The Wang Ding 王鼎

Wang Ding was a native of Jiangning Prefecture during the Ming Dynasty.

His father served in the court as a 卫千户 (a military officer of the thousand-household rank). He obtained ten volumes of Dan Jing (The Elixir Classic) by the immortal Wang Gufeng, as well as the alchemical formulas for "luhuo dan" (furnace-fire elixir) from Shen Wansan.

At that time, Wang Ding contracted a severe illness, and medical treatments proved ineffective. Shen Yeyun, a Daoist priest from Qingyuan Guan (Qingyuan Temple) at Yuhuatai (Rain Flower Terrace), treated him, and he recovered within a month.

Thus, Wang Ding took Shen Yeyun as his teacher and presented the ancient alchemical classics and formula books kept in his family.

As Shen Yeyun was a disciple of Wang Gufeng, he thereby obtained the esoteric manuscripts of his late teacher. He practiced the method of refining internal elixir through vital energy (qi) cultivation and taught it to Wang Ding. After devoting himself to intensive practice for several years, Wang Ding achieved profound enlightenment of the mysterious principles. He abandoned his official position to embrace Daoism, and together with Shen Yeyun, attained Dao and transcended the mortal realm.

For detailed accounts of his life, see Jiangning Fu Zhi (Gazetteer of Jiangning Prefecture).