Caijia Temple

Caijia Temple

Caijiasi is located in caijiasi village, Weiyang Township, Gangu County, on the North cliff of Weihe River. It is 10 kilometers away from the county seat. The temple is adjacent to the towering Huangshan Mountain in the north, the surging Weihe River in the south, and the Longhai Railway at the foot of the mountain runs from East to west. According to Fuqiang county annals in the 34th year of Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, Caijia temple was founded in the reign of emperor Yuanshun Zhizheng (1341-1369), with a history of nearly 700 years. In the 15th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1578 AD), Daxiong hall was rebuilt, and in the 37th year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1689 AD), it was repaired again.

brief introduction

Caijia temple is built on the mountain and faces south. From the foot of the mountain to the middle of the mountain, step up to create an orderly and natural environment. The gate of the mountain is three rooms in Ming Dynasty, with single arch and five steps. The hall of God of wealth is a pavilion type building. In addition, there are three kingdoms hall, Bodhisattva hall, Wenchang Pavilion, Daxiong hall, zushi hall, Jialan hall and lecture hall. There are more than 30 large and small buildings in the temple, all built in the Qing Dynasty. Different from other ancient buildings in Gangu, all the buildings are built on the top of the mountain, and the style of Qing Dynasty is obvious. The architecture of Caijia temple is grand in scale, compact in structure and grand in momentum. It is said that the private residence originally built for a prince in the Yuan Dynasty, because someone reported that he had built a private palace, he wanted to rebel. After hearing this, the king was shocked and returned overnight. He transformed all of them into temples, so he escaped. Later, the king felt that his official career was dangerous, so he converted to Buddhism. He lived here for a long time, recruited monks from all over the world, and helped the people overcome their difficulties. This place became a famous temple. The whole building of Caijia temple is divided into three layers. From the bottom of the mountain to the top, you can visit different buildings and have different feelings. A level is like a realm. The feeling is different when you climb high and reach high. When you climb to the highest level, you will feel that you have a wide field of vision. You can look at white clouds and birds, overlook the waves of the Weihe River, travel outside the objects in your heart, and see everywhere. It gives you a sense of being free from the dust.

geographical position

Caijia temple is located on the second terrace to the west of weishuiyu railway station (Longhai line) in the northeast of Gangu County, Gansu Province, and to the north of Weihe River. The temple has the same name as the village. The temple is built on a hill in the north of the village and directly reaches the top of the mountain. According to the records of Fuqiang county annals (the old name of Gangu is Fuqiang) written by Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, the temple was built in the reign of emperor Shundi Zhizheng of Yuan Dynasty (1341-1370), which has been around 650 years. As for when there was a village, the county annals are not clear, so it is difficult to examine in detail; and why the village and temple have the same name is not known. The strangest one is caijiasi village. As the name suggests, the villagers' family name is Cai, just like jiangjiasi village on the opposite bank of the river. Most of its villagers are Jiang. However, caijiasi village has never heard of people with CAI's family name. This point has attracted the attention of Li Zhaojia, a poet from this village, at the latest during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Li Zhaojia (1767 ~ 1830), the word Xun B, No. Jiaoyuan. The author still has a copy of Jiao Yuan Shi Chao, whose poems have been appraised by his teachers such as Wu Zhen in Lintao and Yang fangcan in Wuxi. There are poems such as "Caijia Temple", "dengcaijia Temple", "Caijia Temple present to monk Jicheng" and so on. Among them, "Caijia Temple" expresses the doubts about the above problems.

The origin of the name

In the northeast of Fuqiang (now Gangu) County, there is a towering mountain. At the foot of the mountain is the village of caijiasi where my family is. There is a temple called caijiasi on the mountain. I often come to climb this temple, but I never get tired of it. The place is rich in cypress trees, the ancient courtyard is secluded, and the scenery is very pleasant. The temple and the mountain gate face south from the north. When you climb on the corridor of the Sutra collection building in the front yard of the temple, the sound of the mountains and waters comes with the wind, while the beautiful bird at the head of the tree calls for friends. It sounds like all of them have meaning, but we can't understand them! At this time, I suddenly thought of caijiasi village and caijiatemple. They are generally called "caijiasi". But what is the meaning of the word "Caijia"? Who has ever really understood it? I've always wanted to understand it, but there are no stone tablets in the village temples to record its meaning. Whenever I think about it, I feel confused, as if drunk! Facing the steep mountain "six peaks" on the other side of the river. In a trance, he seemed to be facing Jiuyi. Although the bottom of my heart seems to have nine doubts, the clear Wei River at my feet reminds me that this is only my village. Just then, the old monk who went to get water from the river came back, and I asked him for advice. He sat there smiling, pointed to the river in the distance and said, "it's said that the place where the waves roll on the river bank used to be a prosperous mansion for adults...." After listening to the old monk's chatter, I felt that the way of heaven is incoherent and changeable. The old saying is really good. And the way of flowing water is also unusual: the place where fish swim today is not where the bird's nest on the carved beams and painted buildings used to be! Today, Jiaolong's haunt is not the place where people used to live! As dusk rises, the chorus of frogs along the river has begun, which reminds me that it used to be a place where rich families sang and played. It is said that music can sometimes be heard in the dead of night, but now it can't be heard often any more.

