Zhang Enpu张恩溥

Style & Daoist names

courtesy name Heqin, styled Ruiling, Sixty-third-generation Celestial Master

Period

Republican Era–Present

Dates

1904 — 1969

School

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism

Role

Celestial MasterLeader of Zhengyi DaoismChairman of the Taiwan Taoist Association

Birthplace

Guixi (present-day Guixi, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

Mount Longhu (Dragon and Tiger Mountain)

Life

Zhang Enpu, the sixty-third-generation Celestial Master of Longhushan, succeeded to the office in 1924. Although Zhengyi Daoism had already lost its official status during the Republican era, he continued to preside over the Mansion of the Celestial Masters and established organizations such as the Shanghai Zhengyi Daoist General Association. During the War of Resistance against Japan he moved between Jiangxi and Shanghai, and in 1949 relocated to Taiwan with the Nationalist government, making him the last Celestial Master to leave Longhushan. In Taiwan he founded the Taiwan Provincial Taoist Association (1950) and the Taoism Society of the Republic of China (1966), serving as chairman of both, and presided over the conferral of registers and ordinations, allowing the Celestial Master lineage to continue in Taiwan and promoting the organization of Taiwanese Daoism. He died in Taipei in 1969. After his death, the question of succession to the Celestial Mastership has been understood differently in Taiwan and on the mainland, resulting in a situation where Zhang Yuanxian and Zhang Daozhen (in Taiwan) and the descendants of the Celestial Master lineage on the mainland coexist as claimants.

Contributions & Influence

• The last Celestial Master of Longhushan before the relocation to Taiwan
• Founded Taoist associations in Taiwan, continuing the conferral of Zhengyi registers and the Celestial Master lineage
• Founded the Shanghai Zhengyi Daoist General Association during the Republican era, sustaining the organization of Zhengyi Daoism