"There is the hero of Mount Tai in the east, the danger of Huashan in the west, the rigor of Songshan in the middle, the seclusion of Hengshan in the north and the beauty of Hengshan in the south". As the saying goes, "When the Five Mountains come back, they don't look at the mountains", and there is also a saying that "Mount Heng walks, Mount Tai sits, Mount Huashan stands, Mount Songshan lies, and only Nanyue flies alone".
The theory of five mountains first appeared in Li Zhouguan's Chunda Bo: "Serve the country with blood and sacrifice five mountains." Zhou Li was written at the end of the Warring States Period, and it was a fusion of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Yin and Yang. Therefore, we think that wuyue Thought is a mountain worship formed by the blending of the four gods since Xia and Shang Dynasties and the five elements concept in the early Warring States period. In feudal times, the Five Mountains were sealed by the emperor. "Historical Records" said: "The sky is too high, so we set up Mount Tai Zen rites to worship it and look close to the gods." In order to "report the merits of heaven", emperors often take the majestic and steep peaks as auspicious signs, set up altars at the top of the mountains and hold meditation ceremonies.
The theoretical estimate of closing Zen originated from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The first person to hold a large-scale meditation ceremony was Qin Shihuang. The only place where Qin Shihuang personally offered sacrifices was Mount Tai. During the Tang Dynasty and the reign of Wu Zhou, meditation activities were held in Songshan Mountain, Zhongyue, Central Plains. After the history of feudal emperors' meditation, the status of the five mountains was higher.
There are many famous mountains in the world in China, but it makes sense that these five mountains are honored as "Yue". Take East, West and Zhongshan as examples. They are all located on the banks of the Yellow River, the mother river of Wan Li. The Yellow River is the cradle of our Chinese nation and the earliest place where Chinese ancestors settled and multiplied. Although the Five Mountains are not the highest mountains in China, they are all higher than the plains or basins, so they are particularly steep. There are some poems in The Book of Songs, such as "Mount Tai breaks the ground, the state of Lu admires it" and "Gao Song Yue Wei, the majestic sky", which shows the position of Mount Tai and Mount Song in the eyes of the ancients. At the same time, due to some conditions at that time, it was impossible to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the world famous mountains, and of course it was impossible to "choose the best among the best".
The five mountains split the ground and skyscraper, standing proudly. For thousands of years, emperors have sacrificed here, monks and Taoists have practiced chanting here, good men and women have burned incense and made wishes here, and celebrities and elegant guests also like to make poems and paintings here, leaving many cultural relics for wuyue, which is even more famous. It is no wonder that people will sigh after climbing the Five Mountains, "Five Mountains come back without looking at the mountains".
Folding legend
In ancient times, a group of gods lived in the five mountains attached to the emperor, and held meditation and sacrificial ceremonies in the mountains. The theory of "Five Mountains" began with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
The "Yue" in the Five Mountains means lofty mountain. In ancient China, high mountains were regarded as "the highest in the sky", and five high mountains located in the east, south, west, north and center of the Central Plains were designated as "Five Mountains". During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism and Taoism began to build Buddhist temples and Taoist temples in wuyue for religious activities, and each "Yue" was dedicated to a "Yue God" (or "Emperor" and "Shen Jun") as the highest god in charge of Yue. The natural scenery of these mountains has also been gradually developed for worshippers to visit. As a result, Wuyue Mountain has become a scenic spot in China with the beauty of natural landscape of mountains and rivers and the victory of Buddhist and Taoist cultural landscape. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, the five mountains were generally Buddhism and Taoism, and temples and views coexisted. After the Song Dynasty, Buddhism and Taoism competed with each other according to their respective political backgrounds and social forces. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Nanyue, Beiyue and Zhongyue still maintained the status of respecting Buddha and Taoism, while Dongyue and Xiyue were dominated by Taoist forces and became the centers of Taoism in China.
People in China say that the scenery must have three mountains and five mountains. "Three Mountains" and "Immortals" live in the same place. The Historical Records of the First Qin Emperor contains: "Xu, Qi and others wrote that there are three sacred mountains in the sea, named Penglai, Abbot and Yingzhou", which is the "immortal trace" of Su Dongpo's "the sky in the east shines all the time"; And "Five Mountains" is the general name of the five famous mountains in China. Namely Mount Taishan in Dongyue, Huashan in Xiyue, Hengshan in Beiyue, Songshan in Zhongyue and Hengshan in Nanyue. They are places where feudal emperors worship Zen and set up businesses, and they are also symbols of feudal emperors' orders from heaven and their determination to the Central Plains. The five mountains split the ground and skyscraper, standing proudly. From this, we can also see the position of the five mountains in the eyes of the ancients.
Wuyue Mountain deserves to be a famous mountain in the world. On the landscape, the five mountains have their own characteristics: Mount Tai Xiong, Mount Heng Xiu, Huashan Insurance, Mount Heng Qifeng and Mount Song Ao. Mount Tai in Dongyue is majestic and steep. Confucius, a scholar in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, once lamented that "He who climbs Mount Tai is a small place in the world", while Du Fu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote the poem "He who climbs to the top can go to the other mountains all appear dwarfs under the sky.". . Hengshan Mountain in Nanyue is adjacent to the waterfront of Hunan, with lush trees and beautiful scenery, enjoying the reputation of "the exclusive respect of five mountains". Huashan Mountain in Xiyue ranks first among the five mountains. "Huashan has been a Taoist since ancient times", and climbing a mountain is more difficult than climbing to heaven. If you don't eat the courage of a leopard, you can only look at the peak and sigh. Mount Hengshan in Beiyue is steep and the valley is deep. The traffic is inconvenient and it is hidden in the mountains, so the "Hanging Temple" is hidden in it. There are many dangers and wonders in Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue, which seems to be highlighted by the word "Ao": it has left a profound world historical and cultural heritage covering economy, culture, art, religion and science and technology in the world, where "Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism" converge, and "heaven and earth people" compete for beauty, and "mountains and temples" are known as the "five wonders" and "China"