Stone Inscriptions at Dingjin Rock Chan Guo Temple

Stone Inscriptions at Dingjin Rock Chan Guo Temple

The stone inscriptions at Dingjin Rock Chan Guo Temple are designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

The stone inscriptions at Dingjin Rock Chan Guo Temple are located in Sigou, KouShang Village, Wu'an City. According to the inscriptions: Dingjin Rock Chan Guo Temple was first built during the reign of Gao Huan, the Prince of Bohai, in the Eastern Wei Dynasty. It was later renovated during the Tongguang to Tiancheng years of the Later Tang Dynasty (923–930 AD). In the tenth year of the Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty, a fire broke out and the temple was completely destroyed. It was subsequently restored during the Zhengtong, Chenghua, and Jiajing eras of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the Qianlong, Daoguang, Guangxu, and Republican periods of the Qing Dynasty, with the temple buildings suffering their second destruction around 1940. The temple complex was grand and majestic, built along the mountain terrain and all situated beneath the Dingjin Mountain cliffs, serving as a Buddhist sacred site for nearly a thousand years from the Eastern Wei Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Today, the Chan Guo Temple no longer stands, with only ruins and affiliated relics remaining. Among the stone inscriptions are: one Five Dynasties Later Tang Thousand Buddha Village Stele, two cursive script steles by Zhang Jingxin from the Ming Dynasty, and nineteen other commemorative steles. There are also three trikāya Buddha statues, one three-headed six-armed bodhisattva statue, and one dragon pool Buddha statue from the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the Later Tang Chongxiu Ancient Dingjin Chan Monastery Thousand Buddha Village Stele, also known as the “Translucent Stele,” is located in the original courtyard of the Chan Guo Temple on the northern cliff. Made of bluestone, the hard stone stele is 4.08 meters tall, 1.14 meters wide, and 0.31 meters thick, with the stele head and body formed as one piece. The main text of the inscription is written in regular script, spanning 36 lines with 72 characters per line, totaling 2,664 characters. It mainly describes the geographical location of the Chan Guo Temple, the scale of its architecture, various legends, and the renovation efforts by a thousand Buddhist disciples. The latter half of the inscription consists of a four-character poem in five stanzas of eight lines each, documenting the history of the temple—of which only about two-thirds of the text remains legible. At the center of the front of the stele, there is an area approximately three inches wide that is as smooth and shiny as a mirror, reflecting the scenery of the opposite mountain. The stele has suffered fire damage, and its upper front section is broken, with carvings missing and severe cracks. Other steles also show varying degrees of damage, except for three from the Republican period, which remain relatively well preserved. The five stone Buddha statues are intact, though the three-headed six-armed bodhisattva is missing two arms. The stone pagoda and bone reliquary have also been damaged to varying degrees, and the Wulong Bridge is severely damaged. Overall, the Chan Guo Temple site features a large number of stone carvings with exquisite craftsmanship, holding significant historical and artistic value. It is now a key cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Hebei Province