Tianyinzi (Master of Heavenly Seclusion)

This is the first English translation of the short Taoist (Daoist) scripture known as “The Master of Heavenly Seclusion” (Chinese: 天隱子 / Tiānyǐnzi), first published in Livia Kohn’s The Taoist Experience: An Anthology. It is available here as a PDF document.

Description: The Tianyinzi (天隱子) or "Master of the Heavenly Seclusion" is a Daoist book written by an anonymous author form the Tang period 唐 (618-907). Because it is only a small book, it is often edited as an appendix to the book Xuanzhenzi (玄真子). There is a preface written by the Daoist master Sima Chengzhen (司馬承禎) who lived in the late 7th century. The preface already says that the author is not known. Master Tianyin describes how a Daoist practitioner devotes himself to tranquillity and simplicity in order to free himself of all things distracting him from concentrating on the natural way, the Dao. Mentally and physically united with the Dao, he would be able to become an immortal.