Mount Lushan

cctv.com 08-16-2003 15:51

Look like either ridges or peaks,

assuming different appearances.

Don't know the true faces of Lushan,

only because being in the midst.

Su Dongpo

The mist in Mount Lushan is highly volatile. Su Dongpo, a scholar in the Song Dynasty, wrote this poem about Mount Lushan: "Look like either ridges or peaks, assuming different appearances. Don't know the true faces of Lushan, only because being in the midst." This is probably the best-known poem about Mount Lushan. While admiring the landscapes3 of Mount Lushan, Su Dongpo acquired a better understanding of life. Mist is well connected with Mount Lushan. Is that the reason many people lived there as hermits over the past hundreds of years?

Hanyang Peak

The Hanyang Peak is the highest peak in Mount Lushan. It is said that Da Yu sat here over 4,000 years ago, observing the floods of the Yangtze River and working out plans for harnessing the Jiujiang River. He led the people in successfully curbing floods. So this place was named King Yu Cliff. Sima Qian, a historian of the Han Dynasty, paid his respects to Da Yu in Mount Lushan. He included Mount Lushan in his Historical Records. That was the earliest written record of the mount.

Another story tells us about the other names of Mount Lushan. It is said that Kuang Su in the Western Zhou Dynasty had a thatched hut in Mount Lushan and gave himself up to austere religious discipline. When the Zhou Emperor was told about Kuang Su, he wanted Kuang to leave the mount and help him. But Kuang simply refused. The emperor had people search for him in the mount. When they found Kuang's hut, he had already ascended to heaven and become immortal. So the mount was named Kuanglu or Kuangshan.

As a matter of fact, Mount Lushan got its name mainly because of its shape and topography. The mount resembles a giant basket. Bai Juyi wrote, 'Mount Lushan has the most beautiful landscapes on earth.' This is the most concise comment on the landscapes of Mount Lushan.

Mount Lushan has the most beautiful landscapes on earth.

Bai Juyi

When Bai Juyi got a demotion for his outspokenness, he was appointed Minister of Defense in present-day Jiujiang. He lived in Mount Lushan for four years to the day. He was not happy with the demotion during the four years. Most of the time he studied Buddhism there.

Earlier in the Wei and Jin dynasties, Mount Lushan was frequented by scholars and politicians. In the Wei and Jin dynasties, there was a trend to become hermits, and a hermit culture was developed. This was partly due to political reasons and partly to the influence of the Dark Learning. The Dark Learning stressed the need to have a pure heart and few worldly desires.

As a result of the influence of the Dark Learning, the literary world was dominated by Dark Learning poems. Most of these poems were superficial and lacked content. Poems were improved until after Tao Yuanming emerged.

Portrait of Tao Yuanming

Tao Yuanming was good at writing pastoral poems. Written in a pure and natural style, his poems were peaceful and delicate. Tao Yuanming resigned from his official positions several times to live in his village in seclusion.

Sculpture of Tao Yuanming

No poems in the Jin Dynasty were better

than Tao Yuanming's 'Coming and Going.'

Ouyang Xiu

As I pick chrysanthemums beneath

the eastern fence,

my eyes fall leisurely on

the Southern Mountain.

Tao Yuanming

In 405, the 41-year-old Tao Yuanming resigned as a magistrate, a post he had taken up only over 80 days before. Then he returned to a village in Mount Lushan, he never left the mount again ever since. He wrote 'Coming and Going' to describe his happiness about his giving up politics. Ouyang Xiu, a writer of the Song Dynasty, said, 'No poems in the Jin Dynasty were better than Tao Yuanming's 'Coming and Going.'' When Tao Yuanming lived in the village in seclusion, he wrote these lines: 'As I pick chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, my eyes fall leisurely on the Southern Mountain.'

Confucianists and leisurely people sought peace of mind amidst the beautiful landscapes in Mount Lushan. In addition, they were in the mount to attend a monk's lectures on a Confucian canon The Book of Songs.

Portrait of Hui Yuan

Donglin Temple

The monk was named Hui Yuan. When he passed Liangyang in 381, he found Mount Lushan so reassuring that he decided to live there. With the help of a local official, Hui Yuan established the Donglin Temple.

Hui Yuan gave lectures in several places in the Mount Lushan. The Donglin Temple became famous after Hui Yuan delivered speeches there. Buddhist followers flocked the temple from all parts of the country. It wasn't long before Hui Yuan created the Pure Land Sect in Mount Lushan. As the sect stressed the retribution for sin, it had many practitioners. So the Donglin Temple in Mount Lushan became the birthplace of the Pure Land Sect.

Thanks to the existence of the Donglin Temple, the officials and public figures in the Eastern Jin Dynasty built many temples in Mount Lushan. It was said that there were over 70 of these temples at the most on 99 peaks and valleys. The mount looked gorgeous with those temples. The teachings of Hui Yuan and the Donglin Temple were introduced into Japan and are still in place there.

