Zhang Guoxiang张国祥

Style & Daoist names

Style name Wenzheng, Styled Xinzhan, Fiftieth-generation Celestial Master, Great Perfected Person Who Continues the Zhengyi Teaching, Concentrates Sincerity, Aspires to the Dao, Elucidates the Mystery and Broadens the Teaching

Period

Ming

Dates

? — 1611

School

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism

Role

Celestial MasterCompiler of the Daoist Canon

Birthplace

Xinzhou Guixi (present-day Guixi, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

Mount Longhu (Dragon and Tiger Mountain)

Life

Zhang Guoxiang, the fiftieth-generation Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, headed the order during the Longqing and Wanli eras. In the thirty-fifth year of Wanli (1607), by order of Emperor Shenzong, he continued the compilation of the Daoist Canon, producing the one-hundred-eighty-scroll Supplementary Daoist Canon of the Wanli Era, which collected texts omitted from the Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era as well as Daoist works newly produced during the Ming; together with the Zhengtong Canon, this forms the 5,485-scroll Daoist Canon transmitted today. He also directed the compilation of a continuation of the Genealogy of the Han Celestial Masters, and wrote the Huangming enming shilu (皇明恩命世录, Records through the Generations of Imperial Grace and Mandates of the August Ming), recording the imperial favors and edicts granted to the Celestial Masters through successive Ming reigns — an important source for the study of the relationship between Zhengyi Daoism and the court under the Ming. He died in 1611. His work of compilation allowed Ming-dynasty Daoist texts to be systematically gathered; the new Ming scriptures, ritual texts, and morality books collected in the Supplementary Daoist Canon of the Wanli Era, beyond the Corpus of Daoist Ritual, are an important source for the study of Ming-dynasty Daoism.

Contributions & Influence

• Compiled the Supplementary Daoist Canon of the Wanli Era, completing the full Ming-dynasty Daoist Canon
• Wrote the Huangming enming shilu, preserving historical sources on Ming-dynasty Daoism
• Continued the Genealogy of the Han Celestial Masters, setting out the succession of the Celestial Masters

Works

• Supplementary Daoist Canon of the Wanli Era (chief editor)
• Record of Imperial Grace and Mandates of the August Ming
• Genealogy of the Han Celestial Masters (continuation)