Sun Suzhen

Sun Suzhen (孫素真) (1895-1975) was the Matriarch of I Kuan Tao (師母). She was the successor of Zhang Tian Ran, the last patriarch of I-Kuan Tao. She was also known "Ming Shan" (明善) or "Hui Ming" (慧明), her religious name.

Sun was born in Shan County, Shandong province on the 28th day of the eight lunar month in 1895. She was introduced to I-Kuan Tao in 1908 and became the student of Lu Zhongyi, there she met Zhang Tianran. Zhang took her as his second wife, which was believed to be Heaven's will and lifted her as the incarnation of Bodhisattva "Yue Huei" (Moon Wisdom), the wife of Ji Gong. Her followers regarded her to hold the seat of the 18th patriarch together with Zhang in 1930.

After the death of Zhang in 1947, she took control of I-Kuan Tao. Many of the Zhang's followersfollowed her leadership. Only a small fraction stayed on with Madame Liu, the first wife of Zhang.

When the communists took over China in 1949, Sun moved to Hong Kong. She then went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a short period (1951-52) then return to Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong she was said to left behind a large number of "heavenly mandates" (天明). Until today there are few elders in Hong Kong who were believed to be the keeper of these heavenly mandates.

In 1954, she moved to Taiwan. Because I-Kuan Tao was illegal then, she kept a low profile and was kept under seclusion. She was sick in the last years and under the care of a nun surnamed Zhou in Taichung. And later she was under the care of Wang Hao De until her death. She died on the 23rd day of the second lunar month in 1975 (4 April 1975) one day before the death of Chiang Kai-shek.

She was buried in Tashi, Taoyuan (桃園大溪鄉). She was given the title "Zong Hua Sheng Mu" (中華聖母) (Holy Mother of the Chinese) by her followers.

See also

* Lu Zhongyi
* Zhang Tianran
* I Kuan Tao
* Wang Hao De

Links

* [http://www.fecd.org.tw/brief/fecd04-3.htm History of Sun Su Zhen according to her followers]
* [http://www.with.org/patriarchs-en.htm The patriarch of I Kuan Tao]
* [http://www.truetao.org/ikuantao/i-kuan.htm History of I Kuan Tao according to the followers]

References

* David Jordan & Daniel Overmyer. 1985. The Flying Phoenix: Aspects of Chinese Sectarianism in Taiwan. Princeton University Press.
* Soo Khin Wah. 1997. A Study of the Yiguan Dao (Unity Sect) and its Development in Peninsular Malaysia. Ph.D. dissertation, University of British Columbia.