Ge Chaofu () is a member of the Chinese Ge family who lived during the 4th and 5th centuries CE. He is best known for writing the Taoist scripture known as ''The Five Talismans'' (''Wufujing'') which forms the basis of the beliefs of the
Lingbao School
The Lingbao School (), also known as the School of the Sacred Jewel or the School of Numinous Treasure, was an important Taoist School that emerged in China in between the Jin dynasty and the Liu Song dynasty in the early fifth century CE. It la ...
of
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
. Beyond this, very little is known about Ge Chaofu and his life.
Life
Very little is known about Ge Chaofu beyond his association with the
Lingbao School's scriptures.
Taoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...
records indicate that Ge Chaofu was the grandnephew of the famous
alchemist Ge Hong, and was the inheritor of the Ge family's alchemical texts through a master disciple transmission system. He was most likely born in
Jurong
Jurong () is a major geographical region located at the south-westernmost point of the West Region of Singapore. Although mostly vaguely defined, the region's extent roughly covers the planning areas of Jurong East, Jurong West, Boon Lay, ...
, the ancestral home of the Ge family, sometime in the latter half of the 4th century CE. In the 390s, he researched the books contained in the Ge family library along with
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and
Shangqing texts and expanded the five talismans contained within
Ge Hong's book the ''
Baopuzi'' in order to create a new text known as ''The Five Talismans'' (''Wufujing''). In between 397 and 401 CE, Ge Chaofu transmitted this text to two disciples, Xu Lingqi and Ren Yanqing, and thus founded the Lingbao School of Taoism. The year 400 is usually stated as the year in which the Lingbao School was founded, and shortly after this time, the texts had already become very popular. Unfortunately, there are no sources that indicate what happened to Ge Chaofu after the year 401.
See also
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Ge Xuan
Ge Xuan (164–244), courtesy name Xiaoxian, was a Chinese Taoist practitioner who lived in the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220) and Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China. He was the ancestor of Ge Hong and a resident of Danyang Commandery ...
*
Ge Hong
* ''
Baopuzi''
* ''
List of Lingbao texts''
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ge, Chaofu
Jin dynasty (266–420) Taoists