Guangchang She

　　Guangchang Lüyuan, also known as Guangchang She, is situated on Qingshan Mountain on the southwestern shore of the Great Lotus Pond. The monastery was founded by the eminent monk San?b Monk. Construction took place from the sixth year of the Tianqi era (1626) to the second year of the Chongzhen era (1629), spanning four years. The original site covered an area of more than 16,000 square meters. The temple’s mountain gate wall stood three zhang high, painted pink, and featured four gold characters: “Guangchang Lüyuan,” said to have been inscribed by Dong Qichang, the great calligrapher of the late Ming Dynasty. Inside the temple were over 500 bronze Buddha statues and 110 clay Bodhisattva sculptures, along with more than 40 stone steles.

　　Guangchang Lüyuan is a renowned monastic complex and one of the three major lüyuan (disciplinary monasteries) in Hubei. It enjoyed great prestige and fame far and wide. The Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong-era “Mianyang Annals” documented a stele inscription by Master Sanmei about the establishment of Guangchang Lüyuan. This stele is now embedded in the mountain gate wall of Guangchang Lüyuan, and those with keen eyes can faintly make out the full text. During the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty, the abbot of Guangchang Lüyuan was a scholar-official: his Dharma name was Fushan, styled Xiaoyan, and he was from Jiangsu.

　　After the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, Kang and Liang fled abroad, while the Six Gentlemen including Tan Sitong were executed by the Qing court. He went into hiding and assumed a false identity, becoming a monk at Guiyuan Temple in Hanyang, Wuhan. Later, he served as abbot of Guangchang Lüyuan in Miancheng. Elder Fushan was born into a Hanlin family, excelled in poetry, and during his tenure at Guangchang Lüyuan, composed four famous long regulated verses titled “Scenes of Qingshan Mountain.”

　　In 1999, Mr. Wei Enguang traveled to Hong Kong to visit relatives and copied down the long verses of Abbot Fushan from the scripture depository at the Great Xiangguo Temple. The following is an excerpt:

　　The First:

　　 The scroll of poetry flows eternal through heaven and earth;

　　 Each time I take up the brush, my face flushes with shame.

　　 Clouds embrace the lotus pool where a thousand blooms bloom;

　　 Mist veils the ink pond where half a bay of water gleams.

　　 The bright moon hangs high as monks meditate in peace;

　　The setting sun sinks low as birds wing home in flight.

　　Does Qingshan differ from the East Grove? Why not

　　Found a society here on this very hillside?

　　In the late Qing Dynasty, the abbot of Guangchang She, Redflower Monk, was a renowned martial arts master. His “Breath Control Technique” was rarely seen.

　　One day, a burly man placed a pair of stone lions in front of the crossroads. The lions were huge, each weighing over a thousand

　　jin. A large crowd gathered to watch. The man glanced at the onlookers and arrogantly declared, “Whoever can move the lions may have them.”

　　The crowd looked at one another but no one dared to step forward. Just then, Redflower Monk happened to pass by. Hearing what had happened, he thought, “The temple gate could really use a pair of stone lions—why not take them?” So he approached and asked, “Sir, are you speaking the truth?”

　　The burly man sized up Redflower Monk and sneered, “You’re not even as tall as the lion, nor as big as it is. And you think you can move the stone lions?”

　　The monk replied, “I don’t intend to move them—I just want to blow them down with my breath.”

　　At that, the burly man burst into laughter. “If you can do that, I’ll kowtow 360 times and bang my head on the ground.”

　　The monk concentrated his energy, puffed out his cheeks, and gave a powerful blow—both stone lions came crashing down and rolled a few feet. The onlookers erupted into thunderous applause.

　　Just as the burly man was about to kneel and kowtow, the monk stopped him. “No need for that. Just give me the lions.” With that, he hoisted a lion in each hand and strode off.

　　The most miraculous tale from Guangchang Lüyuan is that of an Ailanthus tree that caught fire sixty years ago. This tree was over a thousand years old,

　　so large that four grown men couldn’t join hands around its trunk. One night in 1937, during a storm, a lightning bolt shaped like a dragon struck the tree and set it ablaze.

　　By day, the flames blended with the daylight, making the tree appear unharmed; by night, flickers of fire could be seen as the tree burned with a “pfft” sound.

　　The Ailanthus tree burned for seven days and seven nights before the fire died out. When people approached, they found no trace of ash, yet the roots remained green as if newly sprouted. Beside the roots was a hole as wide as a washbasin—so deep that locals couldn’t see the bottom even using bamboo poles over ten meters long. People from hundreds of miles around flocked to see it. Later, after Miancheng suffered devastation during the Japanese invasion, this miraculous sight disappeared.

　　 The current Guangchang Lüyuan was built on the site of the former palace of Chen Youliang. Legend has it that after launching his rebellion, Chen constructed a palace here.

　　Surprisingly, the platform here stands 5–7 meters above the ground. Standing in the center of the platform, you can take in the full view of the lake scenery and pastoral landscapes of Miancheng.

　　Legend has it that during the great flood of 1954, no matter how high the water rose, this platform always remained 2 meters above the surface. The Guangchang Lüyuan (Monastery) now has a main hall

　　built in a "bright three, hidden five" structural style, covering an area of 300 square meters. The hall’s roof features bright ridges and carved eaves, with bronze bells hanging high from each corner. Inside the hall, there are dozens of gilded Buddha statues,

　　each with distinct expressions. To the south of the monastery is also a Guanyin Hall. Currently, the construction of the Kṣitigarbha Hall, Qinghan Hall, Maitreya Hall, Pengzu Hall, Qingyun Pavilion, and Samadhi Hall is underway.

　　The Hall, Qingyun Pavilion, Sanmei Hall, and others are currently under planning and construction.