Wang Yuanzhi王远知

Style & Daoist names

Deguang, Shengzhen Xiansheng (Master of Ascending to Perfection), Shengxuan Xiansheng (Master of Ascending to the Mystery)

Period

Chen, Sui and Tang

Dates

528 — 635

School

Shangqing (Highest Clarity) School

Role

Shangqing Patriarch

Birthplace

Linyi, Langya (resided in Yangzhou)

Places of activity

Mount Mao (Maoshan)

Life

Wang Yuanzhi, style name Deguang, was a Daoist priest active across the Chen, Sui, and Tang dynasties, the tenth patriarch of the Shangqing School. His father, Wang Tanxuan, served as Governor of Yangzhou under the Chen. According to the “Biographies of Recluses” in the Old Book of Tang, in his youth he studied under Zang Jin and received the Shangqing scriptural methods of Tao Hongjing's lineage; he was received in audience by Emperor Xuan of Chen. When the future Emperor Yang of Sui was still Prince of Jin, he personally observed a disciple's etiquette toward Wang Yuanzhi, and after ascending the throne built the Yuqing Xuantan (玉清玄坛, Mysterious Altar of Jade Clarity) in Luoyang for him to reside in. At the end of the Sui, he secretly informed Li Yuan of a “talisman mandate” foretelling his rise, and after the founding of the Tang he prophesied to Prince Qin, Li Shimin, that he would become the “Son of Heaven of Great Peace.” During the Wude reign he returned to Maoshan, where by imperial decree the Taishou Guan (later renamed Taiping Guan) was built for him; Emperor Gaozong posthumously conferred on him the title Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and the posthumous name “Master Shengzhen,” and Empress Wu Zetian further conferred the posthumous name “Master Shengxuan.” He died in the ninth year of the Zhenguan era (635) at the age of one hundred and twenty-six (as recorded in the histories, though this figure may be exaggerated). Wang Yuanzhi established a close relationship between the Maoshan Shangqing School and the Tang imperial house, and his successors Pan Shizheng, Sima Chengzhen, and Li Hanguang carried on his teaching, bringing about the flourishing of the Maoshan Lineage in the Tang dynasty.

Contributions & Influence

• Received honors from the Chen, Sui, and Tang courts in succession as patriarch of the Maoshan Shangqing School, laying the foundation for the relationship between the Tang Maoshan Lineage and the imperial house
• Transmitted the teaching to Pan Shizheng, marking the beginning of the Tang-dynasty Shangqing lineage

Works

• Yizong (General Discussion of the Book of Changes, lost)

Legends

Legend holds that his mother conceived after dreaming that a numinous phoenix alighted upon her; and that at the time of his “release” (liberation from the corpse), he told his disciples that he had been summoned to become “Earl of Shaoshi.”