The 39th Celestial Master (Sān shí jiǔ dài Tiān shī 三十九代天師) of the Zhèngyī 正一 Daoist lineage, resident at the Shàng qīng gōng 上清宮 on Mt Lóng hǔ 龍虎山 in Jiāng xī. Hào Tài xuán zǐ 太玄子 (“Master of the Great Mystery”). Succeeded his father Zhāng Yǔcái 張與材 (38th Celestial Master, d. 1316) in the patriarchal office around 1316 and held it until his own death in 1343 (CBDB 34439). Author of the [[KR5c0085|Dàodé zhēn jīng zhāng jù xùn sòng]] 道德真經章句訓頌 (DZ 698, 1322) — the only Dàodé jīng commentary in the Daozang by a Celestial Master.
Office. The Zhèngyī 正一 (“Orthodox Unity”) tradition — the direct Daoist lineal descendants of Zhāng Dàolíng 張道陵 (the 1st Celestial Master, 34–156 CE) — received formal Mongol-Yuán imperial recognition in the late 13th century and were granted supervisory authority over southern Chinese Daoism. Zhāng Sìchéng held the patriarchal office during the mature middle Yuán, presiding over a substantial monastic-institutional Zhèngyī establishment at Lóng hǔ shān 龍虎山 (the lineage’s canonical seat).
Under Mongol-Yuán patronage, the Zhèngyī Celestial Masters enjoyed court favour and exercised supervisory authority over the Daoist clergy of southern China. Zhāng Sìchéng personally officiated at the Sān yuán 三元 ritual-transmission occasions, conferring registers on disciples and explaining the scriptures to devotees — the pastoral-pedagogical activity out of which his Dàodé zhēn jīng zhāng jù xùn sòng arose (see KR5c0085).
Family and succession. Son of Zhāng Yǔcái 張與材 (38th Celestial Master). On Zhāng Sìchéng’s death in 1343, the lineage passed to his younger brother Zhāng Sìdé 張嗣德 (40th Celestial Master, d. 1353), and then to Zhāng Sìdé’s son Zhāng Zhèng cháng 張正常 (41st Celestial Master, d. 1377) — the patriarch who negotiated the transition to the Míng under Zhū Yuánzhāng (朱元璋) and continued the Zhèngyī institution into the early Míng period.
Work. The [[KR5c0085|Dàodé zhēn jīng zhāng jù xùn sòng]] (DZ 698, 1322) is his sole known Daozang work. Its distinctive features:
- Liturgical-poetic form — each of the 81 chapters of the Dàodé jīng rendered as a verse xùn sòng 訓頌 (“admonitory hymn”), suitable for recitation at altar occasions.
- Confucian political framing — explicit invocation of the Dà xué 大學’s xiū shēn, qí jiā, zhì guó, píng tiān xià 修身、齊家、治國、平天下 (“cultivate self, regulate family, govern state, bring peace to the realm”) formula.
- Nèi dān 內丹 framing of the deeper teaching — beyond the exoteric xiūqízhìpíng programme lies the cultivation of jīn dān 金丹 (the golden elixir), the proper interior Daoist practice.
- Metaphysical vocabulary — the nature of the Dào expounded in terms of lǐqìxìngmìng 理氣性命, a vocabulary that reflects Zhū Xī 朱熹-era Neo-Confucian terminology as re-appropriated by mature Yuán Daoism.
The commentary is — per Judith Boltz (Survey of Taoist Literature, 223) — the unique example of Dàodé jīng exegesis by a Celestial Master in the entire Daozang corpus.
Other activities. Beyond the Dàodé zhēn jīng zhāng jù xùn sòng, Zhāng Sìchéng was the author of several other Daoist liturgical and ritual texts (not all preserved), and the overseer of Zhèngyī lineage activity at Lóng hǔ shān. He enjoyed imperial favour under the Mongol-Yuán court and received various honourary titles.
CBDB: 34439. Primary sources: Hàn Tiān shī shì jiā 漢天師世家 (the Celestial Master genealogy) 3.4a–6b; Yuán shǐ 元史 Běn jì and Liè zhuàn passim.