Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
Master Shengxuan: Wang Yuanzhi (528–635) came from a family whose ancestral home was Linyi in Langya (in present-day Shandong); he later lived in Yangzhou. He was also called Yuanzhi (written with a different character), and his courtesy name was Guangde. According to the Stele for the Temple Established for the Perfected Wang, Dharma Master, Master Shengzhen and National Preceptor of Tang and scroll 25 of the Comprehensive Mirror of Perfected Immortals Who Embodied the Tao Through the Ages (Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian), he was born into a family of officials. At fifteen he became a disciple of Tao Hongjing and received the teachings of the Shangqing (Highest Clarity) school. At twenty he went on to study with Master Zongdao, Zang Jin, and obtained many secret instructions. He then traveled throughout the land and later withdrew as a recluse to Mount Mao, where he devoted himself to grain avoidance (bigu) and the methods of the Shangqing school. The Chen emperor summoned him to the Chongyang Hall; on the mountain he spread the flavor of the teachings and guided later students.
In the twelfth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty (592), when Yang Guang held Yangzhou, he received Wang with great courtesy by imperial command. In the seventh year of the Daye era (611), Emperor Yang of Sui summoned him to the Linshuo Palace at Zhuozhou, personally performed the rites of a disciple toward him, and asked him about the Way of the immortals. When the emperor returned to court, Wang accompanied the imperial retinue to the capital at Luoyang; by imperial order he performed fast rituals at the Central Peak, and he was later ordered to move to the Yuqing Mysterious Altar in Luoyang.
When Emperor Taizong of Tang was still Prince of Qin, Wang personally conferred on him the registers of the Three Caverns at his residence. After Taizong took the throne, Wang firmly declined office on grounds of illness and returned to the mountain; people of the time called him “Wang the Dharma Master.” By imperial order the Taiping Temple was built for him on Mount Mao, but he died before it was finished. The Old Book of Tang says he lived to 126.
In the second year of the Tiaolu era of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (680), he was posthumously granted the title Grand Master of the Palace and the posthumous name “Master Shengzhen” (Master Who Ascended to Perfection). In the first year of the Sisheng era under Empress Wu Zetian (684), he was posthumously granted the title Grand Master of the Palace with Golden Seal and Purple Ribbon, and his posthumous name was changed to “Master Shengxuan” (Master Who Ascended to the Mystery). He wrote the Comprehensive Account of the Changes (Yi Zong) in fifteen scrolls. His life is recorded in the “Biographies of Recluses” in the Old Book of Tang.