The Wang Xuanlan 王玄览

Wang Xuanlan, originally named Hui, adopted the religious name Xuanlan. He was a native of Mianzhu in Guanghan (now part of Sichuan Province) during the Tang Dynasty.

In his thirties, he went to Mount Mao with several fellow townsmen to study Taoism. Later, due to differences in aspirations, he returned to his hometown. After that, he extensively read the scriptures and treatises of both Buddhism and Taoism, gaining widespread fame.

At the age of forty-seven, he officially registered as a Taoist at Zhizhen Taoist Temple and resided in Chengdu.

When he was over sixty, he was imprisoned for a year but still continued his writing without interruption. In the first year of the Shengong era of the Wu Zhou Dynasty (697), he was summoned to the capital. Unfortunately, he passed away when he reached Luozhou on his way there. Posthumously, he was granted the title "Mr. Hongyuan".

He integrated Buddhist concepts into Taoism, arguing that the Taoist pursuit of cultivating to become an immortal followed the principle that "doctrines originate from humans and perish with humans"; thus, "when the mind arises, all doctrines arise; when the mind ceases, all doctrines cease".

The core essence of Taoist cultivation, in his view, was to cultivate a "cognitive essence" that is pure, tranquil, and unchanging. He once interpreted the Laozi (Tao Te Ching) using the Consciousness-Only theory of the Yogācāra school (a major Buddhist school). His works included Di Jia Si He Tu (Diagram of the Four Unifications of Dunjia), Zhen Ren Pu Sa Guan Men (The Gateway to the Vision of Immortals and Bodhisattvas), Lao Jing Kou Jue (Oral Instructions on the Laozi), Jiu Zhen Ren Zheng Song Dao De Zhu Xing Men (Odes to the Verification of the Nine True Ones and the Various Practices of Dao and De), and Hun Cheng Ao Cang Tu (Diagram of the Profound Treasury of the Primordial Unity).

His disciple Wang Taixiao compiled his teachings into two volumes titled Xuan Zhu Lu (Record of the Profound Pearl).