Sa Shoujian萨守坚

Style & Daoist names

Perfected Man Sa, Sa, Wayfarer of Fenyang, Perfected Lord Chong'en, Perfected Lord Sa, Supreme of the Prime Unity

Period

Northern Song and Southern Song

Dates

? — ?

School

Shenxiao (Divine Empyrean) School

Role

Grand Master of Thunder RitesShenxiao (Divine Empyrean) School

Birthplace

Xihe, Shu (present-day Sichuan; one account gives Fenyang)

Places of activity

Mount Longhu (Dragon and Tiger Mountain)

Life

Sa Shoujian, sobriquet 'Guest of Fenyang,' was a renowned Daoist priest of the Song dynasty, later venerated as 'Perfected Man Sa' or 'Patriarch Sa,' and is counted together with Zhang Daoling, Ge Xuan, and Xu Xun among the 'Four Great Celestial Masters' (in some accounts Sa Shoujian replaces Ge Xuan or Xu Xun in this group). According to the Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian Xubian and other sources, he was a native of Xihe in Shu (also given as Fenyang, Shanxi); he first studied medicine, but abandoned it for the Dao after a fatal misprescription, and encountered three Daoist priests (later identified as Zhang Jixian, Lin Lingsu, and Wang Wenqing) who transmitted to him the art of charmed jujubes, Thunder Rites, and methods for dispelling illness with a fan; he thereafter traveled widely spreading the Dao, using Thunder Rites to help the world. Legend holds that Wang E, the City God of Xiangyin (later the deity Wang Lingguan), refused to submit to him and followed him for twelve years watching for a fault, but found none, and so submitted and became his subordinate general, becoming the Daoist protector-deity Wang Lingguan — the origin of the present-day cult of Lingguan in the Lingguan Hall of Daoist temples. His dates of birth and death are unknown; he is generally held to have been active in the late Northern and early Southern Song. His transmitted teaching is called the 'Sa Patriarch Branch' (Xihe Lineage), and he wrote the Lei Shuo, the Neitiangang Juefa, and the Xu Fengyu Leidian Shuo, among other works, collected in the Daofa Huiyuan. In the Ming dynasty he was posthumously canonized as 'Perfected Lord Chong'en.'

Contributions & Influence

• Used Thunder Rites to help the world, an important transmitter of Shenxiao Thunder Rites
• Combined with the cult of Wang Lingguan, becoming one of Daoism's Four Great Celestial Masters
• Founded the Xihe (Sa Patriarch) Lineage

Works

• Discourse on Thunder
• Method of the Inner Celestial Handle Formula (Neitiangang)
• Continued Discourse on Wind, Rain, Thunder and Lightning

Legends

Legend holds that he cured illness with charmed jujubes, burned temples with thunder-fire, and subdued Wang E (Wang Lingguan) — this is legendary material.