道法自然
張天師 張道陵
Founder of Religious Taoism
Festival · Ancestral rites at Mount Longhu
Founder of Religious Taoism
The hermit Zhang Daoling who, in 142 CE, received on Mount Heming the revelation of the deified Laozi and the covenant of the 'True One'. His title and office have passed down through sixty generations at Mount Longhu — one of the longest hereditary lines on earth.
Festival · Ancestral rites at Mount Longhu
History · 史记
Zhang Daoling is the founder of religious Taoism — the first Celestial Master. According to the Sanguo Zhi, in 142 CE Taishang Laojun descended upon Heming Mountain in Sichuan and conferred on him the Covenant of Orthodox Unity, with authority to organize the faithful. He established the twenty-four parishes of Sichuan; his grandson Zhang Lu built upon it a theocratic state in Hanzhong that lasted three decades, with the Three Officials Handwritten Petition as its healing rite.
His descendants have held the title of Celestial Master for nearly two thousand years, centered on Longhu Mountain — one of the longest continuous hereditary offices in human history, often compared with the papacy.
In 142 CE Laojun descended upon Heming Mountain, conferred on Zhang Daoling the Covenant of Orthodox Unity and the title of Celestial Master, and charged him to establish the twenty-four parishes — the founding moment of Celestial Master Taoism.
To test his disciple Zhao Sheng, Zhang Daoling sent him seven trials — insult, treasure, beauty, terror, compassion — and Zhao Sheng passed them all; at the seventh trial he leapt into the abyss after his master, and together they ascended.
The legends tell of eight ghost commanders and six demon kings, plague-spirits terrorizing Sichuan; Zhang Daoling fought them on Qingcheng Mountain with talisman and thunder, binding them to protect the new parishes.
三國志·張魯傳
The earliest historical record of Zhang Daoling and the Celestial Master movement he founded.
歷世真仙體道通鑑
The Yuan compendium of immortals preserving his full hagiography, including the seven trials.
老子想爾注
The early Celestial Master scripture traditionally attributed to his teaching.