The Sun Simiao 孙思邈

Sun Simiao was a native of Huayuan in the Tang Dynasty (now Yao County, Shaanxi Province). He had an extensive and profound knowledge of the doctrines of Laozi and Zhuangzi, as well as those of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and was particularly proficient in medicine and pharmacology, along with Taoist arts such as yin-yang theory, astronomical calculation, and divination.

He resided in Zhongnan Mountain, focusing on writing and treating illnesses. Later generations revered him as the "Medicine Sage." Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty posthumously conferred upon him the title "True Person Miaoying" (Wondrous-Responding True Person).

His medical theories emphasized prevention as the priority, food therapy as the main approach, and maintaining a pure mind with few desires. Meanwhile, he attached great importance to the practice of the four methods in "qi absorption" (a Taoist breathing technique): taixi (embryonic breathing, a state of breath similar to that of a fetus in the womb), neishi (internal vision, observing the inner body), bixi (holding one's breath), and tuqi (exhaling breath).

He authored over a hundred volumes of works, including On Health Preservation, On Blessings and Longevity, Inscription on Life Protection, Inscription on Maintaining Spirit and Cultivating Qi, Secret Prescriptions for Health Preservation Under the Pillow, Qianjin Yaofang (Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold), and Qianjin Yifang (Supplementary Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold). He was a renowned physician and Taoist scholar in the early Tang Dynasty.

(Sources: Biography of Sun Simiao in The Old Book of Tang, Biography of Sun Simiao in The New Book of Tang)