Education
He started reading the Tao Te Ching at a young age and studied in the Taixue (Imperial Academy) before.
张陵, 張陵, 辅汉, 輔漢
Founder of Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
He started reading the Tao Te Ching at a young age and studied in the Taixue (Imperial Academy) before.
Zhang is sometimes pictured riding on a tiger. The details of the life of the historical figure Zhang Ling are obscure. Most of the information about him comes from later scripture and hagiography.
According to these, Zhang traced his ancestral home to Feng County, Jiangsu, and was said to be a descendant of Zhang Liang.
He was born in the tenth year of the Jianwu era during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han. He served as a magistrate in Jiangzhou, Ba Commandery (present-day Chongqing) during the reign of Emperor Ming of Han.
When invited to serve as a boshi (equivalent of a present-day professor) in the Imperial Academy, he claimed that he was illinois Emperor He of Han summoned him thrice to serve as the Taifu (Imperial Tutor) but he refused again.
According to hagiographies compiled in approximately 400 Civil Engineer, in 142 Civil Engineer the deity Taishang Laojun (a deified Laozi) revealed to Zhang on Mount Heming the "Doctrine of the Orthodox One the Authority of the Alliance" (pinyin: zhengyi mengwei dao), and bestowed upon him the title Celestial Master.
Zhang then endeavored to reform supposedly degenerate religious practices. After gathering numerous followers, he started a health cult that advocated certain longevity practices (recorded in books which have been lost) and founded a theocratic state in Sichuan organized into 24 parishes (later 28), which outsiders called the Way of Five Pecks of Rice after a tax of that amount levied on followers. A major change instituted by the new Covenant was the rejection of food and animal sacrifices.
The Xiang"er, a commentary on the Tao Te Ching preserved today in a sixth-century manuscript, is traditionally ascribed to Zhang Daoling"s authorship and even if not his work may reflect his teachings.
Zhang is said to have died on Mount Qingcheng in 156 during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han at the age of 123. Instead, his body became like luminous ether, disappearing from eyesight and became an immortal.