This is a list of the Celestial Masters, leaders of

Zhengyi Dao Zhengyi Dao (), also known as the Way of Orthodox Unity, Teaching of the Orthodox Unity, and Branch of the Orthodox Unity is a Chinese Taoist movement that traditionally refers to the same Taoist lineage as the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice and ...

, continuing

Wudoumi Dao The Way of the Five Pecks of Rice () or the Way of the Celestial Master, commonly abbreviated to simply The Celestial Masters, was a Chinese Taoist movement founded by the first Celestial Master, Zhang Daoling, in 142 CE. At its height, the m ...

(Way of the Five Pecks of Rice). After the death of the 64th Celestial Master Zhang Yuanxian in 2008, controversy arose over the legitimate succession, with different descendants claiming to be the rightful 65th Celestial Master, including Zhang Jintao and three other claimants in mainland

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

; and Zhang Yijiang and Zhang Meiliang in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

.The China Post
Who’s going to be the 65th Taoist pope?
/ref> Eventually, Zhang Jiyu from mainland China was chosen as the successor; vice-president of the

Chinese Taoist Association Chinese Taoist Association (CTA; ), founded in April 1957, is the official government supervisory organ of Taoism in the People's Republic of China. History In 1980, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party approved a request by t ...

, he resides at the Mansion of the Celestial Master on

Mount Longhu Mount Longhu (, Gan: Lung-fu San) is located in Yingtan, Jiangxi, China. It is famous for being one of the birthplaces of Taoism, with many Taoist temples built upon the mountainside. It is particularly important to the Zhengyi Dao as the Sha ...

. In English the Celestial Master has sometimes been known as Taoist Pope.

Notes

External links

The Taoist Association of Celestial Master Chang
Website of 65th Celestial Master (claimant) {{DEFAULTSORT:Celestial masters, list of Chinese Taoists Taoism-related lists Taoist religious leaders Taoist priesthood

List A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...

Chinese families