Donghua (Eastern Florescence) School东华派

Also known as

Donghua Lingbao Branch, Lingbao Donghua Branch, Ning Quanzhen Branch

Type

Daoist Schools

Period

Southern Song–Yuan

Founded

Took shape at the turn of the Northern and Southern Song (around the early twelfth century), transmitted through Wang Gu and Tian Lingxu to Ning Quanzhen (1101–1181)

Founder

Ning Quanzhen

Derived from

Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) School

Region

Hangzhou and Wenzhou, Zhejiang, and Jiangnan

Status

Absorbed into Other Lineages — After the Yuan it merged into Zhengyi Daoism; its zhai-jiao liturgical system (refinement and salvation, feeding hungry ghosts, and the like) is still used in Zhengyi and Quanzhen ritual practice today.

Overview

The Donghua School is a Daoist tradition that split off from the Lingbao school during the Southern Song, with Ning Quanzhen as its effective founder. Its self-narrated genealogy holds that the Lingbao scriptural methods were transmitted by the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning to the Sovereign of Donghua (the Lord of Green Youth), passing through Ge Xuan, Lu Xiujing and others down to Wang Gu and Tian Lingxu at the end of the Northern Song, and Tian Lingxu transmitted them to Ning Quanzhen — hence the name Donghua School. Ning Quanzhen, given name Liben, a native of Kaifeng, Henan, moved south after the Jingkang incident and settled in Hangzhou; his Lingbao ritual methods were highly regarded in the courts of Emperors Gaozong and Xiaozong, and he was granted the title 'Gentleman of Profound Subtlety.' His methods were centered on Lingbao zhai-jiao liturgy, while also drawing on Shangqing visualization, Tianxin Zhengfa, and Shenxiao Thunder Rites, forming the system known as the 'Great Rites of Lingbao.' Ning Quanzhen transmitted his teaching to Wang Qizhen, who compiled the sixty-six-juan Shangqing lingbao dafa (some accounts hold that Ning Quanzhen transmitted it orally and Wang Qizhen compiled it; there is also a separate forty-five-juan work of the same title compiled by Jin Yunzhong, representing a parallel branch); at the beginning of the Yuan, Lin Lingzhen compiled the 320-juan Lingbao lingjiao jidu jinshu, the largest single compendium of liturgy in the history of Daoism, gathering together the achievements of Donghua liturgy. The Donghua School placed great emphasis on rites for the salvation of the dead, developing in particular the rite of refinement and salvation (liandu — using the water and fire of internal alchemy to refine and save the form of the deceased's soul) along with feeding hungry ghosts and rites for releasing and saving the dead, and was the principal bearer of Lingbao liturgy in the Song and Yuan. In the Yuan, Lin Lingzhen's disciple Dong Chuqian and others continued the transmission, after which it merged into Zhengyi Daoism; its zhai-jiao system was broadly absorbed into Ming- and Qing-dynasty Zhengyi liturgy, and Daoist rites for the dead today still largely follow its structure.

Core Doctrine

Venerates the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning and the Sovereign of Donghua, upholding the Lingbao principle of opening the kalpa and saving the people, advocating the salvation of both the living and the dead through zhai-jiao rites; proposes the union of inner refinement and outer ritual method, holding that the salvation of the dead must be grounded in the ritual master's own internal-alchemical attainment (refinement and salvation through water and fire); absorbs the methods of Shangqing, Tianxin and Shenxiao while taking Lingbao as its substance. The Donghua School also emphasizes that 'saving the dead first requires saving oneself,' holding that the ritual master must first cultivate internal alchemy in order to gain the capacity to save departed souls, its liturgical theory closely linking ritual efficacy to the practitioner's own cultivation.

Practice & Ritual

Lingbao Great Rites zhai-jiao liturgy: the Yellow Register Retreat, refinement and salvation, feeding hungry ghosts, breaking open the underworld prisons, releasing and saving the dead, and rites of merit-transfer; writing talismans, submitting petitions, pacing the void, and visualization; internal-alchemical cultivation; conferral of Lingbao Donghua ritual registers. The Donghua School also transmits the talismans, ritual seals and ritual offices of the Great Rites of Lingbao; a ritual master must be ordained and hold office before presiding over the altar, and its liturgical structure influenced Ming- and Qing-dynasty Zhengyi rites for the dead.

Transmission

Transmission of the Lingbao scriptures (Ge Xuan — Lu Xiujing … ) → Wang Gu at the end of the Northern Song → Tian Lingxu → Ning Quanzhen → Wang Qizhen, Zhao Yifu and others → Lin Lingzhen at the beginning of the Yuan (compiler of the Jidu jinshu) → Dong Chuqian and others → after the Yuan, merges into Zhengyi Daoism. The branch of Jin Yunzhong (the forty-five-juan Shangqing lingbao dafa) represents a parallel system of the Great Rites of Lingbao.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples