Folk stories circulating in Tianshui area

1 the legend of wheat accumulation and misty rain

Visiting McKee is not like visiting other places. You must choose a sunny day. On the contrary, the more uncertain the weather is, the more rain there is under your feet, and the more intoxicating the wind on Maiji Mountain will be. Because at this time, there will be a thin layer of clouds floating around McKee Mountain, which will make all the scenery of McKee Mountain hazy and dreamy. Walking in it is like entering a fairyland! This is a must. There is a touching legend about it! Legend has it that one year, the Queen Mother of the West celebrated her birthday, and all the immortals in the Heavenly Palace went to worship. At the end of the birthday party, on the way back to the Heavenly Palace, the immortals suddenly saw a beautiful mountain, which was even better than the Heavenly Palace. When they fell, they saw thousands of caves and 10 thousand Buddha statues on the mountain. The plank road outside the cave twists and turns, and the murals inside the cave are magnificent. Surrounded by pavilions and green hills, it is a good place to practice because of its shady trees and quiet environment. When they are happy, they don't want to go back to the lifeless heavenly palace. They just want to practice in this clean place. The next day, the Jade Emperor went to the early dynasty. When I boarded the hall, I found it was deserted and there were no immortals. He was puzzled and thought: Have all the immortals overslept? He called his men and sent them to see what had happened. As a result, it is reported that there is a Maiji Mountain in the lower bound, which is beautifully built. Many gods visited the temple yesterday, but they didn't want to go back to the Heavenly Palace when they saw such a beautiful place. The Jade Emperor was very angry and thought it was worth it. So he ordered a quick recall of hell to pay, the disobeyer of that day. The immortals enjoyed themselves in Maijishan, and after hearing the messenger read the imperial edict, they all returned to heaven discontentedly. The Jade Emperor was afraid that the immortal would see Maijishan again and would not stay in the Heavenly Palace, so he ordered Maijishan to be foggy all the year round and could not see clearly. Who knows, with the lingering clouds, Maijishan is more charming and moving. God in the sky can't see clearly, but people on the earth are full of eyes. Therefore, for thousands of years, "wheat, smoke and rain" has been hailed as the first of the "eight scenic spots in Qin Zhou".

Two Clay Bodhisattvas in seven buddha Pavilion

Climb Mount McKee and walk to the top of the east cliff. You can see a large cliff pavilion called seven buddha Pavilion. It is the largest grotto in Maijishan Grottoes. It was dug on a cliff more than 50 meters above the ground, and there are seven giant Buddha pavilions side by side. There are 42 clay statues of Buddha in the Buddha Pavilion, and colorful murals are painted on the cliffs outside the Pavilion. According to historical records, it was built by Li, the prefect of Baoding and Tianhe in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, for his dead father. All the Bodhisattvas in seven buddha Pavilion are clay sculptures with lifelike shapes, rich expressions and both form and spirit, which are rare artistic treasures of McKee. Legend has it that Li wanted to carve these bodhisattvas with stones, but in the end he chose clay. There is such a story. According to legend, Taishou Li is a corrupt official and a devout Buddhist. In order to mourn the death of his father, he spared no expense to dig a grotto on the cliff of McKee, which cost more than 400 thousand labor and 22 thousand gold. In order to show his sincerity to the Buddha, he not only dug the largest Buddhist niche, but also ordered the big monk who presided over the project to carve the Buddha statue with complete stones. It is not difficult to find a Buddhist niche. It is rare to collect stones from thousands of miles away and then transport them to the top of the mountain and carve them into Buddha statues. It takes a lot of manpower and material resources, and the difficulty is unimaginable. The monk was so embarrassed that he didn't know what to do. He knelt in front of the incense table and begged the Buddha to make it clear. Before the incense was burned, a voice was faintly heard in my ear saying, "Buddha, from the pure land of the West, can only be molded with clay." After hearing this, the big monk quickly bent down and kowtowed. The next day, the monk told Li the true words of the Buddha. Li not only didn't believe it, but also said that the monk was afraid of trouble and deliberately made up an apparition of Buddha to cheat him. Later, he actually put out the Dojo and asked the Buddha himself. Seeing him like this, the Buddha was very angry and scolded him, saying, "I, the Buddha, have compassion and care for all beings." You've crossed the soul of your dead father, but that's enough. Don't do whatever you want and waste people and money. Li said to him, "I also want to show my sincerity to the Buddha!" "The Buddha said," If you are sincere, why don't you listen to the Buddha's teachings? "Buddha was born in the west, so he should use the pure land of the west to shape himself! Li was still unwilling at this time and asked, "Then why are the Buddha statues in Longmen and Yungang stone carvings?" The Buddha explained: "When the Buddha came from the west, most of the pure land he brought was used in Dunhuang, and the rest was used in McKee. So Longmen and Yungang can only be replaced by stones. " At this time, Li realized that he was wrong and quickly kowtowed to the Buddha. Finally, the bodhisattvas in seven buddha Pavilion are all clay sculptures.

