Academy of Genuine Wudang Taoist KungFu - Zixiao zone

    The Parents Hall was built on the lofty platform at the back of Purple Cloud Palace. This area is full of tall ancient trees and green mountains, thus making it one of the best sights in Wudang Mountains. The Parents Hall of Purple Cloud Palace, a three-storied building, was built with wood and bricks. There were three shrines inside the hall and the statues of Emperor Zhenwu's parents, Emperor Mingzhen and Queen Shansheng, who were called St. Father and St. Mother by the Taoists, were worshiped in the middle shrine. 
     According to textual research, the Parents Hall was first built during the rule of Emperor Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, but was destroyed later. The existing one was rebuilt in the Qing dynasty, bearing the architectural features of that dynasty. There were Parents Halls in all large Temples in Wudang Mountains and that was one of the significant characteristics of royal temples in Wudang Mountains. It also reflected the religious features advocated by Wudang Taoism, which claimed the three religions (Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism) were originally synergetic.
     In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor divided Taoism into two factions, i.e. Quanzhen and Zhengyi: those whose main activities were cultivating and making pills of immortality belonged to the former, while those whose main activities were uttering and writing invocations belonged to the latter. Since Quanzhen Taoism advocated that the three religions were originally synergetic. And its votaries all abided by this principle of their primogenitor Wang Chongyang who promoted the standards of filial piety, which changed the old principle that monks or nuns should refuse to have anything to do with all kin or friends. Therefore the Parents Hall was a hall used to worship parents and moralize the public. So Wudang Taoism also has the saying that "the three religions (Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism) were originally synergetic".