Chiu-hua Shan, Nine Flower Mountain in Anhwei county.

 Nine Flower Mountain is a Taoist and early Buddhist site that was largely destroyed during the Tai-ping rebellion [1861-1865] with some of the main buildings rebuilt around or after 1867.

Chiu-hua Shan is most interesting to us because both Tung, Hai Chuan, the founder of the profound Chinese internal kung-fu called Pa Kua Chang [lit. Eight Kua Palms ] and later Gao, I-Sheng were to claim that the origins of modern day Pa Kua Chang stemmed from practices taught by Taoists from there. This practice was primarily based on holding different positions while walking the circle. Tung called this practice “Turning Palm” and later combined the Shaolin training he had undergone with this circle walking internal practice. Tung was also rumored to have been involved in the Tai-Ping rebellion and Chui hua shan was at the center of these events. Gao was a student of Tung’s student Cheng, ting hua who developed his own unique method of using the circle.

The Tai –Ping rebellion  happened during the approximate same time period as the American Civil War.[ 1861-1865]Where 600, 000 were killed or wounded in the Civil War and the southern part of the United States was largely laid to ruin, the Tai-Ping rebellion laid waste to eleven provinces in southern China and 20,000,000 people died. This event scared the nation of China and had lasting effects on the next 150 years of Chinese political history.

The main monastery  on Nine Flower Mountain is said to be built on the site chosen by Pei-tu, an Indian monk who came to China in A. D. 401.He is said to have crossed the waters in his begging bowl. Known to the Chinese as P’i-lu fo, he was the first of the five Chan Meditation Buddhas, The Omniscient Illuminants of mankind. He was considered to be a reincarnation of Vairocana Buddha, the Illuminator. By Imperial decree in 780 A.D. the main monastery received the name Hua-cheng Ssu, City Temple of Transformation. It was built in its present form by order of Emperor Wan Li [1573-1619] to house a copy of the Buddhist Canon which he also ordered printed It took twenty years to carve the wood blocks to print the many volumes. On the first day of the sixth month the books are taken out and aired and herbs are placed between the pages. There were 72 different temples and stupas and monasteries on a series of hills and mountains. At the bottom of the pilgrim way was the Yi t’ien Men, First Heavenly Gate with the inscription “All who come here become one of us and are no longer outsiders.” The first monastery on the way up was Kan-lu Ssu, Sweet Dew, where monks bottled a faith healing remedy and sold it to passing pilgrims. It was destroyed during the Tai-ping rebellion and was rebuilt in the1880’s.

Chi-yuan Ssu, Paper Yard Monastery, the monks printed Buddhist tracts from woodblocks. The famous Tang poet Li Po [705-762 A. D.] visited and gave the mountain its other name of Chiu Tze Shan or, Nine Scholar Mountain. Li Po Shu-tang was an academy in honor of the poet and the great hall drew many great scholars for generations. It was destroyed down to its foundations during the Tai –ping rebellion.

The ruling deity of Chiu-hua Shan is Ti-sang Pusa. He is the Lord of the underworld and releases suffering souls. He is pictured with a radiant jewel in his left hand and a staff in his right. One of his reincarnations took place on Chiu-hua shan in the eighth century. He was prince Chin, hsien-ying from the kingdom of Hsin-lo [Silla]. Reginald Johnson in Buddhist China [1913] says he was a Korean prince who gave up his royalty to enter the way of enlightenment.

He took the name of Ch’iao-chueh, Exalted Awakening, and died in 794 A. D. at the age of 99. His remains were mummified and kept in the Jou-sen Pao-tien, Mummified Precious Hall. From this temple the Pi-chia Shan, Brush Rest Mountains were visible in the distance. The main pilgrim activity was to walk the circle around the reliquary with their hands touching it in sun wise rotation. This was also destroyed and rebuilt. It said that the truly devote still perceive Ti-sang as a light radiating out of the jewel that he holds. On the portico of the tomb-temple were many stone tablets extolling Ti-sang’s virtues. One such stone said,“Here the Wheel of Law Ceased Turning.”

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