Chongxu Ancient Temple冲虚古观
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Guangdong · Boluo, Huizhou · South of Zhuming Cave, Mount Luofu, below Magu Peak
- Coordinates
- 23.268, 114.05 Map ↗
- School
- Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage of Quanzhen
- First built
- Eastern Jin, second year of Xianhe (327) · Ge Hong built the Duxu Hermitage; the Ge Xian Shrine was built during the Tianbao era of the Tang; the temple was named "Chongxu Guan" in the second year of Yuanyou of the Northern Song (1087); it was reconstructed during the Tongzhi reign of the Qing
- Heritage status
- Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2013)National Key Daoist Temple (1983)
Overview
Chongxu Ancient Temple originated as the Duxu Hermitage built by Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin, the foremost of the four hermitages of Mount Luofu; Ge Hong compounded elixirs, wrote his works, and underwent transcendence here, and later generations built the Ge Xian Shrine to venerate him. In the second year of Yuanyou of the Northern Song (1087), Emperor Zhezong bestowed the name "Chongxu Guan," and the buildings standing today are chiefly the result of a reconstruction in the twelfth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing (1873). The temple is built up the mountainside and includes a mountain gate, the Sanqing Hall, the Ge Xian Hall, the Wong Tai Sin (Huang Daxian) Hall, and the Lüzu Hall, among others; the everlasting lamps and the couplets and plaques before the halls are mostly in the hand of Qing-dynasty calligraphers. Beside the temple stand the Zhichuan Elixir Furnace (a stone structure of the Song dynasty inscribed with the title "Zhichuan Elixir Furnace" by the Song poet Su Shi, and a relic of ancient external alchemy), the Herb-Washing Pool, and the Dongpo Pavilion. The temple was restored in the 1930s and again in the 1980s, and now serves as the seat of the Guangdong Daoist Association and the center of Daoist activity on Mount Luofu; it was designated a National Key Daoist Temple in 1983.
Highlights
- Ge Xian Hall
- Zhichuan Elixir Furnace
- Herb-Washing Pool
- Dongpo Pavilion
- Everlasting Lamps