Lu Xiujing陆修静

Style & Daoist names

Yuande, Jianji Xiansheng (Master of Serene Simplicity), Danyuan Zhenren (Perfected of the Cinnabar Origin)

Period

Liu Song

Dates

406 — 477

School

Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) School, Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi Dao)

Role

Reformer of the Southern Celestial MastersCompiler of the Daoist CanonRitual Master

Birthplace

Dongqian, Wuxing (present-day Huzhou, Zhejiang)

Places of activity

Mount Lu (Daoist heritage), Mount Mao (Maoshan)

Life

Lu Xiujing, styled Yuande, was a celebrated Daoist priest of the Liu Song in the Southern Dynasties, a native of Dongqian, Wuxing, and a descendant of Lu Kai, chancellor of Wu during the Three Kingdoms. In his youth he studied Confucianism, but later left his family to cultivate the Dao, traveling widely through famous mountains to seek out and collect Daoist scriptures. Toward the end of the Yuanjia era (c. 453) he sold medicines in Jiankang, and Emperor Wen of Song, hearing of his reputation, summoned him for an audience; he later fled south to avoid the turmoil of the Taichu era, and in the fifth year of the Daming era (461) withdrew to the Jianji Temple on Mount Lu. In the third year of the Taishi era (467) Emperor Ming of Song welcomed him to Jiankang and built the Chongxu Belvedere in the northern suburbs for him, where he gathered Daoist scriptures widely and "brought together the Three Caverns"; in the seventh year of the Taishi era (471) he completed the Catalogue of the Scriptures of the Three Caverns, recording 1,228 juan of Daoist scriptures — the first comprehensive catalogue of scriptures in the history of Daoism, and the source of the "Three Caverns" classification that would later underlie the structure of the Daozang. He also reorganized the Celestial Masters institution, established zhai-jie ritual norms, and compiled more than a hundred juan of ritual texts such as the Lingbao Shoudu Yi and the Taishang Dongxuan Lingbao Zhongjianwen, bringing the Daoist zhai-jiao system to a state of relative completeness. He died in the fifth year of the Yuanhui era (477), and was posthumously titled "Master Jianji"; the Northern Song later canonized him as "Perfected Danyuan." Paired with Kou Qianzhi as the northern and southern counterparts of Daoist reform, he was the central figure in the reorganization and institutionalization of Daoism in the Southern Dynasties.

Contributions & Influence

• Compiled the Catalogue of the Scriptures of the Three Caverns, creating the "Three Caverns" classification, the ancestor of the Daozang
• Reorganized the Celestial Masters tradition in the south, establishing systems such as household registration and the registration of Daoist citizens
• Systematically organized the Lingbao scriptures and established zhai-jiao ritual protocols, and is venerated as patriarch of the Lingbao school
• Wrote the Lu Xiansheng Daomen Kelüe and other works, standardizing Daoist organization and precepts

Works

• Catalogue of the Scriptures of the Three Caverns
• Lingbao Rites of Retreat and Precepts (Lu Xiujing's Liturgies)
• Lingbao Rites of Retreat and Precepts (Lu Xiujing's Liturgies)
• Lingbao Rites of Retreat and Precepts (Lu Xiujing's Liturgies)
• Lingbao Shoudu Yi (Lingbao Rite of Transmission and Conferral)
• Lingbao Rites of Retreat and Precepts (Lu Xiujing's Liturgies)

Legends

The legend of the "Three Laughs at Tiger Brook," which holds that Lu Xiujing met with Tao Yuanming and Huiyuan on Mount Lu, is a later fabrication, since the three men's lifetimes do not overlap.