Text: Wei Dongyue
"To the Golden Dome."
Most of the people at the foot of Wudang Mountain had this sentence surging in their hearts. Because the Wudang Golden Dome represents the prestige, heritage and wind bone of Wudang Mountain, it is the spiritual and cultural core of this Xiongshan mountain constructed of mica schist, and it is the pinnacle of the world-famous ancient building complex of Wudang Mountain.
However, for another group of people, the charm of Wudang Mountain is more pure: that is, the natural picture of "72 peaks facing the big top, 24 streams and long flows", and many wonders such as 36 rocks, 11 caves, 3 pools, 9 springs, 10 ponds and so on. Xu Xiake said, "Yu Yue has five Yue Zhi, and Xuanyue (Wudang Mountain) is out of the Five Mountains, Mu You Che." In his mind, he valued Wudang Mountain more than Wuyue.
In addition, there are many admirers of Taoist culture.
As the dojo of the Emperor Zhenwu, Wudang Mountain has always been a sacred place for Taoism. It has to be said that Wudang Mountain has an extremely pure Taoist cultural inheritance accumulated for thousands of years. Countless Taoist immortals have practiced here - Old Ancestor Chen Tuo has served Qi and opened the valley here for twenty years, Lu Dongbin has practiced at Zigai Peak, and Zhang Sanfeng Zhenren has also founded the Wudang Sect here...
Therefore, to climb Wudang Mountain, you must pass through three roads, the road of landscape and water, the road of ancient construction, and the road of questioning, and the three roads complement each other and are indispensable.
Look far away
Wudang Mountain is located in Shiyan, Hubei Province, stretching for 800 li, and belongs to the eastern branch of the Daba Mountain Range. It starts from the border of Hubei and Shaanxi provinces, ends in the south of Xiangyang City, and is separated by the Han River and the Dahong Mountain. Its scenery is mainly majestic, with many characteristics such as danger, wonder, seclusion and show, and has always been known as "unparalleled victory since ancient times, the world's first immortal mountain".
The peaks of Wudang Mountain are soothing, treacherous and deep, and majestic - the seventy-two peaks are like clusters of arrows, and the main peak, Tianzhu Peak, is 1612 meters above sea level, like a treasure pillar cast in gold and jade, standing on the top of the peaks. The peaks surrounding it slope from all directions to the main peak, shaping the scene of "ten thousand mountains coming to the dynasty"; At the same time, the 36 rocks suspended deep on the cliff, the 24 streams with turbulent flow, and the eleven caves with steaming clouds and fog jointly create four wonders such as "Tianzhu Xiaoqing", "Land and Sea Rushing Tide", "Moon Knocking on the Mountain Gate" and "Seahorse Spitting Fog"; In addition, Wudang Mountain has a magnificent scenery in all seasons, with ice peaks and snow trees in winter, flowers in spring, waterfalls hanging high in summer, and red forest bedding in autumn.
Nowadays, when the spring is in full bloom, the mountains are gradually decorated with greenery, and along the ancient road all the way up the steps, you will find that the natural scenery and the cultural landscape here are perfectly combined and inseparable - in the green of the mountains are dotted with yellow, appropriate red, ancient gray, that is the color of the ancient buildings that Wudang Mountain is famous for.
They are either built on the top of high mountains and dangerous peaks, or hidden in the cliff wall, deep in the mountains and jungles, which not only reflects the high harmony between architecture and nature, but also reflects the blue sky and white clouds, reaching the artistic conception of "Xian Shan Qiongge", making people have to walk faster and closer.
Up close
When people approach Wudang Mountain, they will find a sense of historical heaviness, which comes from the coercion of ancient buildings that have been built for thousands of years because of the situation of the mountains.
The ancient buildings in Wudang Mountain were built in the Tang Dynasty, and later in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, reaching their peak in the Ming Dynasty. In that year, a total of 33 building complexes with more than 1 million square meters were completed. Today, after hundreds of years of vicissitudes, there are still nearly 50,000 square meters. Its entire architectural department adopts the royal architectural French style in accordance with the Taoist story of "true martial arts cultivation immortals", unified design layout, and the size of the scale and the density of the spacing are just right; The main palace temple is built on the cohesive basin or mountain help terrace, and the temples are distributed in the area near the palace view, which is self-contained, and the rock temple occupies the peak and danger, forming a huge landscape of "five miles and one temple and ten miles of palace, and the dan wall is dazzling". In 1994, the ancient buildings of Wudang Mountain were included in the "World Cultural Heritage List". The World Heritage Committee assessed that the temples in the ancient buildings of Wudang Mountain epitomize the architectural and artistic achievements of secular and religious buildings of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties of China.
"Jisei Gendake" archway
At present, the ancient buildings of Wudang Mountain mainly include four palaces, Taihe Palace, Nanyan Palace, Zixiao Palace, Yuzhen Palace, two palace ruins of Yuxian Palace and Wulong Palace, and various temples and temples, with an extremely large scale.
