Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei魏太武帝

Style & Daoist names

Tuoba Tao, Emperor Shizu of Northern Wei

Period

Northern Wei

Dates

408 — 452

School

Northern Celestial Masters

Role

Daoism-Venerating Emperors

Birthplace

Pingcheng (present-day Datong, Shanxi)

Life

Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, Tuoba Tao (r. 423–452), was the first emperor in Chinese history to make Daoism the state religion. In the first year of the Shiguang era (424), Kou Qianzhi, a Daoist priest of Mount Song, brought his Yunzhong Yinsong Xinke zhi Jie, which called for purifying and reforming Daoism and abolishing the false practices of the Three Zhangs, to Pingcheng; strongly recommended by Cui Hao, Minister of Education, he gained the emperor's trust, and Emperor Taiwu had a Celestial Master's ritual precinct (a five-tiered altar) built for him southeast of Pingcheng, where one hundred and twenty Daoist priests were supported and purification and offering rites performed. In the sixth year of the Taiyan era (440), Kou Qianzhi declared that Li Puwen, a distant descendant of Taishang Laojun, had conferred a mandate stating that the realm should be governed under the title Perfect Lord of Great Peace, whereupon Emperor Taiwu changed the reign title to Taiping Zhenjun. In the third year of the Taiping Zhenjun era (442), Emperor Taiwu personally went to the Daoist altar to receive registers, with his ceremonial carriage and all his banners in blue; thereafter it became fixed practice for successive Northern Wei emperors to receive Daoist registers upon accession — the highest point at which the institutionalization of Daoism entered the very core of state power. On the other hand, at Cui Hao's urging, in the seventh year of the Taiping Zhenjun era (446) Emperor Taiwu issued an edict to destroy Buddhism, burying monks alive and destroying scriptures and images — the first of the Three Wu and One Zong persecutions of Buddhism; Kou Qianzhi himself is said to have remonstrated against it without success. In his later years Emperor Taiwu was assassinated by the eunuch Zong Ai; afterward Emperor Wencheng restored Buddhism, the Northern Wei state's religious orientation shifted back toward Buddhism, and the power of the Northern Celestial Masters correspondingly declined.

Contributions & Influence

• Supported the Northern Celestial Masters as reformed by Kou Qianzhi, making it the state religion
• Changed the reign title to Taiping Zhenjun and personally went to the Daoist altar to receive registers, establishing the practice of emperors receiving registers upon accession
• Built the Celestial Master's ritual precinct at Pingcheng and supported its Daoist priests, establishing the official organizational form of Daoism
• Issued the edict of 446 to destroy Buddhism, the first of the Three Wu and One Zong persecutions (a major historical controversy)

Legends

Kou Qianzhi's claims that Taishang Laojun and his distant descendant Li Puwen descended to confer a mandate and to assist the northern Perfect Lord of Great Peace belong to religious narrative rather than historical fact.