Tourist attractions in Malichang Town

The Ghost Cave is located in Paidalu Village

On the intersection of Xiangxi 209 and 319 National Highways, there is a town where the Miao people live - Malichang Town, Huayuan County; Liantai Mountain in the south of the town There is a concave area about 600 meters long from east to west and about 200 meters deep. Under the cliff to the east, there is a huge cave with unfathomable depth. The local Miao people call it "Ghost Cave".

Since ancient times, there have been many folk versions of ghost cave legends; there are fairy tales, bull-headed and horse-faced monster tales, red-haired devil tales, etc.; there is also a modern version. According to legend, in the 15th year of the Republic of China, two ghost caves in Malichang Town A young man surnamed Wu was chopping firewood near a ghost cave, but he saw clouds and mist at the entrance of the cave, a strange fragrance assailed his nostrils, and the sound of mysterious music could be heard from time to time. Out of curiosity, one of them went into the cave to check, but never came out. His family couldn't find him many times, and they all thought he was eaten by monsters. Until the late 1960s, another young man named Wu, who was already 70 years old, was grazing cattle near a ghost cave one day. Suddenly he heard a young man singing Miao songs on the top of the mountain. When he walked in, he saw that he was the man who entered the cave decades ago. The brothers from the same family in Guidong have not changed at all in their appearance and appearance. But this brother no longer recognized him and called him "uncle". He said that he saw many pavilions and pavilions in the cave, and a group of fairies were dancing, singing and drinking. One of the fairies poured him a cup of wine. After drinking it, he became drunk. When he woke up, he found himself lying on the rocks on the top of the mountain. Remembering that the chopped firewood was still lying on the mountainside, I looked around for it, but I couldn't find it. (Jianyan Mountain)

Jianyan Mountain is located in Malichang, Huayuan County. The mountain rises abruptly from the basin and reaches the sky (868 meters above sea level), with a circumference of about 10 kilometers at the bottom. There are four villages, Jianyan, Xinqiao, Laozhai and Shake, with about 4,000 Miao and Han Tujia people living around the mountain. Jianyan Mountain is majestic and tall, and its bells and bells are beautiful. From a distance, it looks like a giant pen writing the sky upside down on a piece of paper, so it is also called Wenbi Peak. According to legend, during the Tang and Song Dynasties, a scholar went to Jianyan and saw the shape of Jianyan Mountain. He wrote the first couplet: Jianshan is like a blue sky written upside down on a piece of paper. So far, no one has done a good job in copying the second couplet.

There are many famous mountain temples in the world. According to Huayuan County Chronicles and folklore, as far back as the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there was a famous Taoist, medical scientist, and alchemist Ge Hong who built a Taoist temple and a stone house on the mountain where he preached, practiced medicine and alchemy. It is said that Ge Hong ate the earthworms on the mountain and the water hemp in the fields. Therefore, people in this area still call these two fungi "Gexianmi". Later, due to years of disrepair and erosion from rain, snow, wind and frost, the Taoist temple built on the top of the mountain collapsed. There are still the foundations of the Taoist temple and the remaining bricks and tiles on the east and west platforms of the top of the mountain. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, due to the difficulty of transporting materials to build temples and nunneries on the top of the mountain, temples and nunneries were built halfway up the mountain. By the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Liu Jingji (also known as Yushu), a rich man from Shake Village in this town, successively funded the construction of three temples and nunneries, named "Bifeng Temple". Soon, Shi Niancai, a rich man from Jinniu Village in this town, contributed money to build the temple. Liu Fulin of Jianyan Village bought three tile-roofed houses, and celebrities such as Long Changgui, Long Changlin, Long Changfu of Jianyan Village, and Long Shaobai of Jinniu Village organized the removal of the houses by the villagers of Jianyan, Xinqiao, Laozhai, Shake, and Xinke Up the mountain, it was built in front of the original temple nunnery, with wing rooms on both sides, connected to the three houses at the back, and sealed with fire bricks to form a courtyard-style temple nunnery with a brick and wood structure. Craftsmen were invited to carve hundreds of Buddha and Bodhisattva statues including Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, Tathagata, Manjusri, Jinxian, Milai, Randen and Wei Tuo.

