3rd Grotto-Heaven: Mount Xicheng第三 西城山洞（太玄总真之天）
- Type
- Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands
- Location
- China · Shaanxi (presumed) · Ankang / Hanzhong · Its location has never been definitively settled; one account places it at Mount Xicheng, Ankang, Shaanxi, another at the "Xicheng" associated with Mount Qingcheng in Sichuan.
- Coordinates
- 32.7, 109.03 Map ↗
- First built
- Sima Chengzhen, Chart of the Palaces and Bureaus of Heaven and Earth (during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang); Du Guangting, Record of Grotto-Heavens, Blessed Lands, Marchmounts, Rivers and Famous Mountains (end of the Tang) · The Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands system took shape in the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties; the roster of names was fixed in the Tang by Sima Chengzhen and Du Guangting. Present-day identifications are conjectural.
Overview
The third of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, three thousand li in circumference and titled the "Heaven of Great Mystery and Total Perfection," governed by Lord Wang of Xicheng. The Chart of the Palaces and Bureaus of Heaven and Earth says its location is "unknown," and it has sometimes been linked by association with the Xicheng of the Shanhaijing; today it is mostly placed in Ankang, Shaanxi (Xicheng County of Jinzhou in the Tang) or the Hanzhong area, though some also identify it with Mount Xicheng in Sichuan.