou Palace), Wanshou Palace of Xishan (Yulong Wanshou Palace)

Life

He Zhengong, a Daoist priest at the Yulong Wanshou Palace on Mount Xi in the early Southern Song and a forerunner of Jingming Daoism, personal name and dates of birth and death unknown. According to the Complete Book of Jingming Loyalty and Filiality and other sources, in the second year of Jianyan of the Southern Song (1128), as the Jin army advanced south, He Zhengong prayed at Mount Xi for the descent of Xu Xun, claiming to have received from him the Scripture of the Flying Immortal's Salvation of Men and the Great Rites of Jingming Loyalty and Filiality, and thereupon established the "Great Rites of Jingming" to transmit to the world, taking "loyalty and filiality" and "purity and brightness" as its core while also practicing retreat, offering and talismanic rites; this was called the beginning of "Jingming Daoism." This tradition flourished greatly in the Southern Song before declining, and it was only reorganized by Liu Yu in the early Yuan that mature Jingming Daoism took shape. He Zhengong's activity reflects the transformation of the cult of Xu Xun from a local belief into an organized school.

Contributions & Influence

• First proposed the name "Jingming Loyalty and Filiality," laying the foundation for Jingming Daoism
• Advanced the transformation of the cult of Xu Xun into an organized school
• Combined retreat and offering ritual with the ethics of loyalty and filiality, providing the basis on which Liu Yu later reestablished Jingming Daoism

Works

• Great Rites of Jingming (attributed)

Legends

He claimed to have received scriptures and methods by revelation from Xu Xun — this belongs to legend.