Shao Yizheng邵以正

Style & Daoist names

Style name Zhizhi (one account), Styled Chengkang Zi, and Daoist of Utter Stillness (Zhizhi Daoren), Perfected Who Wondrously Awakens to Stillness and Emptiness and Broadly Aids

Period

Ming

Dates

? — 1462

School

Qingwei (Pure Tenuity) School, Jingming (Pure and Bright) Daoism

Role

Daoist LeaderCompiler of the Daoist Canon

Birthplace

Kunming, Yunnan (ancestral home Suzhou)

Life

Shao Yizheng, sobriquet Chengkangzi, was a native of Kunming, Yunnan, a disciple of Liu Yuanran, and the leading Daoist figure at the early Ming court. During the Xuande reign he followed his teacher to the capital and took charge of Chaotian Palace; during the Zhengtong reign he was commissioned by Emperor Yingzong to oversee the compilation and printing of the Daoist Canon, completing, in the ninth year of the Zhengtong reign (1444), the 5,305-fascicle Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era, which was bestowed on temples throughout the empire — this forms the main body of the Canon that survives today. During the Jingtai era he was further granted the title "Perfected of Wondrous Awakening and the Placid Vacuity, Broadly Aiding," and given charge of Daoist affairs throughout the empire. He died in the sixth year of the Tianshun reign (1462). Shao Yizheng's principal contribution lay in completing the final compilation and promulgation of the Daoist Canon, making a decisive contribution to the preservation of Daoist texts. After the printing of the Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era, temples designated by imperial decree in various places were able to hold the complete set, and Daoist texts have circulated stably down to the present as a result; his work marks one of the pivotal moments in the preservation of Daoist textual heritage.

Contributions & Influence

• Directed the overall compilation of the Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era and presided over its printing
• Succeeded Liu Yuanran in charge of Daoist affairs throughout the empire
• Granted the title of Perfected, representing the highest standing attained by a Yunnan Daoist at the Ming court

Works

• Zhengtong Daozang (chief collator)