Complete Gazetteer of Mount Mao 茅山全志
Paul PengComplete Gazetteer of Mount Mao
Compiled by Da Changuang, a Taoist Priest of Maoshan Mountain in the Qing Dynasty.
Fourteen volumes in total, it is included in the category of Topography of Palaces and Temples in Daoist Texts Outside the Canon.
Complete Gazetteer of Mount Mao
The compilation of gazetteers for Maoshan Mountain dates back to the Song Dynasty. The 15-volume Gazetteer of Maoshan Mountain block-printed in the Yuan Dynasty, attributed to Liu Dabin, the succeeding patriarch of the Shangqing School, was divided into 33 volumes in the Zhengtong Daozang. In the Qing Dynasty, Da Changuang recompiled the text into this Complete Gazetteer of Maoshan Mountain, which was finalized in the 8th year of the Kangxi reign and officially published in the 10th year of the Kangxi reign. A reprint was issued in the 4th year of the Guangxu reign, with only an additional preface and colophon included.Six general maps of Maoshan Mountain are attached at the beginning of the book, reflecting the overall landscape of the mountain. The gazetteer records the complete panorama of the Maoshan Sect of Taoism before the Qing Dynasty, with the content structured by volume as follows:
- Volumes 1 to 3 compile imperial edicts conferred on the Three Mao True Lords in successive dynasties, imperial decrees for Taoist immortals, as well as memorials and official documents submitted by Taoist immortals of all ages.
- Volumes 4 to 5 contain stone inscriptions dedicated to Taoist immortals of Maoshan Mountain and famous ministers in different dynasties, along with epitaphs by distinguished figures for the Taoist palaces and abbeys of Maoshan Mountain throughout history.
- Volume 6 records the genealogy and biographies of the Three Mao True Lords, which is consistent with Volume 5 of Liu Dabin’s Gazetteer of Maoshan Mountain.
- Volume 7 narrates the official duties and biographies of all immortals and true lords in the Three Palaces and Five Mansions of Huayang Grotto Heaven, corresponding to Volumes 13 and 14 of Liu Dabin’s Gazetteer of Maoshan Mountain.
- Volume 8 includes brief biographies of the successive patriarchs of the Shangqing School on Maoshan Mountain, from the first patriarch Grand Master Wei Huacun to the 45th patriarch Liu Dabin.
- Volume 9 documents the names and deeds of extraordinary Taoist practitioners who resided on the mountain for cultivating The Dao in all dynasties, matching Volumes 10 to 12 of Liu Dabin’s Gazetteer of Maoshan Mountain.
- Volume 10 describes historical sites such as mountains, peaks, caves, rivers, altars, stones, bridges and pavilions on the mountain.
- Volume 11 lists the contents of The Supreme Shangqing Great Grotto Precious Scripture and The Supreme Shangqing Great Grotto Precious Talismans, the catalogs of scriptures and treatises written by various immortals, the Maoshan Taoist scriptures recorded in Bibliography of General Records by Zheng Qiao, as well as a catalog of stone inscriptions from successive dynasties.
- Volumes 12 to 14 collect more than 300 poems and prose works by writers from the Liang, Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties. Additionally, Volume 14 appends the names, ancestral homes and terms of office of the chief and deputy spirit officials of Huayang Grotto—who were in charge of the ancestral imperial seal and sword, and the issuance of Taoist Talismans and amulets.
This gazetteer stands as an important source for the study of Maoshan Taoism, and the original edition is now preserved in the Shanghai Library.
