The Song Defang 宋德方

Song Defang was a native of Yecheng in Laizhou, Shandong Province, during the Jin and Yuan dynasties. His courtesy name was Guangdao, and he had the literary names "Piyun" and "Huangfangong"; he was commonly known as "Real Person Piyun" (a honorific title for accomplished Taoist masters).

According to the Stele Inscribing the Daoist Deeds of the Real Person of Profound Dao, Noble Civilization, and Enlightened Transformation by Shang Ting: Song Defang was extraordinarily bright and perceptive from childhood. At the age of twelve, he asked his mother about the art of achieving immortality. When "Real Person Changsheng" (a Taoist master) propagated Taoism in his hometown, he highly appreciated and favored Song Defang.

Later, Song Defang studied under Wang Yuyang and was formally initiated as a Quanzhen Taoist monk. Soon after, he went to Qixia Guan (Qixia Taoist Temple) to study under Qiu Changchun (another leading Quanzhen master). When Qiu Changchun traveled west to the Western Regions (Central Asia), Song Defang was among the 18 disciples who accompanied him.

Song Defang was fond of reading and extensively studied Confucian and Taoist classics. After returning to Yanjing (the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, present-day Beijing), he resided in Changchun Palace and was appointed by imperial edict to the position of "Tidian Jiaomen" (Overseer of Taoist Affairs). In the fourth year of the Zhengda era (1227) of the Jin Dynasty, Qiu Changchun passed away; Song Defang assisted "Real Person Qinghe" in taking overall charge of Taoist affairs.

Shortly afterward, at the request of Wang Dunfu (a government official of the "Wailang" rank) and Prime Minister Hu, Song Defang went out to preside over the "Zhaijiao" (Taoist fasting and ritual ceremonies) at Guoshan Mountain and Pingyang. In the first year of the Kaixing era (1232) of Emperor Aizong of the Jin Dynasty, he began constructing the Longshan Grottoes (a famous Taoist grotto complex).

In the Jiawu year (1234), he arrived at Xishan (Western Hills) in Taiyuan and took it as his mission to revive and restore the complete collection of Taoist scriptures. He traveled to Taoist temples across various regions to collect and purchase lost or scattered Taoist texts. Initially, he established four workshops in Zhongyang, Jinzhou, and Jiangzhou to engage in the engraving and printing of these scriptures. During this period, he was bestowed the title "Real Person Piyun".

Subsequently, he set up nine more workshops in Qinzhong (the central Shaanxi plain), seven in Taiyuan, two in Luze, and five in Huailuo, totaling 27 workshops dedicated to engraving, proofreading, and collating Taoist texts. He appointed his outstanding disciples Qin Zhi'an and Li Zhiquan to reside in Xuandu Guan (Xuandu Taoist Temple) in Pingyang and take overall charge of these efforts.

After eight years of work, the entire engraving and printing project of the Daozang (the complete canon of Taoist scriptures) was completed. In the third year of Empress Dowager Naqi’s regency (1244), he was additionally granted the title "Real Person of Profound Dao from the Mysterious Capital". In the second year of the Yuan Dingzong era (1247), he returned to Chongyang Palace to retire.

He passed away in October of the same year at the age of 64 and was later buried in Chunyang Palace in Yongle. In the first year of the Yuan Xianzong era (1251), he was posthumously awarded the title "Heavenly Master Piyun"; in the seventh year of the Zhiyuan era (1270), he was further posthumously honored with the title "Real Person Piyun of Mysterious Unity and Universal Teaching".

Song Defang’s works include The Complete Collection of Yuequan: Former and Latter Volumes. Details of his life can be found in texts such as Biographies of Immortal Sages from the Ancestral Court on Zhongnan Mountain and A Study of the Origins of Changchun Taoism.