author
850–933
A major Taoist writer of late Tang and early Five Dynasties China, this prolific priest left behind ritual manuals, tales, and historical works that helped shape later Daoist tradition. His life moved between mountain religion and royal courts, giving his writing both spiritual depth and a close view of a turbulent age.
After an unsuccessful attempt at the civil service examinations, he trained as a Taoist on Mount Tiantai in present-day Zhejiang. He later became known as a prolific author and religious figure during the final years of the Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties period.
He served at court and eventually followed Emperor Xizong into Sichuan during the upheavals of the late ninth century. In the Former Shu kingdom he continued to write and to work as an important Taoist cleric, linking religious practice with political life in a time of fragmentation.
His surviving legacy includes works on Daoist ritual, hagiography, mythology, and history. Because he wrote so much, and because he stood close to both the court and the religious world, he remains one of the most valuable sources for understanding medieval Chinese Taoism.