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Grotto-heavens are usually caves, grottoes, mountain hollows, or other underground spaces. In the Tang dynasty , immortals were thought to have lived in certain immortal cave-heaven lands that existed between heaven and earth, shrouded by colorful clouds; wonderful flowers, peach trees and fragrant grass were often said to have grown there.
By entering a grotto-heaven you penetrate deep within the mountain and arrive in the world of immortals: you enter "the beyond within". Mount Taibai has dozens of grotto-heaven. One of the grotto-heavens is called Place of Charm and Beauty ( pinyin: Bieyou Dong Tien ).
The counter feature to the holy or sacred mountains and peaks were the grotto-heavens, and various grottoes appear in Chinese mythological landscape. Sometimes sacred grottoes are associated with sacred mountains; and both may correspond to actual geolocations, but with an overlay of mythological geography.
Hexagram 13 is named 同人 (tóng rén), "Concording People". Other variations include "fellowship with men" and "gathering men". Its inner (lower) trigram is ☲ (離 lí) radiance = fire, and its outer (upper) trigram is ☰ (乾 qián) force = heaven.
Grotto-heavens were traditionally associated with mountains, as hollows or caves located in/on certain mountains. The term "Kunlun Mountain" can be translated as "Cavernous Mountain", and the mythological Kunlun Mountain has been viewed as a hollow mountain (located directly under the pole star ).
In a legend originating in the state of Qi during the pre-Qin period, immortals live in a palace called the Penglai Palace which is located on Mount Penglai. [3] In Chinese mythology the mountain is often said to be the base for the Eight Immortals (or at least where they travel to have a ceremonial meal), as well as the illusionist Anqi Sheng.
[b] [2] These true form charts are typically aniconic diagrams organized in a puzzling configuration depicting mountain-inspired paradises (such as grotto-heavens), sacred sites, and Diyu (hells). [2] They are classified by Guo Ruoxu (郭若虛) as "magical paintings" (術畫) [12] and in the Daozang they are classified as "Numinous Charts". [2]
Located in the Wangwushan-Yuntaishan National Park, Mount Wangwu is a famous Taoist site that includes the “Celestial Grotto of the Small Pristine Void” (小有清虚洞天), one of the Ten Grotto-heavens of Taoism. [2]