Taiji Cave: It used to be the center of Buddhism in the south of Guangde
Author: Xu Houbing
Taiji Cave Scenic Area, is a national 4A-level scenic spot, located in Shilong Mountain, Xinhang Town, Guangde City, Anhui Province, at the junction of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, and its core scenic spot is Taiji Cave. Taiji Cave, known as Dadong and Changle Cave in ancient times, has a long history and is famous.
About Taiji Cave, in the early eighties of the last century, when developing the scenic spot, there was a stalactite in the cave named after "Taishang Laojun". Legend has it that Taishang Laojun, wandering the famous mountains and rivers, passing through this hole, lingering and forgetting to return, petrifying the immortal face, staying in the cave for a long time, so there is the verse of "only because of this cave strange world, lingering and forgetting to return for tens of thousands of years", Taiji Cave is named after it. Taishang Laojun is one of the Taoist "Three Qing" gods, the full name of "Taiqing Daode Tianzun", and is regarded as the Taoist ancestor by later generations.
Therefore, when people visit Taiji Cave, especially after seeing "Taishang Laojun", they will naturally think that Taiji Cave was a Taoist place in history. In fact, Taiji Cave has been an important Buddhist place in Guangde since the Tang Dynasty.
(Taishang Laojun)
1. Dadong Dojo and Fa Cheng Zen Master
1. Big Cave Dojo
As early as the Tang Dynasty, Taiji Cave had become a dojo for the promotion of Buddhism. According to Yu Qian (1870-1931), a disciple of Hengyang Buddhism in the late Qing Dynasty, "The Third Eighth Chapter of the New Continuation of the Legend of the High Monks· Xi Zen Chapter 3-8" ("The Fourth Collection of the New Continuation of the Legend of the High Monk"), during the Tang Dynasty, Cheng Gong, a disciple of Matsu Daoyi (709-788), the patriarch of Hongzhou Zen Buddhism, used the left of the Great Cave as a dojo to promote Buddhism. "Hongzhou Sect opened the two sects of Linji and Weiyang, which laid the groundwork for the later Dadongan to inherit the Hongzhou Sect for the Linji Sect.
2. Fa Cheng Zen Master
Fa Cheng (723-801), commonly known as Yunfeng Monk, commonly known as Guo, clan Guo. Living in Yunfeng Temple, Heng Mountain, reading the scriptures, so the reason is profound. In the first year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (758), Tang Su Zong ordered Wuyue to recommend high monks, and Nanyue was the first to recommend Facheng. He has been in the service for 50 years and has more than 3,000 disciples. Liu Zongyuan wrote for him "Nanyue Yunfeng Temple Monk Tablet" and "Nanyue Yunfeng Monk Tower Ming".
(Liu Zongyuan's "Nanyue Yunfeng Monk Tower Ming" book shadow)
2. Dadong Nunnery and Gomoto Zen Master
1. The history of Daedong-an
Due to the historical and cultural fault, the earliest existing local chronicle is the 15th year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1536) engraved book "Guangdezhou Chronicles", which records about the big cave (Taiji cave) and the big cave hermitage. Volume 4: "Big Cave, a Changle Cave, is seventy miles north of the state." Volume 5 also contains: "Dadong Nunnery, seventy miles northeast of Zhouzhi, was built in the sixth year of Song Qiandao (1170). ”
The record of Dadong'an earlier than the Guangdezhou Chronicles is that of Song Lian (1310-1381), a famous politician, writer, historian and thinker in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, wrote in the "Collected Works of Song Scholars ·Volume 32": "Zhizhi Guihai (1323), (Wuben Zen Master) from the Dadong'an out of Changzhou Yixing Longchi Temple. "It is nearly 200 years earlier than the record of Daedongan in the Gwangdeok local chronicle.
Kangxi Chaoyong's "Five Lamps Quanshu Volume, Fifty-sixth" in the record of Wuben Zen Master, basically follows Song Lian's statement, but points out that the Shixi Temple presided over by Wuyiquan Zen Master in the south (located in Shixi Village, Lucun Village), and the Dadong Nunnery presided over by Yongning Zen Master in the north, in the Yuan Dynasty, only these two places, can Nirvana, in order to achieve positive results, therefore, we can see that the two temples have become the representative north and south Buddhist centers among the many temples in Guangde, which contains: "The stream and the cave face each other, people say Guangde two manna door, clouds. In other words: "There is Seokgyeongsa Temple in the south and Daedongan in the north." ”
In Qianlong's "Guangdezhou Chronicles" (Volume 13), there is a more detailed reference to the Dadong Nunnery: "The Dadong Nunnery, seventy miles northeast of the state rule, was built in the sixth year of Song Qiandao (1170), and the Nunnery is next to the Dadong, because the name is now the Reality Courtyard. In the twenty-fifth year of Kangxi (1686), the state guarded the high arch and rebuilt, which is recorded. ([1 case]) close to Guangming Nunnery, five miles away from Hengmen Nunnery, [case] Reality Courtyard, the old Zhi but the name of Dadong Nunnery, built in the Song Dynasty, not the Han and Tang Dynasties, "(Reality Courtyard) Records" off the author does not know who, made also. ”
Of course, Qianlong's "Guangdezhou Chronicles" proves that Dadong Nunnery was built in the Song Dynasty, not in the Tang Dynasty, which was the situation when Dadong Nunnery did not become a temple.
