The Synthesis of Daoist Sacred Geography

《道教研究學報：宗教、歷史與社會》第九期（2017）
Daoism: Religion, History and Society, No. 9 (2017), 1–39
The Synthesis of Daoist Sacred Geography:

A Textual Study of Du Guangting’s
Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji (901)*
Lennert Gesterkamp
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Abstract S
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The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji is a famous text on Daoist sacred
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geography compiled by the Tang court Daoist priest Du Guangting
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(850–933). It maps all the Daoist sacred sites from the heavens above to
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the mountains, rivers, and caverns on earth. This study gives a textual
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analysis of Du Guangting’s text, discussing its preface, traditions and

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sources used, the nature and purpose of the text, its main contents, the
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geographical distribution of the sacred sites, and later works on Daoist

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sacred geography. It argues that Du Guangting created a synthesis of the

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various existing traditions and sources on Daoist sacred geography of the

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Heavenly Master order, Shangqing tradition, and Lingbao tradition of the

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pre-Tang era, and adopted the cosmological division of Heaven, Earth, and
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Lennert Gesterkamp received his M.A. in Sinology from Leiden University in 1998,
his M.A. in Chinese art and archaeology from SOAS, University of London in
2000, and his Ph.D. in Chinese art history from Leiden University in 2008. He was
a postdoctoral researcher in Chinese art at the Academia Sinica in Taipei and at
Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher in a
project on East-West cultural exchanges at Utrecht University. In 2011, he published
his book The Heavenly Court: Daoist Temple Painting in China, 1200–1400 with
Brill in Leiden.
* A much abridged version of this article is to be published for the Daozang jiyao
project initiated by the late Monica Esposito. The author wishes to warmly
thank Vincent Goossaert, Lai Chi Tim, and Elena Valussi for their invaluable
help in preparing the present publication. Thanks are also due to the two
anonymous reviewers for their comments and corrections.
2 Lennert Gesterkamp
Water of the Heavenly Master order, as well as many other new sacred
sites related to this order, with the aim of supplementing and substituting
the sacred geography of the pre-Tang period. Moreover, since the sacred
sites of the Lingbao tradition were not yet codified, Du Guangting added
many new sacred sites to this order, many of which belonged to the
official state cult, hence also creating a synthesis and codification between
the sacred geographies of Daoism and the state. After Du Guangting’s
synthesis, no other work on Daoist sacred geography has supplanted or
augmented his text. It was included in the Ming Daoist Canon and after
that in the Daozang jiyao editions of the late Qing period, which testifies
to its enduring importance to Daoist sacred geography.
Keywords: Grotto-Heavens, Blessed Grounds, Du Guangting, sacred
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geography, Heavenly Master order
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The Synthesis of Daoist Sacred Geography 3
I. Introduction
In our present period of climatological change, rapid urbanization,
and population growth, the awareness of environmental protection
and preservation has become particularly acute. In China, where
the destruction of entire mountains and waterways is rampant and
irreversible, the Daoist organizations and clergy rank among the
most outspoken advocates of protecting China’s natural landscape,
especially its mountains. The celebration and love of nature in
China, often captured by the name shanshui 山水 , or “mountains
and waters,” in poetry and painting from at least the third century
onward is well known, such that it almost becomes a gateway, if
not synonymous, to the Dao. The natural landscape is integral to
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the cultivation of Daoism, providing purity and tranquility. The
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most numinous mountains and caves have thus attracted
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generations of Daoist practitioners, becoming sacred sites famed for
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their herbal and mineral essences, the persons who attained the
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Dao there, and the many legends associated with them. They
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formed the foundation for early Daoist communities and temple

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networks, often with state support, that organized themselves not

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only around Daoist personal or communal cultivation, but also

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played an essential role in providing medical assistance, governance,

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and environmental protection to the local populace.

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Already from the later Han dynasty onward, following the

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tradition of such ancient works as the Shanhai jing 山海經 (Scripture

on the Mountains and the Seas), the sacred sites were recorded in
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texts listing their locations and specificities. In the beginning, these

texts documented the sacred geography of individual Daoist
traditions and lineages. The blending of both geographical and
cosmological aspects of a sacred site is one of the hallmarks of
these texts. Over the centuries, however, and parallel with the
increasing codification of Daoism and its ritual traditions, the
various sites were gradually integrated into more coherent
frameworks of sacred geography. The culmination of this process is
the great synthesis of Daoist geography represented by Du
Guangting’s 杜光庭 (850–933) Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji 洞
天福地嶽瀆名山記 (Record of the Grotto-Heavens, Blessed Grounds,
Sacred Peaks and Marshes, and Famous Mountains), compiled

in 901.1
Du Guangting’s cosmology of sacred space and list of sacred
sites have appeared particularly enduring and no significant other
or alternative list or cosmology has been presented in later
centuries. The text’s constant re-publication and incorporation in
Daoist compendia such as the official Daoist Canon of the Ming
dynasty, and the Daozang jiyao 道藏輯要 (Collected Essentials of
the Daoist Canon) of the Qing dynasty,2 as well as the numerous
modern studies and annotations of the text, are a testimony to its
lasting appeal and importance for Daoist conceptions of sacred
space, geography, landscape, and, presently, ecology as well.
Even though Du Guangting’s work is ostensibly a terse list of
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names and locations, investigations into their backgrounds,
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especially the sources Du may have used, reveal a stunning palette
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of the social, cultural, political, and even ecological issues that lay
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at the foundation of the compilation of Du’s work and earlier

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sources. The present study is basically an investigation of the text,

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its sources and its further reception and publications. The main
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goal is to lay bare its social-historical background, explaining its

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particular compilation and the choices and changes made by Du

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Guangting for selecting and modifying certain sites and texts. A

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more comprehensive study on individual sites can hopefully

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corroborate the present findings. With the rising awareness of

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ecological protection as well as the more prominent presence of

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Daoism in Chinese society, this study may offer a small contribution

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to the current environmental debate in China and the question of

how and why Daoism had been a driving force behind ecological
preservation for over two millennia.
1
The standard version is preserved in the Daoist Canon, DZ 599, 12 vols,
published in 1445.
2
The Daozang jiyao version can be found in Chongkan Daozang jiyao 重刊道
藏輯要 , 翼 9 (Taipei: Kaozheng chubanshe, 1971; Taipei: Xinwenfeng chuban
gongsi, 1977, 1983, and 1986, 25: 10989–10994; Chengdu: Bashu chubanshe,
1995, 10: 323–325), published in 1906 but elaborating on a Daozang jiyao
edition of the Jiaqing period (1796–1820).
II. General Information

The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji by the late Tang court Daoist
Du Guangting is a comprehensive list documenting the names,
locations, dimensions, presiding immortals, and other related
information of in total 221 Daoist sacred sites, primarily mountains
and grottoes.
The text is divided into nine chapters preceded by Du
Guangting’s preface. Each chapter discusses a special region or
category of sacred geography, beginning with the sacred sites
located in the heavens and followed by those on earth. Thus, first
in the heavens: (1) the Mysterious Metropolis on Jade Capital
Mountain (Xuandu yujingshan 玄都玉京山 ) and its surrounding
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thirteen divine mountains in heaven; (2) the five divine peaks (yue
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嶽 ), the Isles of the Blessed (dao 島 ), and the Ten Continents (zhou
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洲 ) in the outer oceans surrounding Mt. Kunlun 崑崙山 ; and on
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earth (3) the Five Sacred Peaks (yue 嶽 );3 (4) the Ten Greater
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Grotto-Heavens (dadongtian 大洞天 ); (5) the Five Sacred Auxiliary

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Mountains (zhen 鎮 ),4 the Four Sacred Seas (hai 海 ), and the Five
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Sacred Rivers (du 瀆 ); (6) the Thirty-Six Hermitages (jinglu 靖廬 );

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(7) the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens (dongtian 洞天 ); (8) the Seventy-

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Two Blessed Grounds (fudi 福地 ); and (9) the Twenty-Four Dioceses

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(zhi 治 ).
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Du Guangting’s text presents a synthesis and systematization of

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various older traditions of sacred geography. The many additions

and differences, as well as the new organization in a hierarchical
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order from the heavenly realms to the terrestrial spheres lacking in

the older versions, all suggest that the work is largely Du
Guangting’s own product rather than a straightforward compilation
of these older traditions. The text provides an overarching
3
The “peaks” (yue 嶽 ) appear once in the divine realm surrounding Mt. Kunlun,
and once in the terrestrial realm of the Chinese empire, but here indicated by
the same term. The divine five peaks seem to be an invention by Du Guangting.
See the discussion further below.
4
On the concept of zhen 鎮 , see Franciscus Verellen, “The Beyond Within:
Grotto-Heavens (Dongtian) in Taoist Ritual and Cosmology,” Cahiers
d’Extrême-Asie 8 (1995), 267.
framework for a Daoist sacred geography existing in parallel to, if

not superseding, the terrestrial empire, reflecting the new social
realities of organized Daoist religion at the end of the Tang dynasty.
This framework of sacred sites laid the foundation for a Daoist
sacred empire in Song and Yuan times when this bond between
Daoism and the sites was further reinforced with a network of
state-supported monasteries and temples. The Dongtian fudi yuedu
mingshan ji is therefore not merely a list of Daoist paradisiacal
names, but a fundamental inventory listing the territories,
possessions, and spheres of influence of organized Daoist religion,
often sanctioned and supported by the state, and perhaps seen as
an extension of the state, or perhaps more correctly at least in the
Song era, the state seen as an extension of the Daoist sacred realm.
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The Daoist sacred geography evinced in the Dongtian fudi
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yuedu mingshan ji appears to have been the most definite version.
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As the inclusion of the Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji in the

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Daozang jiyao demonstrates, no other text on this topic achieved a

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similar status or was as comprehensive. The sacred geography of

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Daoism defined by Du Guangting as well as its related real-world

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network of sacred sites and temples remained largely in place and

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in operation well up to the end of the imperial period, which is

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largely due to Du Guangting’s codification and the text’s inclusion

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in the Zhengtong Daozang 正統道藏 and the Daozang jiyao.

