Tao Hongjing (陶弘景) was the Daoist Buddhist who invented an elixir which made the body weightless, a protoscientist who taught princes and drew supernatural talismans, known to many as the “Grand Councillor of the Mountains”.
陶弘景（陶弘景）是道教佛教徒，他发明了一种使身体失重的长生不老药，他是一位教王子和绘制超自然护身护身圣的原始科学家，被许多人称为“山区大顾问”。
Born in Nanjing in then Moling (now a subdistrict of Jiangning) in 456 CE, Tao was to go on to be a multi-faceted talent; astronomer, musician, calligrapher, alchemist and much more, Tao was just one stop short of a deity.
公元456年，陶出生于当时的南京莫陵（现为江宁的一个分区），他继续成为一个多才多艺的人才；天文学家、音乐家、书法家、炼金术士等等，陶离神灵只有一站远。
For this was his calling.
因为这就是他的使命。
An insatiable learner from a young age, Tao had read “Biographies of the Divine Transcendents” (神仙传) when he was just 10 years old. Such also provided clues for his later direction in life, with the hagiography revealing a view of immortality in early medieval China. Then immortals had extraordinary abilities, interacting with other spiritual beings and concocting the most miraculous of drugs.
陶从小就是一个贪得无厌的学习者，他10岁时就读过《神仙传》。 这也为他后来的人生方向提供了线索，神志学揭示了中世紀早期中国不朽的观点。 然后，不朽者拥有非凡的能力，与其他精神存在互动，并醚造出最神奇的药物。
The reading of the Biographies prompted Tao’s decision to become a recluse. But it would take some years before he was able to realise his dream.
阅读传记促使陶决定成为隐士。 但他需要几年时间才能实现自己的梦想。
With his father and grandfather scholars, calligraphers and herbologists, Tao was first destined for a more public standing. He served in various positions at the courts of the Liu Song and Qi dynasties, where he was tutor to imperial princes and the son of Emperor Wu himself, until 492.
与他的父亲和祖父一起，陶是学者、书法家和草药学家，他首先注定要获得更公开的地位。 他在刘宋和齐朝的宫廷中担任过各种职务，在那里他是皇太子的导师，也是武帝本人的儿子，直到492年。
Then Maoshan (茅山) was to catch Tao’s attention. Today, the mountain is also a service area on the G4221 expressway from Nanjing to Changzhou, but then it was believed to be a portal to a Daoist world.
然后茅山（茅山）吸引了陶的注意。 今天，这座山也是从南京到常州的G4221高速公路上的一个服务区，但后来它被认为是通往道教世界的门户。
There, Priestess Wei Huacun, aka Wei Xian’an (魏贤安), had established one of the most mysterious of Daoist schools, the Shangqing School (上清). Today, its association with black magic was enforced by Hong Kong horror movies of the 1970s, in which Maoshan masters would perform black magic rituals to catch ghosts and evil demons.
在那里，女祭司魏华村，又名魏贤安，建立了最神秘的道教派之一，上清派。 今天，它与黑魔法的联系被20世纪70年代的香港恐怖电影所强化，其中茅山大师会进行黑魔法仪式来捕捉鬼魂和邪恶恶魔。
Tao was hooked. Where the Priestess left off, Tao completed the work to compile the Shangqing revelatory manuscripts that assembled the canon of Daoist learning, as passed down to the Priestess from a group of immortals and deities who had descended before her from the Heavenly Realm.
Tao被迷住了。 在女祭司离开的地方，陶完成了汇编《上清启示稿》的工作，这些手稿收集了道教的教的教义，这是从她之前从天界降临的一群不朽者和神灵传给女祭司的。
The significance of the job is illustrated by Tao now being regarded as the founder of the School that places meditation and visualisation techniques at its heart.
Tao现在被认为是以冥想和可视化技术为核心的学校的创始人，说明了这份工作的重要性。
Under the imperial patronage of Emperor Wu, on Maoshan, Tao oversaw the construction of his hermitage, the temple of Huayang, where he devoted himself to alchemical practices, an important part of the Shangqing tradition. Tao sought herbal and chemical elixirs of immortality, but in spite of his long research and preparatory work, failed twice.
在武帝的皇家赞助下，在茅山，陶监督了他的隐士——华阳寺的建设，在那里他致力于炼金术，这是上清传统的重要部分。 Tao寻求不朽的草药和化学长生不老药，但尽管他做了长时间的研究和准备工作，但两次都失败了。
In the true fashion of a genuine recluse, Tao laid the blame for his failure on the lack of genuine isolation on Maoshan. Too many pesky tourists.
以真正的隐士的方式，陶把自己的失败归咎于毛山缺乏真正的孤立。 太多讨厌的游客了。
But Tao would persevere, undertaking a 5-year journey to the present-day provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, where he continued his alchemical experiments, particularly in the mountains where legend has it the Priestess herself rests.
但陶会坚持不懈，进行了5年的旅行，前往现在的福建和浙江，在那里他继续他的炼金术实验，特别是在传说中女祭司自己安息的山上。
Perhaps she was watching over him. For here Tao did indeed compound a white powder elixir, as recorded in “History of the Southern Dynasties” that is one of the official Chinese historical works.
也许她在看着他。 因为在这里，陶确实配制了一种白粉长生不老药，正如《南朝史》中所记录的那样，这是中国官方历史作品之一。
Looking back, Sinologist, Assistant Curator at the British Museum and translator of “The Art of War”, Lionel Giles, said Tao could be be regarded as the Chinese counterpart of Leonardo da Vinci.
回顾回顾，汉学家、大英博物馆助理策展人和《战争艺术》的翻译者Lionel Giles说，陶可以被视为莱昂纳多·达·芬奇的中国同行。
Tao died in 536 on his beloved Maoshan.
陶于536年在他心爱的茅山去世。