Shenxiao (Divine Empyrean) School神霄派

Also known as

Shenxiao Thunder Rites, Shenxiao Thunder Rites Branch, Lin Lingsu Branch, Wang Wenqing Branch

Type

Daoist Schools

Period

Northern Song–Ming

Founded

During the Zhenghe era of the Northern Song (c. 1112–1118), Lin Lingsu, favored by Emperor Huizong, established the Shenxiao teaching; Wang Wenqing transmitted the Thunder Rites

Founder

Lin Lingsu, Wang Wenqing

Region

Bianjing (the Northern Song capital), Jiangxi, Fujian, and various parts of Jiangnan

Status

Absorbed into Other Lineages — After the Yuan and Ming it merged into Zhengyi Daoism; the Shenxiao Five Thunder Rites remain widely practiced today in Zhengyi ritual protocol and in local ritual altars in Taiwan, Fujian, and Guangdong, and the cult of Sa Shoujian (Patriarch Sa) is popular in Fujian and Taiwan.

Overview

The Shenxiao (Divine Empyrean) School is a talismanic Daoist order distinguished by its thunder rites, which arose at the end of the Northern Song. "Shenxiao" refers to the highest of the celestial realms above the Nine Heavens. During the Zhenghe era, the Wenzhou priest Lin Lingsu was summoned by Emperor Huizong for an audience, and declared that Huizong was an incarnation of the "King of Divine Empyrean Jade Clarity" (the Great Emperor of Long Life) descended into the world, and that Shenxiao Yuqing Wanshou Palaces should be built throughout the realm; Huizong styled himself the "Sovereign Emperor Who Is Lord of the Teaching and the Dao," and the teaching of Shenxiao flourished for a time, with Buddhist temples in various prefectures converted into Shenxiao palaces and a "Shenxiao Register" compiled. After the Jingkang Incident, Lin Lingsu had already died (1119), and the Shenxiao School lost the support of the court, but the "Shenxiao Five Thunder Rites" propagated by Wang Wenqing (1093–1153) became the mainstream of thunder ritual from the Southern Song onward; Wang Wenqing claimed to have received transmission from the Fire Master Wang Jun, and wrote the Household Sayings of Master Wang, the Attendant in the Palace Who Penetrates the Wondrous through Emptiness, among other works. Thereafter, Shenxiao thunder ritual combined with the internal alchemy of the Southern Lineage; Bai Yuchan explained thunder ritual in terms of "internal refinement forming the elixir, external application forming the ritual method." In the Yuan, Sa Shoujian (of the Xihe Lineage) and Mo Yueding, and in the Ming, Zhou Xuanzhen and others, continued the transmission, and the Daofa Huiyuan preserves a large body of Shenxiao thunder ritual. The Shenxiao School held that the efficacy of thunder ritual lay in summoning the thunder deities and generals through one's own primordial spirit and primordial qi, and it was therefore closely bound up with internal alchemy cultivation; its "Correct Method of the Five Thunders" was widely adopted by later branches of Zhengyi Daoism, and the Mansion of the Celestial Masters also transmits the "Five Thunder Register." The Shenxiao School had no strict institutional structure, being a Daoist order bound together by the transmission of ritual arts; after the Yuan and Ming it merged into Zhengyi Daoism, and its thunder ritual still holds an important place in Zhengyi ritual protocol today.

Core Doctrine

Honors the King of Divine Empyrean Jade Clarity (the Great Emperor of Long Life) as its supreme deity, and venerates the Ancestor of Thunder of the Nine Heavens and the various deities of the Thunder Bureau; it advocates "the unity of Heaven and humanity" and "internal refinement as the root, external ritual as the application," holding that one who practices thunder ritual must first cultivate internal alchemy and perfect the self, summoning the thunder deities through the qi of one's own body; it stresses that only through loyalty, filiality, and uprightness can one command the thunder; and it promoted the idea that Emperor Huizong was an incarnation of a son of the Shenxiao emperor (a political theology). This political theology lost its meaning after the Jingkang Incident.

Practice & Ritual

The Correct Method of the Five Thunders: forming mudras, writing talismans, chanting incantations, visualizing the spirits, summoning generals, and dispatching thunder, used for praying for rain, exorcism, healing, and subduing demons; receiving the Shenxiao Register and the Five Thunder Register; combining internal-alchemy sitting meditation with "gathering qi and dispatching power"; building Shenxiao palaces and performing zhai-jiao rites. The Shenxiao School also established the Shenxiao Register and Shenxiao retreat rites; during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the Edict on Shenxiao Yuqing Wanshou Palaces was promulgated, and Shenxiao palaces were built and Shenxiao retreats established in every prefecture.

Transmission

Lin Lingsu of the Northern Song (the court teaching of Shenxiao); Wang Wenqing (who claimed transmission from the Fire Master Wang Jun) → disciples Zhu Zhiqing, Xiong Shanren, Sa Shoujian, and others → Bai Yuchan fused internal alchemy with thunder ritual → Mo Yueding and Zhang Shanyuan of the Yuan → Zhou Xuanzhen and others of the Ming → merged into the various branches of Zhengyi Daoism, with the Sazu (Patriarch Sa) Lineage, the Xihe Lineage, and others still identified by their Shenxiao thunder ritual.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples