The Eight Pillars also known as Eight Pillars of the Sky are a concept from

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...

. Located in the eight cardinal directions, they are a group of eight mountains or pillars which have been thought to hold up the sky. They are symbolically important as types of ''

axis mundi In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the '' ...

'' and

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...

. Their functions in mythology ranged from pillars which functioned to hold apart the Earth and the Sky (or Heaven), as ladders allowing travel between the two, and as the location of various paradises or wonderland with associated magical people, plants, and animals. The Eight Pillars are a central aspect to Chinese mythology, and also have been used extensively in poetic allusion. Some variations exist, such as only having four pillars.

Places

Various mythological geography is associated with the Eight Pillars, including the eight mountain pillars themselves along with surrounding or intervening terrain, such as the

Moving Sands The Moving Sands, also known as the Flowing Sands (''Liúshā'' (流沙), "flowing-sand", or "quicksand"), is an important feature in the mythological geography of Chinese literature, including novels and poetry over a course of over two millennia ...

. The eight mountain pillars include Kunlun, Jade Mountain, Mount Buzhou, and five more (Yang Lihui 2005: ''passim''). Kunlun functions as a sort of ladder which could be used to travel between earth and Heaven. Accordingly, any person who succeeded in climbing up to the top of Kunlun would magically become an immortal spirit (Yang 2005: 160–162).

Buzhou Mountain

Buzhou was the defective mountain pillar. Having been damaged by

Gonggong Gonggong () is a Chinese water god who is depicted in Chinese mythology and folktales as having a copper human head with an iron forehead, red hair, and the body of a serpent, or sometimes the head and torso are human, with the tail of a serpen ...

, it no longer separated the Earth and the Heaven for the proper distance. Bu-zhou was the northwest one (Hawkes, 1985 (2011): 94–95, 135–136, 323).

Kunlun

Kunlun Mountain has been described in various texts, as well as being depicted in art. Sometimes Kunlun appears as a pillar of the sky (or earth), sometimes appearing as being composed of multiple tiers (Yang 2005: 160), with the commonality of "mystery, grandeur, or magnificence" being emphasized in the mythological descriptions. The base of the Kunlun Mountain is said to penetrate as far into the earth, as its above-ground part proceeds towards the sky (Christie1968: 74). As the mythology related to the Kunlun developed, it became influenced by the later introduction of ideas about an ''

'' from the

of India. The Kunlun became identified with (or took on the attributes of)

Mount Sumeru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...

. Another historical development in the mythology of Kunlun, (again with Indian influence) was that rather than just being the source of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

, Kunlun began to be considered to be the source of four major rivers flowing to the four quarters of the compass (Christie 1968:74).

Jade Mountain

Another of the Eight Pillars was Jade Mountain.

Associated geography

Various other mythological geography is associated with the Eight Pillars. This includes the four rivers flowing from Kunlun Mountain and the Moving Sands.

Activities

Various activities took place at the eight pillars. For one, they were often thought of as reaching from Earth to Heaven; thus, climbing one of the pillars would allow one to reach Heaven from Earth.

Inhabitants

The eight mountain pillars were favorite places for all sorts of characters to visit or dwell. This includes various deities, immortals, and shamans.

Deities

Various deities inhabited or visited one or more of the eight mountain pillars. These include Xiwangmu and others on Kunlun.

Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu)

Although not originally located on Kunlun, but rather on a Jade Mountain neighboring to the north (and west of the

), Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of Meng Hao in the West, in later accounts was relocated to a palace protected by golden ramparts, within which immortals (

xian Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqin ...

) feasted on bear paws, monkey lips, and the livers of dragons, served at the edge of the Lake of Gems. Every 6000 years the peaches which conferred immortality upon those who ate them would be served (except the time when they were purloined by Monkey King). Originally a plague deity with tiger teeth and leopard tail, she became a beautiful and well-mannered goddess responsible for guarding the herb of immortality (Christie 1968: 78–79).

''Xian (Immortals)''

The immortals, or ''xian'', were Daoist immortals (humans who had metamorphosed into superhuman form). The ''xian'' were often seen as temporary residents, who visited by means of flying on the back of a magical crane or dragon.

Wu shamans

The Wu or shamans were people that practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing, generally through the use of spirit flight. They generally seem to have become immortals.

Poetry

The Eight Pillars are a subject of poetic allusion from the ancient poems "

Li Sao "''Li Sao''" (; translation: "Encountering Sorrow") is an ancient Chinese poem from the anthology ''Chuci'' traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan. ''Li Sao'' dates from the late 3rd century BCE, during the Chinese Warring States period. Backgrou ...

" and " Heavenly Questions" by Qu Yuan; and, on through later times, in Classical Chinese poetry. The immortals, or ''

Xian Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqin ...

'', were Daoist immortals (humans who had metamorphosed into superhuman form), which was presided over by Xiwangmu. The ''xian'' were often seen as temporary residents, who visited by means of flying on the back of a magical crane or dragon.

Gallery

File:Lamp Representing the Realm of the Queen Mother of the West (1st–2nd century CE).jpg, 1st–2nd century lamp in the shape of Kunlun Mountain as the pillar of the sky, realm of the Queen Mother of the West (1st–2nd century CE)

References cited

*Christie, Anthony (1968). ''Chinese Mythology''. Feltham: Hamlyn Publishing. . * Hawkes, David, translation, introduction, and notes (2011 985. Qu Yuan ''et al.'', ''The Songs of the South: An Ancient Chinese Anthology of Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets''. London: Penguin Books. *Yang, Lihui, ''et al.'' (2005). ''Handbook of Chinese Mythology''. New York: Oxford University Press.

Other references

{{Chinese mythology Locations in Chinese mythology Mythological mountains Chinese poetry allusions