Taiyi (Supreme Unity) Daoism太一道

Also known as

Taiyi Teaching, Taiyi Dao, Taiyi Sanyuan Ritual Registers

Type

Sects

Period

Jin and Yuan

Founded

Founded by Xiao Baozhen at Weizhou during the Tianjuan era of Emperor Xizong of Jin (1138–1140)

Founder

Xiao Baozhen

Region

Centered at Weizhou, Henan (present-day Weihui), and extending across Hebei, Shandong, and Henan

Status

Vanished — The order died out in the mid-to-late Yuan, its temples and priests being absorbed into Zhengyi Daoism, with no subsequent transmission.

Overview

Taiyi Daoism was a new Daoist tradition that arose in the Hebei–Henan region in the early Jin dynasty, together with Quanzhen Daoism and Zhen Dadao known as the 'Three Great New Daoist Traditions of the North in the Jin and Yuan.' Its founder, Xiao Baozhen, a native of Weizhou, claimed during the Tianjuan era (1138–1140) to have received from an immortal the technique of the 'Taiyi Sanyuan (Three Primes) Register,' using talismans to treat illness and exorcise evil; as his following grew, he built a hermitage at Weizhou to spread the teaching. In the eighth year of the Huangtong era of Emperor Xizong of Jin (1148), Xiao Baozhen was summoned for an audience, and his hermitage was granted the name 'Taiyi Wanshou Guan' (Taiyi Longevity Abbey), giving the order legitimate standing. Taiyi Daoism venerated the deity Taiyi (the Supreme Unity) above all, emphasizing talismans, registers and prayer rites, in contrast to Quanzhen's emphasis on internal alchemy, but it was likewise influenced by Confucianism, requiring that the head of the order bear the surname 'Xiao' (those not originally surnamed Xiao would change their surname), practising a system of hereditary succession in which disciples emphasized filial piety, good works and observance of precepts, forming an order resembling a patriarchal clan. The successive heads of the order were: first patriarch Xiao Baozhen, second patriarch Xiao Daoxi, third patriarch Xiao Zhichong, fourth patriarch Xiao Fudao, fifth patriarch Xiao Jushou (Li Jushou), sixth patriarch Xiao Quanyou, and seventh patriarch Xiao Tianyou. The fourth patriarch, Xiao Fudao, was honoured by Emperor Xianzong and Emperor Shizu (Kublai Khan) of Yuan; the fifth patriarch, Xiao Jushou, was commanded to build the Taiyi Guangfu Wanshou Palace at Dadu, and Kublai Khan once ordered the crown prince Zhenjin to receive the Taiyi 'Sanyuan Register.' From the mid-Yuan onward, Taiyi Daoism gradually declined, and no records survive after the seventh patriarch; its priests and temples were gradually absorbed into Zhengyi Daoism. Taiyi Daoism existed for about two hundred years, and is an important representative of talismanic Daoism in the north during the Jin and Yuan.

Core Doctrine

Taiyi Daoism venerated the deity Taiyi, using the 'Taiyi Sanyuan Register' to exorcise evil, treat illness, and pray for blessings and avert calamity; its doctrine emphasized loyalty, filial piety, compassion, and the salvation of both self and others; the head of the order was invariably surnamed Xiao, to maintain the continuity of the transmission, and it drew on both Confucian ethics and Buddhist precepts. Taiyi Daoism also emphasized 'delivering from adversity' and 'aiding others,' treating the healing of illness through talismanic methods as 'merit and practice,' standing alongside, though contrasted with, Quanzhen's path of internal cultivation as merit, coexisting in the north during the Jin and Yuan.

Practice & Ritual

Healing illness with talismans, prayer rites, and rites of retreat and offering; receiving the 'Sanyuan Register'; a hereditary system for the transmission of the headship, with disciples leaving the family to reside at the abbey (though some could keep a household); observing precepts and doing good works; its temples were called 'Wanshou Guan' or 'Wanshou Gong.' Taiyi Daoism also placed importance on precepts, requiring disciples to observe rules such as no licentiousness, no killing, no stealing, no false speech, and no drinking of alcohol; institutionally the order stood somewhere between a hereditary clan and a monastic order.

Transmission

Xiao Baozhen (first patriarch) → Xiao Daoxi → Xiao Zhichong → Xiao Fudao → Xiao Jushou → Xiao Quanyou → Xiao Tianyou (seventh patriarch, mid-Yuan) → thereafter unrecorded, the order having disappeared. The system of 'succession through the Xiao lineage' was unique to Taiyi Daoism: a disciple not originally surnamed Xiao who succeeded to the headship had to change his surname to Xiao, as when the fifth patriarch, Li Jushou, changed his name to Xiao Jushou.

Key Figures