Taoist sacred mountains and grotto-heavens: Wudang, Longhu, Qingcheng, Qiyun, Gexian and Huotong, and the four sacred mountains of Taoism.
Tracing the Taoist lineage of the Wudang Mountains: the legend of Zhenwu's cultivation and ascension, the ties of great masters from Yin Xi, Lü Dongbin, and Chen Tuan to Zhang Shouqing, Zhang Sanfeng, Sun Biyun, and Wang Changyue, and its building from the Tang Five Dragons Shrine to the Ming imperial complex.
A lyrical essay on Mount Huotong and the Huotong River in Ningde, Fujian: how the mountain came to head the Thirty-Six Lesser Grotto-Heavens, the rise and fall of the Helin Palace and the Zhiti Monastery, Huang Ju's canal, and the river's clarity, rafting, and scenery.
An introduction to Mount Longhu in Jiangxi: how Zhang Daoling's elixir gave the mountain its name, the rise and decline of the Zhengyi Celestial Masters who led Jiangnan Taoism under imperial patronage from Han to Qing, and the history and layout of the Mansion of the Celestial Masters and its Ancestral Altar of the Myriad Methods.
An introduction to Mount Gexian in Yanshan, Jiangxi: the origin of its name and the rise and fall of the Shrine of Immortal Ge, the life, lineage, and ascension of Ge Xuan, patriarch of the Lingbao school, his traces in Yanshan, the Great Hall of Immortal Ge, and its pilgrimages, music, and charity today.
An introduction to Mount Qiyun, the “Little Wudang of Jiangnan”: its Taoist history from Gong Qixia in the Tang to the imperially built Xuantian Taisu Palace of the Ming, the shift from Quanzhen to Zhengyi, the lay character of its Zhengyi Taoists and the “First Taoist Village,” and its inscriptions, Danxia landscape, and pilgrimage customs.
An introduction to Mount Qingcheng in Sichuan: its secluded scenery and World Heritage status, its old names and two explanations of the name Qingcheng, Zhang Ling's teaching and Du Guangting's retirement there, and its Taoist lineage from the Celestial Masters to Quanzhen Longmen.
An introduction to the Four Sacred Mountains of Taoism—the Wudang Mountains of Zhenwu, Mount Qingcheng where the Celestial Master taught, Mount Longhu, ancestral seat of the Zhengyi Celestial Masters, and Mount Qiyun, the “Little Wudang” of Anhui—with their locations, heights, temples, and place in Taoism.