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In the past century, many of the sites of Daoist sacred

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geography have been lost or destroyed. Several scholars have

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attempted to determine the location of the original sites, both by

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means of textual study and field research, as well as to reconstruct

the old traditions related to the sites.5 Climatological changes and
5
See for example, Li Shen 李申 , Daojiao dongtian fudi 道教洞天福地 (Beijing:
Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe, 2001); Volker Olles, Der Berg des Lao Zi in der
Provinz Sichuan und die 24 Diözesen der daoistischen Religion (Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz, 2005); Verellen, “The Beyond Within,” 265–290; idem, “The 24
Dioceses and Zhang Daoling: The Spatio-Liturgical Organization of Early
Heavenly Master Taoism,” in Ph. Granoff and K. Shinohara, eds., Pilgrims,
Patrons, and Place: Localizing Sanctity in Asian Religions (Vancouver: UBC
Press, 2003), 15–67 (also as website: http://ecai.org/24dioceses/24Dioceses_1.
html); Wang Chunwu 王純五 , Tianshidao ershisi zhi kao 天師道二十四治考
(Chengdu: Sichuan daxue chubanshe, 1996); idem, Dongtian fudi yuedu
questions of environmental protection have also brought Daoist

sacred geography and its importance for Chinese ecology into the
spotlight.6 The wealth of information on Daoist sacred geography
provided by the Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji has played, and
still plays, an important role in these investigations.
III. Du Guangting and His Preface

Du Guangting’s preface to the Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji is
dated 901 and was written when he resided at the Yuju guan 玉局
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觀 (Jade Armrest Monastery) in Chengdu, Sichuan.
Du Guangting (850–933) was a Daoist priest trained in the
Shangqing tradition at Mt. Tiantai 天臺山 (in Zhejiang), where he
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studied with Ying Yijie 應夷節 (810–894), a seventh-generation
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disciple of Tao Hongjing 陶弘景 (456–536). Around 875, he moved
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to the Tang capital Chang’an (present-day Xi’an, Shaanxi), where

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he attracted the attention of Tang Emperor Xizong 僖宗 (r. 874–

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888) and became a leading court Daoist stationed at the Taiqing

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gong 太清宮 in the capital. In 881, Du Guangting followed Emperor

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Xizong and his court for the second time to Shu 蜀 (Sichuan) after
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rebels besieged the capital. Shortly after, he resigned from his

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official position and remained in Shu, locating himself at Mt.

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Qingcheng 青城山 , all the while roaming the area and staying at
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various monasteries. One of these was the Yuju Monastery 玉局觀 ,

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a Daoist sacred site and one of the former Twenty-Four Dioceses of

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mingshan ji quanyi 洞天福地嶽凟名山記全譯 (Guizhou: Renmin chubanshe,

1999). Since 2011, Tsuchiya Masaaki 土屋昌明 of Senshe University in Tokyo
has published an annual periodical specially dedicated to the subject: Dōten
fukuchi kenkyū 洞天福地研究 (Tokyo: Kōbun Shuppan, 2011–present).
6
N. J. Girardot, James Miller, and Liu Xiaogan, eds., Daoism and Ecology: Ways
within a Cosmic Landscape (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Center for the
Study of World Religions, 2001); James Miller, China’s Green Religion: Daoism
and the Quest for a Sustainable Future (New York: Columbia University Press,
2017).
7
The Yuju guan was located inside the city of Chengdu, near the south gate. “Yuju”
was short for 玉座局腳 , “resplendent throne on curved legs.” See Franciscus
Verellen, Du Guangting (850–933): Taoïste de cour à la fin de la Chine
médiévale (Paris: Collège de France, 1989), 117.
the early Heavenly Master order.8

Du Guangting remained in Shu for the rest of his life, not only
becoming a court Daoist priest for the Shu kings, after the demise
of the Tang dynasty in 907, but also becoming one of the great
scholars and codifiers of Daoism, writing and compiling many texts
on Daoist liturgy, hagiography, history, literature, philosophy, and,
naturally, sacred geography.9 The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji
is therefore not an isolated document but should be seen in the
wider context of Du Guangting’s compilation and codification
efforts. Considering his eminent status at the Tang and Shu courts,
these efforts also carry considerable socio-political overtones,
reflecting the changing religious landscape to which Du Guangting
sought to adapt the ideas and practices of Daoism.
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Du Guangting’s preface consists of four parts. The first section
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is a description of Daoist cosmogony and its cosmic central
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mountain, Mt. Kunlun. The second section gives a short summary

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of the contents of the scripture, pertaining to the sacred geography

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of both mountains and grotto-heavens (dongtian) and stressing that

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these are complete cosmoses or paradises in themselves. The third

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section is Du Guangting’s comment on his compilation, explaining

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for whom the scripture is intended and that he did not include all
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the details, limiting himself to the names and locations of Daoist

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sacred sites. The fourth section is Du Guangting’s signature and

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date and location where he completed the text, referring to his title
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from his period at Mt. Tiantai, and signed at the Yuju Monastery
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in 901 while in Sichuan and before his tenure with the Shu kings.
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The preface reads:10
When Heaven and Earth were both divided and the clear and turbid
energies had separated, those that melted became rivers and streams,
and those that congealed became mountains and peaks. Above, stars
and constellations were formed; below, grotto-heavens were concealed.
All of these places were governed by the great sages and superior
perfected, who dwelled in their numinous palaces and majestic
mansions, all constructed from congealed energies and resting on the
8
Wang, Dongtian fudi, 1–4.
9
Verellen, Du Guangting (850–933).
10
See Verellen, “The Beyond Within,” 272–273, for a slightly different translation.
space of dense clouds. The azure water of the Jade Pond [at Mt.
Kunlun] has rivers flowing into the four corners; the jasper forest of
the Pearl Trees [at Mt. Kunlun] grows luxuriously from its soil. These
are the breeding grounds of the divine phoenixes and flying dragons,
the living spaces of the heavenly unicorns and marsh horses. [Mt.
Kunlun], as the pivot of Heaven and Earth and the axle of Yin and
Yang, steers the Sun on its course through the sky, rotates the stars in
their constellations through the heavens, stores wind and rain, and
harbours clouds and thunder. Suddenly, [Mt. Kunlun] rises above the
seas and recedes into the heavens; Weak Water surrounds it, and giant
waves keep it separated; it is not shone upon by sunrays, nor touched
upon by human traces. All of this is recorded and transmitted in the
true scriptures and secret books.
The Grand Historian [Taishigong 太史公 ] says: “In this great, barren
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land, there are five thousand famous mountains. Among these, the
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Five Sacred Peaks serve as regulators, and the ten mountains as their
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assistants.” Furthermore, the Jade Scripture of Tortoise Mountain
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[Guishan yujing 龜山玉經 ] writes: “In this great heaven, there are
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Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens, and each has a sun, moon, planets, stars,

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and the palaces and towered gates of the numinous immortals. They
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are in charge of our punishments and blessings, and keep record of

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the times of our births and deaths. The high Perfected dwell there and
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the immortal kings rule them. In addition, there are the Five Sacred
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Peaks Beyond the Seas, the Three Isles, the Ten Continents, the Thirty-
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Six Hermitages, the Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds, the Twenty-Four

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Dioceses, and the Four Assisting Mountains.”

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Presently, I have summarized [the sacred sites] in one scroll in order to

transmit it to scholars passionate about these matters. Because the
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details on their officials and locations, the names of those who have
achieved the Dao there, the rulers of the grottoes, or the hierarchies of
the immortal officials are so numerous, they cannot be listed in their
entirety. I have therefore only recorded their governmental district
names and a large number of altars of the immortals and monasteries.
Compiled and recorded by the Feathered Man from the Flowered
Summit [Huading yuren 華頂羽人 ] Du Guangting at the Yuju
Monastery of Chengdu, [signed] on the fourth day of the eighth lunar
month of the xinyou 辛酉 year of the Tianfu 天復 -reign period [Friday,
23 September 901].11
11
Wang, Dongtian fudi, 1–4. The present study relies on this annotated and
commentated edition by Wang Chunwu, unless otherwise stated.
IV. Traditions and Sources

The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji is an impressive synthesis
and systematization of older traditions and sources on sacred sites.
Sacred sites and their legends are not found only in Daoist
scriptures, but figure also in poems and wondrous stories popular
from the second to the sixth centuries, zhiguai 志怪 and chuanqi 傳
奇 , which often recount the experiences of lost travellers stumbling
into paradisiacal realms inside caverns, mountains, and even
calabashes. The most famous story of this kind is Tao Yuanming’s
陶淵明 (365–427) “Peach Blossom Spring” (Taohua yuan 桃花源 ),
which had lasting effect on Chinese literati culture and art.12
The sacred sites of Daoist scriptures as well as the literary
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versions all seem to go back to even older traditions of local
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legends and cults on immortals, and oral tales, probably of Han
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times and earlier, of which the Daoist texts on sacred geography
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are already early systematizations. Pre-Han texts dealing with
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paradisiacal realms, in particular those of Mt. Kunlun and its

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presiding deity, the Queen Mother of the West, like the Shanhai jing
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山海經 (Scripture on the Mountains and the Seas) and the Mu

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Tianzi zhuan 穆天子傳 (Biography of Mu, Son of Heaven), formed

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the blueprints for Daoist sacred geography. In this ancient sacred

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geography, Mt. Kunlun represents the archetype sacred mountain,

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located at the centre of the earth and acting as an axis, and

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consequently also as a gateway to the heavenly paradise.

Du Guangting’s preface is a testimony to this ancient tradition,
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understanding sacred sites and their distribution as a natural result

of the evolving process of Daoist cosmogony. The sacred sites
function as small pockets in a wide, interconnected underground
network that provide a secret access back to the heavenly realms.
In Du Guangting’s preface, the pivotal role of Mt. Kunlun has been
superseded in this sacred cosmological model by the Mysterious
12
On the Peach Blossom Spring in Chinese literature and art, see Stephen R.
Bokenkamp, “The Peach Flower Font and the Grotto Passage,” Journal of
Oriental and African Studies 106 (1986), 65–107; Susan E. Nelson, “Catching
Sight of South Mountain: Tao Yuanming, Mount Lu, and the Iconographies of
Escape,” Archives of Asian Art 52 (2000–2001), 11–43.
Metropolis on Jade Capital Mountain, which is imagined as a

Heavenly Court located at the summit of the axial pillar formed by
Mt. Kunlun. Mt. Kunlun in turn is surrounded by distant seas
where the divine continents and the Isles of the Blessed are located.
The terrestrial world located at the foot of Mt. Kunlun (traditionally
located in the northwest of the Chinese empire at the source of the
Yellow River) then harbours all the other remaining sacred sites
such as Sacred Peaks and Marshes, Grotto-Heavens, Blessed
Grounds, Hermitages, and Dioceses. Interestingly, the tripartite
division evoked by Du Guangting in this cosmological model is
exactly the traditional cosmological model of the early Heavenly
Master order, dividing the cosmos (and body) in three realms of
Heaven, Water, and Earth, now matching the heavenly realms of
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Jade Capital Mountain, Mt. Kunlun beyond the seas, and the
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various sacred sites of our mundane world on earth. This tripartite
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division of Heaven, Water, and Earth is interestingly also found in

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the pantheon of deities in Daoist liturgy and their accompanying

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depictions in Heavenly Court paintings that also became prominent

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in Du Guangting’s time.13
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The traditions of sacred geography found in Daoist scriptures

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are incorporated and synthesized in the Dongtian fudi yuedu

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mingshan ji. Various Daoist traditions had already created their

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own texts of sacred geography or mentioned similar listings of

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sacred sites in their texts. Best known are the Twenty-Four Dioceses
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of the Heavenly Master order of the Later Han, the Grotto-

