The Formation And Development Of The Taoist Theory-"Caverns Of Heaven And Place Of Blessing"

The Taoism has had a theory about "Caverns of heaven and place of blessing" Since its inception, which includes many famous mountains of China .Taoists believe these places are the abode of Immortals. Many of these places correspond to the local existences in the real world. Actually ancient Chinese Taoists studied Tao in the "Caverns of heaven and place of blessing", which means learning about the ways of Taoism, self-cultivation to achieve Taoism and practicing the teachings of Taoism. They also constructed some temples in it; left behind a lot of cultural landscapes, historical heritages, myth fables. The theory has experienced a longer historical period from formation to maturity. During the long period, it has been influenced by several considerations such as our original nature worship ,the ancient myth fables and so on. Eventually it has formed a perfect immortal world of Taoism, which contains the following elements: two sectors: Heaven and Earth, Ten Continents and Three Islands, The Ten Great Grotto Heavens and 36 Minor Grotto Heavens.24 Hua,The Seventy-two Places of blessing,Thirty-six Qinlu,the Five Sacred Mountains in China,God mountains and so on.Some scholars have written several articles to explain the origin of the theory .But most of the articles only involved in one or a few of the factors affecting it, and have not formed a quite systematic coherent view. On the basis of previous study results, and based on the theory of Gu XieGang 's "The Ancient Chinese History Created Layer Upon Layer", this paper attempts to analyze the birth and formation of this theory of Taoism; to find out the inheritance relations between the former factors and the latter ones through comparing with the origin factors in each stage of its forming process; and then to draw a conclusion, enabling people have a more clear understanding of its development.