Don't be unconvinced Jincheng is an important birthplace of The Journey to the West's story.

The Monkey King didn't take a golden hoop, and Bajie didn't take a palladium nail ... On the Purple Mountain south of Dongzhong Village, liushukou, Zezhou County, Jincheng City, on the cliff behind a temple more than 700 years ago, there was a beautiful statue carved on the cliff where Sanzang learned the scriptures.

The Journey to the West was written in the first year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1573) and published after 19, with a history of more than 400 years. According to the available data, Pei Chishan, a scholar in Jincheng, believes that due to the appearance of stone carvings of The Journey to the West figures in Yuan Dynasty, as well as the relevant local materials and folklore in Jincheng, it is inferred that Jincheng or The Journey to the West is an important birthplace of the story.

Dayunyuan, a temple found in a small mountain village, is called Dayunyuan, which is located on the Purple Mountain south of Dongzhong Village, liushukou, Zezhou County. However, this Yuan Dynasty temple was discovered eight years ago.

Wang Pengfei is the head of the Cultural Relics Section of Zezhou County Tourism Cultural Relics Bureau. In July, 2009, Wang Pengfei, the captain of the Third Cultural Relics Investigation Team in Zezhou County, came to Dongchong Village to visit the villagers to find clues. An old man in his 60s told him that there was an ancient temple on the Purple Mountain in the south of the village.

When I came to the foot of Zijin Mountain, a red-walled temple was faintly visible among the green trees halfway up the mountain.

Although the Purple Mountain is not high, the curvable and steep mountain road is not flat. After walking three or four kilometers, Wang Pengfei and other talents arrived at the temple. To his surprise, this great source of transport hidden in the mountains was built in the Yuan Dynasty. Under the cliff behind the temple, there is a "teacher cave" where the Zen master practices, and a statue of Guanyin of the bright moon is carved on the cliff.

Excited Wang Pengfei immediately dialed the telephone of Pei Chishan at the scene. Pei Chishan is a famous archaeologist in Jincheng. He was the captain of the special investigation team of Jincheng site at that time. Due to the heavy task of cultural relics investigation at that time, he didn't go to Dayun Academy for field investigation until 20 10. He was shocked by the present situation.

The Journey to the West, a stone carving in Yuan Dynasty, is located in Dongchong Village, liushukou, Zezhou County, southeast of Jincheng City. Although it is about 40 kilometers away from the urban area, it is located in a mountainous area with steep and winding mountain roads, and it takes more than 1 hour to drive there.

Zhao Haifa of Dong Chongcun once worked in a unit in Jincheng and returned to the village after retirement. Similar to other villages, Dong Chongcun, which has hundreds of people, now has only the elderly. 2065438+On May 6th, 2005, led by Zhao Haifa, the reporter climbed the Purple Mountain on foot.

On the way, Zhao Haifa said that the road to Universiade was not easy. Although villagers go up the mountain to burn incense and make a wish every year on holidays, "but in the past year, narrow paths are always covered with messy trees and bushes."

After the discovery of Universiade, more and more tourists came to Zijinshan. For safety, someone widened a dirt road from the online mountain at the foot of the mountain to the stone steps of Dayunyuan.

Although the stone steps are not long, they are very tall and steep. "This was all built in the Yuan Dynasty." After walking around the steps for more than ten minutes with Zhao Haifa, a three-room spacious Ming and Qing style hall appeared in front of you.

The main hall facing east and west is three temples, which are divided into two wings on the north and south sides. It is the only remaining building of Dayun Academy. Under the stone wall in the south, there are stone tablets of Wu Tong in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The earliest work was "Rebuilding the Dayunyuan Monument of Zijinshan Shidong" written by Xerox in the 12th year of Ming Dynasty (15 17). However, these inscriptions do not mention the founding age of Dayun Academy.

Standing on the platform in front of the three temples, the peaks are tall and straight, the vegetation is lush, and the sound of flowing water is endless.

On the cliff, there are many small square caves dug by hand. Zhao Haifa said that these are mortise and tenon structures used in temple buildings. It can be seen that the original Dayun Academy was not what it is now, and the scale at that time should be quite large. "These three temples were rebuilt by villagers in 2005."

