Sizhou Chan Temple

　　To the south of Xiandao Lake stands Baima Mountain, which rises 780 meters above sea level. This mountain is covered in dense forests and shrouded in mist year-round, exuding an air of mystery. Halfway up the mountain lies Luojiazhai Village, and beside it sits Sizhou Temple. The legends of the village and the temple intertwine into a millennia-old unsolved mystery, open to all interpretations.

　　In the first year of Emperor Shengzong’s reign during the Tang Dynasty (684 AD), Xu Jingye raised an army to rebel against Empress Wu Zetian. Luo Binwang, one of the Four Eminent Scholars of early Tang literature, drafted the proclamation. Historical records state that “Luo Binwang was defeated in battle and fled, his whereabouts unknown.” However, local folklore in Yangxin claims that Luo Binwang escaped to Luojiazhai on Baima Mountain in Wangying, where he lived in seclusion. His descendants multiplied and spread across Yangxin. The place where he once built his hut is now known as Luojiazhai. At that time, the eminent monk Shangjia from the Western Regions founded a temple and preached scriptures in Sizhou (now Sizhou County, Anhui Province), gaining widespread fame and earning the nickname “Sizhou Monk.” A monk from Sizhou traveled to Luojiazhai on Baima Mountain in Wangying, where he took up residence and built a temple. Admiring the monk’s reputation, Luo Binwang donated all his wealth to support the construction and later joined the temple as a monk, renouncing worldly life. Luo Binwang, originally from Yiwu, Zhejiang, may have fled upstream along the Yangtze River to Yangxin after his defeat in Yangzhou. According to Wang Ping, former Political Commissar of the General Logistics Department of the People’s Liberation Army and a Marshal, there is an ancient tomb not far from his mother’s grave. The tombstone was tall, and the inscription recorded the life of Luo Binwang. Unfortunately, both the tomb and the tablet have since been submerged underwater. During the chaos of the late Tang Dynasty, the temple was destroyed in war.

　　Historical records indicate that in the third year of the Tianfu era during the late Tang Dynasty (903 AD), Sizhou Temple was rebuilt. By the Yuan Dynasty, however, the temple had again fallen into ruin and its monks had dispersed. In the third year of the Xuande era of the Ming Dynasty (1428 AD), a high monk from Chunchi Temple in Sishui County, Shandong Province, arrived here during his travels and reconstructed the temple. From then on, the temple flourished in popularity. At its peak, the temple complex spanned 27 acres, surrounded by stone walls about two li in circumference and over ten feet high. The temple owned over 100 acres of farmland and vast tracts of forest. It housed more than a hundred monks, divided into scholarly and martial divisions—the former focused on meditation, the latter on defense. Over the years, Sizhou Temple suffered multiple destructions. By 1985, only half of the main hall remained, along with the Wusheng Palace and Guanyin Hall in the side halls. In 1988, Sizhou Temple was designated as a county-level key cultural relic protection unit. Several stone pagodas once stood near the temple, but only three remain today. One, built in the 22nd year of the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty (1817 AD), stands in front of the temple. This seven-story pagoda is over ten feet tall, with each level being hexagonal and featuring upturned corners. Beside it lies an ancient tomb from the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty. The other two stone pagodas are uniquely shaped—one resembles an incense burner, the other a gourd—both ancient in appearance and preserving their vintage charm.

　　Sizhou Temple enjoys a tranquil environment. A stream babbles nearby, disappearing underground before suddenly gushing out in front of the temple, its water column resembling incense smoke. Beside it grows a lush willow tree, said to have been planted by Luo Binwang.