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Shangqing (Chinese simplified 上清派, pinyin Shàngqīngpài), the “School of Highest Purity,” is a school of Taoism that arose in China at the end of the fourth century.
According to the Shangqing school’s beliefs, True People (Zhenren) live in Heaven; they possess immense knowledge and priceless books from the Heavenly Libraries. Contact with the True People makes it possible to record these texts, which they transmit to worthy mediums through a state of trance.
School of the Celestial Masters (Chinese traditional 天師道, simplified 天师道, pinyin Tiānshīdào, Palladius Tianshidao — the Way of the Celestial Masters).
The movement was founded by Zhang Daoling, its first patriarch (Celestial Master) and an immortal Taoist. This school was the first stable religious organization in Taoism. It still exists today, primarily in southern China, Taiwan, Singapore, and among Chinese communities in the countries of Southeast Asia.
The School of True Unity, or Zhengyi Dao (Chinese 正一道 Zhengyidao) — the Way of Orthodox Unity, the Way of the True One — is a religious school of Taoism, founded during the Song dynasty as a continuation of the School of the Celestial Masters.
Immortality (Taoism) — Wikipedia
During the 70 years after Yang Xi’s death, the school’s influence weakened, while its books became difficult to understand because of their ecstatic and esoteric nature. Interest nevertheless remained, and the encyclopedist Lu Xiujing (regarded as the seventh Shangqing patriarch) began meticulously organizing the Taoist writings available to him, focusing on the Lingbao school, to which he belonged. He also proposed a reform of the School of the Celestial Masters, creating the Southern School of the Celestial Masters, and compiled the works of several schools into the first Taoist canon (Daozang). He was deeply interested in the Shangqing school, regarding its revelations as the highest knowledge, and also attempted to organize and decipher its writings. His disciple Sun Youyue (died in 489, regarded as the eighth patriarch) continued this work. Nevertheless, Shangqing writings remained difficult to understand until Tao Hongjing organized and explained them.
Tao Hongjing, a brilliant scholar and encyclopedist, obtained the Shangqing school’s writings 100 years later and was able to fully decipher and organize them. He also organized the works of the Lingbao school, borrowing a number of rituals and theoretical principles from it. He is regarded as the ninth patriarch, although historians also describe him as having re-founded the school. As a result of his activities, the school gained power and popularity and acquired and strengthened its official status at court despite the troubled times and political instability.
The Shangqing school returned to the shamanic practices of ecstatic flights that had been widespread during the Zhou era, and reintroduced visualization, both mystical and associated with the summoning of spirits. The school also returned to ancient techniques involving physical exercise (daoyin gymnastics, Chinese 导引), the consumption of hallucinogenic substances, and medicinal herbs as part of external alchemy.
Using their bodies and organisms, Shangqing adepts sought, with the help of imagination, to establish a correspondence between themselves and the cosmos, experiencing themselves as celestial deities and thereby realizing the Celestial Dao. The common goal was to gather into a single whole the entire multitude of spirits that make up the human organism and psyche, bringing them into harmony and returning to the original unity.
The world of the gods is perceived by the adept as paradise, where heavenly music plays and exquisite pavilions, canopies adorned with colored feathers, dragons, phoenixes, and palanquins can be found. To enter this world, one must attract the deities who govern the body and its parts and gather the energy of qi from the nine prenatal heavens. This imaginary journey requires guides, maps, talismans, knowledge of the gods’ secret names, and ways of passing through guarded barriers.
One of the most important texts of the Shangqing school is the Shangqing Dadong Zhenjing (Chinese 上清大洞真經, Dadong zhenjing, “True Scripture of the Great Cavern”). Adepts read this text, which is intended to lead them to immortality; in this process, the Taoist alchemy of earlier schools becomes unnecessary.
According to the Shangqing school’s beliefs, True People (Zhenren) live in Heaven; they possess immense knowledge and priceless books from the Heavenly Libraries. Contact with the True People makes it possible to record these texts, which they transmit to worthy mediums through a state of trance.
