Huanghuang Jingchu Song·Journey to Changsha·Yuelu Mountain·"Xianggu Ridge, Jilai Bell, and the Iron Centipede Behind Yuelu Mountain"
"Xianggu Ridge, Jilai Bell, Behind Yuelu Mountain is an iron centipede." This is a popular saying in Changsha. It summarizes three scenic spots with magical legends in Yuelu Mountain. There are also scenic spots such as Feilai Stone, Laughing Rock, Wooden Fish Buns, and Python Cave on the mountain.
Joys and sorrows at Xianggu Ridge
Xianggu Ridge is behind Yunlu Palace. There is a drum-sounding pavilion built on the ridge, with a hexagonal granite table in the pavilion. The huge stone on the right side of the pavilion is engraved with the words "Guanfengtai". When walking on the ridge, there is a hollow sound, just like a drum. It can be seen that "sounding drums" are not empty words. Where did the sound of the drum come from? It is said that it was the reverberation of Brother Zhu’s kick: According to legend, in ancient times there was a young couple named Brother Zhu and Aunt Tao in nearby Taohualing. They were childhood sweethearts and became very affectionate after marriage. Unexpectedly, one day when Brother Zhu was out, Aunt Tao was kidnapped by a bully, and she vowed to hang herself. I wish my brother to find Taogu, but he didn't see me. I climbed up to this ridge and stamped my feet, howling. Because of his excessive strength, he alarmed the mountain god. The mountain god leads the Taogu spirit to meet Brother Zhu. Brother Zhu learned about Peach Blossom's tragedy, killed the bully that night, and promised to meet here again every year when the peach blossoms bloom. From then on, when I stepped on my feet, I heard a sound like a drum. Xianggu Ridge got its name from this, and was also called "Xianggu Ridge". It is also said that it was the sound of stones falling on the fairy skin drum: Legend has it that there was a farmer named Zhou Jie at the foot of the mountain, and one day he rescued a white mountain rabbit from the claws of a big gray wolf. Unexpectedly, the mountain rabbit was transformed by the mountain god. In order to thank Zhou Jie for rescuing him, the mountain god gave him a small leather drum and told him: Go to the top of the mountain and knock the drum three times, and a stone door will open with everything inside. Take whatever you want, and knock again when you come out. Three blows of the leather drum, and the stone door is closed. Zhou Jie opened the stone door and found a little golden cow. The rich man in the village learned the news, stole the leather drum, knocked Zhou Jie unconscious, and took the dog leg to the cave to retrieve the treasure. After Zhou Jie regained consciousness, he reluctantly crawled to the entrance of the cave, grabbed a handful of pebbles and hit the leather drum. The rich man was locked in the cave together with the leather drum. Since then, the stone gate has been closed forever, but as soon as you step here, you can still hear the "dong dong dong" sound inside, which is the sound of stones falling on the leather drum. This ridge is also called Xianggu Ridge.
The ancients have long chanted about this peculiar place: "Looking at Chicheng from the sky above the road, Xuandu first wakes up and hears the sound of footsteps. People follow the footsteps outside the winter clouds, and the sound of drums should be known to be famous. "Because there is the word "Buxu" in the poem, it is also called "Buxu Ridge".
The Return Bell with Solemnity
The Return Bell is placed in the branch of the ancient ginkgo tree in front of Wangxiang Pavilion under Yunlu Palace. Made of copper, with the inscription "Made in the fourth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty", it has been rust-free after more than 400 years of wind, frost, rain and snow. Because it is caught in the tree and seems to be missing, it is called "Zilai Bell" or "Flying Bell". But there are also some locals who disagree. They believe that the original name of this bell is "Returning Bell" and that the Flying Bell is a rumor. According to legend, there was a queen who suffered from a strange disease: no medicine could help, but the sound of a bell could cure it. The emperor summoned famous craftsmen from all over the world to come to the palace to cast bells. However, after several months of casting, each clock had a crack that could not be bridged, and none of them sounded pleasant to the ears. Later, a wandering Taoist priest came to the palace and told the emperor: If you want to make a bell, you must capture a pair of twin sisters from Yuelu Mountain on a certain day of the month and melt them with iron. The emperor was so convinced that he captured the two fisherman sisters Jinxian and Narcissus and put them into the furnace. The bell was indeed cast, and the queen's illness was really cured. The old fisherman who lost his twin daughters was so distraught that he jumped into the river. As a result, the river rolled up into angry waves and flooded into the palace, drowning the emperor and empress, and swept away the bell. A few days later, the old fisherman's body appeared together with the clock at the foot of Yuelu Mountain. People buried the fisherman on the mountain and placed a bell on his grave. Soon, a ginkgo tree suddenly grew on the tomb, hugging the bell tightly among the branches, and no one could take it away. Later, Taoists used it for daily life and rest. Its sound was melodious and sad, and occasionally sounded like the sound of "return", so it was named "return bell".
