Dharma cave

Dharma cave

Damo cave is located more than ten meters below the top of Zhongfeng, wuru peak, behind chuzu'an, Dengfeng County, Henan Province. This is a natural stone cave. Dharma, the first ancestor of Zen, once faced the wall in this cave for nine years, because it is called "Dharma cave" or "Dharma face the wall cave".

Natural conditions

Damo Cave Scenic Spot is located in Shaolin Temple scenic spot, more than ten meters below the top of wuru peak in the back of chuzu'an. This is a natural stone cave. The stone cave is about 7 meters deep and more than 3 meters wide. Outside the cave, there is a stone square. It was built in the Jiachen year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1604) and built with double pillars. In the south, Hu bin inscribed "moxuanchu" and in the north, Yandu Jinxi inscribed "donglaizhaoji". On the stone wall of the cave, there is a groove more than 1 meter high and about 60 cm wide, which is the trace of digging Damo face stone in that year. Inside, there are four stone Buddha statues.

Outside the cave

Facing southwest, Damo cave is arched with bluestone blocks. There are three stone statues on the platform inside the cave, among which are seated statues of Dharma and disciples on both sides. According to "Shuo song" of the Qing Dynasty, a small stone pagoda on the upper left side of the cave has long been destroyed. The Damo cave is quite shady and cool. When you enter the cave, you feel cold.

Outside the cave, there is a stone square to the south, which was donated by Hu bin, a mining worker from the capital of Henan Province and the palace supervisor of Qianqing in the Ming Dynasty (1604).

Shifang is a two column single hole veranda building with a height of 4 meters and a width of 2.2 meters. The southern banner of the stone square is engraved with the words "moxuanchu" and the northern banner is engraved with the words "donglaizhaoji", which are all inscribed by Hu bin, the governor of the Qianqing palace, on the Jiachen of Wanli.

The shape of the stone square is very exquisite. The upper part is carved with a tile ridge, the lower part is carved with a bucket arch, and the crossbeam is carved with exquisite reliefs of "Erlong Xizhu" and "Shuangfeng Chaoyang". At the north entrance of the stone archway, there are three stone inscriptions, one is the "jianjilianfang tablet" erected by Yisi of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1605), the other is the "Kaiguang tablet of Bodhidharma Buddha" erected in the second year of Qianlong (1737), and the other is the "Bodhidharma Buddha tablet" erected in the fifth year of the Republic of China (1916).

At the top of wuru peak on the Dharma cave, there is a huge sitting statue of Dharma with a height of 12 meters and an area of 32 square meters, which is made of massive white jade. The statue was donated by hundreds of faithful men and women in Shenyang in 1995. There are two monuments erected in 1995 in front of the white jade Dharma statue. About 50 meters west of the statue, there is also a "Xiyuan Pavilion" built by Songshan administration in 1984.

The three characters of Damo cave are the famous calligrapher and painter Zhang qianxuan's ink treasures.

Origin and history

Before the arrival of Dharma, bodha, the founder of Shaolin Temple, preached Hinayana Buddhism.

The arrival of Dharma made the Chinese Buddhism, which was popular in Hinayana Buddhism at that time, unable to accept his Zen method. Because of the language barrier, Dharma came to the cave in front of wuru peak in Songshan mountain alone. Facing the stone wall, his legs were bent, his hands were folded, his eyes looked down, his heart was as calm as a mirror, and he meditated day after day. Dharma called himself meditation.

At that time, Buddhists called this method of practice "Bi Guan", and called Dharma "Bi Guan Brahman". Every day, after setting the time, Dharma stood up and did some activities to relax the muscles and bones, so as to achieve the effect of strengthening the body, relaxing the muscles and activating the collaterals. As a result, he became the "Baduanjin" and "Dharma Yijinjing" which have been handed down to the present day.

During the nine years, people have more guesses about Dharma, and he has made countless friends.

His Mahayana Buddhism thought was accepted step by step. After nine years of facing the wall, Dharma's figure was printed on the facing stone, and even the wrinkles of his clothes were faintly visible, just like a light ink painting. People call this stone "shadow stone of Dharma's face wall", and the natural cave that Dharma once faced is called "Dharma cave".

Later, the stone surface was chiseled and stored in the Chuzu nunnery, and then moved to the Sutra tower of Shaolin Temple. In 1928, the direct warlord and Shi Yousan of the national army fought fiercely in Shaolin Temple. Shi Yousan burned Shaolin Temple, destroyed Fatang hall, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, and the Sutra library, smashing the stone face of Dharma's figure. All the sutras stored in Shaolin Temple were destroyed by Shi Yousan's shelling.

Address: more than ten meters below the top of Zhongfeng peak, wuru peak, chuzu'an, Shaolin Temple scenic spot, Dengfeng City, Zhengzhou City

Longitude: 112.927824

Latitude: 34.513339

Tel: 0371-62749300; 0371-6

Ticket information: no ticket required. Included in Shaolin Temple pass 100 yuan.

Chinese PinYin : Da Mo Dong