I slowly walked into the 1,300-year-old Grand Temple of South Mountain, led by Head of Nanyue Culture, Media, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Hunan Province Dai Huiling and several local travel operators and guides.
Crossing past the Lingxing Gate, we officially entered the “Little Forbidden Palace of Jiangnan”. Although this is just another Buddhist temple, it has tremendous historical significance!
The Grand Temple of Hengshan boasts profound cultural deposits, showcasing unmistakable imperial architectural style, and has become an important religious site for emperors and civilians through the ages paying their respect to the deities in Hengshan or the South Mountain.
The main building structure along the central axis of the Grand Temple of Hengshan comprises four painstakingly laid out courtyards separated by gates, not unlike the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, and hence the nickname “The Little Forbidden Palace of Jiangnan”.
Touted as the single most important temple in southern China, the Grand Temple of Hengshan houses eight Taoist monasteries on its eastern side, and eight Buddhist temples on the west, while the central axis embodies the Confucian culture, signifying the peaceful coexistence of Taoism and Buddhism under one roof in the Hengshan Grand Tenple. Such a unique cultural phenomenon is extremely rare, not just in China but throughout the world!
Walking several steps forward, my attention was instantly drawn by an opera stage. Could this be the place the ancient Chinese emperors enjoyed the opera shows, or was it just built for the exclusive entertainment of the deities?
Dai Huiling took me to the front of the stage and read out the pair of couplets hung high above us: We shouldn’t just look at things right before our eyes, but think about the future. And should bow out when it is time to do so!
To me, “bowing out when it is time to do so” carries a profound meaning. The spotlight in front of the stage will sooner or later move away from us with the passing time. Sometimes I feel that it is a great virtue to be able to bow out either in the middle of action or upon completion of our missions, as this is something very few are actually able to do!
Religious faith is some sort of very personal spiritual sustenance, but what I have never really anticipated is that this Tang Dynasty temple sporting grandiose imperial architectural style occupying a plot area of around 120,000 square metres right in the heart of the bustling city could be such a hive of activity with a swarm of devout worshippers!
Standing in front of the Fire God Temple at the Holy Emperor Hall, I could see the devotees tossing the incense papers, candles and wishing boxes into the open-air burning mound to complete the prayer process before they left the Grand Temple with a sense of satisfaction while looking forward to paying tribute to the gods here again next year.
Dai said: Come make a wish, Leesan. The gods will answer your prayer!
From what I understand, the many unexpected things happening to our world these past few years have been a consequence of the shifting of the entire world’s energies. And China is transitioning into a new destiny over the next 20 years from 2024 through 2043.
Anyway, a reality that we are feeling increasingly stronger now is that the shifting of old and new energies will have far-fetching effects on the destiny of every individual on this planet, and being inside this whole thing, it is essential for us to understand such transformation.
Because of this, we can see that more and more pilgrims and travellers have descended upon the Grand Temple of South Mountain to pay tribute to the Fire God during this time!
I stepped out of the temple from the Southern Gate and gazed at the mountains afar. Isn’t that the Zhurong Peak, the tallest among the 72 peaks of Hengshan, one of the Five Great Mountain Ranges of China?
There’s this saying that one will never appreciate how tall Zhurong Peak is unless one makes the effort to ascend it!
So, let’s scale the 1,300-metre summit together and visit the Fire God who has been dutifully taking charge of all the fires of this world!
The thing is, the downhill journey could be a little challenging, with a 5.4 km stretch both ways particularly demanding. With so many local residents and young men and women making the effort to ascend the summit,
it is not hard to see that the Fire God indeed still commands a very powerful charm over the people! That said, I really feel bad for these people, as we, being foreign tourists, had the luxury of being ferried up and down the hill in cosy 4WDs!
I came across several 1,554-year-old ginkgo trees outside Fu Yan Temple on the edge of Zhurong Peak. I hugged each of them with a heart full of respect, as these ancient trees have witnessed earth-moving changes that have taken place over the centuries!
Shi Dayue, the Chief Abbot of Fu Yan Temple who has been here for three decades, told me: This temple was constructed by the founder of the South Mountain, Master Nanyue Huisi in 567 A.D., and is a sacred religious site for Tiantai and Nanzong Buddhist sects.
The temple received royal scriptures from Emperor Tang Taizong, and is today one of the ten most important Buddhist sites in China. It has also been named one of the country’s most beautiful temples.
There are plenty of attractions inside and outside the temple, including ancient ginkgo trees, the meditation site of Master Nanyue Huisi, the “Ji Gao Ming” platform written by Tang Dynasty prime minister Li Bi, Three Lives Pagoda, and Tiger Spring, among others.
You can choose to put up a night here — eat vegetarian, chant the mantra and meditate to have your soul and spirit cleansed and rejuvenated!
On the way back, Dai arranged for us to take a short break at the courtyard of Mojingtai, and we took the opportunity to visit the library where four top-level Nanyue military meetings personally presided by Chiang Kai-shek were held during the Sino-Japanese War.
In the meantime, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling stayed at the He Mansion here five times between 1937 and 1944.
Hengshan the South Mountain is more than just a Buddhist and Taoist religious site; it is also a place frequented by historically significant figures.
I told Dai: I really cannot wait to share with travel buddies in Malaysia such a fabulous place steep in history, full of stories, and dwelled by the deities!
