Emperor Wu of Liang梁武帝

Style & Daoist names

Xiao Yan, Emperor Gaozu of Liang

Period

Liang of the Southern Dynasties

Dates

464 — 549

Role

Daoism-Venerating EmperorsBuddhist-venerating emperor

Birthplace

Nanlanling (around present-day Changzhou, Jiangsu)

Places of activity

Mount Mao (Maoshan)

Life

Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, had a complex relationship with Daoism, moving from belief to renunciation, yet never entirely severing his ties. In his early years he favored Daoism, but in the third year of the Tianjian era (504) issued the 'Edict Renouncing the Practices of Li Lao (Laozi)' (Sheshi Lilao Daofa Zhao), announcing that he was abandoning Daoism for Buddhism; thereafter he vigorously patronized Buddhism and four times offered himself in service at Tongtai Temple, making him the representative figure of Buddhist devotion in the Southern dynasties. Yet his personal friendship with the Shangqing master Tao Hongjing ran throughout his life. According to the 'Biography of Tao Hongjing' in the Liang Shu, Xiao Yan had already been in contact with Tao Hongjing before taking the throne — Emperor Wu of Liang associated with him early on — and after his accession he repeatedly extended invitations to office, but Tao Hongjing firmly refused to serve, retiring instead to Maoshan; the emperor consulted him beforehand on every matter of state auspiciousness, ill omen, or military campaign, exchanging several letters a month, so that people of the time called him the Chancellor within the Mountains. The emperor also funded Tao Hongjing's alchemical work, sending envoys to supply gold, cinnabar, malachite, and realgar, and the flying elixir that Tao Hongjing refined was at one point presented to the throne. The story of the Chancellor within the Mountains became the most famous paradigm in the history of Chinese church-state relations for the recluse-and-emperor relationship. Although Emperor Wu's reign made Buddhism the state religion, during this period the Maoshan Shangqing School completed the compilation of its scriptures and the building of its religious community, and Daoism's standing among the aristocratic clans of Jiangnan remained unshaken — an important case for understanding the configuration of Buddhism and Daoism in the Southern dynasties.

Contributions & Influence

• Maintained a lifelong friendship with Tao Hongjing, creating the paradigm of the Chancellor within the Mountains in church-state relations
• Funded Tao Hongjing's alchemical work at Maoshan and supplied him with materials, indirectly advancing the development of external alchemy in the Southern dynasties
• Though he renounced Daoism for Buddhism, continued in practice to support the Maoshan Shangqing School
• His court's shifting balance between Buddhism and Daoism is a key case for the study of religious policy in the Southern dynasties

Legends

Records that the elixirs Tao Hongjing refined were colored like frost and snow, and made the body light when consumed come from the Liang Shu and Daoist biographies, and carry religious embellishment.