Gezao Lineage阁皂宗

Also known as

Lingbao Lineage of Mount Gezao, Lingbao Ordination Altar (Zongtan), Gezao School

Type

Sect

Period

Tang–Yuan

Founded

Daoist temples already existed on Mount Gezao during the Tang; the ordination altar took shape during the Northern Song (c. 11th century)

Founder

Ge Xuan

Derived from

Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) School

Region

Mount Gezao in Qingjiang, Jiangxi (present-day Zhangshu)

Ancestral seat

Mount Gezao

Status

Absorbed into Other Lineages — Absorbed into Zhengyi Daoism in the Yuan dynasty, it ceased to exist as an independent lineage; Mount Gezao today lies in Zhangshu, Jiangxi, where Chongzhen Temple has been partly rebuilt and now belongs to the Zhengyi tradition.

Overview

The Gezao Lineage is the sectarian institution that the Lingbao School developed after the Tang and Song, centered on Mount Gezao in Jiangxi as its center of transmission, ranked alongside the Zhengyi tradition of Mount Longhu and the Shangqing tradition of Mount Mao as the 'Three Mountains of Registers.' Mount Gezao is traditionally said to be the site where Ge Xuan practiced alchemy and ascended to immortality; a Daoist temple already stood there in the Eastern Wu period. During the Yifeng era of Emperor Gaozong of Tang it was granted the name 'Gezao Temple,' and under Emperor Wuzong it was renamed 'Taiji Temple.' During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song, the court formally recognized the system of conferring registers at the Three Mountains, and Chongzhen Temple on Mount Gezao (renamed by imperial edict during the Zhenghe era of Emperor Huizong of Song) became the 'Lingbao Ancestral Altar,' with sole authority to confer the Lingbao registers; in the Southern Song, like Mount Longhu and Mount Mao, it established its own superintendents and abbots, representing the official ecclesiastical system of Daoism. The Gezao Lineage venerated Ge Xuan as its founding patriarch, honored the Duren jing, and excelled in rites of retreat and offering; its transmission of scriptures and registers reached its height in the Southern Song, when Emperor Lizong of Song bestowed a plaque upon it, and Mount Gezao came to have over a thousand halls and buildings. Because much of the Gezao Lineage's own documentation has been lost, its genealogy of patriarchs is less clearly established than that of Maoshan; among those whose names can be verified are the Northern Song Mount Gezao Daoist Yang Zhongyi and Xu Shouyan of the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song. In the eighth year of the Dade era of Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (1304), authority over the registers of the Three Mountains was unified under the Zhengyi Celestial Master, and the Gezao Lineage was thereupon absorbed into Zhengyi Daoism. Thereafter Daoism on Mount Gezao passed through several cycles of prosperity and decline; Daoist priests continued to preside there in the Ming and Qing, but the tradition declined after the Republican era. In recent years the local authorities have rebuilt Chongzhen Temple and restored temple activities. The significance of the Gezao Lineage in Daoist history lies chiefly in its role as the formal institution for conferring the Lingbao registers in the Song and Yuan, and as an important relay point for the spread of Lingbao ritual in the south.

Core Doctrine

Continuing the Lingbao School's doctrine of the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning as its principal deity and the Duren jing as its foremost scripture, it venerated Ge Xuan as its founding patriarch; it emphasized the merit of scriptures and registers, the deliverance of the dead, and the salvific function of rites of retreat and offering. From the Northern Song onward it maintained close ties with the court, and praying for the blessing of the state and for rain were among its principal functions. Compared with Maoshan and Mount Longhu, the Gezao Lineage placed greater emphasis on the merit of scriptures and registers and on ritual deliverance, with less emphasis on the philosophy of internal alchemy, representing the ritualized path of the Lingbao tradition.

Practice & Ritual

Conferral of the Lingbao registers (including the Lingbao Central Covenant Register); performance of large-scale rites of retreat and offering such as the Yellow Register Retreat and the Golden Register Retreat; recitation of the Duren jing; in the Song dynasty it incorporated new techniques such as thunder rites and rites of refinement and salvation; its temples operated under the public-monastery and superintendent system. Conferral of the Lingbao registers required an oath and ritual tokens of faith; register-holders received a divine office upon conferral, becoming formally recognized Daoist priests who performed rites of retreat and offering locally; the Song court also frequently summoned Gezao Daoists for court rituals.

Transmission

Tracing its founding patriarch to Ge Xuan, said to have transmitted the tradition through Zheng Yin and Ge Hong; the abbots of the Daoist temple on Mount Gezao succeeded one another through the Tang and Song, and from the Northern Song onward it served as the Lingbao Ancestral Altar, though its genealogical records are fragmentary. In 1304 it was absorbed into Zhengyi Daoism, and thereafter most Daoists on Mount Gezao belonged to the Zhengyi tradition. In the Southern Song, Daoists of Mount Gezao maintained close contact with the court, and a Gezao patriarch is recorded as having attended court under Emperor Lizong of Song; in the Yuan dynasty, Gezao Daoists mostly transferred their affiliation to the Zhengyi Celestial Masters.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples