Lvtian Hermitage

Lvtian Hermitage

Lvtian Hermitage

This was the place where the famous Tang Dynasty calligrapher Huaisu (725–785) practiced Buddhism and calligraphy. It is situated behind the Mahavira Hall of Gaoshan Temple in Lingling District. Huaisu became a monk in his early years and had a great love for calligraphy. Because he was too poor to afford paper, he planted many banana trees and used their leaves as paper, often practicing calligraphy on thousands of sheets at a time. It is said that the brushes he used up were piled into a mound, and the pools where he washed his ink turned black as ink pits. Later generations called this hermitage "Lvtian" (Green Sky) because the hermitage was surrounded by dense banana groves with green canopies like clouds. The hermitage was first built no later than the mid-Tang Dynasty. It was rebuilt in the early years of the Kangxi reign during the Qing Dynasty and underwent repairs during the Qianlong period. In the second year of the Xianfeng reign (1852), it was destroyed in war. In the first year of the Tongzhi reign (1862), Yang Han, the prefectural magistrate, reconstructed it. The site included a main hall, above which was the Banana Planting Pavilion, to the left the Drunken Monk Tower, and also a Scripture Meditation Hut, next to which were stored various stone tablets inscribed with calligraphy by Huaisu. By the 38th year of the Republic of China (1949), the Banana Planting Pavilion, Drunken Monk Tower, Scripture Meditation Hut, and Buddha Hall had all lost their original appearance, and the remaining main hall was demolished in 1981 by the local psychiatric hospital. Today, only a badly weathered and eroded Qing Dynasty rubbing of Huaisu’s cursive script version of the “Thousand Character Classic” remains.

Huaisu

His courtesy name was Zangzhen, and he was from present-day Changsha, Hunan.