Wei Huacun (252–334),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theob ...

Xianan (賢安), was a founder of the

Shangqing School The Shangqing School (Chinese:上清派), also known as Supreme Clarity or Highest Clarity is a Taoist movement that began during the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. Shangqing can be translated as either 'Supreme Clarity' or 'Highest Clari ...

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...

Overview

Wei was born in 252 in

Jining, Shandong Jining () is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province. It borders Heze to the southwest, Zaozhuang to the southeast, Tai'an to the northeast, and the provinces of Henan and Jiangsu to the northwest and south respectively. Jinin ...

in the former county of Rencheng (任城). Her father, Wei Shu (魏舒), was a government official. From an early age she displayed a propensity for studying the works of Laozi and

Zhuangzi Zhuangzi may refer to: * ''Zhuangzi'' (book) (莊子), an ancient Chinese collection of anecdotes and fables, one of the foundational texts of Daoism **Zhuang Zhou Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master Zhuang"; als ...

, and practising

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

methods of cultivation. At the age of 24, she was married to Liu Wen (劉文) against her will by her parents and had two sons. After they grew up, she resumed her Taoist practices. At some point she became a libationer in the priesthood of the Celestial Master School of Taoism. According to her Shangqing

hagiographer A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

s, her devotion to Taoist cultivation so impressed a number of immortals that she received revelations from them - 31 volumes of Taoist scriptures, which would become the foundation of Shangqing Taoism. Among these was the ''

Yellow Court Classic ''The Yellow Court Classic'' ("Huang Ting Jing", 黄庭经), a Chinese Taoist meditation text, was received from the unknown source (according to a lore, as a Heavenly Scripture from the Highest Purity Realm) by Lady Wei Huacun, one of the fo ...

'' (黃庭經), which detailed a form of

Taoist meditation Taoist meditation (, ), known in Chinese as "Xiu Dao", refers to the traditional meditative practices associated with the Chinese philosophy and religion of Taoism, including concentration, mindfulness, contemplation, and visualization. The ear ...

involving the visualizations of deities within the adept's body, a practice that would become a defining feature of Shangqing. Shangqing has sometimes been described as a "mystical" form of Taoism, emphasising the notion of the human body as a microcosm containing universal energies, which could be actualised by ecstatic union with deities. With the emphasis on meditation, there would be much less attention paid to physiological cultivation by ingesting herbs and drugs, which had been important in earlier forms of Taoism. When Wei's disciple Yang Xi (楊羲) formally founded the Shangqing School, 30 years after her death, Wei was acknowledged as the first Patriarch of Shangqing Taoism and, as an

immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film ''The Wisdom of ...

, would be a source of continuing revelations. The school would be centred on Mount Mao (茅山), situated to the south of

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, and would thus be also known as the Maoshan School. From the 6th to the 10th century, Shangqing would be the most prominent Taoist school and would gain favour among aristocrats of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

. The Shangqing scriptures were regarded as possessing a high literary quality that previous Taoist scriptures did not, and their vivid esoteric imagery was an inspiration to artists and poets.

References

Works cited

* Qing, Xitai
"Wei Huacun"
''

Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

'' (Religion Edition), 1st ed. * Robinet, Isabelle. ''Taoism: Growth of a Religion.'' Trans. Phyllis Brooks. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. * Saso, Michael. ''The Gold Pavilion: Taoist Ways to Peace, Healing, and Long-life.''North Clarendon: Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc., 1995. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Huacun 252 births 334 deaths Cao Wei Taoists Jin dynasty (266–420) Taoists Taoist religious leaders 3rd-century Chinese women 4th-century Chinese women 4th-century Chinese people Taoist immortals