The Liu Yuanjing 刘元靖

Liu Yuanjing (?–851) was a native of Wuchang during the late Tang Dynasty.

He received the Zhengyi Falu (Ordinances and Registers of the Orthodox Oneness School, a core ritual certification in Taoism) from the Taoist priest Wang Daozong, and studied under Tian Liangyi. He chiseled a stone cave on Mount Heng, where he practiced bigu fuqi (the Taoist ascetic practice of abstaining from grain and breathing in vital energy to cultivate immortality).

In the early years of the Baoli era (around 825 CE), he was summoned to the imperial capital, where the emperor consulted him on the art of longevity. In the first year of the Huichang era (841 CE), he was summoned to the capital again and appointed as Doctor of the Chongxuan Guan (a senior academic position at the imperial Taoist academy dedicated to studying and promoting Taoist doctrines). He was also conferred the title "Mr. Guangcheng" and appointed as Silver and Blue Light Guanglu Daifu (a high-ranking honorary official title in the Tang Dynasty). The emperor issued an imperial edict ordering him to collaborate with Taoist priests such as Zhao Guizhen in conducting Taoist ritual ceremonies involving Falu within the imperial palace.

Later, he was demoted. In the fifth year of the Huichang era (845 CE), together with Taoist priests like Zhao Guizhen, he made great efforts to suppress Buddhism. Liu Yuanjing passed away in the tenth month of the fifth year of the Dazhong era of Emperor Xuanzong (851 CE).

(Source: Lishi Zhenxian Tidao Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror of the Dao-Achieving True Immortals Through the Ages), Volume 40)