Li Rong李荣

Style & Daoist names

Renzhenzi (Master who Follows True Nature), Daoist Priest of Dongming Abbey

Period

Tang

Dates

? — ?

School

Chongxuan (Twofold Mystery) School

Role

Daoist ScholarsRepresentative of the Chongxuan School

Birthplace

Baxi, Mianzhou (present-day Mianyang, Sichuan)

Life

Li Rong, an early Tang Daoist priest with the sobriquet Renzhenzi, a native of Mianzhou, is ranked together with Cheng Xuanying as one of the two great masters of Chongxuan learning. During the Xianqing and Longshuo eras of Emperor Gaozong's reign (656–663) he resided at Dongming Temple in Chang'an and was repeatedly summoned to take part in court debates between Buddhism and Daoism, engaging in fierce argument with the monks Huili and Yibao, among others — episodes recorded in Daoxuan's Ji Gujin Fodao Lunheng (集古今佛道论衡, Collected Debates between Buddhism and Daoism, Ancient and Modern). He also associated with literary figures such as Lu Zhaolin and Luo Binwang, and Lu Zhaolin presented him with a poem. He wrote the Laozi Zhu (老子注, Commentary on the Laozi, also called the Daode Zhenjing Zhu), of which fragments survive among the Dunhuang manuscripts and in the Daoist Canon; it interprets the Laozi through the twofold-negation principle of Chongxuan, while also discussing the Dao's substance as “utterly empty” and expounding theories of “conditioned causation” and “nature and destiny.” He also wrote a Commentary on the Xisheng jing (Scripture of Laozi's Western Ascension). Li Rong represents the tradition of Daoist doctrinal scholarship in early Tang Sichuan, and is a typical example of a Daoist priest active in court debate.

Contributions & Influence

• His Commentary on the Laozi is a representative work of Chongxuan learning
• Repeatedly took part in court debates between Buddhism and Daoism, representing the Daoist side of early Tang doctrinal scholarship

Works

• Wang Bi's Commentary on the Laozi
• Commentary on the Xisheng jing (lost, partially reconstructed)