The First Celestial Master

A Story by Feng Menglong

(Pictured: one of the Daoist Temples found at Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan)

This story, from Feng’s first collection is titled Zhang Daoling Tests Zhao Sheng Seven Times. Translated by Yang & Yang and found in their book Stories Old & New (2000).

The First Celestial Master is about the founding of the Daoism (AKA Taoism) as a religion in China. The Sonoma Sage has already written about Daosim in the essay: What is Daosim. In this story, Feng gives an extremely sympathetic account of the origin of Daoism as an organized religion by telling the story of the First Celestial Master.

A short background: Although Daoists claim their religion started with Lao Zi sometime around 500 BCE, the truth is, we don’t know if Lao Zi was a real person and there are no followers who the Chinese call Daoist until 100 years later. Daoism was essentially a minor philosophy until the religion of the Celestial Masters appears in Szechuan in last years of the Han Dynasty (around 150-160 CE).

The Celestial Masters gained control over the northern half of Szechuan from ~180 CE to 215 until their territory was taken over by Liu Bei and his newly formed state called Shu Han. Note that Liu Bei’s chief advisor was a famous Daoist named Zhuge Liang. The connection - if any - between Zhuge Liang and the Celestial Masters remains unclear.

The Celestial Masters have continued to claim some authority over organized Daoism until the present day.

The Plot of the Story

The story begins with Zhang Daoling, the first Celestial Master, and his follower, Wang Chang as they are searching for the secret to immortality. They are both in their 30s when they begin their quest and their years-long search takes them to a remote region of China - only identified as Bilu Cave below the peak of Dragon-Tiger Mountain. There they find a long lost book called The Yellow Emperor’s Divine Elixir. Success!