Wang Bingquan He Changsheng: The forty-third generation of Heavenly Master Zhang Yuchu and the editing of "Daozang"

Because the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty revered Taoism, and Taoism was the religion of the Han people, in the wars fought at the turn of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the wars on both sides did not cause much damage to Taoism in Longhushan. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, also wanted to use Taoism to serve his politics, and as early as when he was still claiming that King Wu was competing with Qunxiong for the world, he began to woo Zhang Tianshi of Longhu Mountain.

In 1360, after Zhu Yuanzhang captured Shinzhou, he posted a list to visit the forty-second generation Heavenly Master Zhang Normal and at the same time ordered the protection of the Taoist temple on Longhu Mountain. At that time, Zhang Normal knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had been a monk when he was a young man, and seeing that the general situation of the world was not clear, he had doubts and could not hide. Later, the situation gradually became clear, and Zhang Normal first wrote a letter to Zhu Yuanzhang to test his attitude, and then went to Nanjing in 1366 to formally visit King Wu. Zhu Yuanzhang respected him very much and treated him as a guest. Two years later, Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne and became Emperor Taizu, and Zhang Normal rushed to Nanjing to congratulate him.

Ming Taizu officially awarded Zhang Normal as the "Heir of the Zhengyi Sect, Han Tianshi", led the Taoist affairs, gave the silver seal, regarded it as the second product, set up two official officials "praise the teaching" and "palm the book" Sasuke Tianshi director, and gave platinum fifty taels (one dynasty is twenty-four taels) to repair the Tianshifu.

In August of this year, when Ming Taizu was in the dynasty, he suddenly asked a question: "The supreme is the sky, how can there be a teacher?" With this as a name, it is very blasphemous! Zhang removed his normal title of "Heavenly Master" and changed his name to "Zhengyi Zhenren". Throughout the Ming Dynasty, all generations of Tianshi received the title of "Zhengyi Zhenren" or "Zhengda Zhenren" in the imperial court, and in the folk they were still called Tianshi.

From the change of the title of Tianshi and the establishment of official positions to supervise Tianshi, it can be seen that Ming Taizu wanted to win over and use Taoism and try to control it in case of accidents, which was more clever than the methods of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty. After that, he set up a whole set of Taoist institutions and adopted measures such as compiling palace books, examining Taoist scriptures, restricting the distribution of spies, and frequently picketing Taoist temples and checking precepts, so as to strictly control Taoism. Although this has constrained some aspects of Taoism, objectively it has also improved the quality of Taoists and made their teaching style pure. As far as Zhang Tianshi is concerned, the official lord has been improved after changing his name to Zhenren (only three products in the Yuan Dynasty).

"Leading Taoist Affairs" is under the control of the Ministry of Ceremonies, cooperating with the Daoist Division to handle national Taoist affairs, and specifically in charge of the Orthodox Oneness Sect of many palaces in Jiangnan. The identity of the Heavenly Master is more like that of a court official, with more real power in his hands, and the clothes he wears are the specifications issued by the Ministry of Ceremonies, and when he goes out to work, he can enjoy the stagecoaches, horses, boats, and grain and rice supplied by the government along the way, and inspect and inspect the temples and temples of various places.

The Fudi, where the Tianshi of Shangqing Town usually resides, has also become a "Daoist Yamen" that handles various Taoist affairs, and has a more prominent position in the Taoist world. Therefore, Taoism in Longhushan not only did not decline after the death of the Yuan, but also developed more practically in the Ming Dynasty.

After Zhang Normal died, his eldest son Zhang Yuchu succeeded to the throne as the forty-third generation Heavenly Master. Zhang Yuchu is erudite and talented, not only proficient in Taoist scriptures, but also through Confucian classics, good poetry and writing, and can also paint. Song Lian of the early Ming Dynasty was a great scholar and official of Hanlin, praised him as "the Confucian of the Immortals".

Zhang Yuchu was in charge of national Taoist affairs at Jingshi (present-day Nanjing) in the early Ming Dynasty, but was slandered by courtiers and relegated to his hometown, and built the "Da Nang Fine House" under the Huang Zheng Peak, ten miles southeast of Longhu Mountain, and devoted himself to cultivation and writing. Zhang Yuchu's academic achievements are remarkable, and he is the author of the 12 volumes of the "Da Quan Collection", including "Xuanwen", "Taiji Shi", "Innate Diagram Theory", and "River Map Original Debate", all of which are top topics jointly explored by Confucianism and Taoism, and the theory is profound and beyond the understanding of ordinary literati.

Zhang Yuchu's exposition impressed both Confucianism and Taoism, and the "Siku Quanshu General Bibliography" commented: "Since his words are reasonable, he would rather be heretical and denounce his writings?" His academic achievements were recognized. Zhang Yuchu also edited ten volumes of "Records of Dragon and Tiger Mountain" and one volume of "Han Tianshi Family", preserving a large number of precious materials for the history and culture of Dragon and Tiger Mountain.

Under Zhang Yuchu's example, the cultural quality of the Taoists of Longhushan in the early Ming Dynasty was generally high, and many people's real talents and practical learning were appreciated by the world and were famous in society. For example, Wu Boli, Ren Shangqing Palace, "Botong Jingshi, Gong Shiwen, Jinghu Zhi, can also make (paint) dead wood and bamboo stone"; Taoist Ouyang Chuweng, "good at painting landscapes, dead wood and bamboo stones, ink plum blossoms, the scene of the four hours, You Gong painting dragons", whose name is included in the entry of "Picture Treasure Book", is a well-known painter; Taoist priest Zhang Zhongyu, "Loves Learning, Gong Poem, You Shan Drum and Piano"; Taoist priest Zhang Dizhe, "Zhu Li Shu Jing"; Taoist priest Lu Daya, "Gong Poem, there is "Shi Yiqiao Singing""; Wait a minute.

