Hagiography of the Sagely Guardian 翊圣保德传
Paul PengHagiography of the Sagely Guardian
Compiled by Wang Qinruo by imperial order during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty.
It was recorded as three volumes in both Tongzhi · Bibliographic Treatise and History of the Song Dynasty · Bibliographic Treatise. The current edition is included in the Daozang in the Zhengyi Section. There are also editions in Seven Slips from the Cloudy Bookcase and The Complete Library of the Four Treasuries.
Hagiography of the Sagely Guardian
This book is a biography of “Yisheng”. It is said that in the early Jianlong reign of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty (960), an immortal manifested at the home of Zhang Shouzhen, a Taoist priest in Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi, claiming to be a minister assisting the Jade Emperor, sent down to assist the Song Dynasty by order of the Jade Emperor.Later, Emperor Taizong of the Song built the Shangqing Taiping Palace in Zhongnan Town, Shaanxi, to enshrine this deity, and conferred the title “General Yisheng” by imperial edict. Emperor Zhenzong of the Song further granted him the title “True Lord Yisheng Baode”, and ordered Wang Qinruo, the chief minister, to compile this book.
The book records in detail the experience of True Lord Yisheng descending to the mortal world and the Song Dynasty’s enshrinement of the True Lord. It also includes manifestations of True Lord Yisheng, expelling evil and beheading demons, admonishing the world to accumulate virtue and abandon evil, practice loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, etc.
Appended are the imperial preface by Emperor Zhenzong of the Song, the memorial by Wang Qinruo, and the imperial reply by Emperor Zhenzong. From this book, we can see that Emperor Zhenzong of the Song and Wang Qinruo were superstitious about Taoism and fabricated the Mandate of Heaven.
