Mount Luofu () is a sacred Taoist mountain situated on the north bank of the Dongjiang in the northwest of Boluo County,

Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Province, China. It covers 250 kilometers. Among the many temples on Mt. Luofu is

Wa Sau Toi Huashoutai or commonly known in its Cantonese name Wa Sau Toi () was a Buddhist monastery on the sacred mountain Luofushan. It was destroyed in early 20th century. It is located in Boluo County, Huizhou, Guangdong, China. History The Chan ( ...

, which is linked to both the

Dragon A dragon is a reptile, reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages hav ...

and

Bak Mei Bak Mei () is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders — survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) — who, according to some accounts, betrayed Shaolin to the imperial go ...

styles of

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to comm ...

. The Mok Gar master Lin Yin-Tang studied

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

and

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of actio ...

at the Temple of Emptiness on Mt. Luofu. Choy Fook, one of the teachers of

Choy Lee Fut Choy Lee Fut is a Chinese martial art and wushu style, founded in 1836 by Chan Heung (陳享). Choy Li Fut was named to honor the Buddhist monk Choy Fook (蔡褔, Cai Fu) who taught him Choy Gar, and Li Yau-San (李友山) who taught him ...

founder Chan Heung, is said to have been a monk on Mt. Luofu. In the Eastern Jin dynasty, the renowned

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' T ...

practitioner

Ge Hong Ge Hong (; b. 283 – d. 343 or 364), courtesy name Zhichuan (稚川), was a Chinese linguist, Taoist practitioner, philosopher, physician, politician, and writer during the Eastern Jin dynasty. He was the author of '' Essays on Chinese Characte ...

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 Dragon Gate Sect propagated its teachings at the Temple of Junkets. During the reign of the

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, w ...

, the abbot of the temple, Chen Jiaoyou, wrote Evolution of the Taoism of Master Changchun's Lineage, an important work on the history of transmission and inheritance of the Dragon Gate Sect. It was said that there were nine guan (Taoist temples), 18 si (Buddhist monasteries) and 22 an (nunneries) on Mt. Luofu, but after the Ming and Qing dynasties, many of them collapsed and only five guan and five si remain nowadays. The five remaining Taoist temples are the Temple of Emptiness, the Temple of Junkets, the Temple of the Nine Heavens, the Temple of the White Crane, and the Temple of the Yellow Dragon. The Temple of Emptiness is one of the national key temples acknowledged by the State Council. There are many relics of Ge Hong on Mt. Luofu, such as the "Well of Longevity" from which he obtained water, the alchemical kitchen for refining elixirs, and the pond for washing elixirs. The Grotto of Vermillion Brightness on the mountain is said to be the place where Ge Hong cultivated

Tao ''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other phil ...

and attained

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immortal ...

. It is situated in the forest in the deep valley below Mt. Luofu, where everything is in deep stillness, except for gurgling streams. Besides, there is a "Boots-Losing House", which is said to be the place where Ge Hong and his teacher Bo Jing used to discuss scriptures. One day, after talking until daybreak, two swallows flew toward them. However, they turned out to be a pair of boots instead of swallows, after being entangled. There is a stone tablet above the house. It is about five-chi long, half-chi wide and one-chi high. It lies against a huge stone like a bed and is completely in the shade.

Notes

# Temple of Emptiness () # Dragon Gate Sect ()

External links

Mt. Luofu at The Daoist Encyclopedia
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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 i ...

Loufu Huizhou Tourist attractions in Guangdong

See also

Notes

External links