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Heavens of the Shangqing tradition, and the Five Sacred Peaks of

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the Taiqing and/or Lingbao tradition.
(a) Heavenly Master Order

The Heavenly Master order is the first Daoist tradition to compose
a scripture on sacred geography, listing twenty-four centres
distributed around southwestern China, but mainly in Sichuan, the
home base of the Heavenly Master order. The Dioceses were
13
Lennert Gesterkamp, The Heavenly Court: Daoist Temple Painting in China,
1200–1400 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 193–195.
religious, administrative (zhi 治 ) territories—not necessarily

mountains or grottoes—of the priests and their communities, also
reflecting the administrative task of the deities of the celestial
bureaucracies keeping accounts of the merits and demerits of the
community members and subduing (zhi 治 ) the demonic forces
through the network of Dioceses. The network, possibly already
defunct in Du Guangting’s time, was according to legend
established in 143 by Zhang Daoling 張道陵 , the first Heavenly
Master. They were organized in a hierarchical order of three groups
of eight, and matching the Twenty-Four Energies of the year cycle
and the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions. At a later time, the Twenty-
Four Dioceses were further expanded with four extra Dioceses (but
still indicated by Twenty-Four Dioceses) to better match the lunar
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mansions, as well as with nineteen Hermitages (jinglu 靖廬 ).
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The names, locations, and related information on the Dioceses
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are known from several early scriptures. The earliest known version
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is found in the first chapter of the Shoulu cidi faxin yi 受籙次第法信

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儀 (Protocol of the Ritual Pledges [to Be Given] on Receiving the

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Registers, in Hierarchical Order, DZ 1244), and titled the Tianshi

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zhi yi shang 天師治儀上 (First Chapter of the Protocol of Dioceses

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of the Heavenly Master Order) dated to 552. It contains a list

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of forty-four Dioceses (Twenty-Four Dioceses plus twenty Her-

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mitages?), relating their names, locations, and correspondences to

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the lunar mansions. Small notes, probably of the Tang period,

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further mention their corresponding five phases. Other versions

E
presently survive in three different Daoist encyclopedias, the

TH
Wushang biyao 無上袐要 (Essentials of the Unsurpassed Secrets, DZ

1138, late sixth century), Sandong zhunang 三洞朱囊 (Pearlbag of
the Three Caverns, DZ 1139, ca. 680), and Yunji qiqian 雲笈七籖
(Seven Slips in the Bookcase of the Clouds, DZ 1032, presented to
the throne in ca. 1028).14 Du Guangting is also known to have
written an Ershisi hua tu 二十四化圖 (Diagram of the Twenty-Four
Dioceses),15 now lost, but which may be incorporated in the present
14
Wushang biyao DZ 1138, j. 23; Sandong zhunang DZ 1139, j. 7; Yunji qiqian
DZ 1032, j. 28.
15
“Yiwen zhi 藝文志 ,” Song shi 宋史 , 4.5190.
text or in the Yunji qiqian (j. 28) version.16 Importantly, the text of
the Twenty-Four Dioceses was also part of the Heavenly Master
ordination ritual, and transmitted to the head-priest of a Diocese,17
and as such included in Zhengyi mengwei falu 正一盟威法籙 (Ritual
Register of the Authoritative Covenant of Correct Unity, DZ 1209).
The sacred geography also played a role in Heavenly Master
ritual proceedings. Expanded to Thirty-Six Hermitages and Seventy-
Two Blessed Grounds, the sacred geography was incorporated in
the chuguan 出官 (Dispatching the Officials) rite in rituals of the
Lingbao tradition, but significantly not in its other rituals. These
rituals include the Smearing Soot Retreat 塗炭齋 ,18 the Retreat of
Spontaneity,19 a similar transmission ritual,20 and Lu Xiujing’s 陸修
21
靜 (406–477) Lingbao transmission ritual. Conspicuous in this
OF
respect is that the same reference is found in a text of the fourth
S
AL
S
century of the original Lingbao corpus that is known for its strong
ES
RI
Heavenly Master influences, the Taiji zhenren fu lingbao zhaijie

PR
TE
weiyi zhujing yaojue 太極真人敷靈寶齋戒威儀諸經要訣 (Instructions

MA
TY
from All the Scriptures for the Ritual of the Lingbao Retreat,
SI
D
Expounded by the Perfected of the Great Ultimate, DZ 532), also

ER
TE
indicating the introduction of Heavenly Master sacred geography in

IV
GH
the Lingbao tradition at a very early stage. The introduction of the

UN
RI
Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds should, however, be linked to the

PY
E
ES
Shangqing tradition (see below).

CO
IN
Du Guangting’s Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji contains

CH
several modifications on the Twenty-Four Dioceses, the most

E
important being the introduction of new localizations, the

TH
abolishment of the hierarchical grouping in three levels of eight,

and the modification of the cosmological correspondences of the
16
Kristofer M. Schipper and Franciscus Verellen, eds., The Taoist Canon: A
Historical Companion to the Daozang (Daozang tongkao) (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2004), 422–423, 473.
17
Chen Guofu 陳國符 , Daozang yuanliu kao 道藏源流考 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1963), 339–340.
18
Wushang biyao DZ 1138, j. 5.
19
Dongxuan lingbao ziran zhaiyi 洞玄度靈寶自然齋儀 DZ 523.
20
Taishang dongxuan lingbao erbu chuanshou yi 太上洞玄靈寶二部傳授儀 DZ
1259.
21
Taishang dongxuan lingbao shoudu yi 太上洞玄靈寶授度儀 DZ 528.
Dioceses. For example, the early Dioceses were only linked to the
lunar mansions, as demonstrated by the Tianshi zhi yi shang and
Wushang biyao,22 while in the Tang period they were further linked
to the five phases, as demonstrated by the Yunji qiqian. In Du
Guangting’s time, however, correspondences to the seasonal energies
(jieqi 節氣 ) and the sexagenary cycle were added, probably in
reflection of the greater importance of such aspects in Daoist liturgy
in which cosmological entities were linked to a Daoist adept’s
fate.23
(b) Shangqing Tradition

Shangqing texts mention Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Grounds,
OF
which originally were terms used to denote the same sacred site
S
and not two different types of paradises. The Maojun zhuan 茅君傳
AL
S
ES
(Biography of the Lord Mao), lost, and the Zhengao 真誥
RI
PR
(Declarations of the Perfected, DZ 1016, j. 11) contain quotations
TE
MA
on Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Grounds, the latter also quoting a

TY
Mingshan neijing fudi zhi 名山內經福地志 (Record of Blessed

SI
D
ER
TE
Grounds in the Inner Scripture of Famous Mountains) and a

IV
GH
Kongzi fudi ji 孔子福地記 (Record of Blessed Grounds of Confucius).

UN
RI
They are described as microcosms and safe havens. The specific

PY
listing in thirty-six sites seems to be a response to the Twenty-Four

ES
CO
Dioceses of the Heavenly Master order that had arrived in

IN
CH
southeastern China by the fourth century.

The earliest known complete listing of Grotto-Heavens and
E
TH
Blessed Grounds is found in Sima Chengzhen’s 司馬承禎 (647–735)

Tiandi gongfu tu 天地宮府圖 (Diagram of Palaces and Departments
in Heaven and Earth), in two scrolls.24 This is also the first known
22
Wushang biyao DZ 1138, 23.4a–9a.
23
Verellen, “The 24 Dioceses and Zhang Daoling,” 24; and Zhao Zongcheng 趙宗誠 ,
“Du Guangting Linghua ershisi de yixie tedian 杜光庭《靈化二十四》的一些特點 ,”
Zongjiao xue yanjiu 宗教學研究 1.2 (1990), 10–12.
24
Found in Yunji qiqian DZ 1032, j. 27. It is unclear whether the chapter on the
ershiba zhi 二十八治 in Yunji qiqian, j. 28, is the second scroll of Sima
Chengzhen’s Tiandi gongfu tu or a later edited version of Du Guangting’s
Ershisi hua tu; see Schipper and Verellen, The Taoist Canon, 422–423, 475.
text where the Grotto-Heavens are divided into ten great and
thirty-six smaller grottoes. The Blessed Grounds are separately
listed as seventy-two sites. The expansion of sacred sites was
accompanied with an expansion in territory, identifying sites all
over China as Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Grounds. Sima
Chengzhen’s revision should therefore be seen as a first important
codification of Daoist sacred geography on a more national level as
well as a synthesis of various traditions but giving pride of place to
the Shangqing tradition.
Interestingly, Du Guangting’s preface mentions a Jade Scripture
of Tortoise Mountain and compared to Sima Chengzhen’s text, it
presents a next step in the systematization of Daoist sacred
geography, adding categories for the Five Sacred Peaks Beyond the
OF
Seas, the Three Isles, the Ten Continents, the Thirty-Six Hermitages,
S
AL
S
and the Four Assisting Mountains. It should therefore date after
ES
RI
Sima Chengzhen. The text is now lost and only known from
PR
TE
quotations in Daoist scriptures and local gazetteers. However, its

MA
TY
title Daozang Guishan baiyu jing 道藏龜山白玉經 (White Jade

SI
D
Scripture of Tortoise Mountain from the Daoist Canon) as quoted

ER
TE
in Du Guangting’s preface to a gazetteer on Mt. Wangwu 王屋山 ,

IV
GH
the first Great Grotto-Heaven, and preserved in a stele inscription

UN
RI
Tiantan Wangwushan shengji ji 天壇王屋山聖跡記 (Record of the

PY
E
ES
Traces of the Saints of the Heavenly Altar at Mt. Wangwu, DZ

CO
IN
969), reveals two important aspects of the scripture. The first is

CH
that the prefix Daoist Canon indicates that the text was part of the
E
(Kaiyuan) Daoist Canon of 748 compiled under Tang Emperor

TH
Xuanzong 玄宗 (r. 712–756), which in turn suggests that by that

time the sacred sites and their temples were incorporated in an
imperially endorsed Daoist network. The other is that the inclusion
of “white jade” and “Tortoise Mountain,” which are symbolic
names for the West and Mt. Kunlun, suggests that the text was
attributed to the Queen Mother of the West who resides at Mt.
Kunlun and that the text was considered a Shangqing scripture.
Curiously, the Twenty-Four Dioceses are not mentioned, although
the Hermitages are.
Another quotation from this text is found in the local gazetteer
of Piling 毗陵 , the Xianchun chongxiu Piling zhi 咸淳重修毗陵志
(Restored Gazetteer of Piling of the Xianchun Period).25 It can

prove that Du Guangting did not copy the Tang text. The gazetteer
mentions that the famous Mr. Zhang Cave (Zhanggong dong 張公
洞 ), i.e. Zhang Daoling’s cave, near Wuxi, Jiangsu, is the fifty-eighth
Blessed Ground (fudi 福地 ) and governed by Lord Gengsang, or
Gengsang Chu 庚桑楚 . In the list of Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds
of Du Guangting’s text, this sacred site is number fifty-two, and
without any reference to Gengsang Chu. In Sima Chengzhen’s list,
it is number fifty-nine.
In the same vein, the first part of Du Guangting’s preface on
the cosmology of Daoist sacred geography may also have been
sourced from this Tang text. Du Guangting, however, leaves out
any direct reference to Mt. Kunlun—still the central divine
OF
mountain in the Tang sacred geography—while at the same time
S
AL
S
keeping its attributes. The reason, as discussed above, is that Du
ES
RI
Guangting supplanted Mt. Kunlun with the Mysterious Metropolis

PR
TE
on Jade Capital Mountain. We can infer further that,

MA
TY
simultaneously, the Queen Mother of the West of the Shangqing

SI
D
tradition was superseded by the Heavenly Worthy of Original

ER
TE
Beginning (Yuanshi tianzun 原始天尊 ) and the Three Purities

IV
GH
(Sanqing 三清 ) of the Daoist Heavenly Court, thus representing a

UN
RI
synthesis of the various Daoist traditions.

