Gazetteer of Mount Luofu罗浮山志

Also known as

Gazetteer of Mount Luofu, Combined Compilation of the Gazetteer of Mount Luofu

Author / transmission

Chen Lian (Ming, Luofu Zhi / Gazetteer of Mount Luofu), Song Guangye (Qing, Luofushan Zhi Huibian / Combined Gazetteer of Mount Luofu)

Period

Ming–Qing · Chen Lian of the Ming (1370–1454) compiled the ten-juan Luofu zhi; Song Guangye of the Qing compiled the twenty-two-juan Luofushan zhi huibian around the 56th year of the Kangxi reign (1717), the most comprehensive edition.

Canon division

Outside the canon (local gazetteer)

Collected in

Outside the Canon.

Category

Mountain Gazetteers

Fascicles

Gazetteer of Mount Luofu, 10 juan; Combined Compilation, 22 juan

Synopsis

Mount Luofu, in Boluo, Guangdong, is the seventh of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, the Heaven of Vermilion Brilliance and Manifest Perfection. Ge Hong built a hermitage there in the Eastern Jin, practised alchemy, and wrote the Baopuzi; remains such as Chongxu Ancient Temple, Zhuming Cave and the Medicine-Washing Pool survive there, and the mountain is the center of Daoism in Lingnan. Among the successive gazetteers compiled for Mount Luofu, the ten-juan Luofu zhi by Chen Lian of the Ming established the genre's format, while the twenty-two-juan Luofushan zhi huibian by Song Guangye of the Qing gathered earlier gazetteers and documents and is the most complete, divided into sections on astral fields, mountains and rivers, grotto-heavens, temples, immortals and monks, biographies, epigraphy, and literature. The gazetteer records in detail the activities on Mount Luofu of Ge Hong, Bao Gu, Shan Daokai, Xuanyuan Ji and Bai Yuchan, as well as inscriptions by literati through the ages (Su Shi's line 'I eat three hundred lychees a day' was written here), and also includes material on Buddhist monasteries (such as Huashoutai), reflecting the actual coexistence of Daoism and Buddhism on Mount Luofu. Gazetteers of this kind are basic sources for the study of Lingnan Daoism, the cult of Ge Hong, and local cultural landscape.

Key Ideas

• Seventh of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, the Heaven of Vermilion Brilliance and Manifest Perfection
• Center of Lingnan Daoism where Ge Hong practised alchemy and wrote his works
• Remains such as Chongxu Ancient Temple and Zhuming Cave
• Song Guangye's Qing-dynasty Huibian is the most complete edition
• A local religious landscape of coexisting Daoism and Buddhism

Structure

Divided into sections on astral fields, mountains and rivers, grotto-heavens, temples, immortals and monks, biographies, epigraphy, and literature.

Editions

• Chen Lian's Luofu zhi, ten juan (Ming)
• Song Guangye's Luofushan zhi huibian, twenty-two juan (Qing, Kangxi reign)
• Collated edition, Guangdong People's Publishing House

Full Text & Online Resources

• CTEXT search
• Wikipedia: Mount Luofu

Related scriptures

Related figures