41 Zhang Daoling

The Founder of Tao Religion

Zhang Daoling was the eighth generation descendant of Zhang Liang (see piece 30), and lived in the later years of East Han Dynasty. At the age of seven, he learned Laozi’s classics Taoism Canon. He had been a county governor for a short time, and became a Taoist priest (around 135) cultivating himself at the Mount Qingcheng (now a famous tourist spot in outskirts of Chengdu, Sichuan Province). By the time, a fatal infectious disease made inroad over the region claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, Zhang stepped forward to help cure people’s disease with herbs and Taoist magic power (usually burning out charm paper to catch ghosts). His behavior enraged hundreds of evil ghosts, who rushed on and attacked Zhang’s temple, but all of them were defeated by Zhang’s counter-attack. After that Zhang wrote 24 chapters of “Taoist text” and found Tao Religion. He honored Laozi as its first ancestor, the book Taoism Canon as its guiding doctrine, and called himself as the “Zhang Heaven Master”. The title and post of “Zhang Heaven Master” was later inherited only by his family members. But the Religion had met a setback in its early days when there carried on long-lasting nation-wide peasant uprisings, and the Taoist believers had always become rebelling fighters. Taoist Religion was banned by the rulers of following dynasties.

In East Jin Dynasty (317-420), a renowned Taoist Ge Hong made the religion step out of the odds. He predicted that those who made great contributions to the public, including good officials and generals, honest and charitable individuals could become immortals, to be locality governors and community heads, as well as a variety of people’s guardian gods in their next world. Ge’s dogma had actually been well accepted by all of dynasty rulers. Ge Hong was also a medical and chemical expert initialing to smelt immortal pills. He wrote a book Baopuzi (after his nickname) which featured detailed process of Taoist alchemy. In Ming Dynasty, Zhang Sanfeng, another century-famous Taoist invented taiji, a boxing exercise helpful to people’s health.

In old time, Taoist doctrine mainly advised people to seek longevity through delaying the aging process and keeping healthy. Tao priests usually held rituals to pray for fortune and good harvest for community and cure disease for people by driving out ghosts and evil spirits. But, some of its keeping-healthy activities, like qigong and taiji had now become important cultural heritages popularly-received by people both at home and abroad.

Besides, people believed that the powder was actually invented by some Tao priests during their smelting of immortal pills.