Mount Kunlun (mythology)

Kunlun Mountain (traditional Chinese: 崑崙山; simplified Chinese: 昆仑山; pinyin: Kūnlún shān; Wade–Giles: K'un-lun Shan), or known just as Kunlun, is an important symbol in Chinese mythology representing the axis mundi and divinity.

The mythological Kunlun Mountain should not be confused with the real, geographic Kunlun Mountains. Different locations of Kunlun Mountain have been given in the various legends, myths, and semi-historical accounts in which it appears. These accounts typically describe Kunlun as the dwelling place of various gods and goddesses, where fabled plants and mythical creatures may also be found. Many important events in Chinese mythology took place on Kunlun Mountain.

As the mythology related to the Kunlun Mountain developed, it became influenced by the later introduction of ideas about an axis mundi from the cosmology of India. Kunlun Mountain became identified with (or took on the attributes of) Mount Sumeru.

Another historical development in the mythology of Kunlun, (again with Indian influence) was that rather than just being the source of the Yellow River, Kunlun began to be considered to be the source of four major rivers flowing to the four quarters of the compass.

The Kunlun mythos was also influenced by developments within the Taoist tradition, and Kunlun came to be perceived more as a paradise than a dangerous wilderness.

Some recent research proposed that over time, the merging of various traditions has result in a duality of paradises – an East Paradise (identified with Mount Penglai) and a West Paradise, with Kunlun Mountain identified as the West Paradise. A pole replaced a former mythic system which opposed Penglai with Guixu ("Returning Mountain"), and the Guixu mythological material was transferred to the Kunlun mythos.

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