Idealizing a Daoist Grotto-Heaven

The Luofu Mountains in Luofu Yesheng 羅浮野乘

Bibliographic Data

ID3462285
AuthorsMengyuan Chai (0000-0002-7893-1847, Chinese University of Hong Kong, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume13
Issue11
Pages1043
Publication date2022-11-02
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel13111043
OpenAlexW4307869127
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited12

The region of the Luofu Mountains in Guangdong, China, has long been a Daoist sacred place for centuries. In the Daoist sacred geographic system "Dongtian Fudi" (Grotto-Heavens and Blissful Lands), the Luofu Mountains are ranked as the seventh "Major Grotto-Heaven", standing as an influential site for the practice Daoist immortals. Due to a sense of local pride and responsibility, the Guangdong literatus Han Huang (active approx. 1600-1639) compiled an important gazetteer named Luofu yesheng (The Unofficial Gazetteer of the Luofu Mountains) in 1639, which is largely underexplored. By investigating the texts and images within Luofu yesheng and by comparing them with other gazetteers of the Luofu Mountains compiled during the Ming dynasty, this article discovers that Han Huang compiled such a gazetteer and demonstrated the religious sacredness of the Luofu Mountains to advocate for recognition of their status as a grotto-heaven and by imaginatively reconstructing their lost religious sites in Luofu yesheng's texts and images

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · China · Geography · Heaven · Literature · Pride · Theology · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Japanese History and Culture · Philosophy

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