,

THE SACRED MOUNTAINBy HEDDA HAMMER

While looking for illustrations to the article on landscape paintillgin Oll,r Pebnwrll issue, tve foul/d in the Peking studio oj H dda !ifLllllllera '/1lnunijiccllt 8 ries of pho Quraphs oj the Hua Shall, the SflcredMoul/tain. S01lle 0/ them are reprodltced ill this issue, Beu'utijul all

tlley a1'e by the,nllelves. our rOllders will appreciate ill i.•" Hamllle)"s(tccornpally'ing (Lrtide which add.'! to the pictWI'es the two (limensiolls 0/history and travelog1,t6.

The photographer-a1tthor, a daughter of the city 0/ Stuttgart ;'/1/lout/I'IIIester1l Germany. hall made Peking her home io'r a, 111l/llber 0;years and rOlll.:s today a.monu O,e iillOst photograph rs of ChinesesLlbjects.-J{. M.

CHINA is renowned for her manysacred mountains, held in veneration

by either Buddhists or Taoists, andamong the finest and most interestingof them is the Hua Shan in southernShensi, not far from where the Honanand Shansi borders meet. It forms anoutlying spur of the Tsin-ling Range,which is again a continuation of thedistant Kuen-Iun, and lies a little to thesouth of wherethe Wei Riverjoins the YellowRiver. Geological- ...Iy the Hua Shanis of doubtfulaffinities since theregion has not tomy knowledgebeen properly sur­veyed by a com­petent geologist.It would be inter­esting to knowthe exact processwhich formed themagnificent cliffsand jagged scenery famed throughoutChina for thousands of years. TheHua Shan consists of an isolated spur,separated in the south by tremendousprecipices from the main range of theTsin-ling and culminating in a mag­nificent massif topped by five peaks.The whole covers an area of aboutnine square miles,

AGE-OLD VENERATIONWe find the first mention of the

Hua Shan in the Shl' King, the Bookof Records, which was compiled inlegendary times. It contains a semi­mythical account of how the EmperorShun (about 2250 B. C.) visited themountain to offer sacrifices to the localgod, the tutelary deity of metals, birds,and all quadrupeds. Even at that

early date therewere four sa­cred mountains inChina, the otherthree being theTai Shan in Shan­tung, the HengShan in Honan,and anothermountain of thesame name in Ho­pei. Later, withthe coming ofTaoism and Bud­dhism, the oldercenters of prim­itive nature­

worship were taken over by the new re­ligions, and so Hua Shan became Taoistand is one of th> nine sacred mountainsexisting in China today. Pilgrimscome to it throughout the year fromall parts of China. Thei r numbers areespecially great in the lat,e spring, andamong them there is always a largepercentage of Taoist priests.

Ridge of the North Peakseen from !-lsi Feng «( heWest Peak)

(bdon') Flamboyantlyornamented temple eavesclinging like swallows'nests to the rock

Castle-like rock formationson the southern massif

Rua Shan, the sacred

mountain of Shensi

A precarious ascent. The chains are innone too good a state of preservalioll.Insl,Tiptions are carved on the rock wallat the right

"1)lII'ldy brooding grows the cypressWhere the Kwan-yin temple lies.I cOllie from far with weary travelA suppliant at the Goddess' home,Praying for hel' gentle m~rcy

That my love may never fail."

A goddess of theHua Shan

A Sacred Place

of Taoism

A hermit of the Hua Shan.He is too remote from theI ittle annoyanc~s of daily1ife to be troubled by them

All ancient sacreddance performed byTaoist priests. Thetraditional costulllesconsist of brilliantorange gowns, blackhats and shoes, andwhite stockings

?~~~

IH[

XX:h

CENTURY

"The air is his food: the clonds arc hishome.

He travels on the wind while the fullmoon lights his path.

Wealth and honor, all worlcJly things

His spirit has put away."

A young Taoist monk

The Hua Shan

in

clouds and sunlight

A pavilion, now inaccessible,as the path leading to it hasbeen entirely worn away

The Wetit Pcak prccipice

;[lace. anu the twel ve clean wi nds are here;~nd with them broods eternity--a swift,

white peace, a presence manifest.rhe rhythm cca:=es hcre. Time has no place.rhis is the cnd that has no end."

The summit of Hsi Fenglooming thl'Ough the mist

"}',,<lo-Sai,lJoJ/ohi" (The Last IJays of Yeuo)

"/\U/I'lllmkll-.,hilllll /,'IIS"'<','" : prayer:;CClle hefure the battle

of

JAPAN

MOVIES

.. r;cill'okll-Chu,;hill!lIlI'U"(The j'"orty-Seven ){ullin~)

.. .Iil'fJ-,IIt1l/fJ[jalu,'i" (The ,'lory of Jiro) .. Oloko-l/v-'I<t11u1IIichi"

THE SACRED MOUNTAIN 287

o E'S COMPA~}'

Apart from hearing that wonderfulmountain scenery was to be foundthere, I knew little about conditionswhen I set out for the Hua Shan. Itraveled lightly, with only a rucksackfor lugO'age containing mainly cameras.and climbing shoes. I left the trainat the little station of Hua Yin Hsienwhich we bad reached in the evening,J'lOurs late. There were not many passen­gers, and when the train quickly movedon I 'was left standing rather forlornlytaring up at the mountains. A slight

feeling of nervousness overcame me,for I had set out without muchpreparation. I knew nothing of thedistances to be covered or the con­ditions and people I should encounter.To th south the p aks of Hua hanstill caught the \'ening sunlight againsta background of red clouds, while mistwas b ginning to cover the lower.slopes, already en hrouded in twilight.

