Page 436 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

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Emei shan

Mount Emei (Sichuan)

Mount Emei, located to the southwest of Chengdu in Sichuan, is commonly
understood as important in Buddhism due to its classification as one of the
Four Famous Mountains (sida mingshan [9 * ~ ill) and its connections with the
bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Puxian ~ ~). Yet this mountain also has a long
Taoist history. Besides being mentioned in j. 4 of the *Baopu zi as a site where
the medicines of the transcendents could be attained, it was also one of the
twenty-four parishes (*zhi) of the early Way of the Celestial Masters (*Tianshi
dao), and was imagined to be connected to the Grotto-Heaven (*dongtian) on
Mount Mao (*Maoshan, Jiangsu) via a subterranean conduit.
Several doctrinal and textual traditions are associated with this mountain.
According to the monograph on Buddhism and Taoism ("Shi Lao zhi" ~~
~) in the Weishu (History of the Wei; trans. Ware I933, 2I9), Laozi transmitted
the Dao to the Yellow Emperor (*Huangdi) at Mount Emei. Around 300 CE,
Bo He m il'Q was able to interpret the graphs of the * Sanhuang wen (Script of
the Three Sovereigns) after three years of staring at a rock within a cave of
this mountain. Mount Emei also figures prominently as a site where *Lingbao
scriptures were transmitted. Later, during the Qing dynasty, *Li Xiyue (I806-56),
the alleged founder of the Western Branch (Xipai W 7JiO of *neidan, met the
immortals *Ui Dongbin and *Zhang Sanfeng on this mountain.
James ROBSON

W Nara Yukihiro I998, 3I8-I9; Shi Mingfei I993

* TAOIST SACRED SITES

Ershisi sheng tu

Charts of the Twenty-Four Life[-GiversJ

The Twenty-four Life-givers are the luminous spirits of the body, commonly
referred to as the Eight Effulgences of the Three Primal Registers (sanyuan

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