Early Ming monk and strategist, in religion Daoyan, who urged Zhu Di to rebel, served the Yongle court while keeping his monk's robe, and oversaw the Yongle Encyclopedia
Mural guide
Mural of the event “Compilation of Yongle Encyclopedia”, which this person took part in.
To demonstrate imperial cultural legitimacy and preserve China's intellectual heritage, the Yongle Emperor ordered the encyclopedic compilation of all existing Chinese literature.
Yao Guangxiao, a physician's son from Changzhou county, became a monk at fourteen under the name Daoyan and also learned divination from the Daoist Xi Yingzhen. After Empress Ma died in 1382 and senior monks were assigned to the princes, he went with Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, to Beiping as abbot of the Qingshou Monastery. In 1399 he pressed Zhu Di to rebel, held Beiping during the civil war and advised a drive straight on Nanjing. In 1404 he was made junior preceptor of the heir apparent, restored to his surname and given the name Guangxiao, yet he never grew his hair, wearing court dress for audiences and his robe at other times. He supervised the revised Veritable Records of the Hongwu Emperor and, with Xie Jin, the Yongle Encyclopedia (Yongle dadian), and wrote a rebuttal of Cheng-Zhu attacks on Buddhism. He died in 1418 aged eighty-four, was named Duke of Rong and Gongjing, and from 1425 shared sacrifices in the Yongle Emperor's temple.
1403Compilation of Yongle EncyclopediaTook partage 68Compiling 370 million characters across 22,877 volumes, constructing the largest paper encyclopedia in history.
Xie Jin Compiling Yongle EncyclopediaScholars under Xie Jin compiled over 22,800 volumes into the monumental Yongle Encyclopedia.
Yao Guangxiao came from Changzhou County near Suzhou and was born into a family of physicians. At fourteen he was tonsured as a Buddhist monk with the name Daoyan and the courtesy name Sidao, and he also studied under the Daoist Xi Yingzhen, learning the arts of yin-yang and numbers. The Prince of Yan found their talk congenial and asked him to come along; at Beiping he served as abbot of Qingshou Temple. Late in life he wrote the Daoyu lu, which criticized earlier Confucians, and discerning readers scorned it.
Yuan
Ming
