ZHANG LU

ZHANG LU (fl. 184–220), grandson of Zhang Daoling, founder of the sect of the Celestial Masters, and the sect's third Celestial Master. In 184 ce Zhang Lu led the sect in rebellion against the Han dynasty and established an independent state in Hanzhong, in the west, which he governed for thirty years. In 215 he surrendered to the Han general Cao Cao and was rewarded with honors that included a fiefdom. After the founding of the Wei dynasty in 220 by Cao Cao's son, Zhang Lu lived some years at the Wei court. It may be said that both the existence of the sect as an organized church and its official recognition by the government were due to his efforts. The Celestial Masters sect became the first institutionalized Daoist movement, distinguished on this point from the other popular beliefs and messianic movements of the time, and especially from the Daoist seekers after long life, who were unorganized and scattered. The movement of the Celestial Masters spread to North China by the end of the third century and, by the end of the fourth century, to all of China. It counted among its adherents many powerful families.

The church was divided into twenty-four dioceses (later twenty-eight), corresponding to the twenty-four breaths of the year (one every fifteen days) and, later, to the twenty-eight divisions of the Chinese zodiac. The hierarchy of the church and its way of addressing the powers on high were modeled on imperial and bureaucratic usages. The church set up wayside inns all over the state where food and shelter were available to travelers at no charge. Each household of followers contributed a tax of five pecks of rice, whence the name of the sect, the Way of Five Pecks of Rice (Wudoumi Dao).

The focal center of each diocese was the oratory, presided over by "libationers" (jijiu ), a married hereditary priesthood. These priests mediated between the faithful and the divine and knew as well how to ward off demons. The petitions of the faithful, transmitted by the rising smoke of incense and by the spirits exteriorized from the priest's body, were borne to the Three Heavens. Letters could be sent to the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water (san guan ). One copy, placed on a mountain, rose to Heaven, another was buried in the ground for the Earth official, and a third was cast into the river for the Official of Water. Other rituals involve talismans drawn by priests; these were burned, their ashes were mixed with water, and the talismanic holy water was then drunk by believers. The sung liturgies were based on religious texts, in particular on the Dao de jing. The Xiang'er, a commentary on the Dao de jing attributed to Zhang Lu, was used as a kind of catechism in the instruction of the faithful. Morals and law were combined: diseases were believed to be caused by evil deeds, and hence the sick were healed by rites of expiation, ceremonials, confessions, and punishment. The misdeeds of the faithful, such as theft and drinking, also fell under the jurisdiction of the sect. Road repair or imprisonment was the usual punishment.

The year was marked by a religious calendar. At the equinoxes, offerings were made to the god of the earth and the god of the soil, and healing talismans were distributed to the sect's followers. At the solstices, sacrifices were made for the salvation of the souls of the dead. Communal feasts (chu ) were offered during the first, seventh, and tenth months, and also on religious occasions such as an initiation or the consecration of an oratory. At each new moon a communal sexual ritual was celebrated, the Union of the Breaths (heqi ), which Buddhist sources describe as a licentious orgy, but which some texts still extant show to be a ceremony of highly stylized erotic choreography of religious and cosmic significance.

The sect of the Celestial Masters is still in existence, and its leaders claim direct descent from Zhang Daoling and Zhang Lu. Many of the present rituals, sacrifices, and festivals derive from rituals of the Celestial Masters of the third century.

See Also

Daoism, overview article and article on The Daoist Religious Community.

Bibliography

Eichhorn, Werner. "Bemerkungen zum Aufstand des Chang Chio und zum Staate des Chang Lu." Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung 3 (1955): 291–327.

Fukui Kojun. Dokyo no kisoteki kenkyu. Tokyo, 1952. See pages 62–92.

Stein, Rolf A. "Remarques sur les mouvements du taoïsme politico-religieux au deuxième siècle ap. J. C." T'oung pao 50 (1963): 1–78.

Xiong Deji. "Taiping jing de zuozhi he sixiang ji qi yu Huangjin he Tianshidao de guanxi." Lishi yanjiu 4 (1962): 8–25.

Isabelle Robinet (1987)