Shanxi Yongle Palace found precious Taoist paper relics from the Mongolian Yuan Period

Source: Xinhua Net

Taiyuan, 16 Sep (Xinhua) -- The Yongle Palace Mural Protection and Research Institute in Shanxi Province recently released news to the outside world that last year, when the institute was sorting out the materials on the relocation of the Yongle Palace, it found nearly 100 ancient books and documents related to the religious activities of the Yongle Palace. According to the appraisal of experts, five of them are Taoist ordination documents of the Mongolian Yuan Period and one engraved Taoist scripture or earlier than the same period, which are of great value to the study of the development of Quanzhen Sect in the Mongolian Yuan Period and the reconstruction history of Yongle Palace, and have been designated as first-class cultural relics in the collection.

Yongle Palace, formerly known as Dachunyang Wanshou Palace, is a large Taoist temple rebuilt by the Quanzhen Sect in Lü Dongbin's hometown of Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province, with the support of the Imperial Family, during the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and is one of the three ancestral courts of the Quanzhen Sect of Taoism. In the 1950s and 1960s, due to the construction of the Sanmenxia Reservoir, in order to avoid flooding, Yongle Palace was relocated to the current site as a whole for protection, and in 1961 it became a national key cultural relics protection unit.

"Yuan Xing Shangshu Provincial Judge Fu Dao ren Zhang Lai Tong License", "Yuan Shaanxi Governor Fu Dao Shi Zhang Zhi Dong License" "Yuan Gui by Emperor Fu Yin Qiu ShenXian Men Tong Xuan Zhenren Sacred Will" are the identity certificates of the Yuan Dynasty Daoists Zhang LaiTong, Zhang Zhidong and Yu Shanqing passing between various regions, and the writing style is quite similar, first quoting the holy will of the imperial court to approve the activities of religious personnel, and then describing the reasons for passage and the curriculum vitae of the holder, and finally drawn and detained by the guarantor and the issuing agency.

Xi Jiulong, president of the Yongle Palace Mural Protection Research Institute in Shanxi Province, said that "the Yuan Emperor's Holy Decree on ordinary degrees of ordination (including envelopes) to pay Changchun Palace Li Zhenren" shows that the Quanzhen Sect of the Yuan Dynasty can only be disciplined after it is approved by the government, reflecting the strict management system of the ruling class of the Yuan Dynasty for religion. The Yongle Palace was able to preserve this ordination given to Li Zhenchang, the fourth head of the Quanzhen Sect, highlighting the importance that the High Level of the Quanzhen Sect attached to the Yongle Palace. The "Taishang Dong Xuan LingBao Immeasurable Human Shang Pin Miao Jing" only has the second half of the scroll, wrapped in hemp paper, and the inscription on the paper reads: "The fragment of this sutra is from within the west kiss of the roof ridge of the Chongyang Temple." The religious significance of the precious scriptures placed in the snout of the Chongyang Temple needs to be further studied.

"The discovery of these precious paper relics has provided rich materials for the in-depth study of Taoism in the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, especially the Quanzhen Sect's preaching, proselytizing, and fasting systems." Xi Jiulong said.