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Grotto-heavens
Grotto-heavens () are a type of sacred Taoist site. Grotto-heavens are usually caves, grottoes, mountain hollows, or other underground spaces. Because every community was supposed to have access to at least one grotto, there were many of them all over China. They were first organized systematically in the Tang Dynasty by Sima Chengzhen (647–735, see Zuowanglun) and Du Guangting (850-933). The most sacred of these sites were divided into two types: The ten greater grotto-heavens and the thirty-six lesser grotto-heavens.Kohn (2000), p. 696. Locations of the ten greater grotto-heavens are as follows: * Mt. Wangwu grotto (Henan) * Mt. Weiyu grotto (Zhejiang) * Mt. Xicheng grotto (Shanxi) * Mt. Xixuan grotto (Sichuan) * Mt. Qingcheng grotto (part of Huashan, Shanxi) * Mt. Chicheng grotto (Guangdong) * Mt. Luofu grotto (Guangdong) * Mt. Gouqu grotto (Jiangsu, in Lake Tai) * Mt. Linwu grotto (on Maoshan, Jiangsu) * Mt. Kuocang grotto (Zhejiang) References Sources * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grotto
A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high tide. Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden features. The '' Grotta Azzurra'' at Capri and the grotto at Tiberius' Villa Jovis in the Bay of Naples are examples of popular natural seashore grottoes. Whether in tidal water or high up in hills, grottoes are generally made up of limestone geology, where the acidity of standing water has dissolved the carbonates in the rock matrix as it passes through what were originally small fissures. Etymology The word ''grotto'' comes from Italian ''grotta'', Vulgar Latin ''grupta'', and Latin ''crypta'' ("a crypt"). It is also related by a historical accident to the word ''grotesque''. In the late 15th century, Romans accidentally unearthed Nero's ''Domus Aurea'' on the Palatine Hill, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacred Mountains Of China
The Sacred Mountains of China are divided into several groups. The ''Five Great Mountains'' () refers to five of the most renowned mountains in Chinese history, and they were the subjects of imperial pilgrimage by emperors throughout ages. They are associated with the supreme God of Heaven and the five main cosmic deities of Chinese traditional religion. The group associated with Buddhism is referred to as the ''Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism'' (), and the group associated with Taoism is referred to as the ''Four Sacred Mountains of Taoism'' (). The sacred mountains have all been important destinations for pilgrimage, the Chinese expression for pilgrimage () being a shortened version of an expression which means ''"paying respect to a holy mountain"'' (). The Five Great Mountains The ''Five Great Mountains'' or ''Wuyue'' are arranged according to the five cardinal directions of Chinese geomancy, which includes the center as a direction. The grouping of the five mountains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Wangwu
Mount Wangwu () is a mountain situated about north west of Jiyuan City in China’s Henan province. Located in the Wangwushan-Yuntaishan National Park, Mount Wangwu is a famous Taoist site that includes the “Celestial Grotto of the Small Pristine Void” (), one of the Ten Grotto-heavens of Taoism. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor used an altar on top of the mountain to offer sacrifices to Heaven or Tian () where he received the Book of Nine Elixirs (), one of the earliest Chinese alchemical Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ... texts. p. 397 References External linksImages of Mount Wangwu Mountains of Henan {{PRChina-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' (, 'Thoroughfare'); the ''Tao'' is generally defined as the source of everything and the ultimate principle underlying reality. The ''Tao Te Ching'', a book containing teachings attributed to Laozi (), together with the later Zhuangzi (book), writings of Zhuangzi, are both widely considered the keystone works of Taoism. Taoism teaches about the various disciplines for achieving perfection through self-cultivation. This can be done through the use of Taoist techniques and by becoming one with the unplanned rhythms of the all, called "the way" or "Tao". Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize ''wu wei'' (action without intention), naturalness, simplicity, spontaneity and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Luofu
Mount Luofu () is a sacred Taoist mountain situated on the north bank of the Dongjiang in the northwest of Boluo County, Huizhou in Guangdong Province, China. It covers 250 kilometers. Among the many temples on Mt. Luofu is Wa Sau Toi, which is linked to both the Dragon and Bak Mei styles of Kung Fu. The Mok Gar master Lin Yin-Tang studied meditation and traditional Chinese medicine at the Temple of Emptiness on Mt. Luofu. Choy Fook, one of the teachers of Choy Lee Fut founder Chan Heung, is said to have been a monk on Mt. Luofu. In the Eastern Jin dynasty, the renowned Taoist practitioner Ge Hong once refined elixirs here. During Ge Hong's stay on Mt. Luofu, four huts were built, and subsequently enlarged into temples, namely the southern Temple of Great Emptiness (which was changed into the Temple of Emptiness afterwards), the western Temple of the Yellow Dragon, the eastern Temple of the Nine Heavens, and the northern Temple of Junkets. In the Qing dynasty, a branch of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caves Of China
