Ascension of the Perfected Huan 桓真人升仙记

Author unknown.

Judging from content and script style, it was written by a Taoist priest in the Southern and Northern Dynasties or early Sui and Tang dynasties.

It has one volume and is included in the Biographical Category of The Dongzhen Section within The Daozang.

Ascension of the Perfected Huan

This text records the ascension of True Man Huan, i.e., Huan Kai (also called Huan Fakai). He was a disciple of Immortal Li Huan of Huagai Mountain in western Shu, and later became a disciple of the famous Liang Dynasty Taoist Tao Hongjing.

The book starts with a dialogue between the Immortal Lord and Huan Kai, explaining the way to cultivate Dao and attain immortality. It holds that the human body contains the images of heaven, earth and all things, with 36,000 essence spirits and 12,000 soul spirits. The Niwan Palace (three inches inward between the eyebrows) houses the Great Lord of Immortality. Practitioners who practice “silently worshipping the Supreme Deity” and keep their spirit in the Niwan Palace can achieve immortality and ascend to heaven in broad daylight.

Later, the Immortal Lord ordered Huan Kai to study under Tao Hongjing at Huayang Grotto on Maoshan Mountain. He served by burning incense and fetching spring water for twelve years, and ascended to heaven in 502 AD (the first year of Tianjian reign of Emperor Wu of Liang).

Although Huan Kai was Tao Hongjing’s disciple, the book criticizes Tao severely. It states that Tao focused on refined writing, exhaustive research of classics, strange stories, and dual practice of Buddhism and Daoism. Despite his high aspiration for immortality, he lacked real inner cultivation and thus failed to ascend.