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Mount Wudang -- Abode of Immortals and a Martial Monk
Chinese mythology tells of the perilous voyages braved by Chinese
ancestors in search of the Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou mountains on which
Taoist immortals dwelt in a vast expanse of ocean. Mount Wudang is one of
China's Taoist mountains that actually exists, and is the mainspring of a wealth
of legends that have been told for 2,000 years.
Abode of Immortals
 The Chinese character xian consists of the radical (element of a
character that conveys its meaning) representing a person on the left and the
character for mountain on the right. Its literal meaning is "person on the
mountain," according to the Shuo Wen Jie Zi (Explanation and Study of Principles
of Composition of Characters) compiled by Eastern Han Dynasty scholar Xu Shen.
The composite character, however, is generally translated as immortal or
divinity, as it was the ancient belief that Taoist immortals lived on clouded,
mist-shrouded mountains such as Wudang.
It was 1,000 years ago that Taoists in search of seclusion and
self-cultivation in a mountainous setting first made Wudang Mountain, in mild,
moist northwestern Hubei Province, their retreat. Its summit - Tianzhu (Heavenly
Column) Peak - is 1,612 meters above sea level, and the mountain is swathed in
luxuriant forests, lush plants and abundant medicinal herbs. Among the 1,800 or
more medicinal herbs mentioned in the Ming Dynasty Compendium of Materia Medica,
more than 400 grow on Wudang.
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