Gazetteer of Mount Lao崂山志

Also known as

Gazetteer of Mount Lao (Laoshan Zhi), Gazetteer of Mount Ao (related)

Author / transmission

Huang Zongchang (1588–1646)

Period

Late Ming–early Qing · Huang Zongchang of the Ming (a native of Jimo, censor under the Chongzhen emperor) compiled the eight-juan Laoshan zhi, completed around the Ming–Qing transition; it was subsequently continued and revised many times.

Canon division

Outside the canon (local gazetteer)

Collected in

Outside the Canon.

Category

Mountain Gazetteers

Fascicles

eight scrolls

Synopsis

Mount Lao, in Qingdao, Shandong, rises beside the Yellow Sea and is a famous Daoist mountain long known as 'the foremost famous mountain upon the sea'; the Quanzhen Suishan Lineage (Liu Chuxuan), the Jinshan Lineage (Sun Xuanqing) and the Longmen Lineage have all been transmitted there, and temples such as Taiqing Palace, Shangqing Palace, Taiping Palace, Mingxia Cave and Hualou Palace are scattered across the mountain. The eight-juan Laoshan zhi compiled by Huang Zongchang of the Ming, divided into sections on mountains and rivers, temples, biographies, immortals and monks, literature, and epigraphy, records the mountain's geography, the history of its Daoist temples, and the deeds of eminent Daoists, and is the earliest systematic gazetteer of Mount Lao. Its records of the activities on Mount Lao of Qiu Chuji, Zhang Sanfeng, Xu Fuyang and Geng Yilan, and of the relations between Ming-dynasty temples and local gentry and the imperial house (such as the Buddhist-Daoist dispute at Taiqing Palace in the Wanli reign), provide important clues for the study of Daoism on the Shandong peninsula. Since the Qing many continuations and supplements to the Laoshan zhi have been made, and Pu Songling's story 'The Daoist Priest of Laoshan' in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio also made Mount Lao well known among the people.

Key Ideas

• The foremost famous mountain upon the sea and a center of Daoism in Shandong
• Transmission of the Quanzhen Suishan, Jinshan and Longmen lineages
• History of temples such as Taiqing Palace and Shangqing Palace
• A local case of the Buddhist-Daoist dispute in the Ming
• The earliest systematic gazetteer of Mount Lao

Structure

Eight juan, divided into sections on mountains and rivers, temples, biographies, immortals and monks, literature, and epigraphy.

Editions

• Ming–Qing transition printed edition
• Qing-dynasty continued and revised editions
• Collated edition, Qingdao Publishing House

Full Text & Online Resources

• CTEXT search
• Wikipedia: Mount Lao

Related scriptures

Related figures