There is also a Taoist priest named Li Zhongye, who delved into Lu Xiangshan's "heart study" and gave a lecture in Jinxi Banshan, "talking about the heart with the play, one is all poured, and the salty is known: 'This little goose lake is also'", becoming an excellent successor of Lu Xue. Zhang Yuchu's younger brother Zhang Yuqing, "under the guidance of his brother", "Botong Confucian Jingzi History, Gong Poetry Shuhan, You Shan's Landscape", and the author of "Xibi Anthology" handed down. The brothers "sang and sang with each other, and people envied each other." These talented Confucian Taoists added a lot of fresh and noble atmosphere to the Taoist style of Longhu Mountain in the early Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Yuchu made two outstanding contributions to the cause of Taoism in his life, one was to find ways to rebuild the Shangqing Palace, and the other was to preside over the compilation of the "Daozang" with all his might.

The Qing Palace on Longhu Mountain burned down due to a fire at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the state was in financial difficulties in the early Ming Dynasty and was unable to repair it for a while. Zhang Yuchu convened his assistants to discuss, believing that "he would not try to regain and damage the martyrs by degrading the foundation of the religion", and decided to collect funds from the society to rebuild the Shangqing Palace.

Zhang Yuchu personally went to Nanjing and obtained the approval of Ming Taizu through the ceremonial department. After returning to the mountain, 38 disciples were dispatched to the four directions to raise money, and "the bureaucrats were happy to help when they heard the wind", and Ming Taizu later also gave treasure money 5,000 guineas to subsidize.

Construction began in the winter of 1390 (the 23rd year of Hongwu) and was completed in the autumn of 1393, which lasted four years. After the reconstruction, the Shangqing Palace has the Jade Emperor Hall, the Sanqing Hall, the Xuandi Hall, the True Wind Hall, the Xuan Altar, the Void Emperor Altar, the Yuan Altar Temple, the Star Gate, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, and many halls and rooms and other ancillary buildings. "The regulations are as old as they are, and the majesty is magnificent, depending on the past." After the reconstruction, the scale of the Shangqing Palace has not only not been reduced, but also more magnificent and brilliant than before.

The Daozang is a collection of Taoist literature, a huge book collected and compiled by the Taoist community itself with the support of successive emperors. It is an important part of traditional Chinese culture and has great academic and cultural value.

The Tang Dynasty compiled the "Kaiyuan Daozang", which was added five times in the Song Dynasty, and compiled into the "Treasure of Qiongzhang" in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty. Wang Daojian, a Taoist priest of Longhu Mountain, participated in the fourth cultivation. Another Taoist priest retained the light, wrote scriptures in clay in pink gold, built a special storage room in Longhu Mountain, and stored a copy of the Song Dynasty "Daozang", but unfortunately it was later destroyed in the palace fire.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the Daozang was twice destroyed by imperial orders, and many scriptures and carved plates across the country were burned, and by the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it had become a fragment. The scriptures of Longhushan survived many because of Zhang Liusun's painstaking rescue in the middle of the dynasty.

In the fourth year of Yongle (1406 AD), Ming Chengzu twice ordered Zhang Yuchu to "compile and revise Taoist teachings, but he can finish it early and publish it all." Zhang Yuchu received this huge cultural project task, "joy and fear", and felt a great responsibility and honor.

He organized his disciples to carry out work, and the details are not clearly recorded, but it can be imagined that this huge compilation of a huge volume has to go through a series of operations such as data collection, sorting, corrigendum, classification, editing, editing, and reputation, and how arduous the painstaking labor is!

Perhaps due to this main reason, Zhang Yuchu died in the eighth year of Yongle (1410 AD) at the age of only about fifty.

When Zhang Yuchu was dying, he told his brother Zhang Yuqing with an unfinished business: "The national grace has not been repaid, so he will undertake this to do so." Because of his outstanding contributions to Taoism and another outstanding figure in the Tianshi Sect, later generations of Tianshi regarded him, Zhang Jixian and the ancestral Heavenly Master Zhang Daoling as the "three venerables" and worshipped them together in the palace temple.

After Zhang Yuchu's death, his younger brother Zhang Yuqing succeeded him as the forty-fourth generation Heavenly Master. Zhang Yuqing succeeded his brother and continued to preside over the compilation of the Daozang.

From the ninth to the twenty-second year of Yongle, it took more than ten years of hard work, and the editing work was basically completed. Later, due to the death of Ming Chengzu, Zhang Yuqing also died soon after, and the compilation of "Daozang" was shelved for a time. It was not until the ninth year of Emperor Yingzong's orthodoxy (1444 AD) that it was edited by another Gao Dao Shao Yizheng, known as "Orthodox Daozang".

After the "Orthodox Taozang" was engraved, Ming Yingzong specially gave a copy to the Qing Palace on Longhu Mountain to enshrine, "eternal offerings, listen to the Taoist officials and Taoist priests to read and praise, the upper part wishes for the country, and the lower to pray for the blessing of the people." Later, Zhang Guoxiang, the fiftieth generation Heavenly Master, was ordered by the Mingshen Sect to engrave the "Continuation of the Daozang", which is known as the "Wanli Continuation of the Daozang".

The "Daozang" that exists today was published and engraved in the Ming Dynasty, and it includes the "Orthodox Daozang" and the "Wanli Continuation Daozang". The two collections contain a total of 1,476 kinds of Taoist books, totaling 5,485 volumes, and the number of words is difficult to count. Several generations of Heavenly Masters and many disciples of Longhu Mountain have made outstanding contributions to these two traditional cultural giants!

This article is excerpted from "The History of Dragon and Tiger Mountain" by Wang Bingquan and He Changsheng