A mountain of scripture.
A living tradition.
Meet Maoshan Shangqing through its scriptures, teachers and temples—and its ways of understanding the cosmos, cultivation and daily life.
What is Shangqing?
Shangqing names a Daoist celestial realm and a tradition formed around scriptures and their transmission. Writings associated with Yang Xi and the Xu family were gathered and developed by Tao Hongjing, helping make Maoshan a major centre.
Scripture, contemplative visualization, reverence for divine beings and observance of precepts belong together. Fu, liturgy, calligraphy and mountain life each take meaning within that wider religious world.
Meet the peopleRead the words.
Meet the people.
See the practice.
Scripture & contemplation
The Dadong and Yellow Court scriptures open a sacred world. Zhen’gao preserves transmission and memory; Zuowang lun offers an ordered discussion of cultivation.
Enter the Classics RoomTeachers & the Three Mao Lords
The Three Mao Lords stand at the heart of Maoshan devotion. Wei Huacun, Yang Xi and Tao Hongjing lead us through the formation and transmission of Shangqing learning.
Meet the Three Mao LordsLiturgy & daily cultivation
Recitation, reverence, communal rites and music shape temple life. Care for life and the cultivation of conduct bring religious ideals into human relationships.
Explore temple lifeUnderstand the names.
Follow their connections.
- Maoshan & Shangqing
- Maoshan is an ancestral centre of Shangqing. The name Maoshan school refers to the tradition as it developed around the mountain.
- Shangqing & Zhengyi
- In the Yuan period the Three Mountains’ registers came within a wider Zhengyi structure. Maoshan’s scriptural and ritual inheritance retained its own continuity within that history.
- Qianyuan Guan & Quanzhen
- Qianyuan Guan, in the wider Maoshan area, carries a Quanzhen tradition of women practitioners. The mountain includes communities with distinct histories.
From scripture to the mountain.
Keep exploring.
Move between the Classics Room, the lineage and temple life.