Zhengyi Temple, Longhushan龙虎山正一观
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Jiangxi · Guixi, Yingtan · At the foot of Mount Longhu, within the Longhushan Scenic Area
- Coordinates
- 28.1, 117.02 Map ↗
- School
- Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism
- First built
- Eastern Han (traditionally the site where Zhang Daoling refined the elixir) · Register Transmission Altar built by Zhang Sheng, the fourth-generation Celestial Master; called Zhenxian Temple in the Tang; renamed Zhengyi Temple in the Song; rebuilt in the Yuan and Ming; rebuilt again in the 1990s
- Heritage status
- Within the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Area of Mount Longhu
Overview
Zhengyi Temple stands beneath Liandan Cliff (Alchemy Cliff) at Mount Longhu; tradition holds that Zhang Daoling built a hut here and practiced alchemy, and that Zhang Sheng, the fourth-generation Celestial Master, built the "Register Transmission Altar" here after returning to Mount Longhu, making it one of the earliest sites for the conferral of registers in Celestial Master Daoism. It was called Zhenxian Temple during the Huichang era of the Tang, renamed Zhengyi Temple by the Song court, rebuilt in the Jiajing era of the Ming, and fell into ruin from the late Qing onward; it was rebuilt in the 1990s following Ming-dynasty regulations, with a mountain gate, Yuhuang Hall, and Patriarch Hall. Behind the temple, sites such as Liandan Cliff and Zhuoding Pool are traditionally associated with Zhang Daoling's alchemical practice. Zhengyi Temple is an important node in the narrative of Mount Longhu as the "ancestral court" of Celestial Master Daoism.
Highlights
- Patriarch Hall
- Liandan Cliff
- Site of the Register Transmission Altar