Detailed explanation of Wudang Mountain: Modern technology allows the wisdom of ancients to bloom

Wudang Mountain is a famous Taoist mountain located in western Hubei. It has a long history, a large number of ancient buildings, and a vast number of magical legends. However, the glorious humanistic history of Wudang Mountain has history as a guide, and the vast scale of Wudang Mountain's buildings is also evidenced by pictures. However, the magical legends of Wudang Mountain have always been criticized because they are difficult for ordinary people to understand.

For example:

Wudang Mountain is revered as "Taiyue" and has been famous in the world since ancient times for its status as "the four famous mountains are bowed in bows, and the five immortal mountains are the first imperial ancestry" , has the reputation of "the crown of the five mountains". In fact, the altitude of Wudang Mountain is only 1,612 meters. It is not as high as Huashan and Hengshan, and its reputation is not as good as Mount Tai, which is the place where emperors consecrate themselves. How can it be higher than the Five Mountains?

In addition, the fancy "wonders" and legends in Wudang Mountain are even more confusing. Like the seventy-two peaks facing the big top, the twenty-four streams flowing, the sky pillars dawning, the thunder fire refining hall, the moon knocking on the mountain gate, the basalt made by heaven, the ancestor sweating, the sea horse spitting mist... These seemingly magical sayings , is it really credible? Many people are skeptical about this and think it is a gimmick that the tourism bureau can concoct to attract tourists.

As a Hubei native who has watched "The Legend of Wudang Mountain" since he was a child and has been to Wudang many times to worship, I want to say that everyone may really have some misunderstandings about Wudang Mountain.

Wudang Mountain is a meticulously built royal ashram, and the architects have extremely profound considerations for the quality of the project and the layout of the building.

Wudang Mountain has a long history and can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. However, the Wudang Mountain we see now was basically built during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, about 600 years ago. At that time, in order to realize the dream of imperial peace, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, worked with China to build the Forbidden City in the north and Wudang in the south. He dispatched more than 300,000 military and civilian craftsmen. It took 12 years to build as many as 33 places among the mountains of the Wudang Mountains. The building complex forms a fairyland on earth with "five miles, one nunnery and ten miles of palace, red walls and green tiles, gold and silver reflected in the towers, and Lin Xiu's paintings in the mirror".

After becoming the founder of the Ming Dynasty, all emperors of the Ming Dynasty regarded Wudang Mountain as a royal ashram and carried out several large-scale expansions and renovations. In order to facilitate the management of Wudang Mountain, Wudang Mountain was directly under the jurisdiction of the royal family rather than the local government during the Ming Dynasty. The scale and fame of Wudang Mountain also reached unprecedented heights in the Ming Dynasty. At its peak, the number of staff in Wudang Mountain alone, that is, Taoists, troops, craftsmen, etc., numbered tens of thousands. Even now, more than 600 years have passed, Wudang Mountain is still the largest existing religious building complex in the world. The level of royal construction in the Ming Dynasty can be seen from this point.

Produced by the royal family, it must be a high-quality product. The real mystery of Wudang Mountain is contained in those "wonders" and "legends", and only time can reveal it.

"Seventy-two peaks face Dingding, and twenty-four streams flow continuously"

During the Quaternary Ice Age, the glaciers near Wudang Mountain Scenic Area were centered on Tianzhu Peak Shows a radial distribution. When the glacier begins to melt, it starts from lower altitudes first. This makes the melting direction of the glacier show a trend of melting from the outside to the center with Tianzhu Peak as the center. Under the force of glacier erosion, it faces the sky. The rocks on one side of the pillar peak gradually collapsed, forming a nodding gesture.

However, the ancients had no idea about all this. They believed that this was a manifestation of "Wanshan Pilgrimage", which was rare in the world, so they built a Taoist temple on Tianzhu Peak and described this story as a myth. The language of color describes it. In reality, the momentum of "Pilgrimage to Ten Thousand Mountains" can also be seen in Tianzhu Peak, but if it is aerial photography, the effect will be more obvious.

