Ye Jingneng叶静能

Period

Tang

Dates

? — 710

Role

Daoshi (Daoist Priest)practitioner of ritual arts

Birthplace

Kuocang, Kuozhou

Life

Ye Jingneng, a Daoist priest of the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, a native of Kuozhou, granduncle (some say uncle) of Ye Fashan. He won the favor of Zhongzong and Empress Wei through his talismanic and ritual methods, and during the Jinglong era served as Chancellor of the Directorate of Education, representing the participation of Daoist priests in politics under Empress Wu and Zhongzong. In the first year of Jingyun (710), when Li Longji and Princess Taiping staged a coup to eliminate Empress Wei, Ye Jingneng, as a member of the Wei faction, was killed. Among the Dunhuang transformation texts is the Poem of Ye Jingneng (also titled the Tale of Ye Jingneng), which portrays him as a master of Daoist arts able to slay demons, summon spirits, and travel to the Moon Palace; it is an important work of Tang–Five Dynasties popular Daoist narrative, and many of its episodes were later attached to Ye Fashan as well, so that the deeds of the two men are often conflated. The circulation of this "Ye Jingneng" story in the Dunhuang manuscripts also shows that the image of the court Daoist priest of the High Tang had already entered popular culture through storytelling and performance literature.

Contributions & Influence

• A typical example of a Daoist priest's participation in politics under Zhongzong
• The Dunhuang transformation text Poem of Ye Jingneng made him a representative figure of Tang popular Daoist narrative

Legends

The episodes recorded in the Dunhuang text Poem of Ye Jingneng — entering the Water Palace, slaying an old dragon, welcoming the Queen Mother of the West, and traveling to the Moon Palace — all belong to legend.