Jia Shanxiang贾善翔

Style & Daoist names

Hongju, Master Chongde Wuzhen (Venerating Virtue and Awakening to Reality), Pengqiuzi

Period

Northern Song

Dates

? — ?

Role

Daoshi (Daoist Priest)Author of immortal biographies

Birthplace

Pengzhou (present-day Yingshan and Yilong area, Sichuan)

Life

Jia Shanxiang, style name Hongju, sobriquet Pengqiuzi, was a Daoist priest of the Northern Song, a native of Pengzhou. Under Emperors Shenzong and Zhezong he successively resided at the Taiyi Gong and the Shangqing Chuxiang Gong in the capital, holding the title "Great Master Who Reveres Virtue and Awakens to the Truth"; during the Yuanyou era (1086–1094) he frequently served as a court lecturer. He wrote the six-chapter Youlong zhuan (Like a Dragon: A Biography), compiling accounts of Laozi's birth, his conversion of the barbarians, his manifestations through successive ages, and the reverence shown him by emperors of the Tang and Song — a representative work of Song-dynasty biography of Laozi, which together with the later Hunyuan shengji (Sacred Chronicle of Primordial Unity) by Xie Shouhao forms a systematic compendium of the mythology of Laozi. He also wrote the ten-chapter Gaodao zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Daoists, now lost, preserved only in scattered fragments in works such as the Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian), recording the deeds of eminent Daoists through the ages, as well as the Taishang chujia chuandu yi (Rites for Leaving the Family and Transmission of Ordination) and the Nanhua zhenjing zhiyin (Direct Pronunciation Guide to the Nanhua zhenjing). His dates of birth and death are unknown. Jia Shanxiang is a representative figure of mid-Northern Song court Daoists and of the compilation of Daoist historical biography.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote the Youlong zhuan, systematically compiling the mythology of Laozi and the history of his veneration
• Wrote the Gaodao zhuan, an important source for biographies of Daoist priests before the Song

Works

• Youlong Zhuan (Like a Dragon: A Biography of Laozi)
• Gaodao Zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Daoists) (lost)
• Rites for Leaving the Family and Transmission of Ordination
• Nanhua Zhenjing Zhiyin (Direct Pronunciation Glosses on the Nanhua Zhenjing)