Laojun cave

Laojun cave

Laojun cave Taoist temple is located on Laojun Mountain near huangjueya, Nan'an District, Chongqing City, facing the vast Chongqing city and facing Chaotianmen Delta. It is not only the largest and most important temple in Chongqing, but also an important Taoist temple in Chongqing. For hundreds of years, on the first and the fifteenth day of the lunar new year, or on traditional festivals such as the Qingming Festival and the Zhongyuan Festival, pilgrims have been worshipping incense, and visitors have been climbing up the mountain. The Taoist temple is full of cigarettes, and there is an endless stream of pedestrians on the mountain road. Laojun cave was built in the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, and was officially established in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties, which lasted for more than 1300 years. It is said that the Tang Dynasty was originally a Buddhist temple "Guanghua Temple", and it is also recorded that the temple was rebuilt in 1480, and was built in 1574. After the war in the late Ming Dynasty, he began to manage Taoism. From then on, it was officially changed into a Taoist temple, named "Taiji Palace" (commonly known as "Laojun cave"), which used to be Zhengyi Tianshi Daochang in the early days, and then decadent again. In 1739 of the Qing Dynasty, it began to be the abbot and revival of Quanzhen Taoists, and gradually became Quanzhen Longmen school Daochang.

Architectural features

Laojun cave is built according to the mountain, and its wall is chiseled to form a "Xuan" shape. The octagonal pavilion on the top is the point at the top of the "Xuan" character. The Taoist temple covers an area of more than 300 mu, with more than 30 statues. According to the mountain, there are east gate, west gate and south gate.

The east gate is located in the east to the west, and the morning light is directly on the mountain gate, which means "Ziqi comes from the East"; the west gate is the earliest Mountain Gate of Laojun cave, which was built in the ninth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, more than 400 years ago. There is a gate of "Taiji Palace" and a picture of Taiji surrounded by eight trigrams, implying the evolution of the universe and the mystery of Tao. "Purple mansion" and "dantai" are engraved on the left and right, symbolizing that Laojun cave is an immortal cave; Nantianmen is the place where people and immortals are divided according to legend, and it is also the only way to climb yuhuanglou.

The entrance of Laojun cave is Lingguan hall, which hovers along the stone steps and stretches for 2 kilometers. The order is: Ming Dynasty stone carving hall, Wulu God of wealth hall, Xiwangmu hall, Zhenwu hall, Cihang hall, luzu hall, Qizhen hall, Doumu hall, Wulu Lingguan hall, Yuhuang hall, etc.

The main hall is the Sanqing hall, which was built in 1480 of Chenghua of Ming Dynasty. It has a history of more than 500 years and is dedicated to the emperor of Sanqing Dynasty. In the center of the front row of the statue in the hall is the supreme emperor, and on the left and right are the Antarctic fairy and the Arctic purple emperor. In the back row are the three treasures of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the great Luo and the Three Kingdoms of the Qing Dynasty. In the middle of the three treasures of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the great Luo and the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms of the Qing Dynasty. In front of the hall is a relief stone tablet of "Five Dragons holding saints" in Ming Dynasty, with exquisite carving technology.

At the back of the ancestral hall is the ancient Tu cave, which was originally dedicated to Tu Shan's family, the imperial concubine of Dayu. In 1861, the ancestral hall was built and replaced by Zhenwu's. Rebuilt in 1997, he still worships Zhenwu's ancestors, and also worships ten marshals and two generals of water and fire. In front of the hall is a stone inscription of the Yuan Dynasty, entitled "the seven sons of Quanzhen Dynasty, the old king". Cihang hall was rebuilt on the original site in 1994. It is also called Guanyin hall. There are "empress earth emperor dizhi" (also called "empress earth" and "Mother Earth"), Bixia Yuanjun (granny Taishan), yizaoniang, yiyanniang, Songzi Niang and Xiwangmu. Yuhuanglou is a four storey Pavilion rebuilt in 1999. The first floor is dedicated to the seven sons of Quanzhen, known as "Qizhen hall"; the second floor is dedicated to the mother of the stars, such as Doumu Yuanjun and 60jiazi, known as "Yuanchen hall"; the third floor is dedicated to the five hundred Lingguan led by Zhenwu patriarch, known as "Lingguan hall"; the fourth floor is the yuhuangdian, dedicated to the Jade Emperor, and the five southern and Northern ancestors . The mural on the wall of the yuhuanglou building is a copy of the "Chaoyuan painting" of Yongle Palace in Shanxi Province, depicting the spectacular scene of the gods worshiping the Yuanshi emperor.

In addition, eight ancient immortal caves and numerous stone carvings are scattered in the mountain, including Laojun cave, Sanfeng cave, Chunyang cave, Shihou cave, Xianyuan cave, Sansheng cave, dengdeng cave and Lishan laomu cave. One of the most precious is Putuo rock carving. Putuo rock is a historical site of the Ming Dynasty. It depicts the stories of Guanyin rescuing eight difficulties, King Wen visiting sages, Boya playing the piano, empress e's daughter Ying visiting Dashun, Li Yaxian persuading to learn, "fishing", "firewood", "farming" and "reading". It is vivid and of great cultural value. "You long" is carved on the stone wall of the fish pond in the garden. It is Confucius' praise to Laozi after he asked for the ceremony. The font is strong. In the reflection pond, the water waves, like a real dragon swimming. On the stone wall of the mountain, there are many stone carvings of the past dynasties, such as "towering Tu cave", "immortals are famous", "a hole in the entrance", "Ziqi comes to the East", etc. The relief of qingniu on the peak of qingniu rock is vivid with its four hooves flying into the air. There are pavilions and pavilions in the mountains, stone tables and stone benches; the mountain road is winding and undulating, and the winding path leads to seclusion; the stairway is breathtaking and straight, straight up to the sky. Most of the buildings and stone carvings in Laojun cave are relics left over from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, among which there are precious historical materials about the Taiping army. A Neolithic site was also found on the back hillside, and 22 stone implements such as stone axes, stone sickles and stone vertebrae were collected, which are of archaeological and research value.