The Iron Centipede with Boundless Power
Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a scholar who temporarily lived in Yuelu Temple, preparing to go to Beijing to take the exam. One night, I suddenly heard a woman crying. Following the sound, I saw a young woman sitting on a bluestone deep in the woods, sobbing. Her surname was She Yun. She was accidentally injured by a hunter and asked to be sent home. The scholar agreed. When he arrived at the woman's house, a short black old man opened the door to welcome him, prepared wine to entertain the scholar, and finally gave him a plate of rare treasures. But when the scholar saw a fist-sized dazzling bead in the hall, he suddenly had an evil thought and wanted to use it to buy an official in Beijing, so he stole it. When he returned to the temple, the elder saw that he had a bad look on his face and knew that he would be killed. It turns out that the father and daughter are two big pythons, black and white, in the back mountains of Yuelu. The white python's kung fu is still shallow, but the black python has been practicing for thousands of years. The pearls stolen by the scholar are the results of thousands of years of cultivation by the black python, and it will not give up. The scholar regretted it so much that he asked the elder for help. The elder thought that he was young and still wanted to repent, so he asked him to hide in the big iron bell, which is the treasure of the mountain behind the temple. At night, the black python came to settle the score with the scholar, but was killed by the magic mirror. But the Zhenshan Iron Bell has been entangled in cracks and can no longer hide from people. The elder asked the scholar to exchange the beads for silver coins, and asked a blacksmith to melt the iron bell into several large centipedes, which suppressed the white python that came to take revenge.
The earth-shattering flying stone
The flying stone is under the flying bell. It is a steep and overhanging boulder, with a flat top and a square area of ??more than ten feet. The original pavilion has been destroyed. When you climb the stone, you can look at Mount Hengyue and worship it, so it was called "the stone of worshiping Yue" in the old days. The title poem of Song Zhao is engraved on it: "A piece of stone leans against the sky, and the clouds are deep and the birds are free. Many people wish Yao longevity and come here to worship Nanshan."
"Nanshan is Hengyue. Since it is a worship stone, what is a "flying stone"? Probably because of its sudden hanging in the air, like a flying rock, the people have attached a beautiful myth: Legend has it that in the early years, there was a prefect Shi in Changsha As soon as he took office, he personally went to Yuelu Mountain and ordered the local people to dig out the priceless golden duck woman at the bottom of Shuilu Island within three days. When the people were at a loss, a god gave him a golden hoe and ordered his generals to dig it out. The Golden Duck Lady was placed in a box at the foot of Yunlu Peak and asked to be taken by the prefect. The next day, the Grand Administrator and other officials came to pick it up. Suddenly, they saw the Golden Duck Lady opening her mouth and raising her tail, blowing out black smoke. Then there was an earth-shattering sound, and a huge stone flew down and pressed them all down. Jin Yapo screamed three times and flew back to Shuilu Continent. This huge stone was called "Flying Stone". >
Mixed Feelings of Laughing and Crying Cliff
Laughing and Crying Cliff is located on the right side of Baihe Spring in Lushan Mountain. The round oak tree in the gap between the cliffs is still lush. People who come to visit must sit under the trees and reminisce about the touching legend about Xiaowei Cliff.