3 the origin of Tianshui's name

Tianshui was always the territory of Qin in the Zhou Dynasty. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was called Yun County, and in Qin Dynasty it was named Luan. Then why was it later called Tianshui? There is a magical legend behind it. According to legend, in the three years of Ding Yuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shangguan suffered an unprecedented drought. That summer, the sun was blazing and the climate was hot, but it didn't rain for a long time. Watching the crops in the fields dry up day by day and drinking the only muddy and bitter water left in the river, people are worried and pray for rain every day. It may be that people's sincerity finally touched the sky. In the middle of the night, just as people were about to fall asleep, there was a deafening thunder in the sky. This thunder mixed with lightning seems to be rolling in from the horizon and getting stronger and stronger. For a time, there was a strong wind on the earth, flying sand and stones. People were frightened by this formation and thought that God was angry. At this moment, a red light appeared on the ground, and then the earth kept shaking as if it were about to crack. Suddenly, with the thunder in the sky, there was a deafening noise from underground. The earth really cracked, just like opening your mouth, and there was white fog floating in the crack. At the same time, I saw a thick river falling in the sky, just pouring into the cracked underground, as if God knew that the earth had been thirsty for a long time and used the water of Tianhe to quench its thirst. The scene was so spectacular that people opened their eyes in surprise. In this way, the water in Tianhe has been flowing for a long time, until the wind and thunder stopped and the earth returned to calm. People curiously ran to the ground fissure and saw a big lake here. The water in the lake is clear and transparent, sweet and delicious. In the next few days, it kept raining in Mao Mao, saving the whole world from drought and heat. With the nourishment of water, everything turns green, Shan Ye turns green, and streams are gurgling. After such changes, people thought it was the power of the gods, so they spread the "Tianhe water injection" to the gods. In fact, as far as we are concerned today, this is probably just a natural phenomenon, a major earthquake. However, people at that time could not explain this, so they called this lake "Tianshuijing", and some people said that this water "does not dry up in spring, does not overflow in summer, and the four seasons suddenly rise". Irrigated with this kind of water, the seedlings grown out are very strong, the trees are lush, and even the girls raised are particularly handsome. Since then, Shangguan has become a veritable oasis in Longshang, and the story of "Tianhe Water Injection" has been passed down from generation to generation. At that time, in order to manage it better, the Han Dynasty decided to divide Longxi County (today's waters) into two counties. After hearing the legend of "Tianhe Water Injection", Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty decided to build an ideal city on the shore of Gaoshan Lake, and set up a new county here, named "Tianshui County". Tianshui got its name, from which it came.

4 The Legend of Fuxi

Fuxi is the legendary ancestor of human civilization, and is known as the head of "Huang San". According to legend, his mother's name is Hua Xushi, and she is a very beautiful woman. One day, she went to Leize for an outing and found a big footprint on the road. Out of curiosity, she put her foot on the big footprint, and now she feels entangled in a snake, so she is pregnant. Surprisingly, this pregnancy has been 12 years. Then I gave birth to a baby with a head and a snake body. This is Fuxi. To commemorate the birth of Fuxi, the local people changed the place name to Ji Cheng, because in ancient times, people regarded twelve years as a century. According to historians, ancient Ji Cheng is today's Tianshui. Hanshu said: "Ji Cheng belongs to Hanyang County, and Hanyang County also belongs to Tianshui County. The place where the ancient emperor Fu was born. Therefore, Tianshui has always been called "the hometown of Huang Xi". According to legends and historical records, as the ancestor of human civilization, Fuxi's main achievements are as follows: First, he taught people to make nets for fishing and hunting, which greatly improved human productivity at that time. At the same time, teaching people to domesticate wild animals is the origin of domestic animals. Second, change the marriage custom, advocate the marriage custom etiquette that men hire women to marry, and change the consanguineous marriage to the marriage outside the family, ending the primitive group marriage state that children only know their father for a long time. Third, the original book contract is used to take notes, replacing the backward form of knotting notes in the past. Invent pottery, harp and other musical instruments, create music and ballads, bring music into people's lives, and help people "cultivate self-cultivation and rationality, and be innocent". Fifth, divide and rule its ruling areas, appoint officials to manage the society, and provide reference for future generations to manage the society. Sixth, create an ancient calendar. However, Fuxi's greatest achievement is to create gossip. On the west of Weinan Township, Tianshui North Road, there is a Guatai Mountain, which is said to be the place where Fuxi painted gossip. Legend has it that in the ancient times when Fuxi lived, people knew nothing about nature. When it rains, it is windy, lightning and thunder, and people are both afraid and confused. Fu, who is naturally intelligent, wants to make all this clear, so he often stands on Guatai Mountain, looking up at the sun, moon and stars in the sky, overlooking the surrounding terrain, and sometimes studying the footprints and patterns of birds and animals. One day, he came to Guatai Mountain again, thinking hard about the phenomenon he had observed for a long time. Suddenly, he heard a strange cry and saw a dragon horse jump out of the cave opposite Guatai Mountain. It is called a dragon horse because this animal has a dragon head with a strange pattern on it. The dragon horse jumped onto a big stone in the Weishui River at the foot of Guatai Mountain. This Tai Chi-like stone, combined with the design of the dragon horse, suddenly made Fuxi realize something, so he drew gossip. Later, the cave that jumped out of Longma was called Longma Cave, and the big stone in Weishui River was called distraction stone. Now go to Guatai Mountain, and you can still see these places. In addition, there are remains of stone troughs and stone beds in Malone Cave. As for the desirability of gossip, it lies in its profound cultural connotation. Fuxi culture characterized by it still attracts countless scholars at home and abroad to explore and study. Moreover, many contemporary disciplines are also deeply influenced by it and get inspiration from it. It is said that Leibniz, a great German mathematician, invented binary system, which was also inspired by gossip.

