Longwo Temple

Longwo Temple

Longwo Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

“No Buddha on the stone, yet the form is carved; Buddha on the stone, yet uncarved remains obscure. The wind rustles through the green cypresses, the water is clear and the stone cold. Is it stone or Buddha? A single lamp burns steadily.” This verse, inscribed on the cliff at Longwo Temple by Fan Zhongwan of Yucheng, Henan, truly sings the praises of the temple’s treasured stone grottoes and the wondrous sight of cypress-canopied stone walls down to their very core.

“Longwo Temple is located twenty li southwest of the county seat (Tianchang Ancient City), west of Xiaolongwo Township and east of Dalongwo Township. The temple is surrounded by mountains, with rugged stone cliffs. Ancient cypresses cluster in the crevices of the rocks, sprouting sideways as if they were coiling dragons, lush and verdant, full of charm. The temple site lies on the northeastern foothills of the mountain, with stone pavilions built at both the eastern and western ends, and the central area serving as a post road connecting Yan and Jin.” According to the Ji’jing County Annals Materials, compiled and completed in the 20th year of the Republic of China (1931), although it only describes the natural environment of Longwo Temple and makes no mention of the grottoes, I believe it is no exaggeration to call it a scenic gem of Ji’jing. Yet, this scenic wonder may have disappeared over time due to its defiance of the notion that “ancient temples should be hidden deep in the mountains.” The once “ancient cypresses growing from the cliffs and Buddhist towers and terraces” (as recorded in the Yanqing-era Ji’jing County Annals) have long vanished amid the vicissitudes of history. However, in its heyday, Longwo Temple served naturally as a resting place and a source of inspiration for literati and poets traveling along the post road.

The stone Buddha carvings are all high-relief sculptures, totaling 47 in number, divided among fourteen niches. The larger ones stand over a meter tall, while the smaller ones are only 0.30 meters. In terms of carving artistry or dating—experts place them in the early-to-mid Song Dynasty or late Tang Dynasty—they may not rival renowned grottoes like the Longmen or Yungang Grottoes, but their strong local style is irreplaceable by those other famous sites.

There are no historical records of when Longwo Temple was built. According to the Yanqing-era Ji’jing County Annals, “It is said that a divine dragon blocked the road, and a peddler slew it with his sword. By the Longqing era, heavy rains washed out a pit of bones, weighing about several hundred jin.” This suggests that before the Longqing era, people spoke of a dragon but not its lair; it was only during the Longqing era that the dragon’s lair was revealed. In fact, during the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty, Shi Fu, Minister of Personnel and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion from Gaocheng, Hebei, wrote a quatrain titled “Visiting Longwo Temple”: “I climb the rugged stone steps once in a while, my dusty self reaching the layer of white clouds. The myriad mountains stretch before my eyes, and I wish to entrust my idle heart to the old monk.” This indicates that Longwo Temple already existed at that time.

Although Longwo Temple was built beside the bustling official road connecting Yan and Jin, which has seen ceaseless traffic for millennia, its founders did not build it to attract incense offerings. Rather, they chose the site because “a thousand mountains gather in emerald hues, half a cliff cradles the fragrant platform. Skillfully crafted by human hands, yet marvelously resembling the work of supernatural axes. How magnificent the arrangement, how serene the stone chambers. Lingering here, worldly thoughts turn to ash” (inscription by Li Qipeng of the Chongzhen era). Nonetheless, it was ultimately unable to escape the mundane world.

The dragon holds a unique place in the hearts of the Chinese people, revered yet often avoided in speech. Among the surviving stone inscriptions by notable figures at Longwo Temple, only Qi Junzao of Shouyang, Shanxi—who was honored as the “teacher to three generations of emperors”—wrote a poem related to the dragon: “The old dragon sleeps at the bottom of Longwo Temple, hidden deep within the dragon cave in a world apart. May you bring nourishing rain with your clouds, but do not unleash your rage upon the plains.”

Longwo Temple offered these literati boundless inspiration, but being high-ranking officials themselves, they left behind only fleeting impromptu works. However, the bond between the Ming Dynasty commoner, poet, and painter Song Dengchun of Xinhe, Zhao Commandery, and Longwo Temple can be considered a fine tale in literary circles. Song Dengchun, styled Yingyuan and also known as Haiweng in his later years—later settling by Swan Pond in Jiangling and adopting the alias E’chi Sheng—was said to have once lived at Longwo Temple in Ji’jing. One day, when “the temple’s supply of rice was exhausted and the monks grew weary of him,” he said, “The monks are distressing me. Let me paint a small picture and take it to the market; I’ll surely get some rice for it.” Sure enough, he managed to trade the painting for five sheng of rice. This ensured the monks would no longer find him a nuisance, but his personal rule of “not painting again until the rice runs out” led to “people competing to acquire paintings by Dengchun” and “carrying rice to the temple gate to commission him.” This completely disrupted his desire for peace and quiet in the monastic life, leaving him unable to bear it and forcing him to retreat to a mountain hut “where even woodcutters rarely ventured.”