Page 557 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

HUASHU

area, but there were apparently no pilgrimage associations coming from afar,
and no special pilgrimage season on the mountain. The Taoist acculturation
of the mountain is linked less to the cult of its god than to ascetics who lived
there, especially in the man-made caves, some of them hewn out of vertical
cliffs.
Since antiquity, Mount Hua has been reputed for the drugs that can be
found there, and the renown of the mountain as a meeting place for immor-
tality seekers is already mentioned in the third century CE. It is also linked to
revelations, including those concerning *Kou Qianzhi (365?-448). The most
famous Taoist associated with the mountain is *Chen Tuan (ca. 920-89), who
lived there before gaining immortality. The Taoist establishment located at
the starting point of the pilgrimage trail, the Yuquan yuan .:E~ r&t (Cloister
of the Jade Spring), is devoted to him. Another nearby monastery, the Yuntai
guan ~~ft (Abbey of the Cloud Terrace; Qing Xitai 1994, 4: 269-70), dates
from medieval times and flourished from the Song until the Qing periods.
Like all Taoist establishments in the middle valley of the Yellow River, these
monasteries came under the management of the *Quanzhen order during
the 1230S, and have remained so ever since. But Mount Hua was never a large
monastic center and owed its fame instead to the small shrines and hermit-
ages along the pilgrimage trail and atop its different summits. Most of these
shrines have been restored during the last two decades of the past century.
Vincent GOOSSAERT

m Andersen 1989-9oa; Boltz J. M. 1987a, 107-9; Geil 1926, 217-94; Hachiya
Kunio 1990, I: 45-63 and 303-4, 2: 37-59 and 299-300; Morrison and Eberhard
1973; Vervoorn 1990-91
* wuyue; TAOIST SACRED SITES

Huashu

Book of Transformation

The Huashu is a unique philosophical work of the period of the Five Dynas-
ties, which syncretizes elements of Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian thought,
and which has been noted in recent times for its scientific observations (for
instance regarding optics and acoustics) and for its unusual emphasis on epis-
temological considerations. Its influence during the Song and subsequent
dynasties was substantial, both within Taoist and Confucian metaphysics, and