Emperor Gaozu of Tang唐高祖

Style & Daoist names

Li Yuan, Emperor Shenyao of Tang

Period

Tang

Dates

566 — 635

School

Louguan School

Role

Daoism-Venerating Emperors

Birthplace

Chang'an

Places of activity

Louguantai (Louguan Terrace)

Life

Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, established the state policy of "Daoism first, Buddhism after" that held throughout the Tang, and marks the starting point of Daoism's attainment of the highest political standing in China. When the house of Li Tang raised its army, Louguan Daoist priests such as Qi Hui (also named Pingding) aided them with grain and proclaimed that "the way of Heaven is about to change," building momentum for their cause. In the third year of the Wude era (620) Ji Shanxing of Jinzhou reported that at Yangjiao Mountain (present-day Fushan, Shanxi) he had seen a white-robed old man who said of himself, "I am your ancestor; tell the Tang Son of Heaven for me that my children and grandchildren shall have a thousand years of peace under Heaven." Gaozu thereupon declared Laozi, Li Er, the ancestor of the house of Li Tang, built the Qingtang Guan (also called Xingtang Guan) at that place, and posthumously honoured Laozi. In the eighth year of the Wude era (625) Gaozu attended the shidian sacrificial rite at the Imperial Academy in person and formally fixed the order of the Three Teachings as "Laozi first, Confucius next, Buddhism last," with Buddhism at the bottom; although this order was reversed more than once in the course of the Tang, the principle of Daoism first was on the whole upheld by successive emperors. He also enlarged Louguan in the Zhongnan Mountains (renaming it Zongsheng Guan) and granted it lands and an imperial name-plaque, making the Louguan School the most honoured Daoist lineage of the early Tang. The house of Li Tang's veneration of Laozi as ancestor gave Daoism a legitimacy of the ancestral-temple kind, and led directly to a series of measures toward its establishment as state religion, including Gaozong's honouring of Laozi as "Supreme Mysterious and Primordial Emperor" in the first year of the Shangyuan era (674) and Xuanzong's institution of the Chongxuan xue (School for the Veneration of the Mystery) and the Daoist examinations.

Contributions & Influence

• Venerated Laozi, Li Er, as the ancestor of the house of Li Tang, laying the foundation for the establishment of Daoism as state religion under the Tang
• Fixed the order of the Three Teachings in the eighth year of the Wude era as Daoism first, Confucianism next, Buddhism last
• Enlarged Louguan in the Zhongnan Mountains and renamed it Zongsheng Guan, patronizing the Louguan School
• Built the Qingtang Guan at Yangjiao Mountain, forming a state narrative of the manifestation of Lord Lao

Legends

The manifestation of Lord Lao at Yangjiao Mountain and his declaration that his children and grandchildren would have a thousand years of peace under Heaven, together with the Louguan priests' prophecy of the rise of the Tang, belong to the religious narrative constructed in the early Tang to establish the dynasty's legitimacy.