The Zhang Boduan 张伯端

Zhang Boduan (987–1082) was a native of Tiantai (now Linhai, Zhejiang Province) during the Northern Song Dynasty. His courtesy name was Pingshu, and his literary names included Ziyang and Immortal Ziyang; later, he changed his given name to Yongcheng.

From a young age, he was eager to learn and studied classics of the Three Teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism). He also devoted meticulous attention to and conducted in-depth research on subjects such as medicine, divination (including I Ching hexagrams), astronomy, geography, and techniques related to good fortune, misfortune, life, and death. He passed the imperial examination to become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination in ancient China) but was later exiled to serve in the military in Lingnan (the southern region south of the Nanling Mountains).

In the second year of the Xining era (1069), he returned from Guilin to Chengdu. According to legend, he met Immortal Liu Haichan, who taught him the "Secret of Golden Elixir and Reverted Cinnabar" (a core Taoist inner alchemy technique). Zhang Boduan then dedicated himself to Taoist cultivation. In the eighth year of the Xining era (1075), he wrote Wuzhen Pian (The Awakening to Reality), which expounds on the methods of inner alchemy practice and the ideology of "the Three Teachings sharing one principle" centered on Taoist inner alchemy. The work draws on Confucian and Buddhist ideas, with "cultivating both life (physical vitality) and nature (spiritual essence)" as the core tenet of its inner cultivation theory.

He viewed the human body as the "furnace and cauldron" (a metaphor in Taoist inner alchemy for the body as the vessel of cultivation), vital energy (jingqi) as the "medicinal ingredients," and the spirit (shen) as the "fire temperature" (a metaphor for the intensity and rhythm of cultivation). Through inner alchemy practice, he aimed to make vital energy condense without dissipation and form the "Golden Elixir" (the ultimate goal of inner alchemy, representing spiritual transcendence).

At the same time, he inherited the systematic inner alchemy techniques of Chen Tuan and divided the cultivation process into four stages: establishing the foundation (zhuji), refining essence into energy (lian jing hua qi), refining energy into spirit (lian qi hua shen), and refining spirit to return to emptiness (lian shen huan xu). He advocated "cultivating life first, then cultivating nature" and explored the "original true awakening nature," thus becoming the founder of the Ziyang School of the Southern Sect of Taoism.

In addition, he wrote Jindan Sibaizi (Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir), which summarizes the essential principles of inner alchemy and explains inner alchemy terminology. He also studied Buddhist scriptures and Chan (Zen) dialogues, and composed twelve "Chan Poems and Gathas." In his later years, his disciple Wang Bangshu compiled his teachings into Wangqing Jintong Qinghua Miwen Jinbao Neidan Lianjue (The Secret Text of Green Blossoms in the Golden Tube of Pure Serenity: The Golden Treasure Secret of Inner Alchemy Cultivation).

After the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279), he was revered as the patriarch of the Southern Sect of Taoism.

(From Wuzhen Zhizhi Xiangshuo (Detailed Explanation of the Direct Guidance to Awakening to Reality), Jingai Xindeng (The Lamp in the Golden Canopy), and Xishang Futan (Random Talks at the Feast))