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Lingbao scriptures

397-402 · Jiangnan (Jiangsu, China)

Around the turn of the fifth century Ge Chaofu, heir of the alchemical Ge family, composed the scriptures of Numinous Treasure (Lingbao), and they spread faster than any Daoist text before them. The Lingbao corpus took in the Buddhist cosmology of world ages and rebirth and turned Daoism toward universal salvation: great communal retreats, confession, and rites for the dead that promised deliverance not for one adept but for ancestors and strangers alike. Its liturgy still shapes Daoist ritual.

Tagged: Daoism Lingbao

The Event

Date
397-402 (approximate)
Era
The Medieval Schools; Standard periodization of Daoist history
Location
Jiangnan; today Jiangsu, China
Traditions
Daoism
Streams
Lingbao
Key figures
Ge Chaofu
Key texts
Lingbao scriptures

Primary Sources

  • The Lingbao scriptures.

Secondary Sources

  • Robinet, Isabelle. Taoism: Growth of a Religion. Translated by Phyllis Brooks, Stanford University Press, 1997.
  • Kohn, Livia, ed. Daoism Handbook. Brill, 2000.

Provenance: HIST-0806; confidence 0.85; accessed 2026-10-28.

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