User:Zeus1234/The Celestial Masters

Tianshi Dao (Simplified Chinese:天师道, Traditional Chinese: 天師道, pinyin: Tiān Shī Dào) or Way of the Celestial Masters is a Chinese Daoist movement that was founded by Zhang Daoling in 142 CE. At its height, the movement controlled a theocratic state in Sichuan.

Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
In 142 CE Zhang Daoling announced that Laozi had appeared to him and commanded him to rid the world of decadence and establish a new state consisting only of the ‘chosen people.’ Zhang became the first Celestial Master, and began to spread his newly-founded movement throughout the province of Sichuan. The movement was initially called the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, because each person wishing to join was required to donate five pecks of rice. The movement spread rapidly, particularly under his son Zhang Heng and grandson Zhang Lu. The Zhang's were able to convert many groups to their cause, such as the Banshun Man (belonging to the Ba people), which strengthened their movement. In 184, Zhang Xiu (not related to Zhang Lu) rebelled against the Han Dynasty. In 191, Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu were sent to conquer Hanzhong valley, just north of the Sichuan basin. During the subsequent battle, Zhang Xiu was killed, and Zhang Lu founded the theocratic state of Zhanghan, enjoying full independence.

In 215, Cao Cao, the ruler of the Kingdom of Wei attacked the Hanzhong state, and forced Zhang Lu to flee Eastern Sichuan, where he later surrendered. Zhang was given a title and land, as were several other family members and generals. His daughter was married to Cao Cao’s son, Cao Yu. His followers were forced to resettle in other parts of China,withone group being sent to the Chang'an area, and another being sent to Luoyang. Zhang and his family relocated to Cao Cao's administrative headquarters in Ye, located in today's Henan province. He then used his own popularity as a religious leader to lend legitimacy to the Wei, proclaiming that the Wei court had inherited divine authority from the Tao church, as well as from Confucian laws.source Shortly after the surrender, Zhang Lu died and was succeeded by his son, Fu. After this point there are few historical sources until 255 CE, when a text indicates that the Celestial Master community was fragmenting as a result of the political turmoil within the Wei Kingdom

The collapse of the Kingdom of Wei in 260 CE, along with the fall of Northern China to the Huns in 317, further scattered adherents to the Celestial Master. The Celestial Masters later reemerged in the 4th and 5th centuries as two distinct offshoots, the Northern and Southern Celestial Masters.

The Northern and Southern Celestial Masters
After the fall of Luoyang to non-Chinese invaders in 311, the remnants of the court fled to Jiankang (modern-day Nanjing) and established a new state known as the Eastern Jin dynasty. Among the court members who fled were members of the Celestial Masters. There is also evidence that after Zhang Lu’s submission to Cao Cao, numerous adherents fled south from Sichuan. These various followers of The Way of the Celestial Master coalesced to form a distinct form of Celestial Master Daoism known as the Southern Celestial Masters. The Southern Celestial Masters lasted as a distinct movement into the fifth century.

Kou Qianzhi was a member of Celestial Master family that came from an area near Chang'an. Inspired by the burgeoning Daoist movement in Southern China, Kou retreated to Mount Song in Henan to receive inspiration. On the mountain, as described by the text The History of the Wei Dynasty, he was visited twice by Laozi. In his first visit in 415, Laozi revealed to Kou a text known as the Laojun Yinsong Jiejing (New Code). This text contained precepts designed for a new religious community. In 423, a messenger of Laozi came and offered Kou a new text called the Lutu Zhenjing (Perfect Scripture of Registers and Charts), which is now lost, and appointed him as the new Celestial Master.

In 424, Kou took these texts with him to the Wei court. There, he was welcomed by Emperor Taiwu and garnered the support of Cui Hao, the prime minister. Even tough Cui Hao was a Confucianist, he greatly admired Kou and was immediately drawn to him. Cui also appreciated Kou's mathematical skills and hoped that he might help him improve his own longevity techniques. They also shared a dream of a 'purified society,' a land where peace and justice prevailed. Kou's 'New Code' was promulgated throughout the realm, and a large altar was built near the capital where 120 Daoist practitioners performed rites and prayers daily. Cui gained a great deal of power in the court, and in 444 began to purge the Buddhist clergy. This led to a major persecution against Buddhists in 446. In 448, Kou Qianzhi was 'released' from his body, and Cui lost his greatest supporter at the court. Shortly ofter Kou's death, Cui had a national history of Wei dynasty containing unflattering portraits of its rulers carved in stone. This so enraged the emperor, that he had Cui executed in 450. After Cui's execution, the Daoist community was forced to flee, with many of them settling at the Daoist center of Louguan.

