Sun En孙恩

Style & Daoist names

Lingxiu (courtesy name)

Period

Eastern Jin

Dates

? — 402

School

Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi Dao)

Role

Leader of the Way of the Celestial MastersRebellion Leader

Birthplace

Langya (present-day Shandong)

Life

Sun En, styled Lingxiu, was a native of Langya in the Eastern Jin who "for generations followed the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice"; his uncle Sun Tai had studied under Du Zigong of Qiantang, using magical arts to attract a following, and was put to death by Sima Daozi. Sun En fled to an island in the sea, and in the third year of the Long'an era (399), taking advantage of internal turmoil in the Jin court, rose in rebellion, capturing Kuaiji and killing its Interior Minister, Wang Ningzhi; eight commanderies rose in response, and his followers numbered in the hundreds of thousands; he styled himself "General Who Conquers the East," and his followers were called "the People of Long Life." He harried eastern Zhejiang for years on end, fighting fiercely against Liu Laozhi, Liu Yu, and others, repeatedly defeated and repeatedly rising again; in the first year of the Yuanxing era (402) he suffered a setback attacking Linhai and drowned himself in the sea; his followers called him a "Water Immortal," and over a hundred of them followed him into the water. His remaining forces were led by his brother-in-law Lu Xun. The rebellion of Sun En was the largest Daoist uprising since the Yellow Turbans, reflecting the tensions between the lower-class followers of the Celestial Masters and the Eastern Jin gentry, and it also helped bring about the rise of Liu Yu — a major event in both the history of Daoism and the political history of the period.

Contributions & Influence

• Led the Celestial Masters uprising at the end of the Eastern Jin, dealing severe damage to the Eastern Jin regime

Legends

After he drowned himself in the sea, his followers said he had become a "Water Immortal"; this belongs to believers' legend.