The Longhu Sect 龙虎宗

A Taoist sect, which is the name given to the Wudoumi Dao (Tianshi Dao) after it developed with Mount Longhu in Jiangxi as its center. It is actually a continuation of the Wudoumi Dao and the Tianshi Dao sect.

It is marked by the descendants of Zhang Ling moving to Mount Longhu to establish the religion. However, the specific time is difficult to determine.

Han Tianshi Shijia (Genealogy of the Han Celestial Masters) and Yuan Shi·Shi Lao Zhuan (History of the Yuan Dynasty·Biography of Buddhists and Taoists) and other works state that Zhang Sheng, the fourth son of Zhang Lu, went to Mount Longhu to establish the religion during the Three Kingdoms period or the Yongjia era of the Western Jin Dynasty. According to historical research, after Zhang Lu surrendered to Cao Cao, all his sons were granted the title of liehou (a type of marquis), but there was no mention of Zhang Sheng. Volume 15 of Mao Shan Zhi (Records of Mount Mao) records the names of several descendants of Zhang Ling during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, including one ninth-generation grandson and seven tenth-generation grandsons, two of whom were registered in Shu Commandery. Emperor Jianwen of Liang wrote Zhao Zhen Guan Bei (Stele of Zhao Zhen Temple), which records that Zhang Daoyu, the twelfth-generation grandson of Zhang Ling, came to Yushan in the second year of Tianjian (503) to build Zhao Zhen Temple and practiced Taoism there for more than ten years. The location was in Changshu, Jiangsu.

Shou Lu Cidi Faxin Yi (Rituals for Receiving Talismans in Order and the Credentials of Dharma) includes Tianshi Zhi Yi (Rituals of the Celestial Master's Jurisdiction), which was written by Zhang Bian, a thirteenth-generation grandson of Zhang Ling and a military advisor to the Prince of Wuling during the Liang Dynasty. None of these people are recorded as having lived on Mount Longhu. According to existing materials, it was approximately in the late Tang Dynasty that the descendants of Zhang Ling began to settle on Mount Longhu. Volume 2 of Longhu Shan Zhi (Records of Mount Longhu) under the entry "Shangqing Palace" states that the palace was originally "a platform for transmitting talismans built by the fourth-generation Celestial Master when he returned to Mount Longhu from Hanzhong. During the Huichang era of the Tang Dynasty (841-846), it was granted the name Zhenxian Guan (True Immortal Temple)." Volume 6, Biography of Zhang Chen, says: "The twentieth-generation (Celestial Master) Chen, styled Zijian, was summoned by Emperor Wuzong during the Huichang era and was granted a platform for transmitting talismans, with the name Zhenxian Guan." The claim that the fourth-generation Celestial Master (Zhang Sheng) built the platform for transmitting talismans is unreliable, but it seems more plausible that the twentieth-generation Zhang Chen was ordered to build the platform for transmitting talismans.

During the Five Dynasties period, Li Jing, the emperor of the Southern Tang, ordered the construction of a temple for Celestial Master Zhang on Mount Longhu. At that time, Chen Qiao wrote Stele Inscription for the Newly Built Temple of Celestial Master Zhang on Mount Longhu in Xinzhou during the Southern Tang Dynasty. The stele was erected in the eighth year of Baoda in the Southern Tang Dynasty (950) and mentions Zhang Bingyi, the twenty-first-generation grandson of Zhang Ling.

From then on, each generation of Celestial Masters listed in Han Tianshi Shijia can be corroborated by historical records. Based on this, it was approximately in the late Tang Dynasty that the descendants of Zhang Ling settled in Mount Longhu in Jiangxi to establish the religion, which is roughly the founding period of the Longhu Sect.

Another theory holds that Zhang Wei, the younger brother of Zhang Lu, had a son named Zhang Sheng who did not surrender to the Cao clan and went to Mount Longhu in Jiangxi to practice Taoism with his wife, but there is insufficient historical evidence for this. In the Song Dynasty, the Longhu Sect received support from the imperial court, and each generation of its leaders (i.e., each generation of Zhang Ling's descendants) was granted the title of "Xiansheng" (Mr.). For example, the twenty-fourth-generation Zhang Zhengsui was granted the title "Zhenjing Xiansheng" (True Tranquility Mr.), the twenty-fifth-generation Zhang Qianyao was granted "Cheng su Xiansheng" (Clear and Plain Mr.), and the twenty-sixth-generation Zhang Sizong was granted "Xubai Xiansheng" (Empty and White Mr.), etc. The sect thus achieved significant development, and the name Longhu Sect became famous in the world. Together with Mount Mao and Mount Gezao, it was known as the "Three Mountains of Talismans" or "Three Talismanic Sects".

In the fourth year of Shaosheng (1097), Emperor Zhezong of the Song Dynasty "issued a separate edict to Jurong County, Jiangning Prefecture: the altar of scriptures and talismans of the Three Mount Mao, together with Mount Longhu in Xinzhou and Mount Gezao in Linjiang Jun, stand tripartite like a tripod, assisting in the governance of the imperial realm." (Mao Shan Zhi, Volume 11) Entering the Yuan Dynasty, the Longhu Sect received even greater support. In the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan (1276), Kublai Khan, Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty, summoned Zhang Zongyan, the thirty-sixth-generation grandson of Zhang Ling. The following year, he officially granted Zhang Zongyan the title of the thirty-sixth-generation Celestial Master, formally recognizing the title of "Celestial Master" for the descendants of Zhang Ling in an official capacity, and also ordered him to take charge of Taoism in the Jiangnan region. From then on, each generation of leaders of the Longhu Sect followed this system, receiving the title of Celestial Master from the emperor and the authority to manage Taoism in Jiangnan. This made the political status of successive Celestial Masters surpass that of the leaders of other talismanic sects, and the Longhu Sect developed more than other talismanic sects. In this way, the Celestial Master and the Longhu Sect he led gradually became the center of all talismanic sects in Jiangnan. In the mid to late Yuan Dynasty, a major talismanic sect, Zhengyi Dao, was formed by integrating all the talismanic sects in Jiangnan with the Longhu Sect as the center. After that, the Longhu Sect entered another period of development.