Eighty-Five Manifestations of Perfected Xu 西山许真君八十五化录

Also known as Poetic Biography of Lord Xu Zhenjun.

Original compilation attributed to Shi Cen, True Man Yongwu of Xishan. Research indicates it was actually compiled by Song Daojian, Jia Shoucheng and other Daoists of the Jingming Sect in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Eighty-Five Manifestations of Perfected Xu

The work was completed during the Chunyou reign (1241–1252). The original text has three volumes and is included in the Genealogy and Records category of the Daozang, Mysterious Cavern Section.

The book is divided into eighty-five transformations. The first fifty transformations narrate the life and deeds of Lord Xu Xun, with each transformation containing one story and a supplementary seven-character poem. Transformations 51 to 68 record the veneration of Xu Xun in the Song Dynasty, including the construction of temples, offerings, conferral of honorary titles, and miraculous events such as Lord Xu Zhenjun appearing in dreams to Emperor Huizong of Song. Transformations 69 to 79 contain biographies of Xu Xun’s teachers, friends and disciples: Wu Meng, Peng Kang, Shi He, Zhou Guang, Gan Zhan, Shi Cen, Zeng Heng, Chen Dong, Xu Lie, Huang Renlan, Zhongli Jia, and others. The final six transformations record the deeds of figures related to Xu Xun, including Lord Lan, Mother Chen, Hu Huichao and others.

According to the prefaces and postscripts of this book, in the Jiashen year of the Jiading reign of the Southern Song Dynasty (1224), Ancestral Master Lord Xu Zhenjun descended to Jinling, proclaimed the teaching of loyalty and filial piety, and ordered Shi Cen to build the Yongwu Daoist Academy to propagate the Daoist tradition, and to compile this book together with Song Daojian and others.

Therefore, this book serves as important historical material for the study of the activities of the Jingming religious community in the Song Dynasty.