Mount Qian (Qianshan)千山
- Type
- Daoist Sacred Mountains
- Location
- China · Liaoning · Anshan · About 17 kilometers southeast of Anshan City; the main peak, Xianren Tai, rises 708 meters
- Coordinates
- 41.03, 123.12 Map ↗
- School
- Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage of Quanzhen
- First built
- Early Kangxi era of Qing (Daoist) · Buddhist monasteries since the Sui and Tang; in the early Qing, Liu Tailin came to the mountain and built the Wuliang Temple, bringing the Longmen lineage of Quanzhen to Mount Qian
- Heritage status
- National Scenic Area (1982)Wuliang Temple, Liaoning Provincial Cultural Heritage Site
Overview
Mount Qian, anciently called the "Mountain of a Thousand Lotus Blossoms," is a site where Buddhism and Daoism coexist, and an important center of Daoism in Northeast China. Buddhist monasteries have stood here since the Sui and Tang, while Daoism began in the early Kangxi reign of the Qing, when the Longmen-lineage Quanzhen Daoist Liu Tailin (a disciple of Guo Shouzhen) came to cultivate the Dao at Luohan Cave on the mountain and built the Wuliang Temple (around 1667). Thereafter the Xuanzhen Temple, the Wulong Palace, the Pu'an Temple, the Cixiang Temple, the Taihe Palace, and the Yuantong Temple, among others, were built in succession, forming a pattern of "Five Palaces and Eight Abbeys" that mirrored the Buddhist "Five Great Chan Monasteries." The Wuliang Temple is the largest Daoist temple on Mount Qian, built in tiers up the mountainside, and includes the Laojun Hall, the Sanguan Hall, the Yuhuang Pavilion, the West Pavilion, Luohan Cave, the Rootless Rock, and the "Pitiable Pine," among other features; the Xuanzhen Temple and others also preserve Qing-dynasty architecture. Daoism on Mount Qian belongs to the Longmen lineage of Quanzhen, sharing a common origin with the Taiqing Palace in Shenyang, and the mountain is an important center of activity for the Liaoning Daoist Association. It was designated a National Scenic Area in 1982.
Highlights
- Wuliang Temple
- Wulong Palace
- Taihe Palace
- Xianren Tai (Immortal's Terrace)
- Luohan Cave