Daoist schools
Daoist schools are the major lineages, movements, and institutional traditions within Daoism, an East Asian religious tradition that developed in China and later spread across East Asia. Rather than rigid sectarian divisions, Daoist schools usually build their identity around a set of scriptures, ritual practices, or sacred mountains or temples.
In Daoist frameworks, scriptures may be described as forms of “breathwork” or “configurations of qi,” as embodiments of “celestial patterns”, or as revelations of underlying “principles”. This emphasizes that Daoist texts are thought to instantiate cosmic order rather than merely describe it.
The earliest Daoist schools emerged during the late Eastern Han dynasty. They blossomed especially in the region of Shu, modern-day Sichuan. From the 12th and 13th centuries onwards several smaller branches merged into larger ones, but in turn, side-schools developed around the large traditions.
In modern era, Daoism in China is described as being organized around two enduring traditions:
Zhengyi Dao is the principle non-monastic Daoist denomination, traced to the Celestial Masters tradition that began with Zhang Daoling in 185 CE. Zhengyi priests live in society and function primarily as ritual specialists serving local communities through public services. These services include such as jiao offerings/renewal rites, zhai fasts and purification observances, funerary and salvation rites, exorcistic and healing rituals, and the use of talismans and registers that confer ritual authority.
Quanzhen Taoism represents the monastic form of Daoism, founded in the 12th century by Wang Chongyang. It emphasizes celibate communal life, formal ordination and precepts, meditation and contemplative discipline, and inner cultivation practices such as internal alchemy. It is framed explicitly through a "Three Teachings" synthesis that combines Daoist cosmology, Buddhist meditative and monastic models, and Confucian ethical self-regulation.
Chronology of major schools and lineages
Source:In Daoist history, the term “school” does not function like a fixed denomination in the way it often does in Western religious contexts. Many Daoist “schools” are better understood as lineages of transmission, collections of texts and ritual practices, or site-based traditions organized around sacred mountains or temples.
Eastern Han period">Han dynasty">Eastern Han period to Western Jin period (c. 140-316)
This phase marks Daoism’s transition from a loose collection of classical texts and local folk practices into organized religious movements with doctrine, ritual, clerical roles, and community structure.Tianshi Dao / Wudoumi Dao
According to Daoist tradition, in 142 CE Zhang Daoling received a revelation from Laojun, authorizing him to found a new religious community. This community, known as Tianshi Dao, is widely regarded as the earliest major organized Daoist movement.
Zhang Daoling is traditionally credited with organizing 24 Daoist communities in the area of Sichuan. Steeped in moral discipline, what made Zhang's movement particularly attractive was its faith-healing method. It taught that illness and misfortune was caused by a cosmic imbalance and that purification rites, especially confession and repentance, could restore health. It combined communal life with a structured priesthood—clerical ranks, ritual offices, and the transmission of registers conferring divine authority—forming an institutional model that later became the foundation for the later Zhengyi tradition.
Many sources interchangeably refer to this movement as Wudoumi dao ', a reference to its members' annual household contribution of five pecks of rice. However, some sources suggest this was used largely as an external name rather than a self-designation.
Taiping Dao
Taiping Dao was a millenarian movement active in the late Eastern Han. It is associated with the Taiping jing'' and emphasized the belief that the world was entering a new cosmic era of “Great Peace.” The movement is historically linked to the Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184 CE. Although it was quickly suppressed, Taiping Dao had a lasting influence on Daoist themes of cosmic renewal, moral reform, and the possibility of a radically transformed age.
Following the collapse of the Han, Celestial Masters communities were disrupted by warfare and state intervention, most notably the defeat of Zhang Daoling's grandson, Zhang Lu by Cao Cao in 215 CE and the dispersal/relocation of adherents. As a result, Daoism strategically began to focus less on transforming the world through politics and more on surviving as an institution. As such, there was an increased focus on preserving its identity through ritual continuity, moral discipline, and hereditary transmission within the Zhang family. This time period also saw the emergence of smaller regional Daoist movements such as Lijia Dao and Bojia Dao.
Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties Period (317–589)
This period saw Daoism respond to the growing influence of Buddhism through new internal cultivation practices, rituals, and expanded soteriological frameworks. Two new important traditions, Shangqing and Lingbao, emerged first as a series of divinely revealed texts before becoming identifiable institutions.Shangqing Dao
The Shangquin Dao tradition emerged between 364 and 370, when the spirit medium Yang Xi recorded texts that were presented as communications from "Perfected" beings. Unlike Daoist texts that focus on communal rites and liturgies, Shangqing materials are highly internal. In Shangqing texts, the body is treated like a sacred space that can be "inhabited" by divine presences. Instead of “summoning” gods through official paperwork-like rituals, Shangqing practitionersconnect with divine beings through prayer, chanting, and visualization.
Over time, Shangqing gradually took on institutional form, becoming a prominent form of Daoism among the aristocratic and literate elites. In the 5th–6th centuries, Tao Hongjing collected, edited, and systematized the Shangqing materials and linked them to specific sites and transmission lines.