PY
E
ES
Du Guangting’s preface quoting the White Jade Scripture of

CO
IN
Tortoise Mountain also mentions a chapter on the Ten Continents

CH
and Three Isles (of the Blessed). Intriguingly, a text of the sixth
E
century on this subject, the Shizhou ji 十洲記 (Record of the Ten

TH
Continents, DZ 598),26 is also found in the Yunji qiqian,27 and

placed in front of Sima Chengzhen’s chapters on the Grotto-
Heavens and Blessed Grounds and the Twenty-Four Dioceses.
Perhaps it was this text that was included in the White Jade
Scripture of Tortoise Mountain. Du Guangting’s chapter, however,
differs greatly from this old text, which is much abbreviated and
25
Xianchun chongxiu Piling zhi 咸淳重修毗陵志 , compiled by Shi Nengzhi 史能之
in 1268 and re-published in 1564, 15.17a–18a.
26
On this text, see Schipper and Verellen, The Taoist Canon, 115; Thomas E.
Smith, “Record of the Ten Continents,” Taoist Resources 2.2 (1990), 87–119.
27
Yunji qiqian DZ 1032, j. 26.
lacks the narrative descriptions, only providing data on names and

locations and some short notes. In addition to abbreviating the
text, he expanded the number of sites, subordinating Mt. Kunlun as
the central peak of the Five Sacred Peaks Beyond the Seas and
expanding the Three Isles to Ten Isles.28
Compared with Sima Chengzhen’s text, Du Guangting
introduced several modifications to his list of Grotto-Heavens and
Blessed Grounds. For example, he changed names, their order, and
most importantly, he deleted all the names of the immortals
governing the Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Grounds, except for the
Ten Greater Grotto-Heavens, although changing a number of
immortals. For the other Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Grounds he
sometimes added short commentaries stating which famous Daoist
OF
person had lived there or attained the Dao at the site. The majority
S
AL
S
of sites are, however, left without any of these references. Indeed,
ES
RI
Du Guangting writes in his preface that he deliberately left out

PR
TE
these details for being too numerous. Correct as this may be,
MA
TY
another consequence is that the sacred sites became detached from

SI
D
their original (mainly Shangqing) tradition of immortals and local

ER
TE
cults.
IV
GH
The deletion of the information on presiding immortals and the

UN
RI
substitution with new Daoist figures also allowed for the

PY
E
ES
introduction of Heavenly Master legend and lore into the

CO
IN
framework of Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Grounds, an aspect

CH
necessarily absent in Sima Chengzhen’s Shangqing systematization.

E
There are quite a few examples of the Grotto-Heavens and Blessed

TH
Grounds: Du Guangting notes that the first Heavenly Master

Zhang Daoling lived at the thirteenth Grotto-Heaven, Mt. Dawei
大圍山 (in Sima Chengzhen’s text called Mt. Xiaowei 小溈山 , both
in Hunan); and that the famous Tang Heavenly Master Ye Fashan
葉法善 lived at Mt. Qingtian 青田山 (in Zhejiang), the thirtieth
Grotto-Heaven.29 With regard to the Blessed Grounds, he notes that
number twelve Mt. Tiantai 天臺山 (in Zhejiang) is the home of
Heavenly Master [sic] Sima Chengzhen; that, for the first time,
28
29
number twenty-seven Mt. Longhu 龍虎山 (in Jiangxi) is the home of

the Heavenly Masters, i.e. the Heavenly Master Zhang family (as
well as the home of Zhang Daoling?); that number thirty-two Mt.
Gezao 閣皂山 (in Jiangxi), known as the home base of the Lingbao
tradition, was “transformed by the Heavenly Master [order]” 在天
師行化 ; that number fifty-three Mt. Yangxian 陽羨山 (in Jiangsu)
has the Mr. Zhang (Daoling) Cave 張公洞 ; and that number sixty-
four Mt. Bailu 白鹿山 (i.e. Dadishan 大滌山 , in Zhejiang) is the
hiding place of the Tang Heavenly Master and poet Wu Yun 吳筠 .30
None of this information is found in Sima Chengzhen’s text.
Through these modifications, Du Guangting not only gave greater
prominence to the Heavenly Master order, but also expanded the
number of the sacred sites associated with the Heavenly Master
OF
order and through them the order’s sacred geographical jurisdiction.
S
AL
S
ES
RI
(c) Taiqing Tradition and Lingbao Tradition PR

TE
MA
The Five Sacred Peaks are the sacred sites identified with the
TY
ancient Taiqing tradition and going back to Han times. Ge Hong 葛

SI
D
ER
TE
31
洪 (283–343) in his Baopuzi 抱朴子 , already places them at the
IV
GH
top of his list of twenty-eight sacred mountains which were

UN
RI
considered appropriate for producing an elixir of immortality and

PY
places where divinities and immortals dwell. In the Lingbao

ES
CO
tradition, the divine manifestations of the five directions, the Five

IN
CH
Emperors (Wudi 五帝 ), not the mountains of the Five Sacred Peaks

themselves, play a central role. The Lingbao tradition has no
E
TH
known text on Daoist sacred geography. It was, however,

instrumental in defining the Mysterious Metropolis on Jade Capital
Mountain as the new divine summit and centre in Daoist sacred
geography, mainly because of its supreme place in the Duren jing
度人經 (Scripture of Salvation, DZ 1), the most famous scripture of
the Lingbao corpus. Supplanting Mt. Kunlun as the axis of the
universe, Du Guangting followed the Lingbao tradition in his new
30
31
Ge Hong 葛洪 , Baopuzi 抱朴子 , in Wang Ming 王明 (ann.), Baopuzi neipian
jiaoshi 抱朴子內篇校釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), j. 4.
systematization of sacred geography, granting the Jade Capital

Mountain pride of place.
The Five Sacred Peaks were first incorporated in Daoist sacred
geography by Sima Chengzhen but only as part of the Thirty-Six
Smaller Grotto-Heavens, thus subsuming them to a Shangqing
hierarchy and cosmology. Sima Chengzhen expanded the original
Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens to Ten Greater and Thirty-Six Smaller
Grotto-Heavens, and most curiously there are nine mountains
(including the Five Sacred Peaks) from Ge Hong’s list, suggesting
that Sima Chengzhen expanded his list with the aim to incorporate
the mountains from the Taiqing or Lingbao traditions.
Du Guangting promotes the status of the Five Sacred Peaks to
an independent category and places them before all the other
OF
terrestrial mountains. Curiously, the Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan
S
AL
S
ji now comprises the Five Sacred Peaks twice, first as a separate
ES
RI
category and then later heading the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens after

PR
TE
Sima Chengzhen. Sima Chengzhen categorized the Five Sacred

MA
TY
Peaks as grottoes (dong 洞 ) and not as mountains. In fact, the Five

SI
D
Sacred Peaks were part of the state cult with sacrifices at the Altar
ER
TE
of Heaven (Yuanqiu 圜丘 ) since the mid-Han dynasty; all the Five

IV
GH
Sacred Peak deities had received the title of king by the mid-Tang
UN
RI
dynasty.32 The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji demonstrates that

PY
E
ES
the Five Sacred Peaks of the state cult were incorporated into
CO
IN
Daoist sacred geography and that, consequently, the Daoist clergy

CH
had become responsible for the proper ritual observances to the

E
Five Sacred Peaks, theoretically in addition to the state cult, but in

TH
practice supplanting it with Daoist ritual. It was therefore not until

the late Tang that they were officially included in Daoist sacred
geography. Interestingly, the Sacred Peaks and Marshes (yuedu 嶽瀆 )
are also included in the title of Du Guangting’s text, as well as used
for the second chapter on the divine mountains Beyond the Seas,
putting them on a par with the Grotto-Heavens and Blessed
Grounds as sanctified places of Daoist paradises.
32
Gesterkamp, The Heavenly Court, 29ff; Wang, Dongtian fudi, 17–27.
V. Nature and Purposes

The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji is a topography of all the
Daoist paradises in heaven, beyond the seas, and on earth. As the
text and its predecessors demonstrate in the previous section,
Daoist sacred sites are originally closely linked to local cults of an
important figure or immortal of Daoist history, which existed in
local legend and lore and was then incorporated in Daoist regional
traditions. We see this phenomenon of the connection between a
mountain or sacred site and a figure or deity in the Shanhai jing.
Many of the Twenty-Four Dioceses of the early Heavenly Master
order in Sichuan and all of the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens in the
Shangqing tradition of Sima Chengzhen were related to such a
OF
legendary or Daoist figure. Du Guangting largely disconnected the
S
sacred sites again from these historical or legendary figures to allow
AL
S
ES
for a more comprehensive view of sacred sites, not necessarily
RI
PR
linked to a certain tradition, which the connection with a specific
TE
MA
immortal would undoubtedly entail. Obviously, the sacred sites and

TY
their descriptions played important roles in the hagiographies of

SI
D
ER
TE
these immortals.33 Such hagiographies, in conjunction with stele

IV
GH
inscriptions and local gazetteers, provide a wealth of information

UN
RI
on each site, making it possible to contextualize each entry of the

PY
Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji, but this kind of research has only
ES
CO
been sporadically done.

