The His courtesy 刘希岳

Liu Xiyue was a native of Zhangzhou (present-day Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province) in the early Northern Song Dynasty.

His courtesy names were Xiufeng and Wangsong, and his Taoist title was Langranzi.

Born into an aristocratic family, he studied poetry and classics from a young age and later passed the imperial examination to obtain the title of Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination). Moved by the sentiment that "the fleeting life is like a dream," he retreated to the Taoist order and devoted his mind to transcending worldly affairs. During the Duangong era of Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty (988–989), he became a Taoist priest, resided at the Laozi Temple in the Western Capital, and practiced the internal technique of "embryonic breathing" (a core Taoist meditation method simulating in-utero breathing to refine vital energy), while also preparing external alchemical elixirs (potions made from minerals and herbs in traditional Taoist alchemy).

At the age of 64, he met an extraordinary person (a Taoist adept) and thus obtained the essential and profound doctrines of the Dao. Later, he served as the abbot of Tongxuan Temple, which was later renamed Jizhen Temple.

He composed ten poems titled Taixuan Langranzi’s Poems on Advancing in the Dao, which circulated among the people.

(From Zhongzhou Jinshi Zhi (Epigraphic Records of Zhongzhou) and Jinshi Xubian (Continued Epigraphic Compilations))