Lin Lingsu林灵素

Style & Daoist names

Lin Ling'e, Master Tongzhen Daling, Feathered Guest of the Golden Gate, Attendant of the Dawn at the Chonghe Hall

Period

Northern Song

Dates

1076 — 1120

School

Shenxiao (Divine Empyrean) School

Role

Founder of the Shenxiao SchoolCourt Daoists

Birthplace

Yongjia, Wenzhou (present-day Wenzhou, Zhejiang)

Life

Lin Lingsu, originally named Ling'e, was a Daoist priest under Emperor Huizong of Song, a native of Wenzhou, and the actual founder of the Shenxiao School. In his youth he was a Buddhist monk, later becoming a Daoist priest, and traveled widely, skilled in wondrous illusions. In the fifth year of the Zhenghe era (1115) he was introduced by Xu Zhichang and received in audience by Huizong; claiming to communicate with Shenxiao, he declared that Huizong was the Sovereign of Long Life who had descended from the Jade Clarity King of Shenxiao, that Cai Jing was the Immortal Earl of the Left Primordial, and that he himself was the incarnation of the Shenxiao Palace's Immortal Minister Chu Hui; he thereby won imperial favor, was granted the title 'Master Who Comprehends Truth and Attains the Numinous,' given the additional title 'Feathered Guest of the Golden Gate,' and had the Tongzhen Palace built for his residence. He urged Huizong to establish Shenxiao Yuqing Wanshou Palaces throughout the empire, to take the title 'Sovereign Ruler and Lord of the Dao, Head of the Teaching,' and to have Buddhism rename its clergy — monks were renamed 'virtuous scholars' (deshi) — and lectured on scripture at Baolu Palace before audiences of several thousand, wielding power that overshadowed the court. In the first year of the Xuanhe era (1119) a great flood struck the capital, and Lin Lingsu's rites to avert the disaster proved ineffective; having also come into conflict with the crown prince over precedence, he was dismissed and sent back to Wenzhou, where he died in the second year of the Xuanhe era (1120). The Shenxiao School took the Gaoshang Shenxiao Yuqing Zhenwang Zishu Dafa as its scripture and fused it with Thunder Rites, making it representative of the new talismanic Daoist lineages of the Song dynasty.

Contributions & Influence

• Founded the Shenxiao School and drove the formation of its Shenxiao Thunder Rite system
• Prompted Huizong to proclaim himself Sovereign Ruler and Lord of the Dao and to establish Shenxiao temples throughout the empire
• Drove the reform of Buddhism and the state institutionalization of Daoism during the Zhenghe era

Works

• Great Rites of the Purple Script of the Perfected King of Yuqing Shenxiao (related, pseudonymous attribution)
• Shenxiao Thunder Scriptures (related)

Legends

Legend holds that he could summon thunder and rain, see ghosts and spirits, and subdue monks in contests of power at court — this is legendary material.