Bi Luo Stele

　　Located within Longxing Temple in Xinjiang County, Shanxi Province. The temple was originally built during the Tang Dynasty and was initially named Bi Luo Guan (Bi Luo Temple). The stele was housed inside the temple, hence its name. Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty stayed here and renamed the temple Longxing Palace, but later, due to occupation by monks, it was renamed Longxing Temple. The calligraphy on the stele is ancient and exquisite, renowned for its large seal script. According to *Shan You Jin Shi Cun Lüe* (A Brief Record of Metal and Stone Inscriptions in Shanxi), a Taoist priest prayed for the stele to be carved, closed the door, shut his eyes, and meditated for three days. Upon opening the door, he saw a pair of cranes dancing, and the inscriptions on the stele had magically appeared, perfectly carved. The stele stands 2.26 meters tall, 1.03 meters wide, and 21 centimeters thick. The inscriptions were carved in the third year of the Zongzhang era of the Tang Dynasty (670 AD), authored by Han Wang (Prince of Han), Yuan Jia, and Jia Sheng—sons of Emperor Gaozu. It consists of twenty-one lines, with thirty-two characters per line, totaling six hundred and thirty characters after excluding blanks. The content describes how Han Wang, Yuan Jia, and their sons Li Xun, Li Yi, Li Zhuan, and Li Zhan commissioned the creation of Buddhist images and prayers for the repose of their mother (Lady Fang, née Yuanning). Twenty years later, in the eleventh year of the Xiantong era of the Tang Dynasty (870 AD), Zheng Chenggui was ordered to inscribe a phonetic gloss on the lower part of the stele’s reverse side. The original text has slight damage, rumored to have been caused by

　　the Tang Dynasty figure Li Yangbing striking it with a hammer. Later generations traced the original rubbing and recarved a new stele, which was placed beside the original. This replica is known as the “New Stele,” with an inscription on its reverse side reading “Jin Dading Twenty-Third Year.” Longxing Temple features solemn Buddhist halls, towering pagodas, exquisitely crafted statues, and a forest of ancient stelae, all of which are deeply captivating.