Ma Shu马枢

Style & Daoist names

History and Biography

Period

Liang and Chen

Dates

522 — 581

Role

Historian of DaoismRecluse

Birthplace

Mei, Fufeng (present-day Meixian, Shaanxi)

Life

Ma Shu, style name Yaoli, was a scholar and recluse active at the Liang–Chen juncture, broadly learned and skilled in writing, especially versed in Laozi and Zhuangzi. Xiao Lun, Prince of Shaoling under the Liang, appointed him a scholar-in-attendance; he later withdrew into reclusion at Maoshan, and though repeatedly summoned by the Chen court he never accepted office, dying in the thirteenth year of Taijian (581). He wrote the twenty-juan Daoxue Zhuan (Biographies of Students of the Dao), one of the earliest general collections of Daoist priests' biographies, recording the deeds of Daoist priests from the Jin and Song onward; although the work has been lost, it is extensively cited in works such as the Taiping Yulan and the Pearl Satchel of the Three Caverns, and Chen Guofu and others have compiled its fragments, making it a key historical source for the study of Six Dynasties Daoist history. He also wrote a Daojue Lun (Treatise on Awakening to the Dao). His biography in the Book of Chen states that 'from youth he loved learning and was versed in everything,' and that after retiring into reclusion he 'lived in quiet, lecturing on the Dao, and associated with Daoist priests'; his orientation, valuing both historiography and Daoist learning equally, gave the Daoxue Zhuan both the form of historical biography and a religious standpoint.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote the Daoxue Zhuan, an important general collection of Daoist priests' biographies from the Six Dynasties

Works

• Daoxue Zhuan (Biographies of Daoist Scholars, reconstructed from fragments)
• Daojue Lun (Treatise on Awakening to the Dao, lost)