The Song Mingyi (宋明一)

Song Mingyi was a native of Fushan County in Dengzhou Prefecture (now part of Shandong Province) during the Jin Dynasty. According to Zhongnanshan Zuting Xianzhen Neizhuan (Inner Biographies of Immortal Sages from the Ancestral Court of Zhongnan Mountain), his Taoist title was Zhaoranzi (Master of Bright Manifestation).

He did not enter the Guanzhong region (a historical area in present-day central Shaanxi) until he was over thirty years old. There, he studied under the Taoist master Ma Danyang and formally became a Taoist priest.

Ma Danyang imparted esoteric Taoist formulas to him and bestowed a green Huayang turban (a headpiece symbolic of Taoist identity) upon him. In the 22nd year of the Dading era (1182), when Ma Danyang returned eastward to Ninghai, Song Mingyi accompanied him on the journey. Upon reaching the coastal areas, six of his family members—including his mother, elder brother, elder sister, and nephews—all embraced Taoism.

After Ma Danyang passed away, Song Mingyi returned to Guanzhong and resided at the Quanzhen Sect’s ancestral court. In the 26th year of the Dading era (1186), he led a group of Taoist practitioners to Longxi (a historical region in present-day Gansu Province) and invited Qiu Changchun (Qiu Chuji) to Zhongnan Mountain, where they vigorously promoted the teachings of their Taoist tradition (founded by Wang Chongyang). In the 2nd year of the Mingchang era (1191), when Qiu Changchun returned eastward, Song Mingyi received a religious decree and was appointed as the "Zunsu" (venerable elder) of the ancestral court.

Later, when the Yuan Dynasty troops invaded Qinzhou (a historical prefecture in present-day Gansu and Shaanxi), other Taoist practitioners all fled to Laogu Valley. Song Mingyi refused to leave and was eventually killed. He was eighty-four years old at the time of his death.

In the 2nd year of the Xianzong era of the Yuan Dynasty (1252), he was posthumously awarded the honorific title "Wuyou Zhenren" (Venerable One of No Worries).