Page 646 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

cities are also found on House of North-Facing Doors and Maelstrom Valley.
The role of Kunlun is described in the loftiest language:

Above it communes with the Original Pneuma (*yuanqi) of Jade-cog and Armil
(xuanji P(fJ~t two stars of the Northern Dipper), and it spreads fits power]
through the Five Constants (wuchang IL'r;j~') [i.e., the *wuxing] and the Jade
Balance (yuheng 3~ ~). It puts to order the Nine Heavens (*jiutian) and adjusts
Yin and Yang. All rare and outstanding articles and creatures are found here;
the celestial ones crowd in and cannot all be counted. This mountain is the
root and axle of heaven and earth, the mainstay and handle of ten thousand
measures .... (Shizhou ji, IIa-b)
A parallel passage is found in the Waiguo fangpin Qingtong neiwen y~ 19X11J1£ &1. j[
i*JiJ:. (Inner Script of the Azure Lad on the Distribution of the Outer Realms;
CT 1373). Another extensive description of Kunlun in Six Dynasties literature is
found in the Shiyi ji til" iI ~c (Uncollected Records; Foster 1974; Campany 1996,
64-67,306-18), but this centers on Kunlun's unusual flora and fauna.
The terms used to describe Kunlun and its features in these earlier pas-
sages are repeated and embellished in later Chinese texts, whether religious
or literary.
Thomas E. SMITH

m Cahill 1993, passim; Kominami Ichir6 1991, 143-86; Smith Th. E. 1992,
54-69 and 555-59; Stein R. A. 1990, 223-46; Wu Hung 1989, 117-32

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