Mount Emei is picturesquely forested. Taoists chose it as a place to preserve health and cultivate Tao. Buddhists chose it as a place to promote Buddhism and practice Buddhist rules. They strived for superiority and therefore there were frictions between them. Taoism encourages people to accumulate virtue and do good deeds. Buddhism encourages people to be merciful. Therefore, they just condemned each other in speech and in writing, sometimes sharply. Controversies between them, involving competitions of intelligence and perseverance, lasted for nearly 1,500 years.