Maoshan Mountain 茅山

Maoshan Mountain is located between Jurong City and Jintan City in Jiangsu Province, with an altitude of 372.5 meters and an area of more than 50 square kilometers. It features beautiful mountains and lush forests, with nine peaks, twenty-six caves, and nineteen springs. Among the overlapping peaks, caves like Huayang Cave and Qinglong Cave have inner caves with various forms. The scattered artificial reservoirs add to the scenic beauty of lakes and mountains, making it truly a place where "you can see the mountain's appearance in spring, its vitality in summer, its charm in autumn, and its skeleton in winter".

Maoshan is a famous Taoist sacred site. It is said that in the 5th year of the Chuyuan period of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty (44 BC), three brothers of the Mao family from Xianyang, Shaanxi, came to Maoshan to collect herbs and refine elixirs, helping the world and saving the people. They are known as "the ancestors of Maoshan Taoism". Later, Tao Hongjing, a hermit in the Qi and Liang dynasties, integrated Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism to establish the "Maoshan School" of Taoism. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, Maoshan has been listed as the "First Blessed Land and Eighth Grotto-Heaven" of Taoism, attracting many literati and poets who left poems here.

Located on the top of Da Mao Peak, the main peak of Maoshan, it is abbreviated as "JiuXiao Palace", "WanFu Palace" or "Ding Palace" (Top Palace). The palace was first built in the 3rd year of the Yongping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (60 AD), initially as a stone altar and stone house, enshrining statues of the Three Mao True Lords. It developed into a palace and temple during the Qi and Liang dynasties. In the 26th year of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1598), it was granted the name "JiuXiao WanFu Palace" by imperial decree.

The main halls in the temple include the Lingguan Hall, the Scripture Storage Building, the Taiyuan Hall, the Second Sage Hall, and the Feisheng Platform (Ascension Platform). Legend has it that the Feisheng Platform is where Mao Ying "ascended to heaven" in those days and was also a place where Taoists "worshipped talismans and presented memorials" in the past. There is a pool in the temple called Huanlong Pool, which never dries up even in severe drought, said to be "the capital of the divine dragon".

Situated on Ji Jin Peak of Maoshan, facing Da Mao Peak from a distance, it was initially named "Qian Shen An" (Hermitage of Hidden Spirit), later renamed "YuanFu Guan" (Temple of Primary Talisman), and now called "YuanFu WanNing Palace", abbreviated as "YuanFu Palace" or "Yin Palace" (Seal Palace). As the saying goes, "A stick of incense in the Top Palace, a seal in the Seal Palace", this palace was originally the place where the treasure of Maoshan, the "Jade Seal", was placed, hence the name "Yin Palace". YuanFu WanNing Palace suffered severe damage during modern wars, and the existing buildings were rebuilt in contemporary times.

Located on the north side of Da Mao Peak, the cave has a unique landscape. The accessible part of the cave is over 250 meters long, with three layers connected to each other. Entering from the cave entrance, you can reach the 150-meter-long lower cave, where stalagmites, stalactites, and natural marble can be seen everywhere, with green and white colors reflecting each other, like jadeite. There are gurgling streams in the cave, with strange rocks, forming streams, rivers, springs, bridges, mountains, and caves.

The middle cave has four halls, formed naturally, surrounded by stalagmites, stone pillars, and stone flowers. Some are as white as jade, some as red as rouge, some as green as emerald clothes, with various strange shapes, which is spectacular. In the first hall, there is a group of stalactites that look like "the Eight Immortals crossing the sea" from a distance. The stalactites in the second hall are like hanging palace lanterns of the Dragon Palace. The third hall is unique, with stalactites forming rolling mountains. On the mountain lies a "giant sea turtle" 1.2 meters long, with a shape resembling Tang Monk seeking scriptures on its back, and a "phoenix" spreading its wings and flying above. In the fourth hall, when you look carefully, the "Eight Hundred Arhats" are vividly lifelike. The upper cave is shrouded in mist, making people feel like walking in clouds when they are in it.

Three characters "HuaYang Dong" are carved above the cave entrance, each about 1 square meter in size, said to be written by Su Dongpo. When Emperor Kangxi made a southern tour, he left the ink treasure "Eighth Grotto-Heaven" for this cave. According to Records of Maoshan by Da Changuang in the Qing Dynasty, HuaYang Dong has five entrances in total: east, west, south (divided into two), and north, also called the Five Convenient Gates, among which three are visible and two are hidden. What we see now is the west entrance of HuaYang Dong.

It is said that the Three Mao True Lords once lived in seclusion in the cave to practice Taoism. Tao Hongjing also set up three halls of HuaYang here, writing books, establishing theories, and accepting disciples to teach. This cave is the most famous natural karst cave in Maoshan.