5 Legend of Nuwa

What we are talking about here is not the well-known legend that Nu Wa created man and The goddess patching the sky, but the story of Fuxi and Nu Wa's brother and sister that spread in Tianshui. According to legend, in ancient times, people didn't respect the gods, which made the gods very angry and decided to punish mankind. They first sent Lei Gong to give mankind a fright. But as soon as tripterygium wilfordii landed on somebody else's roof, he felt the soles of his feet slip, and a staggered fell off the roof, just falling into the big net prepared by somebody else in advance and being tied up by somebody else. It turned out that smart humans expected the Thunder Guild to fall on the roof, so they laid a layer of wet moss in advance. After Lei Gong was arrested, people were very happy and were discussing who would look after him. At this time, Fuxi was only a teenager and was playing with his sister Nuwa. Hearing this, he volunteered to take care of Lei Gong. People thought, anyway, Lei Gong was tied tightly, and as long as he was not given water to drink, he would never run away, so he promised to let Fuxi Nuwa take care of him. Because as long as there is no water, Lei Gong can't do it. After a long struggle, people are tired. Before going home to rest, they were repeatedly told not to give Lei Gong water. Seeing that the adults were gone, the cunning Lei Gong began to pretend to be pitiful and begged Fuxi to give him some water to drink. Fuxi was very determined, and refused him in one bite. Seeing that it was useless to beg my brother, I turned to beg Nu Wa. At first, Nu Wa was not tempted. Later, when she saw that the sun was really fierce and Lei Gong was thirsty, she felt pity. She said to her brother, "Brother, I think Lei Gong is really thirsty. Besides, it's very hot today. What if he dies in the sun? Shall we just give him a few drops of water? " Fuxi thought for a moment and said, "Then dip a few drops of water in the pot brush and give it to him." Unexpectedly, just after drinking a drop of water, tripterygium wilfordii became severe. He sprayed water into the sky, and suddenly the clouds surged. And his own body also expanded rapidly and broke the rope two or three times. Fuxi and Nu Wa were frightened by everything in front of them and just stood there. Lei Gong spread his wings and was about to fly to the sky, but he turned around and pulled out a tooth for Fuxi, saying, "Thank you for saving me. Put this tooth into the ground quickly. It will save you from death. " Say that finish, he flew to the sky. Fuxi and Nuwa planted their teeth on the ground as Lei Gong said. After a while, a small bud will grow. Then, the bud quickly grew into a vine and formed a big gourd. At this time, all the immortals came out. In order to get back at mankind, they let the sky rain heavily and the flood rose slowly. The rainstorm lasted for seven days and seven nights, and the flood flooded everything on the ground, but the brother and sister survived because they got into the big gourd. After the disaster, only their brothers and sisters are left in the whole human race. Later, in order to reproduce human beings, Fuxi Nuwa married. Now, you will go to Qin 'an County in Tianshui, and you can also see a river called Hulu River. This name was chosen by ancient people to commemorate Fuxi and Nu Wa. Today, it is further proved that Fuxi and Nu Wa, two great ancestors of human beings, grew up in Tianshui.