Page 759 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

LV XIUJING

Lu Xiujing

40 6-77; zi: Yuande 5I; if; haG: ]ianji AA;&
(Unadorned Silence)

Lu Xiujing, whose family hailed from Dongqian *;~ district (modern Zhe-
t jiang), played an important role in the development of Taoism as compiler
and editor of the *Lingbao scriptures, as codifier of the first Taoist Canon,
and as author of early ritual. Like other early Taoists, his biography was not
included in official histories and so must be reconstructed from the works of
later Taoist and Buddhist authors.
Lu was a descendant of Lu Kai Ili NJl. a prominent Counselor-in-Chief
(chengxiang 7R HI) of the Wu ruler Sun Hao ff My (Wucheng gong, r. 264-80),
but there is no record that any members of his family were involved in adminis-
tration during Lu's lifetime. According to his earliest biographer, Ma Shu,~ ~
(522-81), at birth Lu was marked with signs of transcendence and, at a young
age, abandoned his wife and children to pursue the Dao. These and other details
of Lu's early life are the commonplaces of Taoist hagiography. We possess no
reliable account of Lu's early training or of the identity of his masters.
Ma also records that Liu Yilong §?IJ ~ ISIf: (Song Wendi, r. 424-52) summoned
Lu into his presence and questioned him at length about the Dao. Other
sources record that Lu left the capital to avoid the disturbances surrounding
the regicide and usurpation of the heir apparent in 453. The introduction to
Lu's *Lingbao jingmu (Catalogue of Lingbao Scriptures), composed in 437 and
addressed to all fellow Taoists, contains lengthy citations from the Santian
zhengfa jing =c: j(.LE 1~ ~ (Scripture of the Orthodox Law of the Three Heav-
ens; CT 1203; Ozaki Masaharu 1974) arranged so as to portray the appearance
of the Lingbao scriptures as warrant of the Song dynasty's mandate. Such
confirmatory writings may well have brought Lu to imperial attention. Lu's
*Lingbao shoudu yi (Ordination Ritual of the Numinous Treasure) is preceded
by a petition presenting the text to the throne. In this petition, Lu writes that
it had been seventeen years since his own receipt of the scriptures, an event
that likely occurred when he was about twenty. Thus, this text also seems to
date to this same period, having been composed ca. 445.
Lu spent the years from 453 to 467 on Mount Lu (*Lushan,]iangxi), an active
Buddhist center from the time of Huiyuan ;~:m (334-4I6). Here Lu established
a hermitage and trained disciples. In 467, Lu was summoned to the capital by
Liu Yu jWlJ L~ (Song Mingdi, r. 465-72). Along the way, he was entertained by the