Mount Luofu罗浮山
- Type
- Daoist Sacred Mountains
- Location
- China · Guangdong · Boluo, Huizhou · Changning Town, Boluo County; the main peak, Feiyun Peak, is 1,296 m above sea level
- Coordinates
- 23.28, 114.04 Map ↗
- School
- Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism
- First built
- Eastern Jin (Ge Hong lived in reclusion here practising alchemy) · The seventh of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, the 'Zhuming Yaozhen Grotto-Heaven'; the Quanyuan Blessed Land among the Seventy-two Blessed Lands; in the Eastern Jin, Ge Hong built the four hermitages of Duxu, Guqing, Baihe and Suliao
- Heritage status
- Chongxu Ancient Temple, Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2013)National Scenic Area (1988)
Overview
Mount Luofu is known as the 'foremost mountain of Lingnan,' the seventh of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens of Daoism, the 'Zhuming Yaozhen Grotto-Heaven,' and is also counted among the Seventy-two Blessed Lands. During the Xianhe era of the Eastern Jin, Ge Hong traveled south to Luofu with his wife Bao Gu, living in seclusion there to refine elixirs and write; he built the four hermitages of Duxu (later the Chongxu Temple), Guqing, Baihe and Suliao, and spent his last years there, so that Mount Luofu became the ancestral court of Daoism in Lingnan. From the Tang and Song onward, eminent priests such as Xuanyuan Ji and Bai Yuchan also resided on the mountain, and Su Shi, when banished to Huizhou, left the famous line 'below Mount Luofu it is spring in all four seasons.' The mountain's principal temples include the Chongxu Ancient Temple (where Ge Hong refined elixirs, and today the seat of the Guangdong Provincial Taoist Association), the Huanglong Temple, the Suliao Temple, the Jiutian Temple and the Baihe Temple, along with remains such as the Medicine-Washing Pool, Zhichuan's Elixir Furnace, and the Flying Rock. Mount Luofu is rich in medicinal herbs, and the treatment of malaria with qinghao (sweet wormwood) recorded in Ge Hong's Zhouhou beiji fang (Emergency Formulas to Keep Up One's Sleeve) is connected with herb-gathering in this area.
Highlights
- Chongxu Ancient Temple
- Zhichuan's Elixir Furnace
- Medicine-Washing Pool
- Huanglong Temple
- Suliao Temple
- Feiyun Peak