The Shuai Zilian 率子廉

The Shuai Zilian 率子廉

Paul Peng
Shuai Zilian (?–980) was a farmer from Hengshan (now part of Hunan Province) during the transition from the Five Dynasties to the early Song Dynasty. He was simple-minded, unrefined, and somewhat unruly.
The local people nicknamed him "Shuai the Ox" (Shuai Niu). In his later years, he entered Nanyue Guan (Nanyue Taoist Temple) and became a Taoist priest.

To the southwest of the temple stood Zixu Pavilion, the former site of the Taoist altar of Madam Wei of Nanyue. Other Taoist priests refused to live there because it was desolate and isolated, but Shuai Zilian alone volunteered to go.


Inside the Taoist temple, he did not engage in any specific Taoist practices—instead, he remained quiet and silent all day, and was fond of drinking. Often, he would lie drunk in the mountains and forests, unaware of wind and rain, and even tigers and wolves would not harm him. People of his time regarded this as extraordinary.


Shuai Zilian passed away in the temple in the fifth year of the Taiping Xingguo era (980).


(Sources: Supplementary Collection of Dongpo's Works (Dongpo Ji Houji), Volume 16; Comprehensive Mirror of True Immortals Who Embodied the Dao Through the Ages (Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian), Volume 50) (By Wu Shouju)
Paul Peng — Zhengyi Taoist Priest, Longhu Mountain

About the Author

Paul Peng

Paul Peng is a Zhengyi Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi — the ancestral home of the Celestial Masters' tradition. Ordained at 25 after a dream from the Celestial Master, he has practiced for 25 years under Master Zeng Guangliang. He is one of the curators of this store, which is officially authorized by Tianshi Fu. All items are consecrated at the temple by the resident priest team.

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