Guangxu's "Guangdezhou Chronicles" (Volume 14): "Dadong Nunnery, seventy miles north of the state, was built in six years of Song Qiandao. ”
From the above historical materials and related documents, we can see that Dadong Nunnery, also known as Shixiangyuan, is located on the left side of Taiji Cave and was originally a preaching place for Chenggong in the Tang Dynasty. In the sixth year of Song Qiandao (1170), the Great Cave Nunnery was built. During the Yuan Dynasty, the famous Zen master Wuben lived (presided over) Dadong Nunnery for three years, which laid the foundation for Dadong Nunnery to gradually become the center of Buddhism in southern Guangde. The Ming Dynasty was the most prosperous. From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the incense was endless. It was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
2. Zen Master Wuben
Zen Master Yongning (1292-1369), a famous Buddhist master of the Yuan Dynasty. The word is a source, also the word source Ning, the law name Miaoming, alias Yu Huanzi, the honorific title Ning Gong, also known as the true pure Zen master, given the name Hongjiao Puji Zen Master, Buddha Heart Enlightenment (Ben) Zen Master. The ninth Rinzai sect, the twenty-first of Nanyue. In the twenty-ninth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1292), he was born in Tongzhou, Huaidong (now Tongzhou District, Nantong City), with the common surname Zhu and the eunuch family. At the age of six, he entered the township school and was able to learn the righteousness of the scriptures. Divorced at the age of nine. The law out of Guanghui Temple, the law heir Taihu useless wide Zen master.
Yuan Yanyou Gengshen (1320), Wuben Zen Master built a shed in the Taiji Cave (Big Cave) and lived, rebuilt and mastered the Great Cave Nunnery. "Yuan Yu Gengshen, extended to Guangde, bound in the big cave, there is a reality temple on the left side of the cave, and the Chenggong dojo of Matsu disciples is also, rather for the renew."
To Zhihuihai (1323), away from the big cave hermitage, live in Changzhou Yixing Longchi Temple. , Tianding Yichou (1325), moved to Jiuli Temple. To Shun Gengwu (1330), then moved to Lishan Temple. Yuantong Jiaxu (1334), lived in Tianning Wanshou Temple. To the middle of the day (1342), return to Longchi Temple, during the call to Beijing, ordered the Longguang Temple to say the Dharma, on the great joy, give the golden robe, plus the Buddha's heart enlightenment. Zhizheng Gengzi (1360), out of Yixing Shanquan Cave Shanquan Temple.
Yuan to Guimao (1363), Guangde drought, was invited to pray for rain, and was kept in Cihui Nunnery, and obtained enlightenment. "There is a drought in Guangde. Division. Rain cats and dogs. The crowd lives in the Cihui Nunnery of Ma Feng Mountain. ”
Emperor Hongwu Jiyou of the Ming Dynasty (1369) in the summer and June, showed a slight illness and asked his disciples to cut paper and underwear. And said: "I will die!" The fate of moving the niche to the top of the mountain, Suo Bishu said: "Seventy-eight years of clumsiness, obviously a defeat." The mud cow turned over at the bottom of the sea, and the snow flew on a hot day in June. "After finishing the book, he passed away auspiciously, and he lived seventy-eight years. There is a "Quotations of the Four Meetings" in the world. Seven years after his death, the disciple Renxing personally wrote the "(Ning Gong) Industry Record", and Song Lian personally inscribed his Tayun "Buddha Heart Enlightenment Benjue Miaoming Zhenjing Great Zen Master Ning Gong Inscription".
【Conclusion】
Dadong Nunnery was destroyed in the sixties and seventies of the last century, and as an important part of the Buddhist culture in southern Guangde and Taiji Cave, its historical traces are difficult to erase. Nowadays, the Taiji Cave Scenic Area attracts a large number of tourists every day, including many Buddhists and Buddhist scholars. If the southern Buddhist center of Guangde is rebuilt in the right place, Dadong Nunnery, it will have certain practical significance to enrich the cultural content of Taiji Cave, broaden the cultural tourism space of the scenic spot, and attract more "fans".