The Bi Daoning 毕道宁

Bi Daoning (?–1125) was a figure of the Northern Song Dynasty, with the courtesy name Kangshu. He was a Taoist registered at Taiping Xingguo Palace on Mount Lushan.

As recorded in Volume 50 of Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror of Real Immortals and Their Cultivation of the Dao): Bi Daoning was intelligent and perceptive from childhood, and had a photographic memory for the books he read. During the Shaosheng era of Emperor Zhezong of the Song Dynasty, he traveled around the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. When he reached Mount Qian, he encountered a Taoist who enlightened him, leading to his sudden realization of the Dao. Later, he built a "Clear Fresh Pond" and put forward the idea of "taking water as a mirror." He argued, "When water is calm, it reflects shapes straight; when one’s mind is tranquil, one’s spirit becomes broad and serene—one must take water as a mirror for self-reflection." From that point on, he secluded himself at home every day to concentrate his spirit, and recited The Scripture of Delivering People (a key Taoist scripture for saving sentient beings). In the first month of the seventh year of the Xuanhe era (1125) of Emperor Huizong, he passed away without illness.