Inner Biography of Huayang Hermit 华阳陶隐居内传

Composed by Jia Song of the The Tang Dynasty.

It was recorded in the Secret Catalogue of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Tong zhi and The History of the Song Dynasty: Bibliography of Arts and Literature. The original work has three volumes and is included in the Biographical Category of The Dongzhen Section within The Daozang.

Inner Biography of Huayang Hermit

This book is a biography of Tao Hongjing, titled Mr. the Recluse of Huayang, a renowned Taoist priest of the Southern Qi and Liang Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties. There is a preface written by Jia Song at the beginning, stating that the biographies of Tao the Recluse compiled by predecessors were either overly brief or incomplete. Thus, based on Zhengao, Secrets of Ascending to Immortality and Seclusion and the master's collected works, the author sorted out his life deeds and compiled this inner biography to highlight the way of a virtuous man withdrawing from the world.

The first two volumes of the book are the biography proper. The first volume recounts Tao Hongjing's genealogy, his early life and official career, ending in the 10th year of the Yongming reign of the Southern Qi Dynasty (492 AD). The second volume narrates his deeds of retiring from official life to live in seclusion on Maoshan Mountain, cultivating the Dao and writing books, until his passing in the 2nd year of the Datong reign of the Liang Dynasty (548 AD). At the end of the second volume, a bibliography of Tao Hongjing's works and his anecdotes are appended as an addendum. The third volume collects stone inscriptions, epitaphs, portrait eulogies and social poems and essays written for Tao Hongjing by literati and famous scholars. An imperial edict conferring a title on Tao Hongjing during the Xuanhe reign of the Northern Song Dynasty is interpolated in it, which must have been added by later generations.