The Liu Zhenyi 刘真一

Liu Zhenyi (? - 1206) was a native of Huangxian County in Dengzhou Prefecture (now part of Shandong Province) during the Jin Dynasty, and went by the Taoist title "Langranzi" (Master of Bright Clarity).

At the age of twenty (the "weak crown" year in ancient China), he took the imperial examination for the "Spring Palace" (a key stage of the imperial civil service exam) and ranked first in the top tier. People thus addressed him as "Jieyuan" (a title for the top scorer in the provincial-level imperial exam).

Suddenly, he contracted dysentery, which remained uncured despite numerous treatments.

In the 9th year of the Dading era (1169), he met Wang Chongyang, Ma Danyang, Qiu Changchun (Qiu Chuji), and other Taoist masters. They promised to cure his dysentery on the condition that he would renounce secular life and become a Taoist practitioner—and his illness was indeed cured afterward.

Not long after, Wang Chongyang passed away. Liu Zhenyi then entered the Guanzhong region and studied under Ma Danyang as his teacher. After Ma Danyang’s death, Liu traveled north to Pingluan (a historical region covering parts of present-day Hebei and Liaoning), and arrived in Funing. There, he built the Chongyang Guan (Chongyang Taoist Temple) and initiated thousands of disciples into Taoism, greatly promoting and invigorating the Taoist tradition of the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Sect in northern China.

In the second month of the 6th year of the Taihe era (1206), Liu Zhenyi passed away due to illness. He authored a work titled Yingyuan Ji (Collected Works of Responding to Karmic Affinities), which has been handed down to later generations.

Detailed accounts of his life can be found in the first volume of Zhongnanshan Zuting Xianzhen Neizhuan (Inner Biographies of Immortal Sages from the Ancestral Court of Zhongnan Mountain).