A Place Like a Fairytale: Do You Know It?
People often sigh about the discord between humans and nature, humans and the environment, and eagerly yearn for the beauty of mountains and streams, blue skies and green hills, the tranquility and purity of drifting clouds and green hills. They seek a blissful dream in the intoxication of wine, pursuing harmony in the midst of it.
Then enter Huashan, and see Huashan's clouds. Let the confused mind release itself from the city's shadows and light, and find solace in the mountains and streams. The rain has passed, and Huashan appears charming and vibrant, with a pure air filled with the fragrance of flowers and grass. Mist rises from the valleys, rising and floating, winding around… Some say Huashan is a sturdy and resolute man, then Huashan's clouds are a gentle and affectionate woman. Watching the clouds at Huashan is like returning to the homeland of clouds, like basking in a dreamlike fairyland. Countless beautiful figures, countless celestial fairies, their eyes and eyebrows move, lightly brushing their sleeves, softly singing, dancing in brocade robes, as if in a fairyland.
It's like a fairyland.
Huashan's clouds are ever-changing. Sometimes, the sky is clear, with a few white clouds floating in the middle of the mountain, like birds circling; sometimes, mist wraps around the peaks and ridges, silky and ethereal, like slender jade women, intimate and affectionate; sometimes, the valley is filled with mist, only a mountain peak visible, as if in a fairyland; sometimes, the sea of clouds is vast and rolling, like a world apart; sometimes, the clouds envelop the mountains, and a person is in the clouds, with every step bringing forth smoke, absorbing moisture and virtue, carried away by the clouds, forgetting the worldly concerns and complexities, and the mind and body melting into this transcendent situation.
Walking along the peaks and ridges of Huashan, you can see many attractions related to clouds, and by the magical legends related to clouds, you can feel the fairyland-like scene. Located north of Yuntai Peak, White Cloud, in cloudy and rainy seasons, it floats in the sky like white clouds. Legend has it that Liu Shuang, the son of Emperor Han, retired to White Cloud Peak to meditate and practice, achieving success and ascending to heaven and becoming a cloud.
Furthermore, Huashan's stone caves and streams are also related to clouds. Yunxiahong Cave, located at the mouth of the Xihe Gorge, is named for the mist and clouds that constantly drift around the cave; at the foot of Wangtiaoling, there is a blue cloud cave, and below the blue cloud cave is the blue cloud stream, which flows like clouds, winding and forming a stream, often drinking cloud dew, sweet and pure, effective in treating convulsions, truly wonderful.
Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei said in his poem 'Huashan': 'Huashan emerges in floating clouds, accumulated in the clear phase, connected to the azure sky, stretching for hundreds of miles.' This shows that Huashan appears in the white clouds. Tang Dynasty poet Liu Changqing also said: 'When a guest travels, he admires Huashan, and the three peaks are high and reach the sky. In summer, the clouds paint a hundred miles, merging and inseparable.' Huashan appears in the vast white clouds. Tang poet Lu Lun said: 'Rain has passed, looking at the late rainbow, white clouds chase each other, water connects them.' Li Shen said: 'Outside the sky, cranes sing and accompany bees, hidden in the cave with cloud mist.' Chen Fan said: 'Cloud mist springs, pure stone, window bird pine.' These all describe Huashan's clouds, ethereal and dreamy.
During the Song Dynasty, high monk Chenna said that he had retired to Huashan to practice and become a wise man. The imperial court repeatedly summoned him to advise, but he refused, and sent a reply: 'I lament that my mind is idle, and I was already captivated by the white clouds. I retreated to Huashan to drink the pure water of Yuquan and listen to the wind in the pines, savoring the clarity of day and night, and laughed at being in the clouds and mist.' He was always immersed in the joy of pursuing nature and self-cultivation, which could not be expressed in words.
Let's not talk about Chenna's retreat and self-cultivation, just the joy and tranquility he experienced in Huashan's cloud scenery, and the peace of mind and body, shows the kind of 'cloud intoxication' that Huashan's clouds bring.
Leaving the hustle and bustle and noise of the city, going to Huashan's clouds to relax and refresh the mind, to strengthen one's resolve, and then return splendidly.