IN
CH
The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji serves multiple religious

purposes. Its main religious purpose is describing and defining
E
TH
Daoist sacred geography. As the preface indicates, each Grotto-

Heaven is a microcosm with its own sun, moon, and stars. Stories
33
Li Yuanguo 李遠國 , “Dongtian fudi: Daojiao lixiang de renju huanjing ji qi
kexue jiazhi 洞天福地：道教理想的人居環境及其科學價值 ,” Xi’nan minzu daxue
xuebao 西南民族大學學報 12.184 (2006), 118–123; Ren Linhao 任林豪 ,
“Tiantaishan dongtian fudi yu shenhua chuanshuo 天臺山洞天福地與神話傳說 ,”
Zhongguo daojiao 中國道教 2 (1991), 49–53; Shi Zhouren 施舟人 (K. M.
Schipper), “Diyi dongtian: Mindong Ningde Huotongshan chukao 第一洞天：閩
東寧德霍童山初考 ,” Fuzhou daxue xuebao 福州大學學報 55.1 (2002), 5–8;
Verellen, “The Beyond Within”; idem, “The 24 Dioceses”; Xiong Tieji 熊鐵基 ,
“Dongtian fudi shi shenxian sixiang fazhan de chanwu 洞天福地是神仙思想發展
的產物 ,” Zhongguo daojiao 中國道教 5 (2012), 22–24.
in literature describing Grotto-Heavens further ascribe to them

complete landscapes with mountains, rivers, and villages with
people where time stands still.34 This image of sacred geography is
also transposed to the body, which is similarly likened to Mt.
Kunlun, a Grotto-Heaven, or a combination thereof, and generally
referred to as the Inner Landscape (neijing 內境 , 內景 or 內經 ). A
note by Du Guangting in the first chapter (see below) explicitly
mentions this link between human body and sacred geography, but
in fact it only pertains to the divine heavens. In inner alchemy, this
matching between the sacred geography and the human body was
an important means for mapping the body. For example, the
Xiuzhen taiji hunyuan tu 修真太極混元圖 (Diagrams of the Great
Ultimate and Undifferentiated Origin for Cultivating Truth, DZ
OF
149) of the Northern Song divides the Blessed Grounds into three
S
AL
S
spheres, corresponding to the three cinnabar fields. The Three Isles
ES
RI
are matched to the Three Passes (of the spine) and provide access
PR
TE
to the Grotto-Heaven of Emptiness (in the skull?). The well-known

MA
TY
stele-carving of the Inner Landscape body of the Qing dynasty at

SI
D
the Baiyun guan 白雲觀 in Beijing depicts the head as Mt. Kunlun,

ER
TE
with the Yellow River flowing downwards from it along the spine.
IV
GH
In addition, the religious purpose of an inventory list as

UN
RI
provided by the Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji overlaps in many

PY
E
ES
aspects Ge Hong’s mountain list above, i.e. providing a list of

CO
IN
places appropriate for self-cultivations and finding minerals and

CH
herbs. The sacred sites are virtual repositories for herbs and
E
minerals and can be compared to medicinal lists found in the

TH
Daoist Canon.35 The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji in this sense

functions not merely as a religious manifest on sacred geography,
but also as a practical guide for Daoists and physicians alike.
Apart from its main religious purposes, the Dongtian fudi
yuedu mingshan ji also serves socio-economic purposes, and
scholars have already pointed out that the socio-economic factors
34
Rolf A. Stein, The World in Miniature: Container Gardens and Dwellings in Far
Eastern Religious Thought, trans. Phyllis Brooks (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1990); Verellen, “The Beyond Within.”
35
Li, “Dongtian fudi,” 123.
have been as instrumental in the establishment of sacred sites as

the religious factors. For example, research on the Twenty-Four
Dioceses demonstrated that the majority of Dioceses are located
near waterways and main roads and at the rim of the Chengdu
plain, which was the economic heartland of Shu thanks to its newly
developed irrigation system and its flourishing rice cultivation.36
Other socio-economic factors in which the Dioceses played an
important role include salt winning, the repairing of waterways and
roads, the building of inns for travellers, and the promotion of
farming. 37 Besides microcosms, the Grotto-Heavens of the
Shangqing tradition, and Maoshan 茅山 (in Jiangsu) in particular,
were considered safe havens for the local populace in times of war
and during natural disasters; located on mountains, they were
OF
places where “soldiers and diseases did not reach, and floods and
S
AL
waves did not climb; they exactly are Blessed Grounds.”38
S
ES
RI
The religious and socio-economic aspects of Daoist sacred

PR
TE
geography have already received considerable scholarly attention,

MA
TY
but its political implications are less well known. The administrative
SI
D
function of the Dioceses of the early Heavenly Master order has

ER
TE
been duly acknowledged,39 a feature which was firmly integrated in

IV
GH
the ordination and ranking system of the order, as mentioned

UN
RI
above. With the expansion and systematization of the Daoist sacred

PY
E
ES
geography in later centuries, the sacred sites also received the

CO
IN
protection from the imperial state. Sima Chengzhen must have been
CH
instrumental in achieving this new status, as he requested the

E
throne in 721 to have separate temples established to the Perfected

TH
Lords of the Grotto-Heavens of the Shangqing tradition on the Five

Sacred Peaks, because “the temples to Five Sacred Peaks are to
deities of mountains and forests and are not the correct and true
deities,” and because the Perfected Lords regulate the natural
36
Verellen, “The 24 Dioceses,” 22; Li, “Dongtian fudi,” 118.
37
Wang, Tianshidao, 22–37.
38
Zhengao 真誥 DZ 1016, 11.2a–b; cf. Zhao Yi 趙益 , “Juqu dongtian: Gongyuan
sishiji Shangqing daojiao de duzai zhi fu 句曲洞天：公元四世紀上清道教的度災之
府 ,” Zongjiaoxue yanjiu 宗教學研究 3 (2007), 57–63.
39
Wang, Tianshidao, 3–15; Verellen, “The 24 Dioceses,” 19.
phenomena and therefore decide over disasters and diseases.40 His

request was granted, which essentially meant that from that
moment on the Five Sacred Peaks fell under the jurisdiction of the
Daoist clergy (and not the state cult or Buddhist clergy we may
presume). This feature also explains why Sima Chengzhen’s text
includes for each Grotto-Heaven or Blessed Ground the name of a
perfected or immortal governing the site; these sites were still
associated with the local cults or Daoist communities of their
governing immortals, one surmises. The Five Sacred Peaks had
official temples belonging to the state cult but overseen by Daoist
priests performing Daoist rituals at the behest of the emperor until
the end of the imperial period. Besides the official state temple
dedicated to the mountain deity and his governing dominion in the
OF
east, south, west, north, and center, which was often located far
S
AL
S
removed from the actual mountain for practical reasons, a Daoist
ES
RI
monastery dedicated to a Daoist perfected or immortal, as assigned

PR
TE
by Sima Chengzhen, was located at the foot of the mountain, thus

MA
TY
bringing the Five Sacred Peaks under the supervision and

SI
D
jurisdiction of the Daoist clergy, and in fact incorporating the state

ER
TE
cult of the Five Sacred Peaks within the Daoist sacred geography as
IV
GH
well as in its ritual framework. This of course also means that the
UN
RI
temples to the Sacred Peaks were sponsored by the state, also a

PY
E
ES
practice that lasted until the end of the imperial period.41

CO
IN
CH
E
40
Tang huiyao 唐會要 , compiled by Wang Pu 王溥 (822–882) (Shanghai: Shanghai
TH
guji chubanshe, 1991), 50.1029. The passage is translated in Edouard

Chavannes, “Le jet de dragons,” in M. Senart, ed., Mémoires concernant l’Asie
orientale (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1919), 200n24.
41
The best sources to reconstruct the Daoist history of the Five Sacred Peaks are
the many stele inscriptions to the state cult temples and their assigned Daoist
monasteries found in Chen Yuan 陳垣 et al., Daojia jinshi lüe 道家金石略 (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1988). Many of the Sacred Peaks also have their own
gazetteers, comprising relevant inscriptions on the Sacred Peaks and their
history. For a discussion of the Sacred Peak of the North and its Daoist
connection, see Beiyue miao ji 北嶽廟記 , no author, reprint of Wanli (1573–1620)
edition in Beijing tushuguan guji zhenben congkan 北京圖書館古籍珍本叢刊
(Beijing: Shumu wenxian chubanshe, 1998), v. 118, 747–830; see also
Gesterkamp, The Heavenly Court, 116–142. To my knowledge there is no
formal study on the relationship between the Five Sacred Peaks and Daoist
sacred geography.
Significantly, also from that moment on we encounter references

in stele inscriptions and gazetteers to imperial decrees forbidding
logging, hunting, fishing, or the burning of forests at sacred sites,
such as Maoshan 茅山 (748?, 883, and 1009), Xiandushan 仙都山
(748), Wuyishan 武夷山 (748),42 and Wangwushan 王屋山 (854).43
Most interestingly, the repeated occurrence of the year 748 suggests
a strong link with the publication and distribution of the Daoist
Canon by Emperor Xuanzong that year, which also contains the
first official, codified text on Daoist sacred geography, the White
Jade Scripture of Tortoise Mountain, discussed above. It is not
known whether such exemptions were made for all sacred sites, or
whether non-sacred sites could also obtain exemptions, but being
included in the list evidently resulted in greater political support
OF
and imperial protection. Basically, the list of sacred sites constituted,
S
AL
S
from the Tang to the Ming, an imperially sanctioned inventory list
ES
RI
of Daoist possessions and jurisdictions. PR

TE
MA
TY
VI. Summary of Contents

SI
D
ER
TE
The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji has in total nine chapters

IV
GH
preceded by a preface. The chapters do not contain any narrative

UN
RI
content, and only provide data such as names, surfaces, locations,

PY
E
ES
and in some cases assisting mountains, titles of presiding deities, or

CO
IN
short comments on famous figures of Daoist history associated with

CH
the site. The first, second, and fourth chapters also include extra
E
commentaries by Du Guangting explaining the hierarchical ordering

TH
and distribution of these mountains.
(a) Yuedu zhongshan 嶽瀆眾山 (Multitude Mountains of the

Sacred Peaks and Marshes)
This chapter lists fourteen mountains, divided into three groups of
one, six, and seven. The first is the Mysterious Metropolis on Jade
Capital Mountain located in Great Matrix Heaven (daluo 大羅 , i.e.
42
Li, “Dongtian fudi,” 120–121.
43
Ci Baiyun xiansheng shushi bing jinshan chibei 賜白雲先生書詩並禁山敕碑 , dated
854. In Chen, Daojia jinshi lüe, 182–183.
the highest of the thirty-six Heavens of Daoism), as Du Guangting

explains in a commentary. The second group of six divine
mountains are located around the Jade Capital Mountain in the
four directions, all above Jade Purity Heaven (the first of the Three
Purity Heavens and the second of the thirty-six Heavens; the text
may be corrupt here, and perhaps “inside Jade Purity Heaven” is
intended). The third group of seven mountains are located in the
Three Purity Heavens (Jade Purity 玉清 , Highest Purity 上清 , and
Great Purity 太清 ; the second to the fourth of the thirty-six
Heavens; the text may be corrupt here as well and only Highest
Purity and Great Purity Heavens are probably intended). The text,
however, mentions Jade Capital six times, which makes no sense,
especially because Du Guangting’s commentary explains that these
OF
are the mountains of the Three Realms (i.e. the Three Purity
S
AL
S
Heavens) and not Jade Capital Mountain.
ES
RI
He further explains the nature of this realm’s celestial

