The Three Mao Sovereigns

The Three Mao Sovereigns were three brothers of the Mao clan from Xianyang during the Western Han dynasty: the eldest, Mao Ying; the second, Mao Gu; and the youngest, Mao Zhong. Legend holds that Mao Ying entered Mount Heng to cultivate the Dao at age eighteen, later retreating to Juqu Mountain—where he gathered herbs, consumed elixirs, and attained immortality. He mastered spirit travel, transformation, and even the power to revive the dead. His two younger brothers initially dismissed him as deluded and superstitious, but after witnessing his miraculous feats firsthand, they resigned their official posts to follow him in Daoist practice and ultimately achieved immortality alongside him. Juqu Mountain was thereafter renamed Maoshan (Mao Mountain) in their honour, and its Huayang Grotto-Heaven and Jintan Blessed Land became renowned Daoist sacred sites. During the Eastern Jin dynasty, Yang Xi, Xu Mi, and others transmitted the Shangqing scriptures on Maoshan, thereby inaugurating the Shangqing tradition; Maoshan thus became the ancestral seat of the Shangqing school and, together with Longhushan and Gezaoshan, one of the 'Three Talismanic Mountains' of Daoism. To this day, people across the Jiangnan region continue to pray to and perform talismanic rites before the Three Mao Sovereigns for exorcism and blessing.