Lingbao Dao
In the late 4th and early 5th centuries, Lingbao texts likewise emerged, presented as a series of texts divine revealed to Ge Chaofu, grandnephew of the famous alchemist Ge Hong. The term bao referred to objects that embodied Heaven’s mandate into which divine power inhabited.
Lingbao scriptures integrated Daoist cosmology with Buddhist themes such as karma, rebirth, hells, and large-scale cosmic cycles. Ritually, Lingbao introduced several new communal practices, most importantly a framework for funerary rites that offered salvation for not just the living, but the dead as well.
With the creation of the Shangqing and Lingbao texts, Daoism began to clearly define its two main poles: A set of personal and internal transformation practices and a set of communal ritual and liturgical practices.
Around the 5th century, Lu Xiujing and other Daoists in southeastern China made the first attempt to systematically organize Daoist texts into a structured "canon", known as the Three Caverns . In this system, the Daoist scriptural traditions were placed into three ranked categories: Shangqing, Lingbao, and Sanhaung.
Sui–Tang–Early Song Period (589–1115)
With the reunification of China under the Sui dynasty, Daoism increasingly operated as a state-recognized religion with court patronage, regulated clerical presence, and expanding textual and ritual standardization. During the Tang dynasty, the Tang ruling house claimed direct, paternal descent from Laozi, and Daoist priests and institutions were given formal recognition as Daoist scripture became standardized.In this period, Daoist institutions competed with Buddhism and Confucianism for court support and public prestige, mostly notable through a series of court-sponsored debates between Daoists, Buddhists and Confucianists. This contributed to the emergence of “Three Teachings” discourse, which examined how the three traditions could be harmonized in Chinese society. However, this did not mean the traditions coexisted entirely peacefully, as several Buddhist persecutions were driven by Daoist emperors in 446, 567, 845, and 955.
During this time, several important Daoist centers and currents flourished: After the Northern Wei theocracy collapsed, Northern Celestial Masters Daoists fled to Louguan, becoming an important religious center. Tang intellectual life saw the development of Chongxuan, a philosophical current influenced by Buddhist Madhyamaka thought, while Shangqing masters such as Sima Chengzhen systematized meditation manuals.
Jurchen Jin and Southern Song Period (1115–1279)
This period marked a significant transformation in Daoism in two complementary ways: The rapid growth of highly specialized ritual techniques, and an expansion of monastic and ethical self-cultivation movements.Zhengyi Dao
Throughout the Song, the descendants of Zhang Daoling continued to reside on Dragon Tiger Mountain, serving as the hereditary lineage of the Zhang family. In 1239, Emperor Lizong ordered the 35th Celestial Master Zhang Keda to unify the talismans and registers of the "Three Mountains": Longhushan, Maoshan, and Gezaoshan. Thus, the Celestial Masters tradition that originated in 185 CE continued by formally transforming into what is now known as Zhengyi Dao. This consolidation began to establish "Zhengyi Dao" as the primary umbrella term for public, service-oriented Daoism.
The hereditary Zhang family now became recognized custodians of Daoist ritual authority. It is this focus on ritual governance that becomes a distinguishing feature of Zhengyi Dao. Priests remain non-monastic and perform communal rites using registers and talismans, including jiao, zhai, funerary liturgies, and exorcistic services aimed at maintaining cosmic and social order.
During the Song, ritual Daoism becomes technically dense and specialized. This period saw the gradual emergence of highly technical and complex "Thunder Rites" : rituals designed to invoke cosmic thunder energy to exorcise demons, control the weather, heal illnesses, and purify spaces. Commonly noted Southern Song ritual currents include:
- Tianxin
- Shenxiao
- Qingwei
- Donghua
- Jingming
Quanzhen Dao was founded in Northern China in 1167 by Wang Chongyang. During this time, Daoism faced strong competition from Buddhism and the rapidly growing influence of Neo-Confucianism. In response, Quanzhen Dao moved Daoist practice toward ethical self-cultivation, monastic life, and internal alchemy, rather than public ritual or hereditary authority.
A defining feature of Quanzhen Dao is its explicit grounding in Three Teachings philosophy: it adopts not only the cosmology of Daoism, but the mediation techniques and monastic organization of Buddhism alongside the ethical discipline and social responsibility of Confucianism. In modern China, Quanzhen Dao remains one of the two principal surviving branches of Daoism, serving as the monastic form alongside the non-monastic Zhengyi Dao. Following Wang Chongyang, his seven disciples Chongyang established the following seven branches:
- Ma Yu : Yuxian lineage
- Tan Chuduan : Nanwu lineage
- Liu Chuxuan : Suishan lineage
- Qiu Chuji : Longmen lineage
- Wang Chuyi : Yushan lineage
- Hao Datong : Huashan lineage
- Sun Bu'er : Qingjing lineage