The Tianshi School (Simplified Chinese:天师道, Traditional Chinese: 天師道, pinyin: Tiān Shī Dào) 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. For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... Celestial Master Zhang Daoling Zhang Daoling (Chang Tao-ling), aka Zhang Ling. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: SzÅ­4-chuan1; Postal map spelling: Szechwan and Szechuan) is a province in the central-western China with its capital at Chengdu. ...

History

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 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 his grandson, Zhang Lu. Their rebellion against the Han dynasty is known as the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion. They founded a theocratic state in Sichuan that enjoyed full independence. In 215, Zhang Lu submitted to Cao Cao, the ruler of the Wei Kingdom. Despite giving up his state’s independence, adherents still joined the Celestial Masters, and the movement survived. This does not cite its references or sources. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... A peck is an Imperial unit and U.S. customary unit of dry volume, equivalent in each of these systems to 8 dry quarts, or 16 dry pints. ... Zhang Lu (张鲁) (??? - ???) was the controller of Hanzhong shortly before the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. ... The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Han Chau; 206 BC–AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... For other uses, see Cao Cao (disambiguation). ...

The Southern Celestial Masters

After the fall of Luoyang to non-Chinese invaders in 311, the remnants of the court fled to Jiangkang (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. Luoyang (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Luòyáng) is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province, Peoples Republic of China. ... For other uses, see Nanjing (disambiguation). ... The Jin Dynasty (晉 pinyin: jìn, 265-420), one of the Six Dynasties, followed the Three Kingdoms and preceded the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. ...

The Northern Celestial Masters

Kou Qianzhi, who was raised in a Celestial Master family, received two visions of Laozi in 415 and in 423. In 424, he brought the work that resulted from these visions to the court of the Northern Wei dynasty. The rulers put his works into practice, and Kou became the Celestial Master of the Daoist theocracy of the Northern Wei. After Kou died in 448, the prime minister, Cui Hao, became power hungry and began to insult the Wei rulers. Unhappy with his insubordination, the rulers had Cui executed in 450, and ended the Daoist theocracy. Kou Qianzhi (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kou Chien-chih; 365-448) was a Taoist reformer who reenvisioned many of the ceremonies and rites of the Way of the Celestial Master form of Taoism and reformulated its theology. ... The Northern Wei Dynasty (北魏 386-534) is most noted for the unification of northern China in 440, it was also heavily involved in funding the arts and many antiques and art works from this period have survived. ... Cui Hao (崔颢; pinyin: Cuī Hào) was a poet of the Tang dynasty in China. ...

The Celestial Masters today

The Celestial Masters have survived into the 20th century. In 1949, after the communists gained power in the mainland, the remaining Celestial Masters fled to Taiwan, where they still live today.

Beliefs and practices

Zhang Daoling, the first Celestial Master

Each of the three different eras of the 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. Image File history File links Description: Zhang Daoling Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Description: Zhang Daoling Source: http://www. ... The Xiang’er (Simplified Chinese: 想尔, Traditional Chinese: 想爾)is a commentary to the Daode jing that is best known for being one of the earliest surviving texts from the Way of the Celestial Master variant of Daoism. ...

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. For other uses, see QI (disambiguation). ...

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. This article is about sin in the context of morality. ... Kowtowing Kowtow, from the Chinese term kòu tóu (Cantonese: kau tàuh) (叩頭), is the act of deep respect shown by kneeling and bowing so low as to touch the head to the ground. ...

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. Women were considered far more important in the Celestial Masters that in regular Daojia. An ancient Chinese print depicting The Joining of the Essences. ...

Significance

The Celestial Masters were the first group of organized Daoists. Before their foundation, Daoism did not exist as an organized religion. Being the first organized religious Daoists, the Celestial Masters are the ancestors of subsequent Daoist movements such as the Shangqing and Lingbao movements. The Shangqing School (Chinese:上清) is a Daoist movement that began during in the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. ... Lingbao refers to a branch of Taoism that originated in the late 4th century CE. Lingbao can be translated as numinous gem or spiritual treasure. ...

See also

• Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion
• Xiang'er
• Zhang Daoling
• Zhang Lu

The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... The Xiang’er (Simplified Chinese: 想尔, Traditional Chinese: 想爾)is a commentary to the Daode jing that is best known for being one of the earliest surviving texts from the Way of the Celestial Master variant of Daoism. ... Celestial Master Zhang Daoling Zhang Daoling (Chang Tao-ling), aka Zhang Ling. ... Zhang Lu (张鲁) (??? - ???) was the controller of Hanzhong shortly before the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. ...

References

• Bokenkamp, Stephen. Early Daoist Scriptures. Berkeley: University of California, 1999.
• Kohn, Livia ed. Daoism Handbook. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
• Robinet, Isabelle. Daoism: Growth of a Religion. Stanford: Stanford University, 1997.