Hagiography of the Shangqing Perfected Zhou 紫阳真人周君内传

Abbreviated as Biography of Lord Zhou.

The original author is uncredited.

According to Volume 14 of Zhengao by Tao Hongjing, it was compiled by Hua Qiao, a Taoist priest of  Shangqing School in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Hagiography of the Shangqing Perfected Zhou

The book is recorded in both the Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang as well as the Tong zhi. The existing version is a single volume included in the Biographical Category of The Dongzhen Section within The Daozang. Excerpts of the text are also included in Volume 106 of Yunji Qiqian (Seven Bamboo Slips of the Cloud Satchel).

This book mainly narrates the deeds of Zhou Yishan, Immortal Zhou of Ziyang, who attained the Dao and immortality. It is stated that Zhou Yishan, courtesy name Jitong, was born in the first year of the Yuansheng reign of the Western Han Dynasty (80 BCE). From his youth, he cherished the way of immortality and delighted in giving alms to relieve the poor. Later, he met the immortal Su Zixuan, who taught him the method of preserving and guarding the Three Ones. Lord Zhou then traveled through famous mountains and great lakes across the land, and met more than thirty immortals and true practitioners successively, including Yanmenzi, Zhaotaizi, Mr. Huang and Lord Shangwei. They imparted more than thirty kinds of scriptures, elixir prescriptions, Taoist Talismans and magical arts to him, such as the Dragon Ascension Classic, the Inner Script of the Three Emperors and the Great Cavern True Classic.

Thereupon, Lord Zhou cultivated the Dao for more than 110 years, then rode the clouds and drove a dragon to ascend to heaven in broad daylight, and was conferred the title of Immortal Zhou of Ziyang. At the end of the whole text, a catalogue of the scriptures received by Zhou Ziyang is appended, which can serve as a reference for the research and textual research of the early Shangqing School classics.