The Liu Ruoshui 刘若水

Liu Ruoshui (693-749), styled Qiwu, was a native of Pengcheng (now part of Jiangsu Province) during the Mid-Tang Dynasty.
His great-grandfather, Liu Huang, served as a Sihu Canjun (a local judicial and administrative official) in Mingzhou; his grandfather, Liu Chuhuang, held the post of Cheng (deputy magistrate) in Shangyong County of Fangzhou; his father, Liu Wen, never pursued an official career.

Liu Ruoshui was intelligent and astute from childhood, with a calm and moderate temperament. At the age of thirteen, he heard someone recite the Scripture of Delivering People (a classic Taoist scripture) and became eager to pursue the path of immortality. He then went to the Middle Yue (Mount Song) to study under Reverend Han, who taught him the Taoist doctrines and practices of the Dongshen Scripture. He resided and practiced asceticism on Laosheng Mountain for five years.

In the early years of the Kaiyuan era (around 713), Liu Ruoshui traveled to the Eastern Yue (Mount Tai) to study under Reverend Ren, who imparted to him the Essential Scripture of the Eight Sceneries for the Middle Covenant of Dongxuan (another important Taoist text). He lived and practiced at Riguantai (Sunrise Viewing Platform) on Mount Tai for ten years. During this period, Reverend Ren from Maoshan (a sacred mountain of Taoism) visited Mount Tai, saw Liu Ruoshui, and praised him as a "treasure of the Taoist school." Reverend Ren then taught him the esoteric scriptures and practices of the Shangqing School (a major Taoist school), including the Lingfei Liujia (Scripts of the Six Jia for Numinous Flight), Huoluo Qiyuan (Mysteries of the Seven Primordial Forces), Eight Secret Registers, and Great Pervasive True Essentials, as well as the Shangqing School’s secret formulas for health preservation and seclusion.

Since then, Liu Ruoshui abstained from grain and took medicinal herbs, practicing the techniques of breathing and energy circulation. He gradually developed an otherworldly demeanor like that of an immortal. Later, he moved to Da Guangyan Peak of Hengshan (the Northern Yue) and practiced there for three years, mastering the secret essentials of the Nine Elixirs and the doctrines of the Three Caves (a core classification system of Taoist scriptures). He could recite all these teachings from memory, as if they were right in front of him. His Taoist attainments were profound, and his reputation spread far and wide.

In the 24th year of the Kaiyuan era (736), the Taoist Wei Yishi (an official in charge of Taoist affairs) invited Liu Ruoshui to Xingtang Temple in the Middle Yue (Mount Song) to collate and verify Taoist scriptures and registers, following the imperial order of Princess Yuzhen (a Tang princess who devoted herself to Taoism). In the 3rd year of the Tianbao era (744), an imperial edict appointed him as the abbot of Taiqing Palace at the Upper Court of Yuntai Temple on the Western Yue (Mount Hua). In the 5th year of the Tianbao era (746), responding to the earnest request of Taoist practitioners in Lingchang Jun (a provincial administrative unit), he held a ritual altar at Yaotai Temple to teach the doctrines of the True Unity Scripture and presided over the Huanglu Grand Ritual (a major Taoist ritual for blessing and redemption).

In the 7th year of the Tianbao era (748), Liu Ruoshui became the abbot of Ruizong Dasheng True Temple in the Eastern Capital (Luoyang). He passed away in June of the 8th year of the Tianbao era (749) at the age of 57.

(Source: Stele of Taoist Master Liu, the Immortal of Wangwu Mountain in the Great Tang Dynasty)