PR
TE
bureaucracy by saying that:

MA
TY
They are all transformations of true energy (qi 氣 ). Above, they have
SI
D
ER
TE
palaces and departments, where the great Saints roam; below, they
IV
correspond to the thirteen palaces and departments of the human

GH
UN
body, on which matters one should consult the Great Cavern Scripture
RI
[Dadong jing 大洞經 ].44

PY
E
ES
CO
The divine geography is matched to the body which similarly

IN
CH
contains the Three Realms (Heaven, Water, and Earth, or the three
cinnabar fields) corresponding to the thirteen palaces of the body.
E
TH
Because of this matching between the Three Realms of Heaven and

the thirteen palaces of the body, one surmises that the thirteen
mountains below the Jade Capital Mountain in Great Matrix
Heaven are specifically conceived to correspond to these thirteen
palaces.
44
(b) Haiwai wuyue xiandao shizhou 海外五嶽仙島十洲

(Five Sacred Peaks, Immortal Isles, and Ten Continents
Beyond the Seas)
This chapter presents a list of twenty-five sacred sites. The first five
are Sacred Peaks in the five directions with Mt. Kunlun in “the
centre of Heaven and Earth.” Then follow the ten mountains which
are an expansion of the basic Three Isles of the Blessed, Fanghu 方
壺 , Fusang 扶桑 , and Penglai 蓬萊 . The other seven are less well
known except for the last, which is Fengdu 豐都 , or the Chinese
Hades. Lastly follow the Ten Continents. For each of the twenty-
five sites, its location in the seas of the four directions is given with
some additional information, such as the Four Emperors in the
OF
colours of their respective directions for the Sacred Peaks (the
central Peak is omitted and substituted by Mt. Kunlun; the Queen
S
AL
S
Mother of the West is not mentioned), or the sun that rises from
ES
RI
Fusang (Tree in the East). PR

TE
Here again, Du Guangting ends with a commentary, explaining

MA
TY
this realm’s nature:

SI
D
ER
TE
All the mountains of Ten Continents, Three Isles, and Five Sacred
IV
GH
Peaks are located in the four directions around Mt. Kunlun and in the
UN
RI
midst of the enormous ocean. They are inhabited by deities and

PY
immortals and governed by the Five Emperors. Normal people cannot

ES
CO
go there.45
IN
CH
Du Guangting introduces here the Five Emperors of the Lingbao

E
tradition who are the deities of the abstract five directions and links
TH
them to abstract manifestations of the Five Sacred Peaks, a category

apparently invented by Du Guangting particularly for this goal. The
actual Five Sacred Peaks follow in the next chapter, resulting in
a conflation of meanings, one referring to abstract or divine
manifestations and the other to their terrestrial counterparts.
The particular division into the five directions and a central Mt.
Kunlun surrounded by twenty-four mountains is, in contrast to the
previous cosmological sphere, closely connected to the Lingbao
tradition. The Five Emperors govern the five directions symbolized
45
Wang, Dongtian fudi, 8.
by the Five True Writs (wu zhenwen 五真文 ) in Lingbao ritual, and

the twenty-four mountains correspond to the Twenty-Four Energies
of the Three Realms of the human body, similarly symbolized in the
Lingbao tradition by the Twenty-Four Life Charts (ershisi shengtu
二十四生圖 ) (see Dongxuan lingbao ershisi shengtu jing 洞玄靈寶
二十四生圖經 DZ 1407), which also play an important role in
Lingbao liturgy.46 This matching can explain Du Guangting’s
particular choice of expanding the Three Blessed Isles to the Ten
Blessed Isles, creating the number twenty-four.
Interestingly, the sacred geography of the two top cosmological
spheres (of Heaven and Water) describes on the surface the
locations and names of mountains and islands in a divine
landscape, but because of the close association with Shangqing and
OF
Lingbao texts, we can know that Du Guangting designed these
S
AL
S
spheres to particularly match the Daoist conception of the human
ES
RI
body, and furthermore that these sacred sites in the Daoist heavens
PR
TE
should in fact be understood as the dwelling places, i.e. the palaces,

MA
TY
even though they are termed mountains, of the deities of the Daoist
SI
D
primordial heavens in the sense of a celestial bureaucracy.

ER
TE
Therefore, the Daoist sacred geography of the Dongtian fudi yuedu

IV
GH
mingshan ji can be understood as a map for the Daoist pantheon

UN
RI
of deities, which importantly is also found inside the human body,

PY
E
ES
the Inner Landscape. The terrestrial spheres following below (of the
CO
IN
Realm of Earth) extend the Daoist pantheon further to the various

CH
mountains, grottoes, and rivers on earth. The first two cosmological

E
spheres may be identified as belonging to the primordial world

TH
(xiantian 先天 ) before the world was created, and the terrestrial

spheres to the present world (houtian 後天 ) after the world was
created.
(c) Zhongguo wuyue 中國五嶽 (Five Sacred Peaks of the Middle

Kingdom)
This chapter lists the Five Sacred Peaks of the Chinese empire: Mt.
Tai 泰山 (in Shandong) in the east, Mt. Heng 衡山 (in Hunan) in the
46
south, Mt. Song 嵩山 (in Henan) in the centre, Mt. Hua 華山 (in
Shaanxi) in the west, and Mt. Heng 恆山 (in Hebei) in the north.
For each of the Sacred Peaks, the deity’s title is given (they were all
promoted to kings by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang), along with
the number of immortal officials and jade maidens, its surface, and
its location; and for each Peak there are two mountains as Advisors
(zuoming 佐命 ) and two mountains as Assistants (zuoli 佐理 ),
except that the Sacred Peak of the West and the North have five
and three Assistants respectively. There is no commentary by Du
Guangting.
(d) Shi da dongtian 十大洞天 (Ten Great Grotto-Heavens)
OF
This chapter lists the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, mentioning for
S
each the name of the mountain (i.e. the Grotto) and the name of
AL
S
ES
the Heaven, its surface, the immortal governing the site, and its
RI
PR
location. This chapter is concluded by an interesting commentary
TE
MA
by Du Guangting saying that “the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens

TY
and Five Sacred Peaks are all the lofty perfected and highest
SI
D
ER
TE
immortals in control of unifying [the world] by which means they

IV
GH
bestow blessings on all under heaven and unify the multitudes of

UN
RI
deities.”47
PY
In this commentary, Du Guangting places the Sacred Peaks on

ES
CO
a par with the Greater Grotto-Heavens. Since the previous chapter

IN
CH
on the Five Sacred Peaks has no commentary, we can infer that Du

Guangting views the two chapters as one single category rather
E
TH
than two, basically by arguing that the deities of the Sacred Peaks
have the same status as Daoist perfected and immortals. The
commentary further suggests that Du Guangting’s original text had
no titles.
After this first sentence, Du Guangting’s commentary continues
with providing the names of three additional mountains, Mt.
Qingcheng 青城山 (in Sichuan), Mt. Tianzhu 天柱山 (in Anhui), and
Mt. Lu 廬山 (in Jiangxi), their presiding perfected lords, and
locations, explaining that “they are the Advisor Mountains
47
[zuoming] and the three Highest Office Mountains who are the
Assistants [zuoli] to the Five Sacred Peaks and fix [zhen 鎮 ] the five
directions. They are inhabited by the highest perfected and lofty
immortals.”48 Mt. Qingcheng and Mt. Lu were appointed Auxiliary
Mountains by Emperor Xuanzong in 732,49 and perhaps Mt.
Tianzhu was also appointed on a later date. Because these three
mountains also appear elsewhere in the text, Du Guangting
evidently found it important to rank these imperially sponsored
sites among the highest places in the hierarchy of the Daoist sacred
geography of the late Tang.
(e) Wu zhen hai du 五鎮海瀆 (Five Auxiliary Mountains, Seas,

and Marshes)
OF
S
This chapter lists Five Auxiliary Mountains (zhen 鎮 ), the Sacred
AL
S
ES
Seas of the four directions, and the Five Sacred Marshes. For each
RI
PR
site, deity titles and locations are given. Four of the Five Sacred
TE
Marshes have additional information that they are each sacrificed

MA
TY
to at the beginning of one of the four seasons. Again stressing the

SI
D
ER
TE
imperial endorsement of these sacred sites, Du Guangting mentions

IV
GH
in a note that “they received their titles in 751.”50 The Sacred

UN
RI
Auxiliary Mountains, Seas, and Marshes were previously not

PY
included in Daoist sacred geography but are now, probably because

ES
CO
of their titles and imperial support, listed above all the other former
IN
CH
Daoist sacred sites save for the Greater Grotto-Heavens.

E
TH
(f) Sanshiliu jinglu 三十六靖廬 (Thirty-Six Hermitages)

This chapter lists the Thirty-Six Hermitages of the Heavenly Master
order after its move to the Jiangnan area in the fourth and fifth
centuries. It only gives the names of the Hermitages and their
locations and in some instances additional information on the types
of locations. They are distributed over a wide area in China,
48
Ibid.
49
Jiutian shizhe miao bei bing xu 九天使者廟碑並序 , by Li Pin 李玭 , dated 732. In
Chen, Daojia jinshi lüe, 114–116.
50
including Jiangxi (fourteen), Shaanxi (six), Henan (three), Hunan

(three), Jiangsu (three), Sichuan (three), Hubei (two), Anhui (one),
and Zhejiang (one). The Hermitages in each region were often
clustered together, for example in Jiangxi, in Hongzhou 洪州
(present-day Nanchang 南昌 , ten) and on Mt. Lu (two); in Shaanxi,
in the Tang capital Chang’an 長安 (Xi’an, two); and in Hunan, on
the Southern Sacred Peak Mt. Heng (two). Two Hermitages were
located at or close to a former location of the Twenty-Four
Dioceses in Hanzhou 漢州 (in Sichuan).
It is worth noting that a large majority of these sites are not
located on mountains (shan 山 , eight) but rather at homes (zhai 宅 ,
ten) of famous Daoist figures, such as the ancient philosopher
Liezi’s 列子 (seventh century BC) home in Zhengzhou 鄭州 (in
OF
Henan), or Yin Xi’s 尹希 (seventh century BC) home at Mt.
S
AL
Zhongnan 終南山 (in Shaanxi), the pass keeper who recorded the
S
ES
RI
Daode jing 道德經 when Laozi went west; at altar sites (tan 壇 ,
PR
TE
three), including two dedicated to Lady Wei 魏夫人 (252–334), one

MA
TY
at Mt. Heng (in Hunan) and one in Fuzhou 撫州 (in Jiangxi); or in

SI
D
monasteries (guan 觀 or gong 宮 , nine), such as the Taiqing gong 太

ER
TE
清宮 (Palace of Great Purity) in Bozhou 亳州 (in Anhui), which is

IV
GH
Laozi’s birthplace and his official shrine since the Eastern Han
UN
RI
dynasty. The reason is probably that the Hermitage was identified

