Yin Changsheng

Changsheng Dadi (長生大帝, "Great Emperor of Long Life") is one of Nine Monarchs in the pantheon of the Shenxiao (神霄, "Divine Empyrean") school of Daoism.

The c. 2nd century CE Liexian zhuan ("Biographies of Immortals") says Yin Sheng impersonated a beggar boy in the marketplace of Chang'an, but every time angry merchants "bespattered him with filth".

[4] The primary source of information about Yin is his hagiography in the Shenxian zhuan ("Biographies of Divine Transcendents"), which is traditionally attributed to the Taoist scholar Ge Hong (283-343).

The Shenxian zhuan scholar and translator Robert Ford Campany identified the earliest dates by which various parts of the text are attested, and concluded that the Yin Changsheng material is reliably attributed by the year 500.

Having heard that Master Horseneigh [Maming sheng] possessed a Way to transcend the world [dushi 度世], Yin sought him out, and eventually obtained an audience.

According to Tao Hongjing's 6th-century Zhenlingweiye tu (真靈位業圖, "Chart of the Ranks and Functions of the Perfected Immortals"), which was the first Taoist work about theogony, Yin Shangsheng now dwells in the heaven of Great Clarity (Taiqing 太清).

For instance, the c. 921 Xianyuan bianzhu (仙苑編珠, "Paired Pearls from the Garden of Immortals") by the Tang Taoist monk Wang Songnian (王松年) says, "He was among humans for one hundred seventy years and his complexion remained like that of a young girl.

One alchemical chapter giving detailed instructions for fabricating the Taiqing shendan (太清神丹, "Divine Elixir of Great Clarity") includes a hagiography of Yin Changsheng.

alchemical scripture (danjing 丹經), setting forth the details of his early studies of the Tao and his experience of following his teacher, enumerating over forty persons of whom he was aware who had attained transcendence, all with precision and clarity.

The subsequent context details how to make this Taiqing elixir, which is said to be "somewhat more difficult" than other cinnabar potions, but it is a "superior method for mounting to heaven in broad daylight"—a standard Taoist figure of speech.

The alchemical ingredients are "fortified vinegar, red crystal salt, calomel, 'dark-white' (a mixture of lead, gold, and mercury), Express Amulets, and Three-Five Divine Solution".

[12] The other describes him as an exemplar of perseverance, alluding to his lengthy disciplehood under Maming Sheng, Yin Changsheng "effected the highest type of divine process by personally advancing while others withdrew.

[4] Yin's first text, dating from the Six Dynasties (222-589), is the second chapter of the Taiqing jinye shendan jing (太清金液神丹經, "Great Clarity Scripture on the Divine Elixir of Potable Gold").

Its content is distinguished by a cosmological interpretation of the scripture, but occasional references to actual practices, such as ingesting a small quantity of the elixir, show that it originated in a waidan alchemical context.