Wudang Mountain is located in the western part of the Nanxiang Basin. The huge altitude difference makes the top of the mountain often shrouded in clouds and fog. A large amount of water vapor condenses on the leaves and the mountain to form dew, which causes the soil moisture content on the top of the mountain to continue to increase, eventually forming a mountain stream. This is why the ancients often said, "As high as the mountains are, so high are the waters."

"Tianzhu Xiaoqing"

This is another natural wonder of Wudang Mountain. It is one of the eight scenic spots in Junzhou in ancient times. Most people have no chance to see it because of the occurrence of this scene. , requiring many stringent conditions. For example, weather, viewing location, etc.

?At dawn at the beginning of the night rain, when the first ray of the sun has not yet illuminated the earth, I stood in the ancient city of Junzhou and looked south. It was dark all around, but the sky 30 kilometers away However, the pillar peaks are clearly distinguishable, as if they are right in front of you. The golden palace is shining brightly under the sunlight. This is the famous "Tianzhu Xiaoqing".

The principle of Tianzhu Xiaoqing is actually easy to explain. Junzhou is 200 meters above sea level, while Jinding is 1,600 meters above sea level. The mountains in the middle are relatively low and there are no obstacles. Because of the height, the first rays of sunlight at dawn will first shine on the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is made of copper and will reflect light, so people can see the light of the Golden Temple in the darkness before dawn. This phenomenon seems easy to explain now, but for the ancients, it was undoubtedly a very sacred "miracle".

Of course, we do not rule out whether the ancients had considered this aspect when they first built the Golden Palace. If so, it would have been really wise.

"Xuanwu was made in heaven" Modern technology allows the wisdom of the ancients to bloom

We all know that the highest god enshrined in Wudang Mountain is Emperor Zhenwu (also called Emperor Xuanwu), but in fact, for As far as the Central Plains is concerned, Wudang Mountain is located south of the Qinling Mountains and can be considered the south. Why did Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty identify it as the dojo of the God of the North? Historically, this question has puzzled many people. It was not until the popularity of airplanes in the 20th century that people suddenly realized it. It turns out that Tianzhu Peak itself is a huge Xuanwu!

If there were no airplanes or cameras, we might still not be able to figure out the shape of Tianzhu Peak, but the ancients did it 600 years ago. Just imagine, in the early morning when the sea of ??clouds is rolling, a giant turtle carrying a golden golden palace appears and disappears in the sea of ??clouds. How spectacular this scene is.

"Thunder and Fire Refining Palace"

This is one of the many wonders of the Wudang Golden Palace. It has always been considered a fiction because how could thunder and lightning exist in a form visible to the naked eye on the Golden Palace? Woolen cloth? But later, with the help of cameras in modern technology, the authenticity of the Thunder Fire Temple was confirmed.

According to legend, because there were many treasures placed inside the Golden Palace, Emperor Zhenwu arranged for the God of Thunder and the Mother of Lightning to guard them here in order to prevent them from being stolen. Whenever there are thunderstorms in summer, huge lightning and fireballs often fall from the sky, rolling on the Golden Palace and making huge noises to scare people with bad intentions. In addition, electric shock can also remove dirt from the Golden Temple and keep it tidy and clean, killing two birds with one stone. Of course, these are all the product of the combination of nature and mythology spoken by the ancients. Except for the local Taoist priests, no one has ever seen the real Thunder Fire Temple.

Later, after cameras became popular, Wudang Mountain Scenic Area installed cameras on the Golden Summit to facilitate management and monitoring. Unexpectedly, this camera accidentally captured the scene of the Thunder Fire Refining Palace and recorded it. At this point, people no longer doubted the authenticity of the Thunder Fire Refining Palace.

In fact, in addition to the above-mentioned wonders and legends, Wudang Mountain also has countless legendary sights such as the moon knocking on the mountain door, the ancestor sweating, the sea horse spitting fog, and the moon knocking on the mountain door. It needs to be seen under certain circumstances. If you want to witness these wonders with your own eyes, you must remember to check the information in advance and go to watch if you meet the conditions. You will definitely come back with a full load, because true wisdom can withstand the scrutiny of time.