Page 113 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

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(Shanxi), and *Songshan (Henan). Taoist masters also produced hierarchical
ranking of the ten great and thirty-six lesser Grotto-Heavens and seventy-
two Blissful Land~ (*fudi). There are also the so-called guardian mountains
(zhenshan ~ ill ), which are said to have been spatially fixed during the Zhou
dynasty. Other important mountains have been intimately linked to the history
of Taoist movements, including *Longhu shan and the Way of the Celestial
Masters (*Tianshi dao) movement; *Maoshan and *Shangqing; Zhongnan
shan #.t WJ ill and *Quanzhen, etc. At the same time, however, no mountain
was the exclusive property of a particular Taoist movement, and many were
home to Buddhist and other non-Taoist practitioners. Taken as a whole, the
location of mountains and Grotto-Heavens neatly matches the pattern of
Taoism's historical growth.
While mountains and caves can be imposing wonders, on another level
they can serve as both macrocosm and microcosm. In China and the West, the
grotto has long been a metaphor for the cosmos (Miller 1982; Stein R. A. 1990;
Verellen 1995). In China, a grotto can symbolize both the womb that gives life,
and a tomb that houses the dead. Cave entrances were literally referred to as
"mouths of the mountain" (shankou ill D), from which issued the *qi exhaled
by the mountain. In some texts, the inside of a mountain is conceived of as a
respiratory system.
Records of man-made Taoist sites date back to at least the Han dynasty.
Such sites ranged in size from small "quiet chambers" (*jingshi) and thatched
huts (lu Ii), where adepts could practice self-cultivation, to monasteries and
abbeys (guan Wi), where Taoist monks and nuns resided and practiced self-
cultivation, and large-scale palaces (gong '§) often patronized by the imperial
court. The layout of a Taoist sacred site could vary significantly, but in general
their sacred space seems to have been arranged in a way that would present
the Taoist pantheon and Taoist cosmology to practitioners and local worship-
pers (Steinhardt 2000). Like mountains, few Taoist temples were exclusively
Taoist, but also coexisted with Buddhist and especially local cult sites (Katz P
R. 1999, 41-51; Robson 1995). Temples also preserved examples of Taoist art,
and were sites for the performance of Taoist music. Their festivals (yingshen
saihui Jm ;f$!JJf!) and temple fairs (miaohui )jfl) provided an important occa-
sion for interaction between Taoists, officials, elites, and members of the local
community. Of particular significance were the lay associations (hui if) that
worked with Taoists to organize these events, which were also occasions for
performances of local dramas and intensive economic activities (see *TAOIST
LAY ASSOCIATIONS). Taoist temples were also sites for pilgrimages, during
which worshippers approached a sacred mountain or temple (chaoshan ~ ill;
chaosheng ~~) and presented incense to its deity (*jinxiang). (See also the
entry *TEMPLES AND SHRINES).