Dangerous incense burner on Wudang Mountain

Dangerous incense burner on Wudang Mountain

Nanyan Palace, also known as Duyangyan and Zixiaoyan, is the "holy land" of Zhenwu Emperor in Taoist legends, and it is also the punching place for tourists from all walks of life to travel to Wudang Mountain. But everyone who has been to Wudang Mountain knows that it is not easy to go to Nanyan Palace.

Among the many ancient buildings left by Southern Yan Palace, the most striking one is a carved dragon stone pillar. The stone pillar was built on the cliff outside the temple, extending 2.9 meters from the inside out and about 0.3 meters wide. Below the stone pillar is a cliff with two dragons carved above it, which were carved by skilled craftsmen in Yuan Dynasty by various methods, such as carving, shadow carving and round carving. The shape is natural and exquisite.

According to legend, the two dragons on the stone pillar are the royal drivers of Zhenwu Emperor, and he often rides them out for cruising. It is precisely because of the lofty background of dragon head incense that every time Taoist believers come to Wudang to worship, they will set foot on this Liang Shi, which is heading for the boundary between Yin and Yang, just to light a dragon head incense.

However, burning a wick of "dragon head incense" here is not an easy task. You have to climb over the long and narrow dragon body and then climb back. This place is already steep, with an abyss. If you are not careful, you will fall from the stone pillar, which is very dangerous

Because it is too dangerous to climb a stone pillar and burn "dragon head incense", Cai Yurong, then governor of Chuanhu Academy, ordered the erection of a memorial tablet of "No burning dragon head incense" in the 12th year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (AD 1673), urging believers to be sincere to the gods and not to lose their precious lives on impulse.

Nowadays, in order to protect the safety of tourists, Wudang Mountain Scenic Area has set up a new incense burner in front of "Dragon Head Incense", so people don't have to burn incense as dangerously as in ancient times. This not only protects the precious cultural relic of the leading stone, but also protects the physical and mental safety of tourists, killing two birds with one stone.