Kunlun (mythology)
The term "Kunlun" has also been applied to Southeastern Asian lands or islands and seemingly even Africa—although the relationship to the mountain is not clear beyond the nomenclature.
These accounts typically describe Kunlun as the dwelling place of various gods and goddesses where fabled plants and mythical creatures may also be found.
[1] As the mythology related to the Kunlun developed, it became influenced by the later introduction of ideas about an axis mundi from the cosmology of India.
'primal chaos" or "muddled confusion'), which is sometimes personified as a living creature; and kongdong (Chinese: 空洞; pinyin: kōngdòng; Wade–Giles: k'ung-t'ung; lit.
Julie Wilensky notes that the term Kunlun is a "mysterious and poorly understood word, first applied to dark-skinned Chinese and then expanded over time to encompass multiple meanings, all connoting dark skin.
Kurung (Kunlun) is known to have flourished during the time of the Tang dynasty, and seems to have developed ambassadorial relations with the Tang court by the time of Li He (790–816), who records a visit in one of his extent poems; although geographical specifics of the state of Kunlun's location(s) remain uncertain, it is associated with trans-Gangetic India, possibly the Malay Peninsula or areas controlled by the Sailendra thalassocracy.
[2] In general, accounts emphasize the difficulty of access to the mountain and—even more strikingly—its hallowed places, due to its surrounding waters and steep cliffs of immense heights.
Poetic descriptions tend to lavish Kunlun with paradisaical detail: gem-like rocks and towering cliffs of jasper and jade, exotic jeweled plants, bizarrely formed and colored magical fungi, and numerous birds and other animals, together with humans who have become immortal beings.
[15] Although not originally located on Kunlun, but rather on Jade Mountain neighboring to the north (and west of the Moving Sands), Xiwangmu—the Queen Mother of Meng Hao in the West—in later accounts was relocated to a palace protected by golden ramparts, within which immortals (xian) feasted on bear paws, monkey lips, and the livers of dragons, served at the edge of the Lake of Gems.
Every 6,000 years, the peaches that conferred immortality upon those who ate them would be served (except during the time when they were purloined by Monkey King).
Originally a plague deity with tiger teeth and leopard tail, Xiwangmu became a beautiful and well-mannered goddess, responsible for guarding the herb of immortality.
[19] The langgan was a tree of fairy gems in colours of blue or green, which was reported to grow on Kunlun in the classic books of the Zhou and early Han dynasties.
The palace of Xiwangmu, sometimes described as having golden ramparts, was located on Kunlun; those blessed to gather there might partake of the fruit of longevity.
Two examples of those who overcame these hindrances were Sun Wukong (Journey to the West) and Qu Yuan in his poem ("Li Sao")—both already on the path to immortality, one as a god and the other as a poet.
According to Shanhaijing (Chapter 16), Kunlun was located south of the West Sea, behind the Red River, and on the shore of Liusha (Yang 2005: 162, 219).
[22] Many important literary references and allusions to Kunlun Mountain are found in traditional works—including famous novels, poems, and theatrical pieces.
The Ming dynasty dramatist and playwright Mei Dingzuo (1549–1615) wrote a play "How the Kunlun Slave Became an Immortal".
[23] In Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (2007), K'un-Lun is identified with the Fire Mountain from H. Rider Haggard's Ayesha.
