Studies On The The Hereditary Household Of The Han Celestial Master

The Hereditary Household of the Han Celestial Master(Han Tianshi shijia)is based on Zhang Tianshi,the religious leaders of Zhengyi Taoism in Longhu Shan,Jiangxi.It records the deeds of the first generation of Celestial Master Zhang Daoling,and to Zhang Yongxu,the Celestial Master of the forty-ninth generation.It is a significant historical biography of Taoism that records the lineage of the Celestial Masters in Longhu shan.Because of its unique religious nature,it can also be called a Taoist hagiography.The book was first compiled under the auspices of the forty-second generation Celestial Master Zhang Zhengchang in Hongwu.Later,it was enlarged and revised repeatedly by successive Celestial Masters in its spreading process.Eventually,it was edited by Zhang Guoxiang,the fiftieth generation Celestial Master,and officially embodied in the Wanli Xu Daozang.At present,there are ten versions of the Han Tianshi Shijia,which includes two handwritten copies and eight block-printed editions.The manuscript of the Ming dynasty that collected by National Library has important document value,which plays a guiding role in clarifying the compilation process of the Han Tianshi Shijia.The Han Tianshi shijia absorbed nutrients from the previous historical biographies of Taoism,mainly referring to the structure and content of the Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian and Longhu shan Zhi of the Yuan Dynasty.The manuscript of Ming still plays a vital role in the process of the formation and change of texts,the Xu Daozang version has revised the text of the manuscript,such as adjusting the order of words,simplifying the previous plots,and adding the original stories.Some of the stories in the book were drawn from or adapted from traditional historical biographies and folklore.The language of the book is plain and easy to understand,and the stories present the popular narrative feature.As a Taoist hagiography,the image of Zhang Tianshi in the book shows the feature of unusual under the author's deliberate narration.The whole book shows strong religious color and reflects the situation of Zhang Tianshi group under the political environment of the Ming Dynasty.