泰山北斗 (TàishānBěidǒu): Mount Tai and the Big Dipper

From the 《新唐书·韩愈传赞》: after Han Yu's death, 'his words spread widely; scholars looked up to him as to Mount Tai and the Big Dipper' (学者仰之如泰山北斗云). The metaphor pairs two universally visible references — the holiest of the Five Sacred Mountains and the seven brightest stars of the northern sky — to praise someone everyone in a field looks to.

memory

Mount Tai (泰山) is the mountain you climb to revere; the Big Dipper (北斗) is the constellation you navigate by. Together they're the literal highest and the literal guiding star — a perfect metaphor for an unquestioned authority.