Liye Grandmother Temple

Liye Grandmother Temple

Liye Grandmother Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

The first goddess of the West, Eve, has long vanished without a trace along with the sinking of the Garden of Eden. But in the birthplace of the East, the Divine Vessel remains, and so does the primordial mother of humanity, Yongni. Yongni is in the temple, where she has been deified by later generations and is respectfully called pha3pha1 (pronounced “pa3 pa1,” meaning Ancestral Grandmother). The place where she is worshipped is called pha3pha1ie3tsho4 (pronounced “pa3 pa1 ye3 tsho4,” meaning Ancestral Grandmother’s Divine Hall), commonly known in Chinese as “Grandmother Temple.”

There is only one Grandmother Temple in the world. No one knows exactly when it was built, but it is now part of an ancient city from the Warring States period. Elders recall that the divine hall was simple and solemn, with a rock door, brick walls, wooden pillars, and green tiles—no grand shrine nor gleaming inscriptions. The Tujia people have a spoken language but no written script, so the temple’s name lived on through the words of local villagers. The Grandmother Temple does not belong to Confucianism, Buddhism, or Taoism, nor is it related to Jesus or Muhammad. Inside, there is only one deity—the world’s foremost goddess, Yongni Grandmother, worshipped by the Tujia people on behalf of all living beings. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Grandmother’s Divine Hall has suffered two major misfortunes. First, feudal rulers intensified spiritual oppression by stuffing the hall with Guanyin and Confucius, turning it into the Ganlin Temple and Wenchang Pavilion. Later, after the liberation, under the guise of eliminating superstition, the gods were driven out, and the site was repurposed as a thermal power plant, then as a warehouse, and even as a pigsty. Walls collapsed, buildings fell into disrepair, and the place became unrecognizable. Yet the Grandmother Temple remains famous and is still one of Liye’s landmarks. With the implementation of ancient city protection measures, it is earnestly hoped that the authorities will not forget to rescue the Grandmother Temple from its misfortunes and will not deny the manifestation of the Grandmother’s spirit to bless the land.

Yongni Grandmother is the goddess of love, as well as a deity who delights in helping the poor, saving the suffering, and upholding promises. Her original residence in the Bafang Mountains was called Grandmother Cave. The cave is located south of Hegongtou, stretching from east to west across the Bafang Mountains, extending over ten li in length. Its eastern entrance faces Hunan, standing alongside Gaowang Cave and Diaoba Cave, overlooking a bottomless abyss. Its western exit faces Chongqing, sharing a sheer cliff with Wulong Cave and Tiansheng Bridge. Inside the cave are natural rock formations including a stone table, stone stools, stone bed, stone granary, stone hall, and stone worship platform. Ethereal celestial music is said to drift from within from time to time. It is said that in the past, the place was bustling with activity, and worshippers came in an endless stream to offer incense and fulfill vows. Poor families, whether facing lean seasons or urgent needs, would come here to borrow oil, salt, firewood, rice, porcelain, or bowls, and the Grandmother Goddess would always provide in time. As long as you borrowed and repaid, borrowing again was never a problem. But later, a man with a bad conscience borrowed rice and returned chaff, which enraged the heavenly gods. The Thunder God was sent to punish him by smashing the cave’s entrance. To warn mortals, the Thunder God also carved the man’s ugly visage onto the stone wall at the cave’s mouth. In all kinds of weather, from far away in Taochiping Village below, one can still see that forever-condemned, hideous face locked out of the Gate of Blessings.

Since childhood, my grandmother Wang Manmei had told this story many times, and I had long wanted to go into the cave to see it for myself. In August 1985, March 2001, and May 2001, I led people in pilgrimage attempts, but all failed because we couldn’t find the cave’s entrance. However, there is indeed a way in from the Hunan side. It is said that Jia Songqing and Jia Mingbiao, who were bandits at the time, had their headquarters in Grandmother Cave. The entrance reportedly required descending into a sinkhole. After their downfall, the path was lost to time.

After the Thunder God blocked the cave entrance, people built a temple in Liye and invited Yongni Pha3pha1 to descend the mountain—thus, the Grandmother Temple came into being.

Visiting the temple to pray to the Grandmother Goddess is not just about seeking wealth—it’s also for marriage, matchmaking, and children. Yongni helped her brother and sister become a couple to continue the human race, and naturally, she also takes great care of young men and women wishing to unite. Long ago, by the You River behind the Grandmother Temple, a woman and a man from the opposite bank fell in love. Every night, the two would stand under the big trees in their respective courtyards and sing to each other. They deeply wished to be together, but the You River was like the Heavenly River—there was no boat or bridge to connect the earthly counterparts of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Love, however, could not be stopped. The two went to the temple together to ask the Grandmother Goddess for help. That very night, a miracle occurred: the big trees in both courtyards grew taller, leaned toward each other, and intertwined, forming a vivid living bridge over the You River at the Grandmother Shoal. Of course, as the branches entwined, the sincere lovers also became a couple. People call the tree behind the temple the Grandmother Tree, and the one on the opposite bank the Grandfather Tree. Later, many young people crossed this tree bridge to walk down the aisle. No one knows how much time passed, but eventually, the Grandfather Tree and the Grandmother Tree grew old and sank into the Grandmother Shoal. Time may pass and trees may wither, but stories stay forever young, and love stays forever young.

For those seeking love or children, the Husband-and-Wife Water Wells are a must-visit. This is another divine abode of the Grandmother Goddess. The wells are not far from the Grandmother Cave, located above Longdong Gully in Neixi Township. The cave entrance once had several layers of temple structures, destroyed in war. Now only ruins remain, along with a few particularly large mortar pits carved directly into the rock cliffs—evidence of the many visitors who once came here for meals and blessings. We interviewed over fifty people, and most gave similar accounts: the Husband-and-Wife Water Wells are where one learns about “indiscretions”—meaning, they are places where Yongni Grandmother teaches future generations about the act of intimacy through simulation. The wells are inside the cave, with a stone phallus hanging from the cave ceiling and a stone yoni recessed into the cave floor. Both are large and strikingly lifelike, about a person’s height apart. A clear spring spurts from the phallus, directly into the yoni below. Even when full, the yoni continues to receive the flow. The water is refreshing and believed to aid conception. There are even more mystical claims: those who drink from the yoni’s pool and touch the yoni stone will bear girls; those who drink from the phallus’ stream and touch the phallus stone will bear boys. Whether these claims hold any truth has not been studied by experts, but regardless, those who come here to worship or witness this unique spectacle of yin-yang union invariably touch the reproductive stone carvings and drink the fertility water. This reflects the ancient worship of genitalia and reproduction, as well as the primitive human desire to grow the population and continue life.

There is also a legend that Yongni Pha3pha1 loved taking care of children the most, which is why people often dedicate their infants and young grandchildren to her.

The eighth day of the fourth lunar month is said to be the birthday of the Grandmother Goddess. Every year on this day, the Grandmother Temple, Grandmother Cave, and Husband-and-Wife Water Wells are especially lively. Yongni Grandmother—the omnipotent goddess—with her boundless compassion and limitless powers, watches over those in need in all aspects of production, livelihood, childbirth, and growth. She welcomes all beings, grants every wish, and reveals her divine presence at critical moments. When faced with this sacred goddess of hope, whether to offer devout reverence or plead earnestly is something each person must decide according to their own conscience.