Great Immortal's Foot Temple

The Great Immortal's Foot Temple

The Great Immortal's Foot Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Great Immortal's Foot Temple

Jinggu’s abundance of miraculous sites is unmatched among China’s famous mountains and rivers. Among the 8 prefectures and over 60 counties and cities I’ve visited in Yunnan, most are cultural attractions, whereas Jinggu’s natural wonders can easily be counted in the dozens. Moreover, the Great Immortal's Foot site in Yongping is not only highly renowned, but the stories here are not mere oral legends—they are actually recorded in Buddhist scriptures.

The Great Immortal's Foot Temple Bilingual Stele in Jinggu, Pu'er — Pu'er, Yunnan. Jinggu County in Pu'er, Yunnan, is a place where Han and Dai cultures have interacted and blended. Many historical relics reflect this cultural exchange.

Inside the Great Immortal's Foot Temple in Xie'e Village, Yongping Town, Jinggu County, there stands a bilingual stele inscribed in both Chinese and Dai script. The Great Immortal's Foot Temple was built in the 50th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1785), known in Dai as “Ba 0 Guan,” and belongs to the Theravāda Buddhism tradition. This stele is the founding monument of the Dai Buddhist temple at the Great Immortal's Foot. The stone stele is 3 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide. On the front, there is a raised Chinese character “佛” (Buddha), measuring 1.5 meters tall and 1 meter wide. On the back, there is a horizontally inscribed Dai-language inscription in intaglio script. It records that on the 26th day of the seventh lunar month in the Year of the Snake (1774) at noon, Monk Suli Shengdi came from Wanding to develop the Great Immortal's Foot site. Chao (local chieftain) officials Han Zhao and Han Guo, along with their brothers, led men and women, young and old from 12 areas including Yongping, to construct the main hall of the Great Immortal's Foot. It took 11 years to complete. On the 26th day of the seventh lunar month in the 50th year of Qianlong (Dai Year 1147), the stele for the Great Immortal's Foot was erected. People from Dai communities in Mengjia, Mengwo, Mengban, Meng’an, Mengguang, Mengle, Menglian, Mengyin, Muming, Gengma, Mengdong, Mengding, Momo, Weili, and Banpo all came to make offerings and participate in the stele erection ceremony. In addition to the Dai-language inscription, Chinese couplets and a Chinese inscription were also carved on the stele.

The Chinese couplets on both sides of the stele read: “Without undergoing extraordinary asceticism, one would not know where to find a fairyland. Without hundredfold hesitation and effort, this place would not have become a famed mountain.”

The central Chinese inscription on the stele reads: “Erected in the autumn month of the 50th year of Qianlong, the Year of Bingwu [1785], on this propitious day of the seventh lunar month, by the abbot Huzhao Jian Ding Meng.” The fact that both Dai and Chinese scripts were engraved on a single stele during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty is rare enough, but the Dai text also includes inscriptions in both the Tai Lü script (used in Xishuangbanna) and the Tai Nüa script (used in Dehong), which is truly exceptional. In November 1988, the People’s Government of Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan, designated it as a county-level cultural relic protection unit.

Address: Xie'e Village, Yongping Town, Jinggu County, Pu'er City, Yunnan