DU GUANGTING (850–933; adult style, Binsheng; epithet, Dongying zi; name in religion, Master Guangcheng) was born in the region of Chuzhou in Zhejiang. Around 870, after failing to obtain the civil service examination degree (mingjing) in the Confucian classics, Du underwent Daoist training and initiation at Mount Tiantai in Zhejiang. His master Ying Yijie (810–894) belonged to the Tiantai branch of the Shangqing lineage that descended via Xue Jichang (d. 759), a disciple of Sima Chengzhen (647–735). Soon after the accession of Emperor Xizong (r. 873–888), Du was summoned to court. He performed various functions as a Daoist prelate and official redactor at the capital Chang'an up to the outbreak of the Huang Chao rebellion (880–885). After the sack of the capital by the rebels in early 881, Du followed the court into exile in Chengdu (Sichuan). As a textual and liturgical scholar, Du deplored the loss of Daoist sacred books in the wake...