Du Guangting
Du Du Guangting (杜光庭; 850–933) was a Taoist priest from Tiantai Mountain and prolific author during the Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Guangting made significant contributions to the development of Daoist ritual practice, especially regarding the popular fasting retreats (zhai). Many of his writings deal with rituals and related topics.
Also recorded as Guangcheng xiansheng · Huading?Ren · Binsheng · Dongyingzi
Du Guangting
- Born
- 850. · Jinyun County.
- Died
- 933.
- Nationality
- Tang dynasty and Former Shu.
- Occupation
- calligrapher, poet and writer.
- Fields
- chuanqi and wuxia.
- Known for
- The Tale of the Curly-Bearded Guest, Collected Biographies of Immortals from Yongcheng, Du Guangting’s Commentary on the Qingjing Jing, The Records of Immortals' Encounters and Collection of Wide Accomplishments.
- Languages
- Chinese.
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Documentary summary
Du Du Guangting (杜光庭; 850–933) was a Taoist priest from Tiantai Mountain and prolific author during the Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Guangting made significant contributions to the development of Daoist ritual practice, especially regarding the popular fasting retreats (zhai). Many of his writings deal with rituals and related topics.
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wikidata · Q371868 · wikipedia · Du Guangting
In this article
Biography
Biography
His works draw on the liturgies and scriptures of both the Celestial Masters and the Numinous Treasure traditions of Daoism. He is also known for having edited and reconstructed the Daoist canon (Daozang) from the libraries in Sichuan. This was necessary as during the Huang Chao Rebellion (880–885) and the sack of Chang'an, many Daoist scriptures were lost. His most famous work was a short novel entitled The Man with the Curly Beard (虯髯客傳), sometimes considered the earliest novel in the wuxia genre. Du also wrote a commentary to the Daodejing (the Daode zhenjing guangsheng, Extended Interpretation of the Emperor's Exegesis of the Authentic Scripture of the Dao and its Virtue), which is an annotated commentary on Tang Xuanzong's commentary to the Daodejing. He also wrote numerous works on Daoist myths, supernatural stories and legends.
The recorded working language is Chinese. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are chuanqi and wuxia. Works named in the authority record are The Tale of the Curly-Bearded Guest, Collected Biographies of Immortals from Yongcheng, Du Guangting’s Commentary on the Qingjing Jing, The Records of Immortals' Encounters and Collection of Wide Accomplishments.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
850
Du Guangting born at Jinyun County.
933
Du Guangting died.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q371868: Du Guangting
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Du Guangting”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Drs. PAuthor
- Drukpa KunleAuthor
- Drummond AllisonAuthor
- Du FuAuthor
- Du HongjianAuthor
- Du MuAuthor
- Du QiuniangAuthor
- Du ShenyanAuthor
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