Religious sites in Kongwangshan Mountain

The Cliff Carving of Kongwangshan is located on the cliff at the western end of the southern foot of Kongwangshan, and it is distributed in the range of east-west18m, up and down about 8m. There are three kinds of statues: relief statues, small niche lines, bases attached to relief statues and lamp bowls. There are 89 reliefs, including four Taoist figures in China, namely, Laozi and his benefactor, Guan Lingyin Xi and Huangdi. It belongs to 85 statues of Buddhist figures, mainly the story of the change of Buddhist scriptures, with the "Nirvana Map" at the lower part of the statue center as the core, and * * * consists of 46 figures, with Sakyamuni lying on his back in high relief as the central figure.

In addition to this religious relic, Kongwangshan also found other similar relics, including Taoism and Buddhism. Not far from the southeast of the statue group, there is a tall stone statue of the Han Dynasty, which is vigorous and gentle. The left abdomen is carved with a stone statue of a foot bell and a slave with a long hook. Taming elephants with hooks is a common technique in Han Dynasty, while taming elephants and elephants with hooks is common in Buddhist classics and activities. Under the four feet of the stone statue, a lotus flower is carved, which shows the Buddhist theme of the stone statue. Further south, there are stone toads of the Han Dynasty. From the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, toad was regarded as a sacred object, an auspicious thing to conquer the five soldiers, suppress evil spirits, promote life and dominate wealth. For people who believe in supernatural beings, as long as they avoid disasters and benefit, there is no difference between Buddha, God, Tao Zun and toad.

In terms of religious content, the site of Kongwangshan has a strong Taoist factor and atmosphere. In addition to the above Taoist contents, as early as 1984, the late Mr. Ding discovered two Taoist remains from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the Master Peak of Kongwang Mountain. One is "Exposed Plate" and the other is "Cup and Plate Stone Carving", which is located about 15 meters northeast of the former. Collecting and preparing fairy dew with "dew plate" was a common method used by alchemists and Taoists at that time (the investigation report was published in the fifth issue of Cultural Relics 1984).

"Carving stones on cups and plates" is also a ritual vessel for sacrificing Taoist figures. These two important stone relics are located on the main peak of Kongwang Mountain, which are high above and unobstructed, giving people the feeling of floating out of the world. It is really an ideal place to drink fairy dew, drink fairy wine, seek immortality and cultivate immortality. 200 1-2002 Archaeological excavations found ancient architectural remains in many places in Kongwang site. Especially on the platform not far from the statue group, there is a large building base, and rope tiles and moire tiles of the Han Dynasty have been unearthed. These findings can at least tell us that in the Han Dynasty, there were buildings in front of the Cliff Statues of Kongwangshan. Combined with the religious relics around the same period, such as stone statues and stone toads, and the strong Taoist information here, it can be reasonably considered that there was a religious building here in the Han Dynasty, which should not be an ordinary secular building. In Taoism, Laozi is regarded as the "great old gentleman", and the Donghai gentleman under him is the god of the ancient East China Sea, which is enshrined in the "Donghai Temple". There is a "Donghai Temple Chief" handed down in Han Dynasty, which is the seal of 300 to 400 stone officials (equivalent to the length of a small county in the Eastern Han Dynasty), indicating that Donghai Temple was an extremely important Taoist temple managed by the government in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Jin Shi Lu, written by Zhao Mingcheng in the Song Dynasty, contains the inscription on the tablet of Donghai Temple in the first year of Xiping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 172). According to relevant research, the pedestal of this monument is the pedestal at the foot of Kongwang Mountain. In a word, judging from the natural geographical environment, cultural factors, historical records and archaeological discoveries, Donghai Temple, an important relic of early Taoism, should be located in the site of Kongwangshan. It shows that Lianyungang area should be the center of Taoist activities in the coastal areas of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The religious relics of Kongwangshan, represented by cliff statues, are the coexistence of Taoism and Buddhism, and Taoism prevails, which accords with the historical reality of Buddhism localization in China.

Taoism, as a native religion, pays attention to the study of witchcraft and immortality, and pursues the way of immortality. During the Qin and Han dynasties, there was a big market from emperors to ordinary people. Taoism's understanding of Huang Lao once became the fundamental guiding ideology of governing the country in the early Western Han Dynasty. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Jiao used Taiping Road to launch a large-scale Yellow Scarf Uprising. Buddhism was introduced into China in the late Western Han Dynasty. It takes a long time for a foreign culture to gain people's recognition and status. Buddhism, like Taoism, has a beautiful description of the fairyland, a way to get rid of the troubles of life, and a practical function of praying and avoiding disasters. This * * * nature, coupled with China's early sectarian consciousness is not so strong, Buddhism and Taoism are parallel, and even * * * exists in a religious belief place, which is both normal and inevitable. According to orthodox historical records, Liu Ying, the king of Chu in the Eastern Han Dynasty (whose kings were all in Pixian County, adjacent to Lianyungang City), was the best of both Buddhism and Taoism. Chen Yinke, a famous scholar, once said that Taoism originated in coastal areas, and Tang Yongtong pointed out that Buddhism in the Eastern Han Dynasty was attached to Taoism. The religious stone carvings on Cliff in Kongwangshan provide empirical data in this regard.

The discovery of the Buddhist theme of the Cliff Carvings at Kongwangshan in Lianyungang in the Eastern Han Dynasty pushed the Cliff Carvings in China for centuries, more than 200 years earlier than the famous Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, and was known as "the first Cliff Sculpture in Kyushu". Its discovery challenges the traditional history of Buddhism, art and Sino-foreign relations in China. Traditionally, Buddhism in China was introduced to China from the west through the "overland Silk Road" and then spread to other places. However, why didn't this early Buddhist cliff statue of Kongwangshan appear in the central and western regions where Buddhist culture was first introduced? Some people think that this is closely related to the strong religious atmosphere in Xuhuai area in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the developed Han Dynasty stone relief carving technology in southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu. Some people think that apart from the overland Silk Road, the spread of Buddhism is not excluded, and Lianyungang, the end of the overland Silk Road, also has the Maritime Silk Road as a starting point, which also introduced Indian Buddhism and blossomed, giving birth to the theme of Buddhist statues on the cliffs of Kongwang Mountain. Mr. Zhao Puchu, president of the Chinese Buddhist Association, saw the photos of the cliff statue of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Kongwangshan and said, "The Maritime Silk Road was opened early, and literature and history demonstrated the cliff. Maybe Kong Wangshan's head looks like a quicksand white horse. " Although the in-depth study is still going on, only the definite age and Buddhist content mean the rewriting of China's Buddhist history and art history. Its historical significance is not only in Lianyungang, but also in China and the world, not only in the distant past, but also in the present and future.