Lingyuan Cliff Carvings

Lingyuan Cliff Carvings

The Lingyuan Cliff Carvings are a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangxi Province.

The Lingyuan Cliff Carvings include inscriptions such as “Lingyuan,” “Huanglong Mountain,” “Three Passes,” and “Dharma Cave,” as well as the Guanyin Well and a Ming Dynasty stone pavilion.

The cliff carvings around Huanglong Temple, inscribed by Huang Tingjian, featuring the characters “Huanglong Mountain,” “Lingyuan,” and “Dharma Cave,” remain remarkably well-preserved—as enduring as “the sea may dry up but the rocks will not crumble”—adding a sense of legend to this mountain. The three characters “Huanglong Mountain” are carved on the stone wall in front of the dismounting stone at the front of the temple, with each character measuring 85 centimeters in diameter, rendered in a bold and vigorous square-round script that seems to penetrate the rock. The two characters “Lingyuan” are inscribed in clerical script on the left side of the giant rock at the head of the Lingyuan Arch Bridge; on the right side of the temple, there are multiple levels of stone steps carved into the cliff, and on the stone wall there is an inscription of the six characters “Namo Amitabha Buddha.” Nearby, there is also a site where monks used to perform cremations, with the characters “Three Passes” and “Dharma Cave” carved into the stone wall—both genuine works of Huang Tingjian.

On the right side of the temple, there are three characters carved in the stone reading “Cuiyun Cave.” Inside the cave, there is a cliff carving from the Song Dynasty that reads: “Zhang Yanji, Huang Shubao, Shu’ao, and Mao Lai paid homage to Elder Qing, when there were five hundred monks in the hall. Built in the second month of the Yimao year of the Jian era.” Nearby, there is also an inscription by Han Ju, a poet of the Jiangxi Poetry School, that reads: “Han Ju Bibi came to visit.” The numerous cliff carvings at Huanglong Temple have been listed as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit. It is reported that in previous years, Japanese tourists traveled thousands of miles to this site to make rubbings of the “Huanglong Mountain” inscription, a testament to their reverence and admiration for Huang Tingjian, the master calligrapher of his generation.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units