PY
E
ES
with the Heavenly Master’s oratory established at his home, among

CO
IN
the people, and not a site connected to a mountain. The heavy

CH
clustering of Hermitages in Jiangxi may have accounted for the

E
choice of establishing the headquarters of the Heavenly Master

TH
order at Mt. Longhu. Importantly, this chapter by Du Guangting

on the Thirty-Six Hermitages is the only known list. It also appears
to be unmodified, since the Hermitages were still active in the Tang
dynasty as demonstrated by the ritual texts of the Heavenly Master
order referring to them discussed above.
(g) Sanshiliu dongtian 三十六洞天 (Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens)

This chapter lists the Thirty-Six (Smaller) Grotto-Heavens,
providing for each the name of the mountain, the name of the
Grotto-Heaven, the surface or distance (not specified), and location.
In some instances, Du Guangting adds short commentaries on

famous Daoist persons who dwelled there or other information of
interest. The persons mentioned, however, are all new and not
recorded in Sima Chengzhen’s version. In addition, one can see that
even though the Five Sacred Peaks head the list, in Du Guangting’s
version they are stripped of their title of “Sacred Peak” (yue 嶽 )
and simply referred to by their mountain names, thus Mt. Tai, Mt.
Heng etc. Lastly, it can be noted that Du Guangting interpreted the
name differently. The terms Grotto and Heaven are not designated
to first the mountain and then the heaven respectively, e.g. this
(name) mountain “grotto,” with this (name) “heaven,” but are both
applied to the grotto, e.g. this (name) mountain, with this (name)
“grotto-heaven.” Sima Chengzhen used this pattern for both the
OF
Ten Greater and Thirty-Six Smaller Grotto-Heavens, and Du
S
AL
S
Guangting also used it for the Ten Greater Grotto-Heavens, but
ES
RI
curiously not for the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens. Even though it is

PR
TE
only a semantic difference, it perhaps indicates that Du Guangting

MA
TY
relied on a different source for the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens than

SI
D
the Ten Greater Grotto-Heavens, which could also explain the

ER
TE
small discrepancies in their order, names, and locations.

IV
GH
UN
RI
(h) Qishier fudi 七十二福地 (Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds)

PY
E
ES
CO
This chapter lists the Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds, providing the

IN
CH
name and location of each site, and in some instances short

historical or geographical notes, such as which famous Daoist
E
TH
person lived or attained the Dao at the site. In fact, the text only
includes the names of seventy-one sites, omitting one. Again, the list
contains several discrepancies in the order, mountain names, and
locations. Whereas Sima Chengzhen attributed a governing
immortal to each Blessed Ground, Du Guangting’s list omits all of
them and adds new figures. For example, Du Guangting adds to the
list Mt. Baodu 抱犢山 (in Shanxi), noting that Zhuangzi 莊子 had
lived there.51 Compared to Sima Chengzhen’s list, Du Guangting
changes in total eighteen Blessed Grounds.
51
(i) Linghua ershisi 靈化二十四 (Twenty-Four Numinous

Dioceses)
This chapter lists the Twenty-Four Dioceses, providing for each site
the name; its cosmological correspondences to the five phases,
seasonal energy, lunar mansion, and to the sexagenary cycle of its
community members; its precise location with distances from a
certain city; and related historical or geographical information, such
as the immortals who ascended to heaven at the site. These notes
are much shorter than those in the Yunji qiqian (Ch. 28), which
often provides long narratives, and all of approximately equal
lengths. The original Daoist term for Diocese, zhi 治 , was replaced
by Du Guangting with hua 化 , to avoid a taboo of the personal
OF
name of Tang Emperor Gaozong 高宗 (r. 650–683).
S
AL
S
ES
VII. Distribution of Sacred Sites
RI
PR
TE
The distribution of the sacred sites per province at the end of the
MA
TY
Tang dynasty is summarized in Table 1,52 which is revealing in

SI
D
ER
several respects. First, since most studies have thus far focused on
TE
IV
either the Twenty-Four Dioceses or the Ten Greater and Thirty-Six

GH
UN
Smaller Grotto-Heavens, which represent the sacred sites of the

RI
PY
Heavenly Master order and Shangqing tradition respectively, Daoist

E
ES
CO
sacred geography has usually been assumed to be a southern

IN
Chinese phenomenon, at least in pre-Tang times. Judging from Du

CH
Guangting’s new compilation, however, the centre of gravity may

E
TH
still lie in the Jiangnan area, but the sites are far more evenly
distributed, following largely the cultural centres of pre-historic
China along the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The one exception
to this view is the prominence of Jiangxi, probably owing to the
new inclusion in the sacred geography of the Thirty-Six Hermitages
of the Heavenly Master order, which evidently had relocated its
base from the Sichuan area to the Jiangxi area. This is also curious
in another respect, because to my knowledge the Heavenly Master
order, after its post-Han migration to the Jiangnan area, is best
52
Locations based on Wang, Dongtian fudi, and Verellen, “The 24 Dioceses.”
known to have settled there and mingled with the Lingbao and
Shangqing traditions (another known migration was to Shanxi,
where Kou Qianzhi 寇謙之 [365–448] set up a reformed, state-
sponsored Heavenly Master order during the Northern Wei
dynasty), but it appears that its actual, or perhaps transformed,
centre had settled in the Jiangxi area, if we may take Du
Guangting’s list as evidence of active communities rather than a
ceremonial list. The area around Nanchang in Jiangxi seems to
have been particularly important in this respect.53
Within this fuller picture of Daoist sacred geography in the
Tang dynasty, it is possible to make some further, general
observations regarding affiliation. If we consider the Dioceses and
Hermitages to represent sacred sites of the Heavenly Master order,
OF
and the Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Grounds to represent those of
S
AL
S
the Shangqing tradition, the area of western and southwestern
ES
RI
China comprising Sichuan, Jiangxi, and Shaanxi is predominantly

PR
TE
linked to the Heavenly Masters, while southern and southeastern

MA
TY
China, including Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangsu, and Anhui, is more

SI
D
closely linked to the Shangqing tradition. Jiangxi is again a

ER
TE
province that stands out in this respect, containing sites in

IV
GH
impressive numbers from both traditions. The location of the

UN
RI
Heavenly Master headquarters at Mt. Longhu is therefore an

PY
E
ES
interesting observation, to say at the least. How much of this

CO
IN
distribution represents a shift from pre-Tang times and how much

CH
of this is in fact a re-distribution made by Du Guangting are topics

E
for further studies.

TH
A new addition in the Daoist sacred geography of the Tang is

the inclusion of the Five Sacred Peaks, Auxiliary Mountains, and
many appending mountains and rivers. It is very conspicuous that
the majority of these sites are located predominantly in northern
China, including the provinces Shandong, Anhui, Hebei, Henan,
53
Nanchang is also the location of Xishan 西山 , a famous mountain associated
since pre-Tang times with a cult to Xu Xun 許遜 (239–374). Du Guangting
mentions Xishan as one of the Hermitages but does not mention Xu Xun. For
Xu Xun and his cult, see Li Fengmao (Lee Fong-mao) 李豐楙 , Xu Xun yu Sa
Shoujian: Deng Zhimo daojiao xiaoshuo yanjiu 許遜與薩守堅：鄧志謨道教小說研
究 (Taipei: Taibei xuesheng shuju, 1997).
Shanxi, and Shaanxi in the central plains, while also occupying

peripheral provinces, such as Guangdong, as well as Liaoning and
Gansu. As mentioned before, the Five Sacred Peaks and their many
subsidiary mountains were not part of the official Daoist sacred
geography in pre-Tang times constituted by the Grotto-Heavens,
Blessed Grounds, or Dioceses, even though they do have their
antecedents in Lingbao texts and their predecessors, and their
inclusion in the mid-Tang forms an official merger between the
imperial state cult (that worshiped the Five Sacred Peaks) and
Daoism, or more precisely, the Daoist Lingbao tradition.
Seen as a schematic picture of the distribution of Daoist
traditions and orders in China at the beginning of the tenth century,
the sacred sites become a tantalizing representation of Daoist
OF
internal relations and their territorial distribution. The examples
S
AL
S
of some overlap notwithstanding, the general picture of the
ES
RI
distribution of sacred sites when linked to their Daoist affiliation

PR
TE
reveals a very interesting phenomenon for late Tang Daoist religion

MA
TY
and politics. Namely, the distribution of sites shows a stark

SI
D
bifurcation between northern and southern China, roughly

ER
TE
following the great rivers of the Yellow River and Yangtze River.
IV
GH
The Lingbao tradition, even though it had originated and developed

UN
RI
in the south, had sacred sites occupying the north, while the
PY
E
ES
Heavenly Master order and Shangqing tradition, which by then

CO
IN
seem to have been closely integrated, occupied the south. This

CH
division seemingly also follows political lines because of the close

E
association between the sites of the Lingbao tradition and those of

TH
the state cult which it incorporated, but this remains a topic for
further research.54 Du Guangting, nonetheless, gives them all an
equal standing in his synthesis of Daoist sacred geography.
Lastly, it is also interesting to see which provinces, perhaps
unexpectedly, are underrepresented or excluded in Du Guangting’s
54
Importantly, this theory of a political division in Tang Daoism between Heavenly
Master order and Shangqing tradition on the one hand, and the Lingbao
tradition related to the Tang court (and therefore also Buddhism) on the other,
has similarly been put forward by Jan de Meyer in his study of the Tang Daoist
poet Wu Yun 吳筠 (d. 778); see Jan de Meyer, Wu Yun’s Way: Life and Works of
an Eighth-Century Daoist Master (Leiden: Brill, 2006), especially the conclusion.
distribution and synthesis. The most glaring example is Hebei

province. It has two mentions which are basically one and the same
site, the Northern Sacred Peak Mt. Heng 恆山 (present-day Mt.
Chang 常山 ), which is included first as a Sacred Peak introduced by
Du Guangting, and then once more as a Grotto-Heaven, already
introduced by Sima Chengzhen (see above). Because all sacred sites
are in some way cultic sites dedicated to former immortals or other
legendary Daoist persons, it is strange that, in the time of Du
Guangting and before him at least, Hebei province apparently
could not boost this kind of heritage and therefore Daoism may
have lacked a geographical presence in this area. It must be said
that Shandong is also rather underrepresented, as is Shanxi, which
together are traditionally the homeland of Confucian states in pre-
OF
Han times, and which in post-Han times had a strong Buddhist
S
AL
S
presence (and interestingly after the Song dynasty saw the rise of
ES
RI
the Quanzhen order), but whether the Confucian and Buddhist

PR
TE
dominance has somehow influenced Daoist presence in this

MA
TY
geographical area or that Daoism was present but not active or in

SI
D
decline in the time of Du Guangting remains a question for future

ER
TE
researchers to ponder.
IV
GH
UN
RI
PY
VIII. Later Works on Sacred Geography

E
ES
CO
IN
The Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji remains the standard text on

