Zhang Heng (Second Celestial Master)张衡（嗣师）

Style & Daoist names

Lingzhen (courtesy name), Successor Master, Successor Celestial Master

Period

Eastern Han

Dates

? — 179

School

Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi Dao)

Role

Second-generation Celestial Master

Birthplace

Feng, Pei Kingdom

Places of activity

Mount Heming (Crane-Call Mountain)

Life

Zhang Heng, courtesy name Lingzhen, was the son of Zhang Ling and the second-generation leader of the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, honored by Daoism as the "Successor Master" (Sishi) or "Second Celestial Master." He shares his name with, but is not the same person as, the Eastern Han scientist Zhang Heng. The "Biography of Zhang Lu" in the Records of the Three Kingdoms says only, "When Ling died, his son Heng carried on his Way. When Heng died, [Zhang] Lu carried it on again," giving very little detail of his life. Daoist scriptures say that he inherited his father's Way, faithfully upholding the methods of the Covenant with the Powers, and had no desire for glory or gain; he ascended to immortality at Mount Yangping (some say Mount Heming) in the second year of the Guanghe era (179), and on his deathbed instructed his son Zhang Lu to "strive to carry on the ancestral teaching." His wife, of the Lu clan (some say her given name was also Lu), maintained contact with Liu Yan, Governor of Yizhou, after Zhang Heng's death, creating the political opportunity that Zhang Lu would later seize. In the history of the Way of the Celestial Masters, Zhang Heng's main role was as a link between his father and his son; from the Tang and Song he was posthumously honored with titles such as "Perfected Lord of Orthodox Unity, Successor Master, Great Clarity, Manifester of the Teaching and Wondrous Way."

Contributions & Influence

• Inherited Zhang Ling's Way, sustaining the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice community through its founding period

Legends

According to legend, he received his father's sword and seal and the Register of Merit (dugong lu), and ascended to immortality after his transformation.