Page 333 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

294 THE ENCYCLOPED IA OF TAO ISM A- L

Dacheng

Great Perfection; Great Completion

Dacheng (or Da Cheng) was the name of the state founded by *Li Xiong in
306 CE. The Li family, and the ruling group of the Dacheng state as a whole,
had been followers of the Way of the Celestial Masters (*Tianshi dao) for
generations, and belonged to the Ba 13 ethnicity which supplied many of the
faith's early followers. Their ancestors had been transferred to the northwest
(modern Gansu province) in 2I5, when the Celestial Master kingdom of *Zhang
Lu surrendered to Cao Cao, and they had returned to the Sichuan region only
around 300, driven by plague, famine, and rebellion.
The name Dacheng was taken from a poem in the Shijing tf.j ~ (Book of
Odes; Mao ::§ I79), and by the Han dynasty was understood to refer a future
utopian age. Li Xiong chose this name to reflect his own belief in a Taoist
kingdom of Great Peace (*taiping), the advent of which he hoped to hasten
through enlightened Taoist rule. He took as his chancellor a Taoist sage and
local leader named *Pan Changsheng and is said to have consulted him in
all matters. Governmental policies attributed by some to Li's Taoist beliefs
include a simplified code of laws, leniency in the enforcement of corporeal
punishment, reduced taxes, aid to the needy,. fair markets, and the avoidance
of warfare.
After Li Xiong's death in 334, the Taoist character of the state waned. With
the accession of Li Shou *fi in 338, the name of the state was changed to
Han ~ , implicitly abandoning the utopian vision of the state, but Taoist
influence remained, as evidenced by an attempt to restore the state, after its
demise in 347, under the son of Pan Changsheng. The Dacheng state was a
concrete manifestation of the early Taoist millenarian political vision and the
fact that it was non-Chinese members of the church who realized this reflects
the ignificance the Taoist promise of salvation held to ethnic minorities.

Terry KLEEMAN
m Kleeman I998; Seidel I969-70, 233-36

* Pan Changsheng; Li Xiong; MESSIANISM AND MILLENARIANISM