Mount Mao (Maoshan)茅山（句曲山）
- Type
- Daoist Sacred Mountains
- Location
- China · Jiangsu · Jurong, Zhenjiang / Jintan, Changzhou · On the border of Jurong City and Jintan District; the main peak, Damao Peak, is 372.5 m above sea level
- Coordinates
- 31.79, 119.33 Map ↗
- School
- Shangqing (Highest Clarity) School, Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism, Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism
- First built
- Western Han (tradition: the Three Mao Perfected Lords cultivated the Dao here) · In the Eastern Jin, Yang Xi and Xu Mi received the revealed Shangqing scriptures; in the Qi and Liang, Tao Hongjing lived in seclusion here and founded the Shangqing Maoshan Lineage; the eighth of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, the 'Jintan Huayang Grotto-Heaven'; the first of the Blessed Lands, 'Mount Difei'
- Heritage status
- Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Heritage Site (Yuanfu Palace, Jiuxiao Palace)National Scenic Area
Overview
Mount Mao was anciently called Mount Gouqu; tradition holds that the three Mao brothers — Mao Ying, Mao Gu and Mao Zhong — of the Western Han cultivated the Dao here, giving the mountain its name. During the Xingning era of the Eastern Jin, Yang Xi, Xu Mi and Xu Hui received the revealed Shangqing scriptures and declarations at Jurong; during the Southern Qi and Liang, Tao Hongjing lived in seclusion at the Huayang Lodge on Mount Mao for more than forty years, editing the Zhengao (Declarations of the Perfected) and the Dengzhen yinjue (Concealed Instructions for Ascending to Perfection), and founding the Shangqing Maoshan Lineage, which became the mainstream of Daoism in the Sui and Tang. In the Tang, patriarchs such as Wang Yuanzhi, Pan Shizheng, Sima Chengzhen and Li Hanguang followed one another; in the Song, Mount Mao was ranked alongside Mount Longhu and Mount Gezao as the 'Three Mountains of Registers,' and after the Yuan it was absorbed into Zhengyi Daoism. Mount Mao is listed as the eighth of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, the 'Jintan Huayang Grotto-Heaven,' and as the foremost of the Seventy-two Blessed Lands, 'Mount Difei.' Historically it had the 'Three Palaces and Five Temples' (the Jiuxiao Wanfu Palace, the Yuanfu Wanning Palace, and the Chongxi Wanshou Palace, together with the Deyou, Renyou, Yuchen, Baiyun and Qianyuan Temples), most of which were destroyed by warfare during the War of Resistance against Japan; the Jiuxiao Palace, Yuanfu Palace, Qianyuan Temple and others were rebuilt after the 1980s. It is today a National 5A-rated Scenic Area, and Maoshan Daoist music and the folk custom of the Maoshan incense-offering season are Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Highlights
- Jiuxiao Wanfu Palace (Top Palace)
- Yuanfu Wanning Palace (Seal Palace)
- Huayang Cave
- Xike Spring
- Qianyuan Temple
- Bronze statue of Laozi