Xiao Tianshi萧天石

Style & Daoist names

sobriquet Wenshan Dunsou (the Recluse of Wenshan)

Period

Modern

Dates

1909 — 1986

Role

Daoist ScholarsPublisherResearcher of Internal Alchemy

Birthplace

Shaoyang (present-day Shaoyang, Hunan)

Life

Xiao Tianshi, a native of Shaoyang, Hunan, studied military affairs and philosophy in his early years, moved to Taiwan in 1949, and founded the Freedom Press (Ziyou Chubanshe), known for publishing Daoist texts. He was chief editor of the multi-volume Essence of the Daoist Canon (Daozang jinghua, seventeen collections in dozens of volumes, published progressively from 1956), which selected key texts on internal alchemy and life-nourishment through the ages from the Daoist Canon and from alchemical texts outside the Canon, many of them rarely seen on the mainland, exerting enormous influence on the transmission of the Way of the Elixir in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and overseas Chinese communities. He himself wrote An Outline of Daoist Life-Nourishment Studies, Subtle Mysteries of the Sea of the Dao, and A Sagely Explanation of the Daodejing, arguing that "internal alchemy is the essence of Daoism" and promoting the alchemical methods of quiet cultivation. Xiao Tianshi was a pioneer of popular Daoist publishing and internal alchemy research in Taiwan. The Daoist texts published by his Freedom Press remain to this day an important source for the circulation of Daoist literature both at home and abroad.

Contributions & Influence

• Edited the Essence of the Daoist Canon, bringing a great many alchemical texts into circulation overseas
• Wrote An Outline of Daoist Life-Nourishment Studies and other works, promoting internal alchemy and life-nourishment
• Founded the Freedom Press, which became a hub for the circulation of Daoist literature overseas

Works

• Essence of the Daoist Canon (editor)
• An Outline of Daoist Life-Nourishing Studies
• The Mysterious Subtleties of the Sea of the Dao
• A Sagely Exposition of the Daodejing