Zhang Tianran (Chinese: 張天然) is the eighteenth and current patriarch of the Yiguandao, a Chinese millenarian religious movement. He is also a prominent public figure in Shandong, where the sect has its headquarters.
Life[]
Tianran was born on the 19th day of the 7th Lunar month in 1889 in Jining prefecture, Shandong, to a family of no great importance. Upon reaching adulthood, he left home and traveled to Nanjing and Shanghai and, at 24, joined the army as a low-ranking military officer. It appears that Tianran aspired to little in his life until he was initiated into the Yiguandao in 1914. The 17th patriarch Lu Zhongyi heard the conduct of Tianran and invited him to come to Jining.
It was widely known that Lu Zhongyi had originally intended for his sister Lu Zhongjie to succeed him as matriarch, but Zhang Tianran quickly developed an independent following. He became known for his great talent for working miracles, particularly a form of divination known as automatic writing. Tianran claimed that spirits told him that he was a reincarnation of the famous Buddhist monk Ji Gong and that he was to become the Yiguandao's next patriarch. Lu Zhongyi died in 1930, and after a brief power struggle with Lu Zhongjie's followers, Tianran and his loyalists were victorious. Zhang Tianran became the eighteenth patriarch and took Sun Suzhen as his "divine" wife.
Under Tianran's leadership, the Yiguandao grew massively, from a largely regional sect to a national movement with over 7 million members. In the early 20s, Tianran had constructed a shrine on the slopes of the holy Mount Tai, which was later expanded to serve as the new headquarters for the Yiguandao's inner circle. A spirit writing session foretelling that the Emperor was in danger of being poisoned garnered Zhang an audience with Puyi in Beijing. Tianran's elaborate displays of loyalty flattered Puyi so that he gifted the religious leader an honored Imperial Yellow Jacket. With this newfound endorsement, Tianran gained allegiance from the Red Spears and Big Sword societies, and he began distributing food aid to the populace.
Zhang Tianran's growing power also led to conflict with other local powers. The Duke Yansheng, the descendant of Confucius, also kept a manor on Mount Tai. When Tianran offered to place the manor under Yiguandao protection, the Duke refused, with the implication that he considered the Yiguandao a heterodox religion. In response, Tianran occupied the manor and forced the Duke to flee to his ancestral home in nearby Qufu. In 1935, Tianran released the book Provisional Etiquette (暫訂佛規), which attempted to justify Tianran's disagreements with the Duke by claiming that the Confucians no longer followed the eight virtues they represent. The warlord of Shandong, the hard-living Zhang Zongchang, had typically been strongly antipathetic to the zealous Yiguandao. However, a serious illness brought on by his drug abuse drove Zongchang to climb Mount Tai in the hope of receiving aid from Tianran's storied healing powers. The incident concluded with Zongchang's nominal conversion to the Yiguandao, which greatly enhanced Tianran's prestige.