Zhang Zongyan张宗演

Style & Daoist names

courtesy name Shichuan, sobriquet Jianzhai, 36th-Generation Celestial Master, Perfected Yandao Lingying Chonghe (Expounding the Dao, Numinously Responsive, and Embodying Central Harmony)

Period

Southern Song–Yuan

Dates

1244 — 1291

School

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism

Role

Celestial MasterLeader of Zhengyi Daoism

Birthplace

Xinzhou Guixi (present-day Guixi, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

Mount Longhu (Dragon and Tiger Mountain)

Life

Zhang Zongyan was the thirty-sixth Celestial Master of Mount Longhu. He succeeded to the office at the end of the Southern Song, and in the thirteenth year of the Zhiyuan era (1276), after the Yuan army pacified the Jiangnan region, he was summoned by Kublai Khan to Dadu. Kublai bestowed on him a jade hibiscus cap and a seamless robe woven with gold thread, ordered him to "take charge of Daoism south of the Yangzi," granted him a silver seal, and gave him the title "Perfected One Who Manifests the Dao and Responds to the Numinous, Attuned to Harmony" (Yandao Lingying Chonghe Zhenren). Thereby the Celestial Masters of Mount Longhu formally acquired the position of heading the various talismanic schools of Daoism in the south, and the configuration of Zhengyi Daoism as the overarching body of southern Daoism was established from this point. On this journey he brought his disciple Zhang Liusun to the capital; Zhang Liusun remained in court service and later founded Xuanjiao. Zhang Zongyan died in the twenty-eighth year of the Zhiyuan era (1291) and was succeeded by his son Zhang Yudi. His tenure coincided with the transition from Song to Yuan; that Mount Longhu was able to maintain and even enhance its standing under the new regime was directly related to his timely audience with the court and the trust he gained from Kublai Khan, and the institution of the Celestial Masters continued thereafter through the Ming and Qing.

Contributions & Influence

• Received Kublai Khan's mandate to head Daoism south of the Yangzi, establishing Zhengyi Daoism's position as the overarching authority uniting the talismanic schools of the south
• Established the practice whereby the Celestial Masters of Mount Longhu received their commission at court
• Brought Zhang Liusun to court, indirectly leading to the founding of Xuanjiao