Along the stone steps of the south wing, around the back of the main hall, not far away, there is a square cave carved from a cliff. It turns out that this is a "mentoring cave", about 2 meters deep, with a built-in stone couch, which is a place for monks to practice. There is a stone tablet on the ground in front of the cave, and the head of the tablet is scattered aside. The stone tablet is "Rebuilding the Cave of Teachers" and the inscription is "Thirty Years to Dayuan (1293)".

"The ancient teacher was called Guanshan ... There was a hole in the mountain, which was very different and named after the mountain." Purple Mountain is also called Teacher Mountain, and the cave is named after the mountain, so it is called "Teacher Cave". "Judging from the inscription, there should be a teacher cave first, followed by Dayun Academy." Zhao Haifa said.

It can be seen from the inscription that in the first year of the Qing Dynasty in the Tang Dynasty (934) after the Five Dynasties, a Zen master practiced in the cave. In the eighth year of Jintianhui (1 130), there were three temples in front of the cave, which should be the predecessor of Dayun Academy. In the first year of Emperor Tong of Jin Dynasty (1 14 1), Zhou Weishui lived in seclusion here. Due to the war at the end of Jin Dynasty, the "mentoring cave" and the three temples were abandoned. It was not until the ninth year of Yuan Dynasty (1272) that Zen master Daoning came here to live in seclusion.

Daoning Zen master's common surname is Fan, and he is from Hukoucheng Village, Lucheng. When he was nine, he became a monk. He first studied Buddhism with Master Putai at Dayun Academy in Guli Ganquan Village, and then went to his eldest son Daixue Temple to study Buddhism with Lin Ji teacher Longan for ten years. After the abbot's "Shidong", he was invited to give lectures, during which he spent five apprentices, and then resumed his studies in the "Shidong".

Along the stone steps at the edge of the cliff on the south side of the "Teacher Cave", a square platform and a stone carving cave appeared on the steep cliff ahead.

The whole stone carving is about 2 meters long, with the position of "Guanyin Jingbian" in the middle. I saw Shuiyue Guanyin sitting sideways in a stone niche, her right leg raised and stepped on the Buddha platform, and her left foot stepped on the lotus. The two warriors separated, and the lion and Kirin respectfully. Unfortunately, the upper body of Shuiyue Guanyin statue was destroyed and the Buddha's face was hard to find.

Although the stone carving of "Three Monks Learning from the Scriptures" is divided into north and south sides under the "Guanyin Classic Change", the content presented by the whole stone carving is integrated. In the south, there are officials, monkey walkers and white horses dragons who are armed with water boards and wear royal robes. There are Sanzang, Bajie and Zhangma in the north. Carefully observe the details of the stone carvings: Master Sanzang has a pious face and worships Guanyin; A walker wearing a monk's hat stands with his legs crossed, his right hand on his forehead and his left hand holding a stick-shaped instrument. The robust Bajie has a long pole on his shoulder, a pole tail in his left hand, an umbrella and a gourd-shaped kettle on his head, a horse in his right hand and scriptures on his back.

Look closely at the two white horses, which have different shapes: white behind Monkey Walker, with only saddle and stirrup on his back, landing on all fours and grazing leisurely with his head down; Bai, who was behind Bajie, bowed down from a distance, wore a mattress, lifted his left hoof back and forth, and walked with his head held high, like a mount for Sanzang.

Compared with the characters in The Journey to the West, there is no Friar Sand in the stone carvings, but there is an official in the Emei Belt.

When was this cliff carving created? In the middle of the Buddhist platform of Shuiyue Guanyin, the reporter saw an inscription: "When Dayuan was thirty years old, there was a six-day abbot in Ji Chun in the first half of the year." The time inscribed on the inscription coincides with the "Rebuilding the Teacher Cave" in Yuan Dynasty before the "Teacher Cave", which shows that this cliff stone carving has a history of more than 700 years.

