Way of the Celestial Masters
In 142 CE, Zhang Daoling announced that Laozi had appeared to him, and commanded him to rid the world of decadence and establish a new state consisting only of the "chosen people".
After the success of the rebellion in 194, they founded the theocratic state of Zhang Han in the Hanzhong Valley of Sichuan, enjoying full independence.
[4] 正一 Zhengyi included in their religious liturgy, the Daoist writings of the Han, Laozi, the 3 caves and 7 parts.
[16] Clerics of the Celestial Masters were referred to as 黃赤祭酒 "libationers of the yellow and red" in the era of the Six dynasties.
[26] Celestial Masters north branch under Kou Qianzhi worshipped divinities described in the 魏書 Book of Wei.
[30] An anti-Buddhist plan was concocted by the Celestial Masters under Kou Qianzhi along with Cui Hao under the Taiwu Emperor.
[31] The Celestial Masters of the north urged the persecution of Buddhists under the Taiwu Emperor in the Northern Wei, attacking Buddhism and the Buddha as wicked, and as anti-stability and anti-family.
[33] There was no ban on the Celestial Masters despite the non-fulfillment of Cui Hao and Kou Qianzhi's agenda in their anti-Buddhist campaign.
[35] In the Southern dynasties 正一經 Zhengyi Jing was part of the religious canon of the Celestial Masters.
[citation needed] The collapse of the Wei Kingdom in 260 CE, along with the fall of Northern China to the Huns in 317, further scattered adherents to the Celestial Masterhood.
[53] After the fall of Luoyang to non-Chinese invaders in 311, the remnants of the court fled to Jiankang (modern-day Nanjing) and established a new state known as the Eastern Jin dynasty.
The rulers put his works into practice, and Kou became the Celestial Master of the Daoist theocracy of the Northern Wei.
After Kou died in 448, the prime minister, Cui Hao, became power hungry and began to insult the Wei rulers.
During the Yuan dynasty, the Zhengyi Dao School of Daoism claimed lineage to the Celestial Masters.
[54] Celestial Master teachings and Daoxue were mixed together by Yu Ji, whose teacher was 吳澄 Wu Cheng.
In 1949, after the communists dominated mainland China, the 63rd Celestial Master, Zhang Enpu (張恩溥), migrated to Taiwan with the Kuomintang government.
The Celestial Masters Order in mainland China suffered badly during the Cultural Revolution but managed to survive.
However, because the Southern and Northern Celestial Masters both descended directly from the initial movement founded by Zhang Daoling, there are many beliefs that are shared.
A number of texts exist that give insight into early Celestial Master practice, in particular the Taiping Jing and the Xiang'er commentary to the Laozi.
Repentance could be accomplished by spending time in a 'Chamber of Silence,' and reflecting on one's sins, or by beating one's breasts and kowtowing to heaven.
Eating very little was also of extreme importance, and an ideal diet would consist of no food at all, but only noncorporeal things such as air, which the person could absorb through meditation.
