Jingxian Palace on Jinjing Mountain, Ningdu

　　   Jingxian Palace on Jinjing Mountain, Ningdu, is located in Ganzhou, Jiangxi. In the early Western Han Dynasty, a woodcutter girl named Zhang Liying went up the mountain to chop wood and encountered the Southern Pole Immortal Elder, who gave her two immortal peaches. After eating one of the peaches, Zhang Liying instantly forgot hunger and thirst, her form became ethereal, and from then on, she neither ate nor slept. She moved to Jinjing Mountain and later attained immortality. She provided medical treatment and medicine, relieving the people’s pain and curing their illnesses, bringing great benefits to the populace. After the ascension of the immortal Zhang Liying, the Lingquan Temple was built on Jinjing Mountain to enshrine her statue. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, having learned of the long history of Lingquan Temple on Jinjing Mountain and its effectiveness in bringing rain during droughts, conferred upon Zhang Liying the title “Immortal of Lingquan, Responding to All Prayers,” and personally inscribed a plaque that was hung in the cave’s imperial calligraphy hall. From then on, Jinjing Mountain became famous throughout the land, attracting numerous seekers of Taoism and pilgrims, and the incense offerings flourished. Originally, Jinjing Mountain in Ningdu had Taoist temples such as Lingquan Temple, Sanqing Palace, and Yangling Temple. Today, there are three existing Taoist temples: Jingxian Palace, Yuntai Palace, and Qingwei Palace.

　　   The early years of the Taoist master Liu Yuanran’s practice in southern Jiangxi laid a solid foundation for his later role as the head of the Taoist sect. Later, when the master was exiled to southern Yunnan, he was able to cure the illnesses of the local people, relying on the Taoist arts he had learned in his youth. After Liu Yuanran left, his disciple, the master Baoguang, took charge of the affairs within the cave temple, leading to the increasing prosperity of the Taoist site. The *Record of Jinjing Mountain* states that at that time, Jinjing Mountain had structures such as Yangling Temple, the Immortal’s Cave, the Imperial Calligraphy Pavilion, the Baoguang Pavilion, and the Lingyan Pavilion, with worshippers coming to the mountain in an endless stream. During the late Ming Dynasty’s transition marked by the Jia-Shen upheaval, while Taoist temples elsewhere suffered devastation, Jinjing Mountain, though also affected, never saw an interruption in its Taoist activities. In the Qing Dynasty, Li Zicheng, the 13th-generation successor of Liu Yuanran, succeeded as the head of the temple, revitalizing the Taoist practices of Jinjing Mountain. He devoted himself to qigong, healing the sick and saving lives, and gained fame far and wide.

　　   Information source: Taoism Voice