Huan Xuan, a high-ranking official in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, tried his best to curb the spread of Buddhism. At the time, many temples were destroyed, and large numbers of monks resumed secular life. But this was not the case in Mount Lushan. This shows that Huan Xuan respected Hui Yuan very much.

Hui Yuan lived in seclusion in Mount Lushan for 30 years. Thanks to his hard work, he became the Buddhist leader in the south. Mount Lushan, therefore, was the Buddhist center in the south.

In front of the Donglin Temple is the Huxi Bridge. It is said that Hui Yuan seldom left his house. He never saw his guests off farther than the stone bridge. If he did that, the divine tiger protecting the mount would roar as a warning. Once the poet Tao Yuanming and the Taoist priest Lu Xiujing paid a visit to Hui Yuan. The three people had a heated discussion of Confucianism and Taoism. Hui Yuan was still talking when they were leaving. He unknowingly passed the Huxi Bridge when the divine tiger roared. The three people stopped and laughed.

Tao Yuanming, Hui Yuan and Lu Xiujing lived in different dynasties. Lu Xiujing was a Taoist priest in the Song Dynasty, not in the Jin Dynasty.But why is there a story about them together?I think there are at least three reasons.One is all these three persons are well identified with Mount Lushan.For example, Tao Yuanming wrote this poem about Mount Lushan:'Mount Lushan is there on earth, but it is free from the noises of carriages and horses.As I pick chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, my eyes fall leisurely on the Southern Mountain.'He lived in seclusion in Mount Lushan.He was a representative of Confucianists. Since Buddhism was introduced to China in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there had been only Hu monks from the western regions.Hui Yuan was probably the first famous monk in China.He created the White Lotus Sect, which was regarded the origin of the Pure Land Sect.

At present, Japan believes that its Pure Land Sect originated in the Mount Lushan.A major characteristic of the Pure Land Sect is that it doesn't have the complicated rituals as Buddhism did when it was first introduced into China.It can be said that Hui Yuan was the first monk to adapt Buddhism to Chinese characteristics.So he had a prominent place in the history of Buddhism.Lu Xiujing was an important Taoist priest in the Song Dynasty.So these people were combined together to represent the ideological and cultural history of conflicts and integration of Confucianism, the Pure Land Section and Taoism.

Five Elders Peak

White Deer Cave Academy

The Five Elders Peak is the most gorgeous and perilous peak in Mount Lushan. The peak consists of five independent and integrated ridges. Below the peak is the White Deer Cave Academy. In the Tang Dynasty, the two brothers Li Bo and Li She from Luoyang pursued further studies at the academy. Li Bo had a white deer, so he was known as Mr. White Deer. In the last years of the Tang Dynasty, schools were destroyed in the war in many areas. More and more scholars pursued further studies in seclusion in Mount Lushan. The Mount Lushan National Academy was established and had several thousand students at the time.

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the government renovated the White Deer Cave Academy to make it one of the dynasty's four biggest academies. In the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, people were wary of studying because of incessant wars, so the White Deer Cave Academy was gradually abandoned.

Portrait of Zhu Xi

In 1179, a scholar came to this abandoned academy and decided to develop it. He also decided to give lectures there. This was a neo-Confucianist in the Song Dynasty.

There was a lane called Zhuzi Lane in Wangfu Street, Wangfu Town in Wuyishan. Zhu Xi lived in the lane for about 60 years.

When Zhu Song was terminally ill in 1134, he put his 14-year-old son Zhu Xi under the custody of three of his friends including Liu Zihui. These people taught Zhu Xi new-Confucianism.

During this period, Zhu Xi received comprehensive and regular education in Confucianism. He laid a solid foundation for his future academic development.

The core of Zhu Xi's neo-Confucianist system was the heavenly principles. He believed that outside the material world, there existed heavenly principles that were independent of the material world. He also held that many principles existed not only between people but also between people and nature. According to Zhu Xi, it was mankind's duty to correctly handle the relationship between people and nature and make it possible for things to develop naturally.

In order to develop his ideology, Zhu Xi gave lectures here and there. He even resigned from his official posts so as to be engaged in education only. Zhu Xi mainly taught Confucian canons and asked his students to put them into practice. His teaching materials were very popular among his students.

You should never impose upon others what you dislike yourself.

Only you are to be blamed for your mistakes.

Rules and Regulations of the White Deer Cave Academy

Zhu Xi formulated rules and regulations and other systems for the White Deer Cave Academy. In addition, he bought books to add to the collection of the academy. According to the Rules and Regulations of the White Deer Cave Academy, 'You should never impose upon others what you dislike yourself. Only you are to be blamed for your mistakes.'

You should proceed in an orderly way and step by step, read carefully over and over again and think deeply. You should raise questions and let those who know teach.

Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi attached great importance not only to the purpose of education but also to teaching methods. He put forward the principle of reading carefully over and over again and thinking deeply. In addition, he encouraged his students to raise questions and let those who know teach.

