One of the most thoroughly studied evidence of Daoist architecture in early medieval China is Yang Xi's written representation of his mid-fourth century temple built on the foothills of Maoshan. Much less has been written about Tao Hongjing (456–536 CE), the abbot who edited Yang's revelations in the promotion of his Maoshan institution to his royal sponsor, Liang Emperor Wu. This paper analyzes Tao's commentary as evidence of how Tao circulated Yang's revelations to promote a vision for the future of Maoshan. Tao's rewriting of Maoshan included both the expansion of his own temple, as well as the suppression of competing voices on the mountain. Tao's commentary contributes to our understanding of how exegetes in China refashioned and reimagined earlier traditions in their creation of new religious institutions.