Tao Hongjing (456-536) was a Taoist scholar, alchemist and medical scientist during the Qi and Liang dynasties of the Southern Dynasties. His courtesy name was Tongming. He styled himself Huayang Yinjin and was posthumously honored as Zhenbai Xiansheng. A native of Moling, Danyang (now Nanjing, Jiangsu Province). Born into a noble family of the Southern Dynasties. At the age of ten, he read "The Immortals' Biographies", expressing his aspiration for health preservation. At fifteen, he composed "The Search for the Mountains", admiring the secluded life. At the age of twenty, Emperor Gao of Qi appointed him as a tutor for all the Kings and later appointed him as the general of the Left Guard Hall. At around the age of thirty, he became a disciple of the Taoist priest Sun Youyue, receiving talismans, scriptures, and instructions. Thus, he traveled extensively to famous mountains, seeking out immortal herbs and true scriptures. In the sixth year of Yongming of the Southern Qi Dynasty (488), an authentic handwritten work by Yang Xi and Xu Mi was obtained on Maoshan. In the eighth year of Yongming, he traveled eastward and paid homage to lay Buddhists and monks in various places. In the tenth year of Yongming (492), he resigned from his stipend and retired to Juqu Mountain in Jurong (now Maoshan, Jiangsu). He sent the Qingda Dongjing 箓 and founded the Maoshan School. After Emperor Wu of Liang ascended the throne, he sent envoys to invite him many times, but he remained steadfast in his career. Whenever there was an important matter in the imperial court, he would often go to consult. They also exchanged letters frequently. At that time, he was called "the Prime Minister of the Mountains". Tao Hongjing inherited the philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi as well as Ge Hong's thought on immortality, integrating the concepts of Taoism and Buddhism. He advocated the convergence of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, believing that "a hundred laws converge and cannot transcend the realm of the three religions." Following Lu Xiujing, he further sorted out Taoist scriptures and made considerable contributions. The "True Spirit Position and Karma Map" was compiled, arranging a hierarchical immortal world that includes celestial gods, earth deities, humans, ghosts, and all kinds of immortals and true beings. He also collated the "Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica", included new drugs used by famous doctors during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and compiled it into a seven-volume "Compendium and Commentary on the Classic of Materia Medica", which recorded over seven hundred kinds of drugs (the original book has been lost, and only the fragments from Dunhuang remain now). He has written many works. Besides those mentioned above, there are also "The True Edits", "The Secret Secrets of Ascending the True", "The Record of Cultivating One's Nature and Proclaiming Life", "The Collection of Golden Elixirs, Yellow and White Prescriptions", "The General Secrets of Medicine", "The Collection of Huayang Tao's Seclusion", etc. Skilled in calligraphy and painting, proficient in music, chess and medicine. His calligraphy is proficient in cursive and clerical scripts, and his paintings are halal. The paintings include "Two Oxen", "Mountain House" and "瘗 Crane Inscription".