After a few preliminary difficultiesowing to my lack of acquaintance withthe local dialect, I was told that theJ adc pring monastery lay near byand that accommodation was providedfor pilgrims. It was a charming place,and I was most hospitably received bythe monks. The monastery lay on thebanks of a pool whose cool mountainwater was ideal for a bathe. Theaccommodation was of the type gener­ally found in such places-a /c'ang ormud platform to sleep on, and beddingif one needed it. The k'ang, althoughrather hard, makes an excellent bed,and ince it can be heated from under­neath it is very agreeable in coldweather. Delicious vegetarian food wasalso to be had at the monastery.

THE FLYING CO CUBINEIn the morning the priests provided

me with a coolie to carry my rucksackand guide me up the mountain. Weleft at dawn, following the course ofthe stream which was in spate afterheavy rain and had frequently to beero eel. The wa} \\as rocky, with thebed of the stream filled '\ ith hugeboulders. Wherev I' I looked there wasa profusion of alpine flowers, and gaunt

and gnarled pine trees grew up to thetopmost heights. At distances of anhour's walk stood small temples withno other attendants than solitary priestsand acolytes. They politely offered ustea for refreshment.

In one of the e temples stood a statueof Mao-Nu and on the wall was in­scribed her two-thousand-year-old his­tory. Mao- u was a concubine of thepowerful Emperor Shih Huang-ti, thebuilder of the Great Wall. At hisdeath it was decreed that she, togetherwith the rest of the Emperor' household,should be buried alive at hi funeralin order to accompany him to the nextworld. She fled to the Hua Shan ,"hereshe lived the life of a hermit, livingon the seeds of the pine trees anddrinking tbe morning dew. he wasrevered as a saint on account of herknowledge and wisdom and the belpshe freely gave to poor people. In herold age, so legend has it, she be­came like a bird and learnt the art offlying.

ASCE TAbout midday we reached the actual

foot of the Hua Shan massif. Theinevitable priest materialized to askthe inevitable que tions-my home, age,nationality, and the number of mychildren. Having repliea suitably, Istared up at the mountain which con­fronted us. From every side save thatwhence we had come, we were almostentirely shut in by sheer rock walls.For three hours we climbed up twonarrow crevices over gigantic stepscut at two-foot intervals in the rock.In some places iron chains had beenplaced so as to help the climber, butthey were often in bad condition owingto age and neglect. We had continuallyto call out to warn anyone descendingfrom above to wait in a place whereit would be possible to pass each other.Suddenly, as so often happ ns, wereached the end of the ascent andemerged onto a narrow ridge flankedby precipices which led to th PeiFeng or Temple of the orth Peak.

So narrow was the ridge that thepath had to pass through the temple

288 THE XXth CENTURY

itself, there being no room on eitherside. From this point a superb viewpresented itself. The range of theTsin-ling could be seen for miles whereit abutted on the Yellow River plain.To the northeast lay the confluence ofthe Wei with the Yellow River. Atour feet were Hua Yin Hsien and theroute up which we had come, everydetail clearly visible in the pure moun­tain air.

To the south stood the other peaksof Hun Shan, and our attentionautomatically centered on the awe­inspiring sweep of the West Peak,culminating in a sheer precipice hun­dreds of feet deep. Finally towardsthe west there sprawled the broad,empty valley of the Wei, bordered tothe south by the Tsin-ling escarpment.Although the highest points of the HuaShan reach six thousand feet, ther~ isno lack of vegetation. The trees aremainly pines, so appropriate in aChinese landscape; and there is plentyof undergrowth and flowering alpineplants.

ART AND REALITYA feature of the Hua Shan are the

countless inscriptions cut in the rock,praising the beauty of the scenery. Arough translation of a typical one runslike this: "The mountain lies before us,secrets surround us. A few steps more,and we pause. The peaks are hiddenin clouds and mist steals up from theplain to cloak the ascent. The morningsun slowly rises to chase the mist awayand the last remnants are wind-bornefrom our sight. Then at last can weadmire the full splendor of rock andpeak and jagged precipice, more likethe creation of some noble artist thanreality."

The Pei Feng temple was inhabitedby five Taoist priests and a sickly boywith his teacher. The boy was fromShanghai, where doctors had prescribedmountain air for his delicate health.Every day he took his lessons inpainting and calligraphy under condi­tions which, at least theoretically, wereabsolutely ideal for artistic develop­ment. In front of the main altar hung

many small pieces of embroidery workgiven to the temple by women out ofgratitude for the fulfillment of theirprayers.

