Records of the Mysterious Hierarchy

The 5-volumed Records of the Mysterious Hierarchy ( 《道品錄》 Dao Pin Lu ) by Zhang Tianyu of the Yuan Dynasty is a book of Daoist biographies. The author, a Maoshan sect Daoist, compiled Records of Mt.Mao and thus titled himself Nongovernmental Historian of Gouqu ( 句曲外史 Gouqu Waishi ). The author wrote a preface for the book. The book contains ten chapters, each of several biography: Dao and its Merits ( 道德 Daode ), Dao and its Changes ( 道權 Daoquan ), Dao and its Transformations ( 道化 Daohua ), Daoist Confucians ( 道儒 Daoru ), Daoist Skills ( 道術 Daoshu ), Daoist Hermits ( 道隱 Daoyin ), Daoist Silence ( 道默 Daomo ), Daoist Words ( 道言 Daoyan ), Daoist Essence ( 道質 Daozhi ) and Daoist Phenomena ( 道華 Daohua ). Covering a period from the Zhou to the Song Dynasties, it records over 130 Daoist figures with a biography for each. Though somewhat miscellaneous, the book is rather valuable for the study of Daoist figures. It is collected in the Biographies Class, Pervasive Divinity Section ( 洞神部 Dongshen Bu ) of the Daoist Canon of Zhengtong Era. 玄品錄