Taoism in the Late Han-Three Kingdoms Period

It is generally believed that the initial establishment period of Taoism was during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It developed to a certain extent during the late Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period, as well as the Wei and Jin dynasties. It was not until the Northern Wei Dynasty that Taoism was formally finalized.

During the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in the face of the gradually incoming Buddhism, Taoists from the Five Sacred Mountains rose up under the drive of religious psychology, wanting to compete with Buddhism. For example, 1,310 Taoists including Chu Shanxin from the Southern Sacred Mountain, Liu Zhengnian from the Western Sacred Mountain, Huan Wendu from the Northern Sacred Mountain, Jiao Dexin from the Eastern Sacred Mountain, Lü Huitong from the Central Sacred Mountain, as well as Fei Shucai and Qi Wenxin from various mountains, submitted a memorial to the emperor proposing a competition with Buddhism in terms of doctrines, which was recorded in On Buddhism and Taoism. From this, we can know that the alchemists since the Qin and Han dynasties gradually came to be called "Taoists" after the Eastern Han Dynasty. They lived in seclusion in famous mountains and great marshes across the land, practicing the way of immortality.

During the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling in the late Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling, a native of Peiguo, lamented that studying books was of no benefit to prolonging one's life, so he learned the way of longevity. He entered Sichuan with his disciples and lived in the Huming Mountain, where he wrote twenty-four volumes of Taoist books. Chen Shou, a historian of the Western Jin Dynasty, stated in Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Zhang Lu that Zhang Daoling "composed Taoist books to delude the common people, and those who came to study with him had to offer five pecks of rice, hence he was known in the world as the 'Rice Robber'." Later generations also called his sect the "Five Pecks of Rice Taoism".

After Zhang Daoling's death, his son Zhang Heng continued to practice Taoism. After Zhang Heng's death, the tradition was passed down to his son Zhang Lu. Later, the descendants of the Zhang family moved to Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi. Since the Song and Yuan dynasties, they have been granted the title of "Heavenly Master" in successive dynasties, and their family has been comparable to the Confucian family in Qufu, Shandong, throughout the ages, which is indeed an extraordinary phenomenon.