A GREAT DECISIONThe North Peak happens to be the

lowest in the Hua Shan, and from itthere runs a path along another razor­edged ridge to the West Peak. Thegoing is difficult and in some places sodangerous that railings have beenerected for the better protection ofvisitors. But these railings were inpoor repair and so rotten that theywere more of a menace than anythingelse. The route is further complicatedin one place by a short but perpendicularascent known as the Sky Ladder.

It was probably at this very spotthat Han Yu, perhaps the greatest ofall Tang dynasty writers, met withdifficulties which we can still easilyimagine today. Together with somefriends, he had made a pilgrimage tothe Hua Shan and successfully scaledall five peaks. But when the time camefor the descent he was overcome byfear and, rather than face the returnjourney, announced his decision toremain on the mountain for the rest ofhis life. His friends, however, securedhis return by a ruse. Persuading thegreat man that this momentous decisionshould be suitably celebrated, they sawto it that in the ensuing festivities thepoet became entirely insensible. He didnot recover consciousness until he hadbeen successfully lowered to the foot ofthe mountain in a basket.

On our way we came across a smalltemple from which a particularly strik­ing view was obtainable of the precipiceof the West Peak, which is so sheerthat it almost looks like an overhang.The temple houses two rather peasant.like goddesses, and on the wall is apoem:

"Darkly brooding grows the cypressWhere the Kwan-yin temple lies.I come from far with weary travelA suppliant at the Goddess' home,Praying for her gentle mercyThat my love may never fail."

THE SACRED MOUNTAIN 289

CLOUDS AND A PILGRIM.When we came out again from the

temple, a remarkable change had takenplace in the scene. The bright summersunlight and the white clouds floatingthrough the blue sky had given way toa mountainous bank of mist which hadsuddenly enveloped the place on whichwe stood. At times we could not seeanything, and then, in the eddies of themist, lone pine trees would suddenlyloom up, strange and menacing in thehalf light. Sometimes the mist wouldclear and we saw West Peak, swathedand wrapped in the same white vapor.The singular beauty of the clouds asthey swirled around us was somethingnever to be forgotten, and I was keptbusy trying to capture some of thisbeauty with my camera.

From here it was not far to HsiFeng, the actual temple of the WestPeak. We walked along an easy pathunder pine trees smelling fragrantlyin the damp, and when we arrived atthe temple the mist disappeared asquickly as it had come.

The evening meal was just beingserved, and room was quickly madefor my coolie and myself. All theguests eat together, and the food isvegetarian, often made up with muchskill to resemble various kinds of fishand meat. Indeed, it was impossibleto tell that some dishes consisted onlyof vegetables. A very friendly atmos­phere prevailed, and, by that obscuresystem so typical of China, nearlyeverything about me was known beforemy arrival. As a foreigner I wasnaturally the center of much interest.

To my great surprise I knew one ofthe other guests, and his surprise wasalmost as great as my own. He wasone of the priests of the White CloudTemple in Peking, and I had met himthere while photographing. He wason a pilgrimage to the Hua Shan, andhe had reached it on foot via Taiyuan­iu and Tungkuan, a very creditablepiece of walking.

IN PRA1SE OF THE HERMITThe night was bitterly cold, but in

the morning the sun was shining again.

I spent the morning exploring thetemple and idly watching fairy-likeprocessions of small clouds whichfloated up slowly from the plain beneathand away to the distant mountains. Ileft after the midday meal, havingmade an appropriate gift to thetemple in return for the hospitalitywhich I had received.

Now we made for the southern partof the massif. where great precipicesdrop away to the lower slopes of theTsin-ling Shan. Characteristic of theregion are the many curiously shaped,precipitous buttes which, in the dis­tance, look like medieval castles perchedon their commanding heights.

The Nan Feng. or South Peak, is notreally a peak at all but a sheltered hollowsupporting a considerable growth ofpine trees. This was probably thespot to which, in very early days, thefirst hermits came to live on the HuaShan. Now the largest temples, thegifts of wealthy pilgrims, are to befound on the South Peak.

Another easy path leads on fromhere to the Tung Feng, or East Peak,where I witnessed an ancient Taoistdance in a magnificent mountain setting.The priests went through their formalfigures on a flat, smooth-topped rock,while distant thunder clouds made abackdrop for their traditional costumesof brilliant orange gowns, pure whitestockings, and black shoes and hats.

I bad little time left.. The way ledback to the Pei Feng, where, after alast wonderful meal, I sat with therest of the company out on the terrace.We watched a full moon rise over themountains, throwing the great Hs1Feng precipice into bold relief. Withso much beauty there was no roomfor sadness. My mind went back to alittle poem about a hermit, inscribedon a rock of the Nan Feng:

"The air is his food: the clouds arehis home.

He travels on the wind while the fullmoon lights his path.

Wealth and honor, all worldly thingsHis spirit has put away."