Pan Shizheng潘师正

Style & Daoist names

Zizhen, Tixuan Xiansheng (Master who Embodies the Mystery)

Period

Tang

Dates

585 — 682

School

Shangqing (Highest Clarity) School

Role

Shangqing Patriarch

Birthplace

Zongcheng, Beizhou (present-day Weixian, Hebei)

Places of activity

Mount Song (Songshan), Mount Mao (Maoshan)

Life

Pan Shizheng, style name Zizhen, was the eleventh patriarch of the Tang-dynasty Maoshan Shangqing School. Orphaned of his father in youth, he entered the Daoist order in reclusion, studying under Wang Yuanzhi and receiving the Shangqing scriptural methods and the esoteric instructions and talismans of the Three Caverns; he later lived for over twenty years in the Xiaoyao Valley of Mount Song, “subsisting only on pine needles and spring water.” Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu Zetian repeatedly visited Mount Song to receive him in audience and ask what he required, to which he replied, “Lush pines and clear springs are all I need, and there is no lack of them here.” Gaozong ordered the construction of Chongtang Temple in Xiaoyao Valley by imperial decree, and also built Fengtian Palace on the ridge above, cutting the “Gate of Immortal Wandering” and the “Gate of Seeking Perfection.” He died in the first year of the Yongchun era (682) at the age of ninety-eight, and was posthumously granted the title Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and the posthumous name “Master Tixuan.” Pan Shizheng carried the Maoshan Shangqing tradition north to Mount Song; his disciples included Sima Chengzhen, Wei Fazhao, and Guo Chongzhen, making him a pivotal figure in the flourishing of the Shangqing School during the Tang.

Contributions & Influence

• Inherited the teaching of Wang Yuanzhi and transmitted it to Sima Chengzhen, a core link in the Tang-dynasty lineage of the Shangqing School
• Established a northern base for the spread of the Shangqing School at Mount Song, receiving the veneration of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian

Works

• Sequence of the Transmission of Daoist Scriptures and Methods (based on his recorded dialogue with Emperor Gaozong)

Legends

Legend holds that his mother conceived after dreaming a white crane entered her bosom, and that immortal cranes gathered at his residence.