Mountain Guarding Temple on Mt. Hua (Huayin County, Shanxi)

Formerly named the Upper Palace ( 上宮 Shang Gong ), the Mountain Guarding Temple ( 鎮岳宮 Zhenyue Gong ) lies in a valley between three peaks, i.e. the Jade Maiden Peak, the Lotus Peak, and the Descending Wild Goose. Constructed against a crag, it has one courtyard with three wooden chambers as its main hall. In ancient times, people called the Mountain Guarding Temple as the"Jade Well Temple" ( 玉井庵 Yujing An ) owing to the 30-metre-deep well in front of the temple, which was well-known for its sweet water. Near the well, people once set up buildings for Daoist cultivation, and now run a teahouse there. Some say that the well is connected to the spring near the Jade Spring Temple at the mountain foot. Not far to the northeast of the well, there are 28 pits in rocks legendarily left by immortals playing with pearls. In the Qing Dynasty, people enlarged the halls and renamed the temple as the Mountain Guarding Temple. The main hall is for the worship of the Great Emperor of the Sacred Mountain of the West ( 西岳大帝 Xiyue Dadi ). To its west lies the Medicine King Cave (藥王洞 Yaowang Dong ) for the worship of the Medicine King. Subordinate to the Jade Spring Temple and belonging to the Complete Perfection sect, the Mountain Guarding Temple was approved as one of the key temples of the state in 1982.