Zhang Daoling

Zhang Daoling, birth name Zhang Ling (張陵), courtesy name Fuhan (輔漢), was a Chinese Taoist religious leader who lived during the Eastern Han dynasty. He founded the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice millenarian movement, and established a theocratic state. The Way of the Celestial Masters grew out of those beginnings, and so Zhang is considered the founder of religious Taoism by scholars and is venerated as such by followers of Zhengyi Dao.