By the late 470s, Daoists fleeing from the Northern Wei court had transformed Louguan into an important religious center. According to legend, Louguan used to be the home of Yin Xi, the first recipient of the Dao de jing. At this time, the center's buildings were greatly expanded, and many Daoist scriptures were collected, including materials from the Lingbao and Shangqing schools. During the 7th century, the school had a prominent role in a series of debates that examined whether Buddhism or Daoism would be better suited to bring stability to the realm. The first debate surrounded Fuyi, a scholar and Daoist who proposed that Buddhism be abolished in China. Naturally, the Buddhists were not happy with his suggestions and countered his arguments in several treatises. The second debate concerned Lu Zhongqing, a friend of Fu Yi, who wrote about Buddhism's inferiority to Daoism. The Tang emperors were in support of the Daoists, and in 637 issued an edict that secured the precedence of Daoism over Buddhism. This edict remained in place until 674, when Empress Wu Zetian came to power. At the same time, Louguan also served as a refuge for Daoists fleeing the persecution of Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty to the south. The final Northern Celestial Master, Yin Wencao arrived at Louguan in 636 and later achieved the favor of the Gaozong Emperor. After Yin's death in 688, Louguan remained an important place of Daoist learning, but ceased to be considered part of a distinct school.

Zhengyi Dao
By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in 618, the term 'Celestial Master' had lost the potency it had in earlier movements such as the Five Pecks of Rice, and any prominent Daoist could be accorded the title. Emperor Xuanzong (712-756), canonized the first Celestial Master Zhang Daoling during his reign. This did not benefit the original territory of his followers in Sichuan, but rather benefited a temple in the Jiangnan area of Jiangxi province. This temple, located at Longhu Shan, claimed to be the spot where Zhang Daoling had obtained the Tao, and where his descendants still lived. Recognized by the emperor as the legitimate descendants of Zhang Daoling, these new Celestial Masters established a new patriarchy at their base of Longhu Shan.

The importance of the Zhengyi school grew during the Song Dynasty, with the Celestial masters frequently receiving imperial appointments. In 1239, the Southern Song Emperor Lizong commanded the thirty-fifth Celestial Master Zhang Keda to the united Lingbao School, the Shangqing School and Zhengyi Dao. The new school was to retain the Zhengyi name and remain based at Longhu Shan. Shortly after the schools were united, Kubilai Khan conquered the Southern Song Dynasty to usher in the Yuan Dynasty. He accepted the claim that the Celestial Master of Longhu Shan was descended from Zhang Daoling and granted the school the right to control affairs relating to Daoism in the Jiangnan area. In 1304, as a result of Zhengyi Dao’s increased importance under the Mongols, all of the Daoist schools, with the exception of the Quanzhen School, were united under the banner of the Zhengyi School, with the thirty-eighth Celestial Master, Zhang Yucai as leader.

The foundation of the Ming dynasty in 1368 marked the beginning of a long decline in the power of the Zhengyi Daoism. The first emperor of the Ming the Hongwu Emperor (1368-98) suppressed the use of the title of 'Celestial Master' among the Zhengyi School, and the fiftieth Celestial Master Zhang Guoxiang had his title stripped by the Longqing Emperor (1567-72). By the Daoguang (1821-50) period of the Qing Dynasty, relations between the court and the Celestial Masters came to an end. The school's activities became localized to regions in which the school was particularly important. Despite ending association with the court, the Celestial Master himself still retained a great deal of prestige and importance among Daoists throughout China. This prestige, which arose from the belief that he was descended from Zhang Daoling, was evident when the Celestial Master traveled and attracted crowds of people wherever he went.



Beliefs and practices
The beliefs and practices of the Celestial Masters are roughly split into two distinct periods. The earlier period dates from the foundation of the school until the end of the Louguan period in the 7th century. The reemergence of the Celestial Masters headquartered at Longhu Shan, marks the beginning of the second period encompassing the Zhengyi School.

Early Period
Each of the different iterations of the early Celestial Masters had distinct beliefs. However, because the Southern and Northern Celestial Masters both descended directly from the initial movement founded by Zhang Daoling, there are many beliefs that are shared. A number of texts exist that give insight into early Celestial Master practice, in particular the Taiping Jing and the Xiang'er commentary to the Laozi.

The foundation of Daoist belief is that there is an energy source known as qi that pervades all things. The human body also contains qi, but it only has a limited amount of qi. Qi could be lost from the body through things such as sweating and ejaculation. The Celestial Masters shared these foundational Daoist beliefs, but modified them slightly.

One such change was that illness was caused by sin. This was because sin caused qi to leave the body. In order to cure any illness, repentance was a crucial factor in ensuring that the loss of qi could be staunched. Repentance could be accomplished by spending time in a 'Chamber of Silence,' and reflecting on one's sins, or by beating one's breasts and kowtowing to heaven. Illness could also be cured in other ways as well, among them using medicinal herbs and by listening to ritual music. Eating very little was also of extreme importance, and an ideal diet would consist of no food at all, but only noncorporeal things such as air, which the person could absorb through meditation.

Sexual practices (known as heqi, or 'The Union of the Breaths') also differed significantly between Daojia (philosophical Daoism), and Celestial Master Daoism. In both traditions, semen is considered the embodiment of qi. If someone ejaculated too often, their life would be shortened. While Daojia advocates not ejaculating during sex in order to 'nourish the brain,' the Celestial Masters frowned upon this, and advocated non-ejaculation simply as a way to avoid losing qi. In addition, the Celestial Masters thought that the Daojia method of stealing a woman's qi to replenish the man's own qi was completely wrong, and should not be practiced.