Kou Kenshi - Koukenshi

A Taoist priest from the Northern Wei period in China. His pen name was Hoshin. He was from Shanggu (Hebei Province). Around 405, he met Cheng Gongxing, a Taoist hermit, and the two of them lived in seclusion on Mount Huashan and Mount Song, where they lived for seven years. Kenshi continued his training even after he separated from Mount Xing. In 415, Taishang Laojun descended upon him, bestowing upon him the title of Tianshi and the 20 volumes of the "Yunzhong Yinju Xinxin Zhi Kai" (the extant "Laojun Yinju Kaikyo" is only a part of this), and ordered the reform of the Way of the Five Pours of Rice (the Way of the Tianshi). In 423, Li Fuwen, the great-great-grandson of Laojun and head of the Mutugung Palace, came to the palace and bestowed over 60 volumes of the Lutu Zhenjing, ordering him to assist the Northern Taiping Zhenjun (the Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty). The following year, 424, Kenzhi advanced to the Wei capital and struck up a good relationship with the Han aristocrat Cui Hao. The two men helped each other out and played an active role in the political and religious worlds. Finally, in 442, he succeeded in getting the then Emperor Taiwu to visit the Taoist altar and receive a gift, thus giving birth to the Taoist Emperor, and Taoism gained the status of a state religion. The Taoism preached by Kenzhi was called the New Heavenly Master's Way. His teachings eliminated the non-royal aspects of the Five Pours of Rice Way, and incorporated Taoist ideas and Buddhism, as well as Confucian ritualism. He sought to maintain his sect by relying entirely on the state.

[Masaharu Ozaki May 21, 2018]

"The Formation of Taoism" by Shinji Ohbuchi (included in Chinese Culture Series 6: Religion, 1967, Taishukan Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、北魏(ほくぎ)時代の道士。字(あざな)は輔真(ほしん)。上谷（河北省）の出身。405年ごろ謫仙(たくせん)の成公興と出会い、二人は華山、嵩山(すうざん)に入り、7年間の隠遁(いんとん)生活を送った。興と別れたのちも、謙之は修行を続けた。415年、太上老君(たいじょうろうくん)が降臨し、天師の位、および『雲中音誦(おんじゅ)新科之誡(かい)』20巻（現存の『老君音誦誡経』はその一部）を授け、五斗米道(ごとべいどう)（天師道）の改革を命じた。また、423年には、老君の玄孫で牧土宮主の李譜文(りふぶん)が来臨し、『録図真経』60余巻を授け、これによって北方泰平真君（北魏の皇帝）を輔佐(ほさ)することを命じた。翌424年、謙之は魏の都に進出し、漢人貴族崔浩(さいこう)と意気投合し、以後、二人は相助け合って、政界・宗教界に大活躍をする。ついに442年、時の皇帝、太武帝をして親しく道壇に至って符籙(ふろく)を受けさせることに成功し、ここに道教皇帝が誕生、道教は国家宗教の地位を獲得した。謙之の説く道教は新天師道と称される。その教法は、五斗米道の非王法的な面を排除するとともに、神仙思想や仏教を取り入れ、かつ儒教的な礼法主義を加えたものである。彼は全面的に国家に依存することによって、教団の維持を図った。

［尾崎正治　2018年5月21日］

『大淵忍爾著「道教の形成」（『中国文化叢書6　宗教』所収・1967・大修館書店）』

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