Xu Xun许逊

Style & Daoist names

Jingzhi (courtesy name), Perfected Lord Xu, Xu Jingyang, Magistrate of Jingyang, Perfected Lord of Divine Merit and Wondrous Salvation

Period

Western Jin

Dates

239 — 374

School

Jingming (Pure and Bright) Daoism

Role

Patriarch of Jingming DaoismOfficial

Birthplace

Nanchang, Yuzhang (present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

Wanshou Palace of Xishan (Yulong Wanshou Palace)

Life

Xu Xun, style name Jingzhi, was a native of Nanchang in Yuzhang under the Western Jin, the founding patriarch venerated by Jingming Loyalty and Filial Piety Daoism, known to the world as 'Perfected Lord Xu' and 'Xu of Jingyang.' According to Daoist texts, he was born in the second year of Chiwu of Wu (239), studied the Dao under Wu Meng in his youth, and in the first year of Taikang of Jin (280) was recommended for filial piety and incorruptibility and appointed magistrate of Jingyang in Shu commandery, where he governed with integrity, using talismans and incantations to treat illness during a famine and remitting taxes to benefit the people; foreseeing the coming turmoil of the Jin court, he resigned his office and returned east, cultivating the Dao at Xishan in Nanchang, where tradition holds he subdued a flood dragon and controlled flooding. On the first day of the eighth month of the second year of Ningkang of the Eastern Jin (374), 'his entire household of forty-two members ascended to Heaven together with their house, accompanied by their chickens and dogs,' at the age of one hundred and thirty-six. All of the above dates and deeds derive from Daoist texts and local traditions from the Tang and Song onward, and are not recorded in the official histories. From the Southern Dynasties onward, Xishan in Nanchang has had a shrine to Xu Xun and the Youwei Abbey; Emperor Zhenzong of Song renamed it the Yulong Gong, and Emperor Huizong granted it the title 'Perfected Lord of Sacred Merit and Wondrous Salvation,' adding the name Yulong Wanshou Palace. In the Southern Song, He Zhengong, and in the Yuan, Liu Yu, promoted 'Jingming Loyalty and Filial Piety Daoism,' taking Xu Xun as its patriarch, and it became the most influential Daoist tradition in Jiangxi.

Contributions & Influence

• Venerated as the patriarch of Jingming Loyalty and Filial Piety Daoism
• The cult of the Wanshou Palace of Xishan and the veneration of 'Perfected Lord Xu' spread across Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other regions
• His image of loyalty, filial piety, aiding the people and controlling floods became a symbol of Daoist ethicization

Works

• Master of the Numinous Sword (attributed)
• Most High Lingbao Register of the Jingming Teaching (Jingming Daoist scripture, attributed to him)

Legends

Tradition holds that he chained a flood dragon with an iron pillar, turned stone into gold, and ascended to Heaven with his entire household; the saying 'when one person attains the Dao, even the chickens and dogs ascend to Heaven' is often associated with him. All of these are legendary.