Zhang Yuchu张宇初

Style & Daoist names

Style name Zixuan, Styled Qishan, Forty-third-generation Celestial Master, Great Perfected Person Who Continues the Zhengyi Teaching, Whose Dao Accords with Non-Action, Elucidates the Ancestors and Illumines the Model

Period

Ming

Dates

1359 — 1410

School

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism

Role

Celestial MasterDaoist ScholarsCompiler of the Daoist CanonPoet

Birthplace

Xinzhou Guixi (present-day Guixi, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

Mount Longhu (Dragon and Tiger Mountain)

Life

Zhang Yuchu, the forty-third-generation Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, was the most learned of the Ming Celestial Masters, succeeding to the office in the eleventh year of Hongwu (1378). Widely versed in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, he associated with scholar-officials such as Song Lian and was a prolific writer. His Daomen shigui (道门十规, Ten Regulations for the Daoist Community) was an important programmatic text for the Ming-dynasty reform of the Daoist community and the regulation of priestly conduct, emphasizing that Daoist priests should practice "clarity and stillness" and strictly observe the precepts, and opposing the pursuit of profit under the guise of Daoism. He also wrote the twelve-scroll Xianquan ji (岘泉集, Collected Works of Xianquan), a collection of poetry, prose, and essays, whose Taiji shi (太极释, Explanation of the Supreme Ultimate) and Xiantian tulun (先天图论, Treatise on the Chart of the Pre-celestial) display a thought that fused Neo-Confucianism with Daoism. In the fourth year of Yongle (1406) he was ordered by the Yongle Emperor to direct the recompilation of the Daoist Canon, but died in 1410 before its completion; the work was carried on by Zhang Yuqing and Shao Yizheng and completed as the Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era. Zhang Yuchu was also a noted Ming-dynasty painter, skilled in landscapes and ink bamboo.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote the Daomen shigui, a programmatic document for the Ming-dynasty reform of Daoism
• Directed the compilation of the Daoist Canon by imperial order, initiating the compilation of the Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era
• Wrote the Xianquan ji, a work of learning that synthesized the three teachings

Works

• Ten Regulations for the Daoist Community
• Collected Works of Xianquan
• Comprehensive Meaning of the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation
• Gazetteer of Mount Longhu