Xue Jichang薛季昌

Period

Tang

Dates

? — ?

School

Shangqing (Highest Clarity) School

Role

Daoist Priest of the Shangqing School

Birthplace

Unknown

Places of activity

Mount Heng (Hengshan, Southern Peak)

Life

Xue Jichang, a Tang-dynasty Shangqing Daoist priest and disciple of Sima Chengzhen. According to the Brief Record of Nanyue and the Comprehensive Anthology of Nanyue's Finest, after receiving the Shangqing scriptures and methods from Sima Chengzhen he retired to cultivate the Dao at Jiangzhen Temple on Mount Heng (Nanyue), transmitting his teaching to Tian Xuying, who transmitted it to Feng Weiliang, who transmitted it to Ying Yijie, thereby forming the "Nanyue" line of Shangqing transmission, running parallel to Li Hanguang's Maoshan line. Emperor Xuanzong once summoned him and wished to keep him at the capital, but he firmly declined and returned to the mountain. Xue Jichang was the key figure through whom the Shangqing scriptures and methods spread from Tiantai and Wangwu to Mount Heng (Nanyue), and the flourishing of Nanyue Daoism in the late Tang and Five Dynasties is closely tied to this line of transmission. Historical material on his life and dates is scarce. The Nanyue line, running alongside the Maoshan line, gave the Shangqing scriptures and methods several centers simultaneously in the Tang, preserving the transmission for the revival of southern Daoism in the late Tang and Five Dynasties.

Contributions & Influence

• Received the methods of Sima Chengzhen and opened the Nanyue (Mount Heng) line of transmission of the Shangqing School