Today, the place name near the village still has "a (Xie) Jiawan (ditch)" But what is the surname of "Cai" in "Cai family"? But it is left empty in those vast waves of time! In the past, there was no one named CAI. Today, the name of the temple is still called "Cai family". Isn't it superfluous and suspicious? Encourage me, my Li's fellow! Why are the pines and cypresses here always so green? This is because only by deep cultivation can the branches and leaves flourish and keep the leaves from falling. Alas, it is clear that Lijiazhuang is a place with a long history, but it is often called "Caijia Temple". But maybe later, it will be called "Lijia Temple" again one day!

Why did the end of the poem change from "Cai Jia Temple" to "Li Jia Temple"? This is because seven or eight out of ten of the villagers in caijiasi are surnamed Li, and the rest are miscellaneous surnames. Therefore, the village is also commonly known as "Cai Li's family". It is also known as "Po Wang's family" where the nearby villagers with the surname of Wang live together. It is also different from "Zhongzhou Li" in zhongtanhe village on the opposite bank. As for the old monk's second sentence of "the place where the waves turn over is the most prosperous in the past" in the poem, everyone in this county knows that it refers to a well-known local folklore

Caijia temple was originally a real Caijia village, and the whole village originally came from the same family. In a certain Dynasty, there was a senior official in the village. Later, he became the prime minister and was called Prime Minister Cai. Mr. Cai Xiangye naturally has a mansion in the capital, but he likes to live in his own courtyard in his hometown. In a year, he spends less time in Beijing and more time in the countryside. But in this way, how can his master go to court every day! It turns out that Mr. Cai Xiang has a baby. This baby is a green cow. There is a nest of "fire swallow with cow dung" in the buttocks of the green cow's tail. However, it has nothing to do with the cow. If you want to talk about the advantages of this baby cow, it's really that it can travel thousands of miles a day and 800 miles at night, and it can travel day and night when things are urgent. So Mr. Cai Xiangye rode it to the capital. It was said that he would go to the capital in the morning and return in the evening, rain or shine, and never miss anything. After three years like this, it's also a blessing and disaster. I'm very happy and sad. I should have something to do. One day, a guest saw that Mr. Cai Xiangye, a green bull, was not very elegant when he rode on the horse. He asked why, and Mr. Cai told him. The guests are not satisfied with it. They think that if you take out the bird's nest, the cattle can go faster. Because of the face of the guests, the prime minister didn't know what to do, so he ordered people to do it immediately and took out the bird's nest for the cow. On this day, Mr. Cai Xiangye rode an ox from his hometown to Beijing as usual. With a wave of the bullwhip, Tianming got up. However, it was not far away from Xiujin mountain. When it reached Xiujin mountain, it could not walk fast any more. When it reached the mountain in front of it, it could not walk any more. Cai Xiangye had no choice but to turn back and change his horse to Beijing, but it was the third day.

The day before that, the emperor called all the officials to discuss the important affairs, but the prime minister disappeared. Some ministers took the opportunity to play a book, saying that Mr. Cai lived in a simple place and had the heart of usurping and disobedience, so they should order to inspect his home. In his anger, the emperor was so angry that he ordered to copy the house of CAI Xiangye in the capital. Cai Xiangye missed the Court Affairs, and the minister took the opportunity to play. In his heart, he was both regretful and afraid. In a hurry, he committed suicide immediately. When the news came to Zili, the situation became more and more frightening. There was even a rumor that Mr. Cai Xiangye was going to usurp the throne and build a Jinluan palace in his hometown. The emperor had sent Imperial Envoys to check it. If there was such a thing, he would be killed. It happened that Tsai Hsiang Yeh had recently set up the first place in his hometown, and the people did not consider who would believe that he could build a temple and ascend the throne in his hometown. Anyway, the people of the whole family were terrified. They not only immediately changed the new first place into a temple, but also changed the whole family name to "Li" overnight, so as to avoid the disaster of the nine families' extermination.

But the imperial envoy did not come at last, and the trembling people lived in fear for a long time. Later, the clansmen finally did not change their surname back to CAI, but inherited it with Li. Just to commemorate Cai Xiangye, the temple is called "Cai family temple". In addition, the Shanwan where the Shenniu crossed its hoof and left its mark is called "niuti Wan"; and the mountain where the Shenniu fell down is called "woniu mountain".

After a long time, because the place called "Caijia Temple" was too famous, people in other villages gave up the name of the village originally called "Beiping" and simply the village was famous for the temple, and the villages were also called "Caijia Temple"

Chinese PinYin : Cai Jia Si