It is said that Cai Yuanding, a famous neo-Confucianist in the Southern Song Dynasty, studied at the White Deer Cave Academy. When Zhu Xi read Cai's article, he was pleasantly surprised. He said that Cai was an old friend of his, not his student. After that, Zhu Xi and Cai Yuanding discussed Confucian canons at regular intervals. Cai became an aide of Zhu Xi at the White Deer Cave Academy.

The White Deer Cave Academy did well when Zhu Xi taught there. It had countless students.

Following Zhu Xi, Lu Zijing, Wang Yangming and other neo-Confucianists gave lectures there.

It was reported that when Lu Zijing lectured on the Analects of Confucius, he had an audience of over 1,000. Some of these were peasants. When Zhu Xi taught at the White Deer Cave Academy in the Southern Song Dynasty, the academy gathered large numbers of Confucian scholars.

Edward Selby Little, a British missionary, came to like a piece of level land at Guniuling in Mount Lushan. He realized that it was an ideal place for villas.

It wasn't long before Little obtained to the right to use the area in and around Guniuling for 999 years. And the rent was extremely low. Little renamed Guniuling Guling. He established a company to take charge of overall planning and construction.

The quietude of Mount Lushan was soon destroyed, and the mount became a large construction site. The Western designers wanted the villas to be completely from the Chinese style. However, the foreign villas have been tolerated by Mount Lushan. This is a quite interesting aspect of the mount.

By 1927, 560 villas had already been built in Mount Lushan. Several thousand foreigners lived there. They were from 16 countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and France. To put it in the words of the great scholar Hu Shi, 'Guling represented the megatrend of the Western cultural invasion of China.'

Mount Lushan has villas representing the architecture of many foreign countries. In addition, the mount has schools, hospitals and other everyday facilities in these villas. According to The History of Mount Lushan, which was published in 1921, 'The recreational facilities at Guling are unique.'

Among these villas of different styles, the church located in the middle of them is the most attractive. Every summer, Westerners spending their holidays in Mount Lushan go to the church.

This is an American church. An American missionary called Absalom Sydenstricker preached at the church almost every summer before 1931. Later on, he died at Guling. His daughter Buck S. Pearl wrote a book on his experience and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938.

Buck S. Pearl

When Absalom Sydenstricker went down the mount to preach almost every day in 1930, some people frequently went up to the mount. At the time, the Northern Expedition was still going on, and the political situation was unstable. Those visiting Mount Lushan were mostly Kuomintang officers in uniform and scholars.

Every villa here has an enclosing wall made of local rocks. Most of the villas have gardens. At the gate, there are the number and name of the villa.

Sun Ke

Hu Hanmin

Wang Jingwei

This villa is numbered 87. It was first owned by a woman missionary from Germany. A mysterious man bought this villa in 1932. Later on, the local residents realized that Wang Jingwei lived in the villa. Wang spent at least half of his life fighting against Chiang Kai-shek. Should it not be for the resistance from Chiang, Wang should have been luckier politically. In April 1927, Wang Jingwei became Chairman of the National Government in Wuhan and the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. Two days later, Chiang Kai-shek established another National Government in Nanjing to oppose Wang's National Government in Wuhan.

Of course, Wang Jingwei wasn't a match of Chiang Kai-shek. They made peace and began to jointly work against the Communist Party of China. However, even in the agreeable Mount Lushan, the two rivals never ceased struggling against each other.

Wang Jingwei fled Chongqing for Vietnam on December 18, 1938. There he sent a telegram to the Kuomintang and made known his pro-Japanese views. Several months later, he left Vietnam for Shanghai and officially surrendered to Japan. The Mount Lushan Administration confiscated this villa as property of a Chinese collaborator.

Meilu Villa

Chiang Kai-shek

Soong Mei-ling

Not far from Wang Jingwei's villa is the Meilu Villa of Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling. Jane Barlee, a British woman missionary, sold this villa to her friend Soong Mei-ling. Before this, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling lived in a house at 15 Azalea Road. The house of a gift received by the newly married Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling from Soong's mother.

Chiang Kai-shek spent most of his time in Mount Lushan on attending meetings. These meetings were about foreign, financial and political affairs. Most of the meetings were about how to suppress the communists. Chiang Kai-shek trained not only military officers but also party and government officials at his villa.

Road. Soong planted flowers close to the enclosing wall. Chiang Kai-shek joined her in planting bamboo outside the villa.

When Nanjing was encircled by Japanese troops in 1937, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling flew out of Mount Lushan. They didn't return to this villa until the summer of 1946.

Chiang Kai-shek wrote the name of the villa 'Meilu' and had it inscribed in a natural stone. Ten days later, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling left Meilu, never to return.

Mao Zedong stayed at this villa when he visited Mount Lushan for the first time. Some didn't think it was proper for Mao to see Chiang Kai-shek's handwritten 'Meilu,' so they wanted to remove it. Mao Zedong saw it when they were removing it. He stopped them, so 'Meilu' survived.

Editor:Guan  Source:CCTV.com