Very early. Once upon a time, a young hunter named Ge Ren won the love of the Red Flower Fairy of Yingshan Mountain with his hard work and simplicity. The Flower Fairy often transformed into a beautiful woman and helped Ge Ren with housework. After they got married, Huaxian still came to the court to say goodbye. The next year, he gave birth to a son, named Yuanzhu. When Ge Ren came back from hunting, he would always stop at the foot of the cliff and smile knowingly at the azalea. . Strange to say, the laughter seemed to come from the cliffs and often echoed in the valley for a long time. Unexpectedly, this year the Flower God's birthday happened to be the full moon of Yuanzhu. The Flower God visited the lower world and happened to see azalea. Huaxian hugged the child and pushed her to the bottom of the cliff in anger. Huaxian missed her husband and son very much and cried at the foot of the cliff every night. Suddenly, he hit his head on a tree and died. The blood flowed into the cliff crevice, and soon a small round oak tree grew up. People said that this "round oak tree" was growing so well in the cliff crevice. It was because his mother was feeding him milk.
From then on, every time at dusk, the breeze in the valley would be mixed with Ge Ren's laughter, the cry of the flower fairy, and the bald tree. The rustling of the branches and leaves of the round oak tree brings mixed feelings to those who hear it
Disaster relief wooden fish buns
Next to Baihe Spring, there is a big tree that cannot be hugged by two people, with a tree trunk growing on it. It is a big bag that looks like a big wooden fish, so it is called wooden fish bag. Legend has it that it was transformed from a wooden fish in Lushan Temple.
It was late one night a long time ago, when there was a strong wind and heavy rain on the mountain. At dawn, the monks of Lushan Temple found that the Lotus Sutra was missing from the Sutra Tower. This sutra scroll was the treasure of Lushan Mountain, and it shone with golden light at night, making the Sutra Tower look like daylight. If the weather is good, disaster will come if this place is lost. Therefore, the temple is in chaos. After a woodcutter reported it, it turned out that it was a wooden fish in the temple that had received incense for hundreds of years and had become spiritual. It secretly ate the Lotus Sutra. , crawling towards the river, trying to attain enlightenment and ascend to heaven regardless of millions of living beings. The monks caught the wooden fish, but it refused to spit out the scriptures. The abbot suggested the only way: hang it on a tree with its feet not touching the ground, and then ask one person to recite the Lotus Sutra for Nine Days and Nine Nights toward it, while knocking on it without pausing, and the sutra will be spit out on the ninth day. A young monk persisted for nine days and nine nights. When he finished reciting the last sentence, the wooden fish opened his mouth and spit out the sutra, but he collapsed under the tree and never got up again. The young monk knocked the big wooden fish into the trunk of the tree. Over time, it grew together with the tree and became this wooden fish bag.
Tao Kan’s Python Cave
The Python Cave is in a valley north of Yubei Peak. Before the Western Jin Dynasty, the Taoist priest Zhang Baohuang practiced here and became an immortal through elixirs, so it was named Baohuang Cave. The Longevity Palace and the Chongzhen Temple were built here, making it a deep and beautiful fairy cave. Many Taoist priests ascended to heaven here. Later, the palace fell into disrepair and gradually fell into disuse. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was occupied by a giant python. Therefore, it is also called Python Cave.
No one knows where this giant python came from. Legend has it that it has been practicing for thousands of years, but it cannot achieve positive results because the fetal bones have not been replaced. Every year on July 15th, it takes advantage of people to come out in large numbers to burn incense and worship Buddha. This year it used a new trick: on the day before July 15th, it transformed into an old Taoist and went to Changsha City to watch the white cranes. It said that tomorrow the "Three Pure Ones" in Yunlu Palace would appear as saints, and there would be a sky bridge to save all living beings. Those who are destined should not miss this opportunity. The news spread throughout the city overnight. At the third watch of the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the giant python performs a magic trick, sticks out its tongue to form a long bridge, stretches one end across the Xiangjiang River to the White Crane Temple, hangs one end in the air, and the long hair on its neck turns into fluttering colorful flags, and its horns turn into The eyes of the majestic Tianmen turned into extra-large green lanterns hanging on both sides of the Tianmen, and beautiful sounds came out of their mouths, like the curls of fairy music. Some Taoist priests and believers solemnly stepped onto the Long Bridge, but they never returned. Changsha County Duke Tao Kan was very surprised when he heard about this. I came to the bridge to observe carefully and concluded that it was an evildoer, so I bent my bow and arrow and shot it directly at the green lantern. In an instant, a light suddenly went out, blood rained, and the overpass disappeared. Only then did the onlookers wake up from a dream and dispersed in an uproar. Tao Kan also ordered all pharmacies in the city to sell only bad eye drops if a one-eyed man came to buy medicine. The python was in unbearable pain, so he turned into a Taoist priest and came to the city to buy medicine. Pharmacies sell rotten eye drops, and when applied to a python, the poison attacks the heart and dies quickly. In order to commemorate Tao Kan's achievements, the people specially built a mountain shooting platform next to the cave, but unfortunately it no longer exists. The legend may be too exaggerated, but Tao Kan's deeds to eliminate harm for the people are recorded in the "Yuelu Zhi" of the Kangxi period.