There was no way to test the nuns who came to Shi'an to practice and preside over Buddhist services. In the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, three sisters of the Peng family from Liye Town, Longshan County went to the "Bifeng Nunnery" in Jianyan Mountain to practice and practice Buddhism. Preside over Buddhist services in the nunnery. After the death of the three sisters, a lady named Li from Jianyan Village took over and presided over the Buddhist services of "Bifeng Nunnery". Her Buddhist name was Li Yuanhou. She then invited a man named Liu from Laozhai Village to be the long-term laborer in the nunnery, and named him Liu Baoshan. Because the monastery had land at that time (the local government came forward to absorb the fields of the Juefang family as the monastery's land) and needed people to take care of it, and the people in the neighboring villages needed to carry alms in spring and autumn (called "living food") and needed people to carry it up the mountain, etc. . Therefore, the main source of livelihood for the nuns in the monastery is the live food they collect in the town and surrounding towns such as Yaqiao, Paibi, Dongmaku, Woshao, and Longtan in the spring and autumn, and the cash they get from going up the mountain to worship Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. , clear oil and money and materials donated by relevant persons. Therefore, the lives of the nuns and long-term workers in the nunnery are guaranteed. In the spring of 1968, a rebel leader from Malichang Town led a group of people to go up the mountain and smash all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This was called sweeping and smashing the "Four Olds". Empress Yuan held Governor Cheng Qian's notice on the protection of cultural relics in her hand. She fainted after looking at the smashed Buddha statue, and soon she was filled with regret. Later, the production team at that time evacuated Shi'an's house to build a team house, and the thousand-year-old camphor pine trees surrounding Shi'an were also chopped down. The big bell and big drum were carried to the commune at that time, but their whereabouts were unknown later. In this way, the Jianyan Mountain "Bifeng Temple" with a long history of thousands of years from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Cultural Revolution was destroyed.

On Jianyan Mountain there are Mozi Rock, Changshou Spring, Bifeng Temple, Wenchang Pavilion, Guanyin Cave, a bowl of water (gold basin reflecting the moon), hot and cold cave, Xianren Bridge (overpass), and the Taoist temple built by Ge Hong and alchemy ruins and more than a dozen natural and cultural attractions. Especially when standing on the east and west platforms on the top of the mountain, you can reach out and pull out a piece of clouds covered with stars; looking down, you can see the smoke and tile colors of the villages below the mountain, fertile fields, and winding streams; the silver-white National Highway 319 passes by the foot of the mountain, and the magnificent Jicha Expressway runs from the Dawangpo Bridge on the opposite side to the bottom of Jianyan Mountain halfway up the mountain. From a distance, you can see the vast expanse of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and the majestic mountains and rivers in neighboring counties.

The auspicious purple clouds are flying above the head, there are kites on the cliffs, the eagles are flying, and the cool breeze around you is refreshing, making people feel refreshed, full of thoughts, and nostalgic. No wonder Ge Hong, the founding general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, resigned from his post and traveled all the way to Jianyan Mountain, which was a wilderness at the time, as a holy place for cultivating Taoism, refining elixirs, and practicing medicine. It goes without saying that this is also an ideal place for people to travel and sightsee. Therefore, Jianyan Mountain is one of the eight scenic spots in Huayuan County, and is also famous in Xiangxi Prefecture.

The Buddhist activities of "Bifeng Temple" in Jianyan Mountain are mainly held on February 19, June 19 and September 19 of the lunar calendar each year. On the day before each of these three days, the nuns in the monastery have to ask people to help clean the courtyard, prepare the steaming barrels, raw materials, bowls and chopsticks needed for vegetarian meals, put up lanterns and colors, and hang banners and couplets. The next day, hundreds of religious men and women from the towns around Jianyan Mountain, Buddhists and Taoists, people from all walks of life and people came to the mountain to worship Buddha. Those who sang Buddhist songs, acted, performed with lions and dragon lanterns, beat gongs and drums, and performed fist and dance sticks , rushing towards the mountain together. The big bell hanging on an ancient camphor outside Shi'an rang roared, the big drums in the temple rang, and for a moment the gongs and drums lifted the sky, the bells and drums rang, and the auspicious clouds rose up from the mountains. The nuns in the monastery were very busy with chanting sutras, bowing, drawing lots, making wishes, and fulfilling vows. The incense burners and wax stands were filled with smoke, the candles and lights were dazzling, the Buddha statues were shining all over, and the money burners outside the nunnery were burning red. The chef who prepares vegetarian meals in the nunnery's kitchen is so busy serving meals and adding vegetables that he is sweating profusely. In addition to eating in the nunnery, some people also pack a bag of food home for their family members to eat. They all believe that eating vegetarian food from the Buddhist temple can help the family avoid unavoidable disasters during the year.