The first gateway to Wudang Mountain is one of the important cultural heritages: the "Zhisei Gendake" archway.
The archway was built in the 31st year of Ming Jiajing and was the first divine gate for ancient believers to enter Wudang Mountain. This imitation wood stone archway, after hundreds of years of historical vicissitudes, is still graceful and domineering. The structure of Shifang is concise, the components are rich in changes, all of them are assembled with tenon and tenon and balanced and rigorous; The decoration of the workshop is gorgeous, the carving is exquisite, the use of line carving, round carving, relief carving and other methods, carving figures, animals and floral patterns, etc., is a masterpiece of southern stone archway, but also a stone carving art treasure of the Ming Dynasty. The four characters "Zhi Shi Xuanyue" on the plaque are verified to be the imperial pen of the Jiajing Emperor.
The best combination of mountain views, the most beautiful and peculiar is the Nanyan Palace in the Thirty-Six Rocks.
Nanyan Palace, also known as Duyang Rock and Zixiaoyan - the peaks of the Tianzhu in the south, overlooking the Five Dragon Peak in the north, Zhanqi Peak in the east, and the Ascension Platform in the west. The peaks and mountains here are strange, the forests are green, the upper part is the blue sky, and the lower is the absolute stream, which is the victory of "swallowing the Taihua galaxy and overwhelming the jade base", and it is also the place where the true martial arts soar.
Nanyan Palace
Taiyi Jinqing Palace
The main building of Nanam Palace, "Taiyi Jinqing Palace", is made entirely of stone and embedded in the cliff wall. Looking at it from afar, it is integrated with the rock wall, as if carved and carved, relying on the cliff and the abyss, the majestic shore is extreme. The architecture of Nanyan Palace is in harmony with the mountain, showing the Taoist concept of the unity of heaven and man and harmony with nature. In the blue sky and clouds, the momentum is spectacular and natural.
The largest and most complete preserved of the ancient buildings in Wudang Mountain is the Zixiao Palace.
Zixiao Palace is located under the Zhanqi Peak in the southeast of Wudang Mountain, which was built during the Xuanhe period of the Northern Song Dynasty, rebuilt in the eleventh year of Ming Yongle, expanded in the thirty-first year of Ming Jiajing, and overhauled in the eighth to twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty, and there are 29 existing buildings.
Zixiao Palace is built from top to bottom with Dragon and Tiger Hall, Stele Pavilion, Shifang Hall, Zixiao Hall, and Shengwen Mother Hall, and the two sides are divided into three courtyards by supporting rooms and other buildings, forming a group of hall buildings, stacked one after another, and the main and secondary building groups. The main building in the palace, Zixiao Hall, is the most representative wooden building in Wudang Mountain, built on a three-story stone platform, and there are steps leading to the platform of the hall in the middle and left and right sides of the platform. The main hall is a large wooden structure with heavy eaves hilltop, set off by a three-story platform, with moderate proportions and a coordinated appearance. At the back of the Meima is a finely carved shrine of Ishisuma, in which the Jade Emperor and the left and right ribs are all by the hands of Akito.
A corner of the Zixiao Palace
Purple Sky Temple
The roof of the Zixiao Hall is all covered with peacock blue glazed tiles, and the main building such as the main ridge, vertical ridge and ridge are carved in yellow and green, and the decoration is rich and gorgeous, which is rare in other religious buildings.
The most desired is the Golden Hall located at the top of Tianzhu Peak.
It was built in the 14th year of the Yongle Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty (1416) and is the largest and highest grade bronze gilt hall in China. The body of the hall is a bronze cast partition fan, on which large and small fangs are cast, and the upper eaves are made of heavy upturned and heavy nine stepping buckets to support the rafters. The lower eaves are singular and heavy, and the bronze gilt vertical plaque is suspended between the eaves, and the word "Golden Temple" is engraved. All the components of the Golden Temple are cast separately, installed by mortise and tenon, and then gilded throughout, with strict structure, tight connection, and no traces of casting. The hall is dedicated to the statue of the true martial ancestor, with the golden boy holding the album on the left, the jade girl on the right, and the two generals of water and fire draw their swords. On the back wall hangs a gold plaque of the Kangxi Emperor's book "Golden Light Miaoxiang". Despite more than 500 years of severe cold and heat, it is still as brilliant as ever, and it can be called a splendid pearl in the existing ancient buildings and casting processes.
Wudang Mountain Golden Temple
In addition, there are 1486 statues of various types, 409 inscriptions and inscriptions, 682 magic vessels and offerings, and a large number of books and scriptures preserved in the palaces of Wudang Mountain, all of which are very precious cultural relics.
Asked
Being ranked first among the four famous mountains of China (the other three are Dragon Tiger Mountain, Qiyun Mountain and Qingcheng Mountain), and has always been an important carrier of Taoist culture, Wudang Mountain has a long history and needs a deep heritage.
