The Cao Wenyi 曹文逸

Cao Wenyi was a female Taoist priest during the Yihe period (1119-1126) of the Song Dynasty. She was skilled in both poetry and prose, and was known as a "talented woman".

When Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty heard of her reputation, he summoned her to Bianjing (the capital of the Song Dynasty) and conferred on her the title "Zhenren Wenyi" (Zhenren, a honorific title for accomplished Taoists). Thus, she was commonly known as "Zhenren Cao Wenyi" in the world. She left Bianjing during the Jingkang Incident (a major historical event marking the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty), and details about her later life remain unrecorded.

Cao Wenyi was proficient in Nü Dan (Taoist inner alchemy practices specifically for women). She wrote The Song of the Spiritual Source and the Great Dao (Lingyuan Dadao Ge).

Her inner alchemy teachings focus on revealing the "Spiritual Source", emphasizing purity, naturalness, and the internal circulation of "Yuan Harmony" (a concept in Taoism referring to the primal balanced energy). Unlike some other Taoist alchemy traditions, her teachings do not urge the hasty achievement of "cutting the red dragon" (a metaphor for the cessation of menstruation in female alchemy) and avoid esoteric metaphors such as "lead and mercury" (common symbolic terms in traditional Taoist alchemy). As a result, her practices can be cultivated by both men and women.

In modern times, Chen Yingning (a renowned modern Taoist scholar) authenticated The Song of the Spiritual Source and the Great Dao as a work by Cao Wenyi, regarding it as a masterpiece of advanced Taoist inner alchemy. He also wrote A Vernacular Explanation of The Song of the Spiritual Source and the Great Dao to interpret the text for contemporary readers.