School of the Celestial Masters (Chinese traditional 天師道, simplified 天师道, pinyin Tiānshīdào, Palladius Tianshidao — the Way of the Celestial Masters).
The movement was founded by Zhang Daoling, its first patriarch (Celestial Master) and an immortal Taoist. This school was the first stable religious organization in Taoism. It still exists today, primarily in southern China, Taiwan, Singapore, and among Chinese communities in the countries of Southeast Asia.
The School of True Unity, or Zhengyi Dao (Chinese 正一道 Zhengyidao) — the Way of Orthodox Unity, the Way of the True One — is a religious school of Taoism, founded during the Song dynasty as a continuation of the School of the Celestial Masters.
Immortality (Taoism) — Wikipedia
In fact, the Shangqing school was founded by the disciple Yang Xi (Chinese 楊羲), who came from an aristocratic family. Between 364 and 370, he actively practiced visualization, possibly using hallucinogenic substances, and experienced numerous wondrous visions. He met immortals, spirits, and deities who revealed to him the heavens of Highest Purity (Shangqing), the secrets of immortality, and other mysteries. He told an official, Xu Mi (whose family was related to the family of Ge Hong), about his revelations. Together with Xu Mi and his son Xu Hui, he built a hermitage on Mount Mao, which became the foundation of the school. Entering a trance, Yang Xi recorded his revelations with a stick in the sand.
During the 70 years after Yang Xi’s death, the school’s influence weakened, while its books became difficult to understand because of their ecstatic and esoteric nature. Interest nevertheless remained, and the encyclopedist Lu Xiujing (regarded as the seventh Shangqing patriarch) began meticulously organizing the Taoist writings available to him, focusing on the Lingbao school, to which he belonged. He also proposed a reform of the School of the Celestial Masters, creating the Southern School of the Celestial Masters, and compiled the works of several schools into the first Taoist canon (Daozang). He was deeply interested in the Shangqing school, regarding its revelations as the highest knowledge, and also attempted to organize and decipher its writings. His disciple Sun Youyue (died in 489, regarded as the eighth patriarch) continued this work. Nevertheless, Shangqing writings remained difficult to understand until Tao Hongjing organized and explained them.
Tao Hongjing, a brilliant scholar and encyclopedist, obtained the Shangqing school’s writings 100 years later and was able to fully decipher and organize them. He also organized the works of the Lingbao school, borrowing a number of rituals and theoretical principles from it. He is regarded as the ninth patriarch, although historians also describe him as having re-founded the school. As a result of his activities, the school gained power and popularity and acquired and strengthened its official status at court despite the troubled times and political instability.
The Shangqing school returned to the shamanic practices of ecstatic flights that had been widespread during the Zhou era, and reintroduced visualization, both mystical and associated with the summoning of spirits. The school also returned to ancient techniques involving physical exercise (daoyin gymnastics, Chinese 导引), the consumption of hallucinogenic substances, and medicinal herbs as part of external alchemy.
Using their bodies and organisms, Shangqing adepts sought, with the help of imagination, to establish a correspondence between themselves and the cosmos, experiencing themselves as celestial deities and thereby realizing the Celestial Dao. The common goal was to gather into a single whole the entire multitude of spirits that make up the human organism and psyche, bringing them into harmony and returning to the original unity.
The world of the gods is perceived by the adept as paradise, where heavenly music plays and exquisite pavilions, canopies adorned with colored feathers, dragons, phoenixes, and palanquins can be found. To enter this world, one must attract the deities who govern the body and its parts and gather the energy of qi from the nine prenatal heavens. This imaginary journey requires guides, maps, talismans, knowledge of the gods’ secret names, and ways of passing through guarded barriers.
One of the most important texts of the Shangqing school is the Shangqing Dadong Zhenjing (Chinese 上清大洞真經, Dadong zhenjing, “True Scripture of the Great Cavern”). Adepts read this text, which is intended to lead them to immortality; in this process, the Taoist alchemy of earlier schools becomes unnecessary.
). I was just thinking about a new plot, and this article set my imagination in motion! Thank you, Teacher! 