The Bodhisattva at "Bifeng Nunnery" on Jianyan Mountain is indeed efficacious and responds to all requests. There are literally hundreds of people who make wishes for children and daughters in front of the Guanyin Buddha statue, and there are literally hundreds of people named with the word "Guan" in their names. There are also countless people who seek marriage, rescue from disasters, smooth career, wealth and so on. At that time, not only believers from various towns and villages in the county came to "Bifeng Temple" to offer incense and worship Buddha, but also pilgrims and believers from Jishou, Longshan, Baojing brother counties and cities, as well as Songtao, Xiushan and other places adjacent to Guizhou and Chongqing, also often came Mountains and mountains worship Buddha. In the late Ming and Qing dynasties and the early Republic of China, in the private schools in the villages at the foot of the mountain, during the off-season, the private school teachers would also set up lecture tables and explain to the villagers famous quotes from Buddhism and Taoism, such as the Four Books, the Five Classics and Zengguang Xianwen, etc. . For thousands of years, the sound of morning bells, evening drums and wooden fish sutras from the Shi'an on Jianyan Mountain has penetrated the solid land and simple people's hearts through the thousands of years of ancient camphor pines and cypresses and mountain mist and clouds around the temple. The religious culture and patriotic worship of Yanshan Temple and the legends related to the natural scenic spots on the mountain subtly influence the humanistic quality of the mountain people, and its profound heritage is immeasurable.

After the "Bifeng Temple" on Jianyan Mountain was destroyed in 1968, some people still built several stones on the site of the original Temple Temple as a place to worship Bodhisattva. From time to time, devotees and pilgrims come up to the mountain to burn incense and set off firecrackers. Tie red cloth and red silk on the raised stones. In the winter of 1992, Yang Xiaolao, a villager in Xinqiao, this town, said that Guanyin Bodhisattva entrusted him with a dream, asking him to beg alms and accumulate funds to build the "Bifeng Temple" on Jianyan Mountain. In this way, Yang Xiaolao went to the villages in this town and the neighboring villages in Yaqiao, Paibi, Dongmaku, Woshao, Daoer, Longtan and other brotherly towns to raise funds. In the spring of 1994, he went to Jianyan and Xinqiao villages to ask for wood from the villagers, carried the wood up the mountain, and personally went to Jianyan mountain to dig sand and make cement bricks. In the autumn and winter of this year, three tile-roofed houses with brick and wood structures were built on the former site of the temple, and a small poetry courtyard with a side room was built. In the spring of 1995, Yang Xiaolao asked craftsmen to sculpt nine Buddhas, including Sakyamuni Buddha (Tathagata Buddha), Manjusri, Samantabhadra, Guanyin, Wei Tuo, Cai Cai Tong Zi, Yu Shui Lang Jun, Maitreya, and Ran Deng. , Bodhisattva statues are placed in three Buddhist halls. Outside Shi'an, there are two statues of Ling Guan and Bodhisattva on the ground, and they are both painted with gold. Yang Xiaolao worked hard for three years to build these three small Buddhist temples, which shows his loyalty and piety to the cause of Buddhism. During the construction of the three Buddhist temples, villagers from Jianyan and Xinqiao voluntarily donated labor and materials. Among them, Yang Changhui from Xinqiao Village and Long Yuandong from Jianyan Village contributed the most. On December 1, 1993, Huayuan County Religious Affairs Bureau approved the following, officially recognizing the "Bifeng Temple" in Jianyan Mountain to be included in the management and registration.

By the spring of 2005, village cadres such as Liu Wenkui, Zhou Changfa, Peng Guanqing, Yang Wanxing, Ma Zhengmao, Liu Kaijiang and other village cadres and retired cadres took the lead to establish Youjianyan, Xinqiao and Laozhai. The "Preparatory Committee for the Development of Wenbifeng Tourist Area in Malichang Town" composed of ***38 village cadres and retired cadres from seven villages, including Shake, Malichang Neighborhood Committee, Malichang Village, and Xinke, reported to Malichang Town The People's Government will file the following. The committee consists of infrastructure, finance, logistics, security, publicity and office agencies. At the founding meeting of the Preparatory Committee, the main leaders of the Malichang Town Party Committee and the government attended the meeting and delivered speeches. At the meeting, members unanimously agreed that it is necessary to raise funds from various sources, including relevant units and people from all walks of life, to rebuild the temple to a larger size (at least four), then build related supporting facilities and repair the road up the mountain.

