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The Grand Marshall Tianpeng is part of the Daoist group of deities known as As the marshal of the 36 generals that protect Zhenwu, Tianpeng Yuanshuai
the Four Saints (sisheng), alongside Zhenwu, Heisha, and Tianyou Yuanshuai. would have been well-represented in the Daoist temples of the Ming dynasty.
Beginning in the 12th century, the practice of their worship was codifed While his appearance varies slightly, he is most often represented with three
as the Great Rites of Youthful Incipience (Tongchu dafa), based in part on or four faces, multi-armed, dressed in armor or military garb, and holding
earlier practices such as the Six Dynasties-era Shangqing (Highest Clarity) an array of weapons and implements, which he uses to destroy demons
scriptures. Prior to the Song dynasty, Tianpeng Yuanshuai was considered and ghosts. These include the sword, halberd, faming wheel, mirror, seal,
the leader of the Four Saints, and to invoke his powers through incantation bell, sun and moon, coiled rope, and carpenter’s seal, some of which are
was a potent method to exorcise ghosts and demons. The Tang-period present in the current fgure. Perhaps because of their comparable functions,
Taishang Dongyuan Beidi Tianpeng huming xiaozai shenzhou miaojing Tianpeng is depicted similarly to Buddhist Guardian or Wisdom Kings
(Marvelous Book of Divine Incantations of Tianpeng, for Protecting Life and (Sanskrit: Vidhyaraja, Chinese: mingwang).
Abolishing Disasters, a Most High Dongyuan Canon Spoken by the Emperor
of the North) was a rite meant to save faithful devotees from apocalypse. Comparable depictions of Tianpeng Yuanshuai from this period can be
seen in Yuan-Ming-era murals, including those housed at the Royal Ontario
By the Ming dynasty, Tianpeng had become an attendant fgure to Zhenwu, Museum (Fig. 1) as well as at the Yongle Gong in Shanxi province (see K.
the Perfected Warrior, Emperor of the North, and the most popular deity Tsang, Beyond Clouds and Waves: Daoist Paintings in the Royal Ontario
of Daoism. While the early Ming emperors supported the Three Teachings Museum, Toronto, 2013, p. 53, fg. I-36). Tianpeng Yuanshuai in similar guise
(Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism), they were personally invested in is also found in an album of Daoist and Buddhist deities from the Southern
the worship of Zhenwu. The Hongwu Emperor commanded that sacrifces Song dynasty, now at the Cleveland Museum of Art (2004.1.11).
be made to the god on his birthday and ascension to heaven, and the Yongle
Emperor attributed his successful usurpation of his nephew, the Jianwen
Emperor, to his worship of Zhenwu. As a result, he ordered the construction
of the massive Zixiao Gong temple on Wudang Shan and elevated its
importance to the most signifcant of the Five Sacred Peaks. Furthermore,
when he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, the Yongle Emperor
erected a temple to Zhenwu on the northern-most axis of the Forbidden
Palace. Under the support of the emperors, Daoism reached its peak during
the Ming dynasty and surpassed Buddhism in popularity.

Fig.1. Detail depicting Tianpeng Yuanshuai, from a larger mural.
With permission of the Royal Ontario Museum ©ROM.

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