Page 734 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

Liu Yu

1257-13°8; zi: Yizhen rw~; haD: Yuzhen zi .::t=.~~
(Master of Jade Perfection)

Uu Yu is not to be confused with a person of the same name, otherwise known
as Uu Shi ~~ ut (fl. 1258), to whom *Shenxiao ritual codes are ascribed. The
son of Lady Wu r111 Cl::: and Uu Gang lj¥IJ lift] of Nankang IH JM (Jiangxi), Uu lost
both parents at the age of twenty. He came out of mourning destitute and
wise to the ephemerality of life. Turning to a study of the spirit realm, Uu
began to have a series of visions and eventually came to be recognized as the
founder of a sync re tic school known as the *Jingming dao (Pure and Bright
Way) centered on veneration of *Xu Xun (trad. 239-374) at the Western Hills
(*Xishan, Jiangxi).
Liu had his first visionary encounter in 1282 at the Western Hills, where
he met Hu Huichao M ~ iIii (7-703), a Taoist master who six centuries earlier
had revived a movement in the name of Xu Xun called Xiaodao 4:Jl! (Way of
Filiality). Hu reportedly told Liu that he was destined to become the exemplar
of eight hundred devotees of Jingming. He also said that Liu could expect the
arrival of Xu Xun himself on the *gengshen ~ $ day of the last lunar month of
the year bingshen pg $ (20 January 1297). Hu reappeared the next year to explain
Jingming lore and advised Uu to set up a retreat on Mount Huangtang (Huang-
tang shan ~'ljt ill) in the Western Hills range. Word of Uu's benevolent activi-
ties at a newly established abbey in the region drew throngs of followers.
Toward the end of 1294 Uu received instruction in geomancy from an
ostensibly earlier devotee of Xu Xun, the renowned literatus Guo Pu 1P~
(276-324). Approximately two years later, on the day designated for his audience
with XU Xun, Uu gathered his disciples together and said that someone else
would join them. Late that night, during a heavy snowstorm, Huang Yuanji
N:TCG (1271-1326) arrived and said that Hu had appeared in a dream, telling
him to come. Just before midnight, Uu allegedly received from Xu Xun a text
on *Ungbao ritual that bore his name as a disciple. Four days later Guo Pu is
said to have given Liu an exegesis on the text. That night XU arrived again to
bestow further ritual commentary that he claimed to have received by order
of Taishang :;tJ: (Most High). He also informed Liu that he was foremost
among his eight hundred disciples. Ten months later Hu reappeared at the
*Yulong wanshou gong (Palace of the Ten-thousand-fold Longevity of Jade
Beneficence) of the Western Hills to convey additional instruction.