Tao Kan (259-334), courtesy name Shixing, was born in Xunyang, Lujiang (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi), and was the ancestor of the famous poet Tao Yuanming. He once served as the governor of Xiangzhou, rose to the rank of Taiwei, and was granted the title of Duke of Changsha. As an official, he had good governance. He once stationed troops in Hushan, Xiangtan, to develop Xiangtan's business and trade. He often said: "Sage Yu the Great cherished every inch of Yin. As for everyone, he should cherish every inch of Yin. How could he wander around in desolation and get drunk? Life is of no use to the time, and death will be unknown after death. This is self-abandonment." The people of the county thought of his merits and deeds. A temple to worship Tao Gong was built at Xiyin Street in Changsha today. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the county magistrate Lu Tingjue sculpted a statue of Tao Gong in the temple, which was named Xiyin Academy. Later it was destroyed, and the Xiyin Street Primary School is now built on its site. After Tao Kan's death, he was buried at the southern foot of Yuelu Mountain, and a tomb remains in Hushan, Xiangtan. "The clothes of the Jin Dynasty turned into ancient hills" may refer to this. There is also Taogong Temple in Linxiang Mountain, Fanli Town, Changsha County, which is a place to worship his grandson Tao Dan, his uncle and nephew. "Hunan Tongzhi" records: Tao Dan "was a young man who was good at Taoism. He used Lingcao to open up valleys and studied Yibu. He built a house in Changsha and Linxiang Mountain. A white deer lived with him, and three white cranes always waited on him. With his nephew Xuan, he refined his body and dismembered it. The legacy still exists. "The local people were grateful for his sincerity and built a temple in the sixth year of Liang Tianjian in the Southern Dynasty (507). The incense has been strong in the past dynasties, and it has the reputation of "a famous mountain through the ages and a temple left in the Six Dynasties". In the second year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1852), due to drought and praying for rain, Tao Dan was granted the title of Fuyou Zhenren, and Tao Xuan was named Fuku Zhenren. Therefore, the temple is also called Tao Zhenren Temple. The existing buildings were built in the Qing Dynasty and are rich in the southern folk architectural style of the late Qing Dynasty. Hanging in the hall are Zhu Xi's handwriting "Moralization without Borders" and a large plaque written by Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty "The People Lai Enfu". There is also a plaque with the words "Ancient Theater Building" handwritten by Weng Tonghe, a calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty. The Osmanthus Garden behind the palace has beautiful scenery and was once a place where literati gathered to recite poems.
The python cave has been hidden for many years since Tao Kan eliminated the evil. It is said that during the Duanping period of the Southern Song Dynasty, Shangshu Zhong Xianchao once lived here leisurely. Because he loved the scenery of "fragrant wind, purple mist, and clear spring in the winding stream", he named it "Cangyuan Valley" and built an incense-blowing pavilion in it. When Zhao Yun, Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty, was defending Shaoling, he had a close relationship with Zhong. He once wrote a poem about "Xianchao Blowing Incense Pavilion" and a couplet by Tang poet Du Xunhe, "Sending cranes to find visitors from three islands, and letting people see the flowers of the four seasons." Soon after Zhao Yun came to the throne, this "encounter in the cave" became a favorite story for a while.