道法自然
陶弘景
Ninth Patriarch of Shangqing
Era · 456–536 CE, Southern Dynasties
Ninth Patriarch of Shangqing
Patriarch of the Shangqing lineage on Mount Mao and one of the greatest polymaths in Chinese history — alchemist, herbalist, calligrapher and astronomer. Two emperors consulted him on affairs of state while he remained a hermit, and called him 'the prime minister of the mountains'.
Era · 456–536 CE, Southern Dynasties
History · 史记
Tao Hongjing (456–536) was the polymath of the southern dynasties — alchemist, herbalist, calligrapher, astronomer, editor of revelations — with a biography in the Liang Shu. His two greatest works: the Zhen'gao, editing the Shangqing revelations of Mao Shan, and the Zhenling Weiye Tu, the first hierarchy of the Taoist pantheon. He also compiled the Bencao Jing Jizhu, the pharmacological standard for centuries.
He refused office and retired to Mao Shan — but Emperor Wu of Liang consulted him on every great affair of state; couriers came and went between palace and mountain so constantly that people called him the Prime Minister in the Mountains.
The emperor asked him to come down from the mountain and serve. Tao Hongjing drew two cows — one grazing freely among the mountains, the other haltered and prodded by a groom — and sent the picture instead of an answer. The emperor laughed, and let him govern from the mountain.
The Shangqing revelations had come a century earlier to Yang Xi in fragments, scattered and corrupted. Tao Hongjing hunted down every manuscript, verified the calligraphy, and edited them into the Zhen'gao — the book that made Mao Shan the supreme mountain of the south.
梁書·陶弘景傳
The official biography recording his retirement, his scholarship and his influence at court.
真誥
His edited collection of the Shangqing revelations — the foundational scripture of Mao Shan.
真靈位業圖
His hierarchy of the Taoist pantheon — the first of its kind.