Zhang Junfang张君房

Style & Daoist names

Yunfang, Yin Fang

Period

Northern Song

Dates

? — ?

Role

Compiler of the Daoist CanonOfficial

Birthplace

Anlu, Yuezhou (present-day Anlu, Hubei)

Life

Zhang Junfang, style name Yunfang (also given as Yinfang), was the compiler of the Northern Song Daoist Canon. He passed the jinshi examination in the second year of the Jingde era (1005), and held offices including Vice Director of the Ministry of Revenue and Collator at the Jixian Yuan. In the fifth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era (1012), Emperor Zhenzong ordered him to go to Yuhang to head the collation of the Daoist Canon; under the overall direction of Wang Qinruo, taking the Taiqing baoyun as a base, he gathered Daoist scriptures from Su, Yue, Tai, and other prefectures, and after several years completed the Da Song Tiangong baozang in 4,565 scrolls, presented to the throne in the third year of the Tianxi era (1019). Zhang Junfang further abridged its essentials into the 122-scroll Yunji qiqian, organized around the "seven sections" of the Three Caverns and Four Supplements, broadly gathering doctrine, ritual methods, techniques, and biographies; because the Tiangong baozang has since been lost, it has become the single most important source for understanding the Northern Song Daoist Canon and Tang–Song Daoism, and is known as the "Little Daozang." He also wrote miscellanies and tales such as the Chengyi ji, the Cuoshuo, and the Liqing ji. His dates of birth and death are unknown; he was active roughly during the reigns of Zhenzong and Renzong.

Contributions & Influence

• Headed the compilation of the Da Song Tiangong baozang
• Compiled the Yunji qiqian, a comprehensive collection of Northern Song Daoist texts known as the 'Little Daozang'

Works

• Seven Slips from the Bookbag of the Clouds (Yunji qiqian)
• Precious Canon of the Celestial Palace of the Great Song (lost)
• Chengyi Ji (lost)