Mount Tiantai--the Source Of Harmonious And Introjecting Culture

The harmonious and introjecting culture is foremost important in Chinese culture. It is not only the humanistic spirit of Chinese culture, but also the Chinese traditional essence of culture. Over the long historical development of Chinese nationalities, the harmonious and introjecting culture as the cultural inheritance has become the basic spirit of Chinese civilization and the core ideology of Chinese nationalities.Mount Tiantai is famous for its well-known reputation as "Buddha's cave or immortals' residence". Therefore, from ancient times to the present, scholars engaged in Buddhism and Taoism all longed for coming to Tiantai. Moreover, richly endowed by nature, Mount Tiantai with wonderful ecological environment produced its unique culture as a result of the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism and the perfect combination of the harmonious and introjecting culture. Monk poet Han Shan of the Tang dynasty lived in seclusion in Mount Tiantai for more than seventy years. At first he engaged in Confucianism and then focused on Taoism and at last joined Buddhism. He and Shi De, the eminent monk of Guoqing temple in Mount Tiantai, were like brothers and had the same interests. His poems and stories have influenced people's thoughts and spiritual life for thousands of years.Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing dynasty nominated Han Shan and Shi De as "two saints of harmonious and introjecting culture". From then on, the harmonious and introjecting spirit contained in the five-thousand-year Chinese civilization began to have a human personality and was formally set. Han Shan and Shi De became the symbol of Chinese "harmonious and introjecting culture". Mount Tiantai also became one of the main birthplaces of Chinese harmonious and introjecting culture.