Zhang Jixian张继先

Style & Daoist names

Jiawen, Daozheng (Rectifier of the Dao), Xiaoranzi, Master Xujing, Celestial Master Xujing, Thirtieth-generation Celestial Master

Period

Northern Song

Dates

1092 — 1127

School

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism, Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi Dao)

Role

The Thirtieth-generation Celestial MasterMaster of Thunder Rites

Birthplace

Xinzhou Guixi (present-day Guixi, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

Mount Longhu (Dragon and Tiger Mountain)

Life

Zhang Jixian, styled Jiawen (also styled Daozheng), sobriquet Xiaoranzi, was the thirtieth Celestial Master of Longhushan and one of the most famous Celestial Masters in the history of Zhengyi Daoism. He succeeded to the office of Celestial Master at the age of nine, and in the third year of the Chongning era (1104), at thirteen, was received in audience by Huizong; his answer to the emperor's questions — including the remark that though his family dwelled at Longhushan (Dragon and Tiger Mountain), he had never seen a tiger — pleased the emperor, who granted him the title 'Master of Empty Serenity,' ordered the reconstruction of Shangqing Zhengyi Palace at Longhushan by imperial decree, bestowed land upon it, and posthumously enfeoffed Zhang Daoling as 'Perfected Lord of Orthodox Unity, Tranquil in Response' — through this the title of Celestial Master was formally established at court. Legend holds that he once beheaded a flood dragon at the Xiezhou salt lake, and the story of Guan Yu's enfeoffment is also attached to this episode. He was well versed in Thunder Rites, fusing internal alchemy with talismanic ritual, and held that 'the mind is the Dao' and 'Thunder Rites are the method of the mind.' He wrote the Mingzhen Powang Zhangsong, the Dadao Ge, and the Xin Shuo, among other works, and the seven-fascicle Xujing Zhenjun Yulu also survives, exerting considerable influence on later Zhengyi Daoism and on the Thunder Rites of the Qingwei and Shenxiao schools. During the Jingkang catastrophe he answered a summons to the court, and died en route at Sizhou at the age of thirty-six. In the Yuan dynasty he was posthumously canonized as 'Perfected Lord Xujing, Mysterious Comprehension, Vast Awakening.'

Contributions & Influence

• Received the favor of Huizong, formally confirming the standing of the Longhushan Celestial Masters at court
• Interpreted Thunder Rites through the internal-alchemy method of the mind, writing the Mingzhen Powang Zhangsong and other works
• One of the most influential Celestial Masters of Zhengyi Daoism

Works

• Recorded Sayings of the Perfected Lord Xujing
• Verses on Illuminating the Truth and Breaking Falsehood
• Song of the Great Dao
• Discourse on the Mind

Legends

Legend holds that he beheaded a flood dragon at the Xiezhou salt lake, summoned the manifestation of the god Guan Yu in the palace hall, and foreknew the Jingkang catastrophe — this is legendary material.