Scenery of Chaohu Lake 7: Mystery of Wang bridge opening Grottoes

Wang bridge opening Grottoes, together with Wei Zi Grottoes, are located at the foot of Wei Zi Mountain, south of Wei Zi Grottoes.

There are more than 520 stone buddhas and animal statues in the cave, which is the only grotto statue site discovered so far in Anhui Province. 1956 is listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Anhui province.

Wang Qiao Cave is a natural limestone cave with two caves in the north and south. The whole cave is 55 meters long, the south cave is 3.7 meters wide, the north cave is 5 meters wide, and the height of the cave varies from 3 to 5 meters. The bottom of this hole is relatively flat. The stone statue of Buddha in the cave is carved from the natural cliff surface. Judging from the surrounding geographical environment, the Buddha sculpture at that time not only took into account the characteristics of natural cliffs and beautiful natural scenery, but also noticed the integration of water and nature along the mountain, which was consistent with the choice of grottoes in other regions.

Wang Qiaodong, according to legend, is the land of Liandan in Wang Ziqiao, West Zhou Lingwang. "Fairy Biography" records: "It is also a prince, and blowing sheng is good."

Wang bridge opening was named Wei Zidong because of his mountain. Because of Wang Ziqiao's great fame, later generations renamed Wei Zidong Wang bridge opening.

Taoism and Buddhism will not be in the same corner, and the stone Buddha statues in caves did not appear until long after Wang Ziqiao gained the Tao.

According to research, during the reign of Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty in 590 AD, a monk once traveled here. Seeing that this cave is an auspicious place for Buddhist practice, he began to carve a temple in it.

The carved Buddha statues are divided into two groups.

The front caves are a group, and the central cliff is engraved with Wei Tuo Bodhisattva and THE TEMPLE OF JIALAN Bodhisattva. Manjusri Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva are carved on both sides in the middle; Buddha Sakyamuni is carved on the top, flanked by Venerable Ye Jia and Ananda, and flanked by Venerable Sharifutsu and Venerable Mu Lian.

The back cave is a group, with Sakyamuni Buddha, pharmacist Liu Buddha and Amitabha III engraved on the upper right. This group of paintings still exists today.

In addition, there are more than 500 arhats carved up and down in the cave, and animals such as tigers, horses, unicorns and dogs are carved around the Buddha statue. The scene is magnificent, and Buddhism calls it "Haihui", hence the name Haihui Temple.

Although Wang bridge opening Grottoes are not as magnificent as Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang and Maijishan Grottoes in Tianshui, Gansu, they are unique in the grottoes art in the history of Buddhism in China, because they are a wonderful idea.

The circular center of the front cave is the Hall of the Great Hero, which is an important area for worshipping Buddha. Clouds rise around the Buddha and Bodhisattva, and all beings are pious and respectful. Morning bells and drums, Buddhist music and Sanskrit sounds, coupled with clouds, the sound of stalactites dripping in the cave, like thousands of monks and couples, a piece of Brahma is inspiring, like a fairyland. According to legend, during the Tang Dynasty, Buddhist monks took photos and traveled to Wei Zi, calling this cave "the hammer bell of melody".

Praying for Buddha is accompanied by many hardships. Another wonder of Wang bridge opening Grottoes is that there are more than 520 existing Buddha statues, only one complete Guanyin statue, and the heads of the other Buddha statues have been cut off, leaving a round nest about 2 cm deep. Of course, this is not the random destruction of tourists, as explained in the Annals of Nest County written by Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty: Liu Bowen passed by Chao County in the early Ming Dynasty, and when he saw the unique geomantic omen here, he was bound to make friends with strangers. He wanted to spoil this feng shui, so he spread rumors that the local famine was caused by Buddhists stealing food from the people in the cave, and sent people to put a rice ball at each Buddha's mouth at night. So the villagers were very angry and chiseled off the Buddha's head.

But the local Buddhist association did not say so, and chose another historical theory. According to legend, after Tang Wuzong ascended the throne in 84 1 AD, Zhao Guizhen, an outstanding Taoist figure at that time, tried his best to please Wuzong and planned to abolish the Buddha. In the spring of the fifth year of Huichang (845), the imperial court issued a decree to abolish Buddha, which led to the abolition of nearly 4,700 monasteries and more than 40,000 Lan Ruo (places of practice) and the return of more than 270,000 monks and nuns. This incident is called the third serious disaster in the "three armed forces case", that is, it is difficult to master the laws of the Tang Dynasty. During this period, the law of Haihui Temple was struggling. On the grounds of imperial edict, local Taoists chiseled off all the heads of Buddha statues, cherry blossoms and arhat statues in Haihui Temple, and drove away the monks and turned them into Taoist purple microscopes.

These two statements are completely different. The former is unofficial history, and the latter is the official history. Which is true or false? One thing is clear: after the Tang Dynasty, the name of Haihui Temple no longer exists, which can be proved by the inscription "Living in a nest and living in a purple cave" written by Song Shaosheng in the existing cave for two years. Inferred from this, the official statement is more credible.

There is no doubt that the two religious cultures, Taoism and Buddhism, have changed and merged in a cave, which is the charm of the cultural connotation of Wangqiaodong.