Zhixian

Zhixian (智仙, surnamed Liu 劉, fl. 541 – 574) was a Chinese Buddhist nun who raised emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty. She is said to have made several prophecies that Wen, whom she looked after from his birth until he was twelve, would become emperor and restore Buddhism. Later she sheltered with his family from the suppression of Buddhism by Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. When Wen became emperor, he upheld Buddhism and distributed images celebrating Zhixian across the empire.

Raising Wen

Originally from Pufan in modern-day Shaanxi, Zhixian took up meditation at the age of seven, and became a Buddhist nun at the Bore monastery at Tongzhou. She is said to have gained a reputation that her predictions about people came true. When the child was seven years old, Zhixian predicted that he would restore Buddhism.

Later life and legacy

Later, when Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou began a proscription of Buddhism and Taoism in 574, Zhixian sheltered in the home of Yang Jian (then Duke of Sui) and his wife Dugu Qieluo so that she could continue to wear Buddhist robes and maintain Buddhist precepts, despite an edict from the emperor that even princes and dukes must not harbour monastics. The emperor’s early years in a religious community under the care of Zhixian are accepted as contributing to his commitment to Buddhism, which flourished under his reign.