The Great Immortal's Foot Temple

　　 Jinggu is home to an extraordinary number of miraculous sites, unparalleled among the renowned mountains and rivers of our country. Among the eight prefectures and over 60 counties and cities I have traveled through in Yunnan, most feature cultural landmarks, whereas Jinggu’s natural wonders are so numerous that one could easily list over ten just by counting on their fingers. Moreover, the miraculous site of Yongping’s Great Immortal’s Foot is not only widely famous, but its story is not merely oral legend — it is indeed recorded in actual Buddhist scriptures.

　　 The Chinese and Dai Inscriptions at the Great Immortal's Foot Temple in Jinggu, Pu'er, Yunnan — Pu'er, Yunnan. Jinggu County in Pu'er, Yunnan, is a place where Han and Dai cultures interact and blend. Many cultural relics and historic sites reflect this cultural fusion.

　　 Within 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 the Dai language as “Ba 0 Guan,” and belongs to the Theravāda Buddhism tradition. This stele is the founding monument of the Great Immortal's Foot Dai Buddhist Temple. The stone stele stands 3 meters tall and is 1.5 meters wide. On the front, there is a raised carving of a large Chinese character “佛” (Buddha), measuring 1.5 meters in height and 1 meter in width. On the back of the stele, there is a horizontally written Dai-language inscription carved in intaglio. It records that on the 26th day of the seventh lunar month in the Year of the Snake (1774) during the Dai calendar year 1136, at noon on a Snake day, the monk Sulieshengdi came from Wanding to develop the site of the Great Immortal's Foot. The chieftains Zhao and his brothers Hanzhao and Hanguo led people — men, women, young and old — from twelve areas including Yongping, to construct the main hall of the Great Immortal's Foot. It took eleven years to complete. On the 26th day of the seventh lunar month in the 50th year of the Qianlong reign (Dai calendar year 1147), a stele was erected for the Great Immortal's Foot. Devotees from areas such as Mengjia, Mengwo, Mengban, Meng’an, Mengguang, Mengle, Menglian, Mengyin, Mumeng, 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 are also carved on the stele.

　　 The Chinese couplets on both sides of the stele read as follows: “Had it not been for arduous ascetic practice, where could one find a fairyland? Had it not been for countless deliberations, how would this land have gained its famed mountain?”

　　 The central Chinese inscription on the stele reads: “Erected in the autumn month on an auspicious day in the 50th year of Qianlong (1785), by the abbot Huzhao Jian Ding.” The coexistence of Chinese and Dai scripts on a single stele during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty is extremely rare, and even rarer is the use of both Tai Lü (Xishuangbanna Dai script) and Tai Nüa (Dehong Dai script) for the Dai inscription. In November 1988, the People’s Government of Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County, Pu'er, Yunnan, designated it as a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

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