Ruins of Tiger Crouching Temple

Ruins of Tiger Crouching Temple

The ruins of Tiger Crouching Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

The ruins of Tiger Crouching Temple are located on Tiger Crouching Mountain in the southwestern part of the county. Originally built during the Han Dynasty, it was named Shoufeng Temple. This area features rolling green mountains and picturesque scenery. According to legend, during the Later Jin Dynasty, Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to the Khitans as a bribe, and this mountain thus became part of Liao territory. The celestial beings could not bear to see the sacred Buddhist mountain tainted by such filth, so they manifested a white-striped beast to protect the Dharma. From then on, tigers took up residence here, and the mountain came to be called Tiger Crouching Mountain. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, a highly revered monk named Deyu wandered here and, seeing the exceptional spiritual aura of the mountain, decided to settle. When he reached the massive stone where the tiger had crouched, he said to the tiger: "I have come here to spread Buddhism and bring blessings to this land. You are a divine beast and must transcend your kind. If you leave, I will carve a statue and establish my practice here." After speaking, the tiger did not move an inch. Deyu then said that if it would not leave, it should eat him. He took a few steps forward, but the tiger still ignored him. Deyu turned, went to the mountain stream to bathe, and then returned to the tiger’s stone. He said, "I have cleansed my body and can now be eaten. If you won’t eat me, then leave." The tiger then wagged its tail, touched its forehead, and led the other tigers away from the mountain. Deyu then restored the temple, renovated the halls, and renamed it “Tiger Crouching Temple.”

The temple complex is divided into eastern and western courtyards. The western courtyard houses a main Buddha hall with three rooms dedicated to Sakyamuni, a three-room Jingye Hall, and monks’ quarters surrounding the front and back. Bell and drum towers stand on either side of the temple entrance. The courtyards are shaded by towering ancient pines, while incense smoke wafts through the halls, and the sound of wooden fish echoes among the mountains. Devotees flock here continuously, making it a renowned scenic site of its time.

The natural caves on Tiger Crouching Mountain are also a unique attraction. A few meters east of the temple lies a mystical and serene cave, said to connect to the Sleeping Buddha Hall of Wansheng Temple in Huai’an County. During the Ming Dynasty, the imperial scholar Zhang Shipan traveled through it, leaving inscriptions on the stone walls. To the south lies a wind cave—if you throw something light into it, it will be blown out within moments. To the east of the wind cave is the Immortal Cave, where Deyu and his disciples attained enlightenment. Further north lies the Bright Cave, equipped with stone tables and benches, which was Zhang Shipan’s reading place. Still further west is the Ice Cave, whose entrance is only wide enough for one person to squeeze through, yet inside it can accommodate dozens. Water seeps through cracks in the rocks, dripping like rainfall from the sky. In the peak heat of summer, the moisture freezes into variously shaped icicles hanging from the cave walls, and melted water pools on the ground to form ice mirrors. This spectacle is poetically named “Ice Heaven Defying Summer.” About ten meters southward is another cave, its entrance covered by a huge rock. At dusk in the deep winter, warm air rushes out as if steaming into the sky, resembling white mist rising toward the stars, or a waterfall of silk hanging upside down to touch the earth. This is titled “Snow Grotto Welcoming Spring.”

Southwest of the temple lies a massive boulder (over 20 square meters) jutting out from the mountainside. This is the spot where the tiger once crouched, known as the “Tiger Crouching Stone.” Though the tiger has long since gone, paw prints remain imprinted on the stone.

The scenic beauty of Tiger Crouching Mountain has attracted poets and scholars throughout the dynasties, who came to admire the view and compose poetry, leaving behind exquisite verses. From the Ming Dynasty's Chenghua Year of the Bingshen (1476) to the Qing Dynasty, the site underwent five renovations, with commemorative stone tablets erected each time. However, after suffering damage over time, the eastern meditation quarters were demolished in the early 1950s, and the northern and southern Buddha halls were torn down in 1974. Although nothing remains today, visitors still come to admire the ancient pines, inspect the tiger crouching stone, explore the caves, and study the stone tablets, reflecting on the past.