Zhang Shangying张商英

Style & Daoist names

Tianjue, Layman Wujin

Period

Northern Song

Dates

1043 — 1121

Role

ChancellorLay PractitionerScholar of the Three Teachings

Birthplace

Xinjin, Shuzhou (present-day Xinjin, Sichuan)

Life

Zhang Shangying, styled Tianjue, with the sobriquet Wujin Jushi (Layman of the Boundless), was a Northern Song court official and scholar who was appointed chancellor in the fourth year of the Daguan era (1110) and dismissed the following year. Versed in all Three Teachings, he was known as a lay Buddhist (author of the Treatise in Defense of the Dharma, Hufa lun), but he also had a deep involvement with Daoism: he wrote commentaries on the Daodejing and the Nanhua jing (Zhuangzi), composed the three-scroll Liturgy of Hymns for the Three Caverns in the Golden Register Retreat and the Sequel to the Qingliang Chronicle, and worked to promote the construction and veneration of Daoism during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, such as by memorializing for the compilation of the Daoist canon and the building of the Taiyi Palace, and he had dealings with Daoist priests such as Liu Hunkang. In the early years of Huizong's reign he contended politically with Cai Jing, advocating frugality and opposing the Flower and Rock Convoys (Huashi Gang), making him a typical figure in the history of Daoism of the scholar-official who cultivated all Three Teachings. He died in the third year of the Xuanhe era (1121).

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote commentaries on the Laozi and Zhuangzi, composed the Liturgy of Hymns for the Three Caverns in the Golden Register Retreat, and took part in Daoist affairs at the court of Huizong
• A representative Northern Song scholar-official who harmonized the Three Teachings

Works

• Rite of Praise and Chant of the Three Caverns for the Golden Register Retreat
• Treatise in Defense of the Dharma
• Commentary on the Laozi (lost)