Cihang Hall of the temple is carved with the inscription "Zhenwu preaching", and the stone inscription in front of Sanqing hall is "Five Dragons holding saints". The stone relief carvings, such as Laojun riding qingniu, King Wen of Zhou worshiping Xiang, Jiezi visiting Xian, sun, moon and stars, are mostly inscribed on the rock wall by literati, and their skills are particularly exquisite. There are many cliff carvings of Buddhist and Taoist stories in laojundong Taoist temple, among which the Jiulong stele and the eight difficult rock relief carvings are of the most artistic value. There are also many inscriptions on cliffs.

Main events

Since the resumption of religious activities in Laojun cave in 1989, more than 30 Taoist priests have become monks in Laojun cave by worshiping Abbot Zhou Zhiqing as their teacher in 2005. At the same time, more than ten thousand disciples were converted. Laojundong's activities of teaching and learning are flourishing day by day. Every day, the Taoist priests go to the temple to do their morning and evening homework. Temple fairs are held on the first and the fifteenth day of each month to commemorate the Taoist deities and to carry out the ritual activity of "turning to heaven";

On the ninth day of the first month of each year, it commemorates the birthday of the Jade Emperor Haotian, and holds a praying and auspicious meeting called Shangjiu meeting;

On the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, in commemoration of the birthday of emperor Tianguan of the Shang Yuan Dynasty, a praying and auspicious Taoist temple was held;

On February 15, in memory of Laojun's birthday, a praying and auspicious meeting was held;

On February 19, in commemoration of the birthday of the real Cihang, a praying and auspicious Taoist temple was held;

On the third day of March, it commemorates the peach blossom meeting of the queen mother of the west, and holds a praying and birthday ceremony, which is also the birthday of emperor Zhenwu;

On April 18, in commemoration of the birth of the king of medicine, a Taoist temple for eliminating diseases and disasters, praying for blessings and prolonging life was held;

On June 19, in commemoration of Cihang immortal Cheng Dao, the Taoist temple was held to pray for blessings, eliminate disasters and avoid difficulties, and make everything safe;

On July 15, in commemoration of the birthday of emperor Di Guan of the middle Yuan Dynasty, a Taoist hall was held to forgive sins and pray for good luck and to pass away the lost relatives, which was called "the middle yuan meeting";

On the ninth day of September, in commemoration of the birth of the ninth emperor of Beidou, a prayer and auspicious meeting was held;

On September 19, in memory of the real Cihang people sitting on the lotus platform, a praying and auspicious meeting was held;

On October 15, in commemoration of the birth of emperor Shuiguan of the Xia Yuan Dynasty, a Taoist temple was held to pray for good fortune and help the orphans, eliminate disasters and relieve misfortune, which was named "Xia Yuan Hui";

On October 18, in commemoration of the birth of the mother of earth, a Taoist temple was held to pray for the peace of the country and the prosperity of the people.

In addition, Laojun cave also held the following Dharma meetings:

In August 1995, a peace prayer meeting was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the victory of the Anti Japanese War and the world anti fascist war and to mourn the war dead;

In July 1997, in order to welcome the return of Hong Kong and celebrate the Chongqing municipality directly under the central government, a prayer law society was held;

In October 1998, in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the people's Republic of China and welcome the return of Macao, a praying law society was held;

On August 15, 2005, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Anti Japanese War, the world peace Law Association was held.

Other activities

Laojundong's foreign affairs activities are becoming more and more frequent. In 1987, Mr. Zhao Zhendong of yuanxuan College of Hong Kong came to visit Laojun cave and donated HK $5000. On August 19, 1989, a delegation from Kaohsiung Taoist Culture Institute and Taoyuan Taoist temple of Taiwan went to visit Laojun cave in the rain and donated RMB 1200 and a fine brushwork color painting of Laojun qingniu. One after another, Taoist friends from Luzi haotan of Taiwan went to visit Laojun cave and donated RMB 1000, In May 1990, he visited Laojun cave and donated NT $11000 and NT $150 to help repair it. In October, he visited Laojun cave and presented his works "Chinese Taoism, Taoist priest, Taoist temple" and "Chinese Taoism Quanzhen religion" to him. In November 1992, he visited Hong Kong Led by Li Lihua, the head of the delegation, more than 40 people from pengying immortal hall visited Laojun cave and donated more than HK $21000. On August 3, 1993, a delegation of 19 people from Sichuan pilgrimage group of Nezha Prefecture, Zhulan Town, Miaoli County, Taiwan visited Laojun cave and visited Laojun cave in August 1996 In November 1998, 42 members of the Italian Taoist delegation visited Laojun cave. In November 1998, Wang LINGJI, chairman of the Taoist Association of the golden forge temple in Singapore, visited Laojun cave and presented the Taoist picture album of "Wei Bao Shan He" to Laojun cave. Taoist priest Zhou Zhiqing presented xuandu Lutan to Wang LINGJI

Chinese PinYin : Lao Jun1 Dong