Wudang Mountain's original name is Mount Immuro, a Taiyue Mountain, a Taihe Mountain, also known as Shan Shangshan. According to the "Records of Taihe Mountain", Wudang County and Wudang County were established during the Qin and Han dynasties; According to the "Later Hanshu County Guozhi", at this time, Wudang Mountain already had a larger market town and a larger population. With people, there is culture.
At first, it was Taoist scholars who liked the scenery of Wudang Mountain, and their quiet and inactive minds were quite in line with the atmosphere of Wudang Mountain, and they chose to go to Wudang Mountain to retreat very early. According to the "Yudi Jisheng", during the Western Zhou Dynasty, Dr. Yin Xi practiced in the Wudang Stone Building Room; During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Taoist celebrities such as Yin Changsheng and Xie Yun also practiced here. Of course, Taoism is an ideological and cultural system pioneered by Lao Tzu, which is very different from the Taoism of later generations. However, Taoism respects Laozi as the ancestor and Taoist culture as its foundation, and as a native religion in China, there is a deep relationship between the two.
When Taoism and Taoism favored Wudang Mountain at the same time, that also showed Zhong Lingjunxiu of Wudang Mountain.
At the same time that Taoist celebrities lived in seclusion here, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were Taoist priests who made a meditation in Wudang Mountain and concentrated on cultivation. As we all know, the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties was a period of formation and establishment of Taoism, during which Wudang Mountain gradually became a sacred place for Taoist activities in the Central Plains with the growth of Taoism.
In addition, it is especially important that Wudang Mountain has been favored and respected by the royal family since the Tang Dynasty.
During the reign of Tang Zhenguan, when there was a great drought in the world, Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin sent Yao Jian, an official of Junzhou, to Wudang Mountain to pray for rain, and then built the "Five Dragon Temple" at Lingying Peak. Since then, from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, successive emperors have strongly respected the true martial god of Wudang Mountain, and worshipped him as the "god of the family of society". In the Yuan Dynasty, Taoist disciples reclaimed hundreds of acres of land in Wudang Mountain, raised tens of thousands of people, and had more than 100 temples such as nine palaces and eight views, as well as many altars, pavilions, platforms, and bridges. The development of Wudang Taoism reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty, and in the ten years of Yongle, the imperial court sent more than 200,000 military and civilian craftsmen to build 33 Taoist temples such as the Nine Palaces and Nine Temples in 12 years of cold and summer, which is the prototype of the foundation of today's Wudang Mountain complex. At that time, there were as few as three or four hundred Taoist priests in the various palaces of the mountain, and as many as five or six hundred. It also made Wudang Taoism unprecedentedly grand, and Wudang Mountain became a dojo directly controlled by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so it was also known as the "royal family temple".
Wudang Mountain has an extremely pure Taoist cultural heritage accumulated for thousands of years.
In this way, in the long history of the river, in addition to the ancient buildings, successive rulers and believers from all directions have also left countless precious cultural relics to Wudang Mountain. Especially in the heyday of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court made tens of thousands of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, jade, beads, stone, mud, silk, wood and other textures of god statues and magic weapons placed in Wudang Mountain, making the furnishings of the palaces magnificent, and at that time it had the reputation of "the world of gold and white jade". Although most of the treasures have been lost, there are still more than 7,000 registered cultural relics in the mountain, all of which have high scientific research and art appreciation value. In addition, Wudang Taoist music has always been famous and is an important part of Wudang Taoist culture. Since the completion of the "Five Dragons Temple", Wudang Mountain, which has become an important dojo for emperors and generals and all living beings to pray for blessings and disasters, has fluttered a unique Taoist sound, integrating court, folk and religious music, solemn and mysterious. If you think about it, Taoist culture and Wudang Mountain complement each other, and it seems that it is really impossible to say who has achieved more.
inaction
Outside the Liangyi Hall of Nanyan Palace, there is a stone dragon, the dragon's head is knocked on the golden roof, and above the head is an incense burner, here is called dragon head incense - also known as the world's first incense, according to legend, it is the incarnation of an evil dragon submitted by Emperor Zhenwu. With the blessing of legendary stories, since ancient times, there has been an endless stream of people who have come here to put incense on it. However, later, because the terrain was too dangerous and the risk factor of incense was too high, it has now been sealed and replaced by regular incense prayers by a Taoist master with superb martial arts.
Dragon head incense
In the minds of many people, if you can put incense on the dragon head incense on the Hall of Two Yis, then the trip to Wudang Mountain will have a perfect end. However, this is destined to be unattainable, and because of this, people eventually blurred their original intentions, unable to distinguish whether they "worshiped Wudang" because they asked the Tao, or because they "landed in Xuanyue" and had the heart to ask? Perhaps this is the beginning of Taoism's quiet inaction.