CH
Daoist sacred geography. Two other texts are known to have been
E
compiled on the same topic and collected in the Ming Daoist

TH
Canon but evidently have never achieved the same status. They are
also much less complete and miss the overarching structure and
ideology.
The first is the Dongyuan ji 洞淵集 (Collections of the Grotto
Abyss, DZ 1063) in nine chapters by the Jiangxi Daoist Li Sicong
55
李思聰 . The preface consists of memorials about Li Sicong
presenting the text to Song Emperor Renzong 仁宗 in 1050.
However, the table of contents in the memorial does not match the
content of the scripture, which was therefore probably compiled
55
Schipper and Verellen, The Taoist Canon, 883–884.
after that date. Its chapters two to six list the Ten Greater Grotto-
Heavens, the Thirty-Six Smaller Grotto-Heavens, the Nine Isles of
the Blessed and Eight Continents, the Seventy-Two Blessed
Grounds, Thirty-Six Seas and Rivers of the Three Water
Departments (shuifu 水府 ), and the Twenty-Four Dioceses. Chapters
seven and eight list the Eleven Luminaries (yao 曜 ; Sun, Moon, Five
Planets, Ketu, Rahu, Ziqi, and Yuebo), the Seven Stars of the
Northern Dipper, and the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions. The ninth
chapter deals with the Thirty-Two Heavens and the Three Realms.
Although loosely based on the same division of Heaven, Water, and
Earth (but in the present compilation in the wrong order), the
contents differ starkly from earlier versions, and the entries on the
Grotto-Heavens, for example, are more elaborate, introducing again
OF
for each Grotto-Heaven a presiding immortal. Most of these
S
AL
S
immortals are also different again, apparently eliminating many
ES
RI
Shangqing patriarchs while introducing those of the Lingbao

PR
TE
tradition. It is possible that the compilation of this new or

MA
TY
expanded list of sacred sites, paying special attention now to rivers,

SI
D
is linked to the many floods in China during the Northern Song,

ER
TE
suggesting further that these sites received state support as places of

IV
GH
offerings, but this remains a topic for detailed research beyond the
UN
RI
scope of the present study.

PY
E
ES
Another work is the Tianhuang zhidao taiqing yuce 天皇至道太

CO
IN
清玉冊 (Ultimate Dao and Great Purity Jade Volumes of the

CH
Heavenly Sovereign, DZ 1483) of 1444,56 which is an encyclopedic

E
work providing bare listings of numerological categories comprising

TH
names and general locations of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, Ten

Continents, Twenty-Four Dioceses, Thirty-Six Smaller Grotto-
Heavens, and Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds. Despite its conciseness,
this work shows that the basic framework of Daoist sacred
geography was still firmly in place in the mid-fifteenth century.
Needless to say, the Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji was
incorporated in the Ming Daoist Canon, completed only one year
later in 1445. Then, in the Jiaqing period (1796–1820), it was again
56
Tianhuang zhidao taiqing yuce DZ 1483, j. 2.
incorporated in an unaltered state in the Daozang jiyao and

reprinted in 1906.57
IX. Afterword
Du Guangting’s synthesis of Daoist geography has stood the test of
time. The comprehensive cosmology of the Heavenly Master order
has been instrumental in the longevity of the text, providing an
overarching framework that has been able to include all traditions
and even to align Daoism with the state cult. Du Guangting has
established Daoist sacred geography not only as a theoretical or
religious concept, or as a list of sacred sites where Daoist
practitioners can cultivate themselves, find herbs and ingredients, or
OF
perform rituals, but also as natural sanctuaries protected and
S
maintained in an agreement by the state and the sites’ local Daoist
AL
S
ES
RI
communities. The landscape of the Dao was equivalent to the

PR
TE
landscape of the Chinese empire, both of which had become part of

MA
TY
the same Daoist sacred geography.

SI
The situation of mutual cooperation and promotion of natural

D
ER
TE
sanctuaries for the benefit of the state and local communities has
IV
GH
remained more or less unchanged for over a thousand years. The

UN
RI
protection of sacred sites, both as Daoist safe havens and as

PY
E
ES
ecological sanctuaries, has, however, come under great pressure in

CO
IN
the last century and especially during the past decade. Social,
CH
economic, and political changes have further severed the bonds

E
between Daoism and the state. The work of Du Guangting and its
TH
underlying concepts, ideas, and traditions may prove helpful in

navigating, and preserving, the Chinese sacred geography in the
future.
57
See notes 1 and 2.
Table 1 Distribution of Daoist sacred sites per province
Guangdong
Shandong
Zhejiang
Liaoning
Guangxi
Vietnam
Shaanxi
Sichuan
Jiangsu
Jiangxi
Hunan
Shanxi
Henan
Gansu
Fujian
Anhui
Hubei
Hebei
Total
Five Sacred Peaks 4 2 3 1 1 4 2 3 3 3 1 2 1 30
Ten Great
1 4 1 2 1 1 10
Grotto-Heavens
Five Auxiliary
OF
Mountains, Seas, 1 4 1 3 2 1 1 1 14
and Marshes S
AL
S
ES
Thirty-Six
RI
3 1 14 6 3 3 3 1 2 PR 36
Hermitages
TE
MA
TY
Thirty-Six
SI
1 9 5 2 6 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 36
D
Grotto-Heavens
ER
TE
IV
GH
UN
Seventy-Two
RI
5 17 9 3 12 8 3 4 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 71
Blessed Grounds
PY
E
ES
CO
IN
Twenty-Four
20 4 24
CH
Dioceses
E
TH
Total
34 34 28 23 22 17 15 8 8 7 7 5 3 3 3 2 1 1 221
《道教研究學報：宗教、歷史與社會》第九期（2017）
Daoism: Religion, History and Society, No. 9 (2017), 1–39
道教聖地學的綜合 —
杜光庭《洞天福地嶽瀆名山記》的經文分析
葛思康
摘要
OF
S
AL
S
ES
《洞天福地嶽瀆名山記》由唐末著名道士杜光庭（850–933）編輯，並收
RI
PR
TE
入明《正統道藏》。本論文研究該道經的作者與序言、教派與文本來源、
MA
TY
本性與含義、內容總結、聖地分布，以及後來版本等題目，認為杜光庭
SI
D
ER
TE
不僅綜合了唐以前天師道、上清派、靈寶派等的洞天福地，而且利用了
IV
GH
天師道的三天（天地水）宇宙觀和不少新的有關天師道的聖地，來補充及
UN
RI
代替唐以前的洞天福地。另外，因為唐以前的靈寶派聖地並未編成法典，
PY
E
ES
CO
杜光庭也加上了不少新的靈寶派聖地。正因為這些靈寶派聖地基本上包
IN
CH
含所有國家崇拜的聖地，《洞天福地嶽瀆名山記》也就代表了道教與國家
E
對聖地區分與管理的綜合，使得道教聖地都受到政府的支持和保護。自
TH
杜光庭把這些聖地綜合和法典化之後，沒有出現過其他類似的主要道經
說明道教聖地觀，這表示《洞天福地嶽瀆名山記》在各朝代受到重視，
到了現在已成為道教聖地觀的標準。
關鍵詞：洞天、福地、杜光庭、聖地、天師道

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《道教研究學報：宗教、歷史與社會》第九期（2017）

Daoism: Religion, History and Society, No. 9 (2017), 1–39

The Synthesis of Daoist Sacred Geography:

analysis of Du Guangting’s text, discussing its preface, traditions and

geographical distribution of the sacred sites, and later works on Daoist

sacred geography. It argues that Du Guangting created a synthesis of the

various existing traditions and sources on Daoist sacred geography of the

Heavenly Master order, Shangqing tradition, and Lingbao tradition of the

Keywords: Grotto-Heavens, Blessed Grounds, Du Guangting, sacred

formed the foundation for early Daoist communities and temple

networks, often with state support, that organized themselves not

only around Daoist personal or communal cultivation, but also

played an essential role in providing medical assistance, governance,

and environmental protection to the local populace.

Already from the later Han dynasty onward, following the

tradition of such ancient works as the Shanhai jing 山海經 (Scripture

texts listing their locations and specificities. In the beginning, these

Sacred Peaks and Marshes, and Famous Mountains), compiled

at the foundation of the compilation of Du’s work and earlier

sources. The present study is basically an investigation of the text,

goal is to lay bare its social-historical background, explaining its

particular compilation and the choices and changes made by Du

Guangting for selecting and modifying certain sites and texts. A

more comprehensive study on individual sites can hopefully

corroborate the present findings. With the rising awareness of

ecological protection as well as the more prominent presence of

Daoism in Chinese society, this study may offer a small contribution

to the current environmental debate in China and the question of

II. General Information

Grotto-Heavens (dadongtian 大洞天 ); (5) the Five Sacred Auxiliary

Sacred Rivers (du 瀆 ); (6) the Thirty-Six Hermitages (jinglu 靖廬 );

(7) the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens (dongtian 洞天 ); (8) the Seventy-

Two Blessed Grounds (fudi 福地 ); and (9) the Twenty-Four Dioceses

Du Guangting’s text presents a synthesis and systematization of

various older traditions of sacred geography. The many additions

order from the heavenly realms to the terrestrial spheres lacking in

framework for a Daoist sacred geography existing in parallel to, if

As the inclusion of the Dongtian fudi yuedu mingshan ji in the

Daozang jiyao demonstrates, no other text on this topic achieved a

similar status or was as comprehensive. The sacred geography of

Daoism defined by Du Guangting as well as its related real-world

network of sacred sites and temples remained largely in place and

in operation well up to the end of the imperial period, which is

largely due to Du Guangting’s codification and the text’s inclusion

in the Zhengtong Daozang 正統道藏 and the Daozang jiyao.

In the past century, many of the sites of Daoist sacred

geography have been lost or destroyed. Several scholars have

attempted to determine the location of the original sites, both by

means of textual study and field research, as well as to reconstruct

questions of environmental protection have also brought Daoist

III. Du Guangting and His Preface

to the Tang capital Chang’an (present-day Xi’an, Shaanxi), where

he attracted the attention of Tang Emperor Xizong 僖宗 (r. 874–

888) and became a leading court Daoist stationed at the Taiqing

gong 太清宮 in the capital. In 881, Du Guangting followed Emperor

rebels besieged the capital. Shortly after, he resigned from his

official position and remained in Shu, locating himself at Mt.

various monasteries. One of these was the Yuju Monastery 玉局觀 ,

a Daoist sacred site and one of the former Twenty-Four Dioceses of

mingshan ji quanyi 洞天福地嶽凟名山記全譯 (Guizhou: Renmin chubanshe,

山海經 (Scripture on the Mountains and the Seas) and the Mu

Tianzi zhuan 穆天子傳 (Biography of Mu, Son of Heaven), formed

zhi yi shang 天師治儀上 (First Chapter of the Protocol of Dioceses

Blessed Grounds is found in Sima Chengzhen’s 司馬承禎 (647–735)