Does the story of Journey to the West have anything to do with Jincheng? "The discovery of the stone statue of Dayunyuan's Journey to the West is the first time in Jincheng to describe the story of Tang Priest's scriptures in the form of stone carvings." On the morning of May 7, 20 15, Pei Chishan, an archaeologist in Jincheng and the captain of the special investigation team of the city site, said: "Since it was produced in the Yuan Dynasty and The Journey to the West was written in the Ming Dynasty, it is inferred that Jincheng and even Shangdang area should be the important birthplace of The Journey to the West's story."

Pei Chishan believes that the discovery of this cliff stone carving shows that The Journey to the West's story was widely circulated in southeastern Shanxi at that time, and was later collected by the author and created the novel The Journey to the West.

Pei Chishan found that The Journey to the West was written in the first year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (1573). At present, the earliest version is the version of Jinling Shidetang published in Ming Dynasty, which was engraved in the twentieth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (1592), only ten years after the death of author Wu Cheng'en, and it is also the closest engraving to Wu Cheng'en's original work.

It can also be known from other relevant materials that before The Journey to the West was written, there were many versions in The Journey to the West, including The Journey to the West's zaju by Yang Jingxian (born in and died in Yongle of Ming Dynasty) at the end of Yuan Dynasty, Tang Sanzang's Zaju of Journey to the West in the middle of Yuan Dynasty, Tang Sanzang's The Journey to the West in Yuan Dynasty, and Tang Sanzang's Poem of Journey to the West in Southern Song Dynasty. "That is to say, The Journey to the West in Wu Cheng'en was created on the basis of poetry, drama and criticism after finishing and processing."

As far as the time of Dayunyuan's journey to the West Cliff Carving is concerned, it is 280 years earlier than that of The Journey to the West.

In Pei Chishan's view, Jincheng is inextricably linked with the story of Journey to the West.

In the history of Jincheng, there was a "Nanyang Silk Road" opened before the Ming Dynasty. On the ancient road more than ten kilometers from Nanyang Village in Tuwo Township, Qinshui County to Dongfeng Township, Yangcheng County, there are overlapping peaks, lush trees, karst caves and rivers.

From ancient times to the present, people here have endless legends about the characters in The Journey to the West: Mahuyuan Village in Tuwo Township is the place where Bi Mawen raises horses; There is an east-west quicksand river next to Mahuyuan village. There is a village called Gaojiazhuang on the north bank of Liusha River, and there is a Gaolaozhuang with less than 30 households behind Zhuangzi. There is a Chujiazhuang opposite Gaojiazhuang, formerly known as Zhujiazhuang. There is a "Dongzigou" next to Chujiazhuang. There are 18 caves in the cave, including Hong Haier Cave, Spider Cave, Niuwangmo Cave, Bajie Cave and Huxian Cave.

Although the legend of The Journey to the West is widely circulated in China, the related objects are rare. However, some temples in Jincheng are under construction, but relevant contents can be found.

The reporter went to Yandi Palace in Guguan Village, Shennong Town, Gaoping City. Tang Sanzang, the Monkey King, Pig Bajie, Friar Sand, Bai and other The Journey to the West figures are carved in the gallery of the main hall of the temple, with the image of Nezha stepping on hot wheels.

Although the date of the establishment of Emperor Yan's Palace is unknown, there is a monument to rebuild Emperor Yan's Palace in the eleventh year of Tong Ming Chenghua (1475). This shows from the side that the creation time of this group of The Journey to the West woodcarvings is 98 years earlier than that of the novel The Journey to the West.

Coincidentally. On May 3, 20 15, the special stamp Journey to the West (I) was first issued in Wuxing Mountain Scenic Area, Lingchuan County, Jincheng City. Zhang Nan, the designer of the first day cover and stamp album in The Journey to the West, thinks that the Wuxing Mountain in The Journey to the West is the Wuxing Mountain in lingchuan county.

"Dayunyuan Cliff Stone Statue is an early sculpture of the Yuan Dynasty. After years of research and textual research, it is proved that The Journey to the West had been widely circulated before the Yuan Dynasty. It originated from folklore and was later written as a novel by writers. " Pei Chishan believes: "It can be inferred that Jincheng and even Shangdang area are the important birthplace of The Journey to the West's story."