This is an incomplete list of caves in China. It includes natural caves and rock cut grottoes. Natural caves }--> , align = center , , align = center , karst , Zhejiang Province , - , Crown Cave , , , , Guilin Prefecture-level city , - , Furong Cave , align = center , , align = center , , align = center , karst , Chongqing Municipality , - , Fu Yuan Dong , align = center , , align = center , , align = center , , near Daluo village, Guangxi province , - , Hongqingsi Grottoes , , , , Yima, Henan , - , Huanglong Cave , align = center , , align = center , , align = center , karst , Hunan Province , - , Jiangzhou Cave System , align = center , , align = center , , align = center , , Guangxi Province , - , Kizil Caves , align = center , , align = center , , align = center , , Xinjiang Province , - , Longgu Cave , , , , Hubei Province , - , Luobi Cave , align = center , , align = center , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacred Caves
Sacred caves and peak sanctuaries are characteristic holy places of ancient Minoan Crete. Most scholars agree that sacred caves were used by the Minoans for religious rites, and some for burial. While all peak sanctuaries have clay human figurines, only Idaeon, Trapeza and Psychro have them among the sacred caves. Clay body parts, also called votive body parts, common among peak sanctuaries, appear in no caves with the exception of a bronze leg in Psychro. One author, Tyree (1974), restricts "sacred caves" to those with architectural additions such as "paved areas, partition walls, and low walls surrounding stalagmites", as well as the presence (upon excavation) of "cult implements" of various kinds. Some were "burial caves", used in the Neolithic and Early Minoan periods as secondary burial sites for a community. It is thought that the primary burial site was probably a ''tholos'' beehive tomb in the area, from which remains were moved into the cave after a period. Whether this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xianren Cave
The Xianren Cave (, ''Xiānréndòng''), together with the nearby Diaotonghuan (, ''Diàotǒnghuán'') rock shelter, is an archaeological site in Dayuan Township (), Wannian County in the Jiangxi province, China and a location of historically important discoveries of prehistoric pottery shards and it bears evidence of early rice cultivation. The cave's name refers to the legendary Chinese enlightened people, the Xian "immortals". The cave is high, wide, and deep. A 2012 publication in the ''Science'' journal, announced that the earliest pottery yet known anywhere in the world was found at this site dating by radiocarbon to between 20,000 and 19,000 years before present, at the end of the Last Glacial Period. The carbon 14 datation was established by carefully dating surrounding sediments. Many of the pottery fragments had scorch marks, suggesting that the pottery was used for cooking. These early pottery containers were made well before the invention of agriculture (dated to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yungang Grottoes
The Yungang Grottoes (), formerly the Wuzhoushan Grottoes (), are ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the province of Shanxi. They are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture and one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. The others are Longmen and Mogao. The site is located about 16 km west of the city of Datong, in the valley of the Shi Li river at the base of the Wuzhou Shan mountains. They are an outstanding example of the Chinese stone carvings from the 5th and 6th centuries. There are 53 major caves, along with 51,000 niches housing the same number of Buddha statues. Additionally, there are around 1,100 minor caves. A Ming dynasty-era fort is still located on top of the cliff housing the Yungang Grottoes. The grottoes were excavated in the south face of a sandstone cliff about 2600 feet long and 30 to 60 feet high. In 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Yungang Grotto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mogao Caves
The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves; however, this term is also used as a collective term to include other Buddhist cave sites in and around the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years. The first caves were dug out in AD 366 as places of Buddhist meditation and worship, later the caves became a place of pilgrimage and worship, and caves continued to be built at the site until the 14th century. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the thre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longmen Grottoes
The Longmen Grottoes () or Longmen Caves are some of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art. Housing tens of thousands of statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples, they are located south of present-day Luoyang in Henan province, China. The images, many once painted, were carved as outside rock reliefs and inside artificial caves excavated from the limestone cliffs of the Xiangshan () and Longmenshan, running east and west. The Yi River () flows northward between them and the area used to be called Yique (). The alternative name of "Dragon's Gate Grottoes" derives from the resemblance of the two hills that check the flow of the Yi River to the typical " Chinese gate towers" that once marked the entrance to Luoyang from the south. There are as many as 100,000 statues within the 2,345 caves, ranging from to in height. The area also contains nearly 2,500 stelae and inscriptions, hence the name “Forest of Ancient Stelae", as well as over sixty Buddhist pagodas. Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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