In April 2005, the preparatory committee spent 26,000 yuan to purchase a 10-room brick house in the original Malichang Grain Store, and organized personnel to move the bricks, tiles, materials, etc. up the mountain. On December 26, 2005 (the eighth day of the winter lunar month) ) held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Jianyan Mountain "Bifeng Temple", demolished the original three small Shi'an, and built a new five-room temple with brick and wood structure on the original foundation. The main project was completed on January 29, 2006, and the craftsmen were paid The salary is one hundred thousand nine thousand four hundred and one yuan and eighty cents (19,461.80). The longevity spring next to the temple was renovated and a pool was built. In the autumn and winter of this year, two wing rooms, two side rooms, toilets and other supporting facilities were built. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were all coated with gold powder. From Dayanchang, Zejiahu Town, Yongshun, we purchased high-quality machinery to saw and cut 688 bluestone slabs to pave the temple grounds. In the winter of 2006 and the spring and summer of 2007, more than 400 meters of cement steps were built from Si'an to Wenchang Pavilion, and more than 1,600 meters of cement steps were built from the foot of the mountain to Si'an. The total length is more than 2,000 meters, in front of Si'an. The walls were painted, the corridor ceilings were nailed and painted, and now Bifong Temple is beginning to take shape. To build it into what it is now, the main leaders of the Management Committee have gone around to raise funds and find relevant people to donate money and support. They have been to Changsha, Jishou and Huayuan many times. It is really hard work and they have accumulated more than 260,000 yuan. , more than 1,200 people donated their work. Their merits will be remembered forever and will bless future generations.

The original name of the temple on Jianyan Mountain was "Bifeng Temple", which did not fit well with Wenbi Peak, so it was renamed "Bifeng Temple" on June 18, 2007, so that it matches well. The original "Preparatory Committee for the Development of Wenbifeng Tourist Area in Malichang Town" was renamed as the "Management Committee for the Development of Wenbifeng Tourist Area in Huayuan County, Hunan Province" on June 18, 2006. Since 2005, the Management Committee has held three consecutive celebration conferences on June 18 of each year on the lunar calendar. Each conference is attended by no less than 20,000 men and women, Buddhist and Taoist believers, three religions and nine streams, and people from all walks of life. When the first celebration meeting was announced at 11:00 in the morning, a wide purple auspicious cloud floated from the Guanyin Cave on the top of the mountain and spread towards the venue and the villages and fields below the mountain. It lasted about 4 minutes. Disperse slowly. People say this is the appearance of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Indeed, Guanyin appears and spreads auspicious clouds, the country is peaceful and the people are in peace and happiness; flat peaches are planted everywhere to give good fruits, and the society is harmonious forever.

Intentional separation is not the reality, and the lack of intention towards the situation is the Buddha's mind. Fish and turtles make waves in search of still water, and dragons ride in the mist in search of a clear sky. According to the person in charge of the Preparatory Committee for the Development of Wenbi Peak Tourist Area in Jianyan Mountain, in accordance with the principle of restoring the old as before, they will seek the support of people with lofty ideals and the majority of good men and women in the society to further improve the various cultural facilities in Jianyan Mountain and build it into Jianyan Mountain and Laozhai. Based on the village, we will establish a unique Miao cultural village and build Jianyan Mountain into a fully functional cultural tourism destination integrating spiritual practice, tourism, leisure and entertainment.

Jianyan Mountain, in its long history, has always blessed the land of Damiao Mountain with good weather and good weather, the recuperation and harmonious development of the Tujia, Miao and Han people in Damiao Mountain, and the happiness of good men and women all over the world. , peace and health!

Jianyan Mountain is a priceless treasure given to Damiao Mountain by nature and to the people of Huayuan. The huge Buddhist cultural value it contains is an inexhaustible source of strength for the spiritual civilization of Huayuan and even the world.

Jianyan Mountain, the mountain spirit and the human spirit; may the Buddhist sound of Jianyan Mountain bring you spiritual energy, blessing and luck!

Friends, please come to China in the east of the world, and come to Huayuan in the west of China. Not far from the county seat, you can see it - the sharp rock peak with the blue sky upside down under the blue sky and white clouds.

Faint, like a dream; exquisite, like a painting; real, like an eternal call. ． ． ． ． ．