Huīzōng 徽宗 (personal name Zhào Jí 趙佶, 1082–1135) was the eighth emperor of the Northern Sòng (r. 1100–1126), a prolific calligrapher, painter, poet, and — most importantly for the Daoist canon — the most committed imperial patron of Daoism of the entire Sòng dynasty. His personal identification with Daoist religion culminated in 1117 when he formally adopted the title Jiàozhǔ Dàojūn Huángdì 教主道君皇帝 (Emperor-Teacher-Patriarch of the Dào) and positioned the Sòng imperial house in a quasi-theocratic Daoist frame.
During the Zhènghé 政和 (1111–1118) and Xuānhé 宣和 (1119–1125) periods, Huīzōng:
- personally composed commentaries on the Dàodé jīng (DZ 677 or 679; Dàodé zhēnjīng in 4 juan with imperial exegesis) and the Xīshēng jīng 西昇經 (DZ 666, KR5c0047), the latter around 1117;
- commissioned the compilation of the Zhènghé wànshòu dàozàng 政和萬壽道藏 (1119), the first printed Daoist canon;
- sponsored the Shénxiāo 神霄 school of Daoism centred on the charismatic Lín Língsù 林靈素 (d. 1119), which elevated Huīzōng himself to the rank of the Chángshēng Dàdì 長生大帝 (Great Thearch of Long Life), son of the Shénxiāo supreme deity;
- presided over the construction of lavish Daoist gōng 宮 (palaces/observatories) throughout the empire;
- bestowed canonical titles and ranks on many Daoist deities, including the 1117 elevation of the Jade Emperor and the 1116 canonisation of Xuántiān Shàngdì in his current rank.
His Daoist enthusiasm was inseparable from his broader cultural programme — the most refined imperial art academy the dynasty produced, the promulgation of the Xuānhé huàpǔ 宣和畫譜 and Xuānhé shūpǔ 宣和書譜, the commissioning of the Xuānhé bógǔ tú 宣和博古圖 of ritual bronzes. Captured together with his son Qīnzōng 欽宗 at the fall of Kāifēng in 1126/1127 at the hands of the Jīn 金, he died in exile in Wǔguó chéng 五國城 in 1135.
For works in the Kanripo corpus by Huīzōng (in his capacity as commentator), see KR5c0047 (Xīshēng jīng with imperial commentary, c. 1117). Biographical sources: Sòng shǐ 19–22; Patricia B. Ebrey, Emperor Huizong (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2014) — the definitive English-language biography.