04/18/04

THE SUSPENDING TEMPLE Located on the cliff of the Jinlong canyon and 4 kilometers away to the south of County Town, The Suspending Temple was firstly built on the later stage of the Northern Wei Dynasty with a history of 1,400 years, and renovated on Tang, Jin,Ming & Qing Dynasties Later. With the Hengshan Mountain on the front, Cui Ping peak on the back, the Suspending Temple was exquisitely constructed on half way of the mountain cliff. Xu Xiake, the famous traveler in Ming Dynasty, wrote in his diary: "it is the most magnificent construction I have ever seen.”In the temple there are 40 halls. With the columns inserted into the rock and supporting on the bottom 40 halls were constructed in all, with the winding corridors connecting one another respectively. In the halls there are 80 Buddha statues made of brass, iron, stone and mud, among which the TuoSha Buddha & the Thousand--Hand Buddha are rare artistic treasures. What is more, unique is that the Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism share the same hall and live in harmony, which is seldom seen in other Chinese temples and monasteries. On the rock the characters of Zhuang Guan were carved, which is said to be calligraphic by Li Bai, the famous poet in Tang Dynasty. The Suspending Temple is the important cultural relics under the protection of the State. In 1958 a reservoir named after Hengshan and a suspending bridge were constructed to the south of the Temple. Thus the Temple and Bridge are regarded as one of the " 18 Highlights" of the Mt. Hengshan. At the reservoir there ore Ahhat Caves, Li Mu Ancestral Hall and etc. The Suspending Temple is made of wood, with tens of columns supporting outside and beams inserted in the rocks.

Upturned eaves and a system of brackets inserted between the top of a column and across beam appear repeatedly, well—knit and skillful construction and proper design show special ingenuity. The temple lies against the rock, facing east, with the gate in the south. Along the steps into the temple, an iron figure of

Maitreya is first seen smiling at you, lovely and honest. Beyond the 30—square—meter yard, stands a two—storied chamber in the north. The Buddha Hall is on the first floor. Inside, there are wood statue Goddess of Mercy, lots of treasures, and throne flying dragon on the ceiling, exquisitely carved. On the second floor are Mahavira Hall, Taiyi Hall and Guandi Hall. There are statues of the Buddhas of the Three Ages, such as Sakyamuni, Piluzena and iron Weitou statues. In Taiyi Hall is the founder of Daoism with two children. Guanyun chang, the famous general of the Shuhan Dynasty, stands in the Guandi Hall with Guan Pin, Guan yun chang's son), on the left and Zhoucang on the right. All there statues are of great value in art. On both sides of the temple, two towers face each other, and one is Bell Tower, the other is Drum Tower. Inside there are suspending ladders connected to the corridor. The round windows in the wall of the east are good to lood. On each roof of Da xung—bao—dian,Taiyi and Guandi Halls, there are two side halls resting against rocks, which are named: Hall of Jialan Defending the Dharma, Hall of Mercy Goddess Sending Babies, Hall of Dizhang and Hall of Mercy Goddess with a thousand eyes and hands. Among the three statues in the Hall of Jialan Defending the Dharma, the lonely old man “Xu Da" is in the middle, Persia King is on the left, and Crown Prince Tuo is on the right. Mercy Goddess dressed in white stands in the Hall of Mercy Goddess. There are three statues in Dizhang Hall. In the middle is king of Dizhang Bodhisaffva, on the left is Mulian and on the right is the revered Mr Min. A statue of Mercy Goddess with a thousand eyes and hands stays in the Hall of Mercy Goddess, paying attention to the world, helping the needy and relieving the distressed. On the cliff in the north of the temple are hanging the two—storied flying towers, with beams and columns holding and supporting the marvelous and ingenious towers which can front each other below and above. It’s the most dangerous. Stepping up along the plank road,you can feel as if you were walking on thin ice, frightened but safe. Entering the towers, you will see some halls including Leiyin, Sanguan, Chunyang Palace, Sanjiao, Sanshen and Sifo.

Some statues stay in Leiying Hall, which are Sakyamuni in the middle. Wenshu Goddess on the left, Pusie Goddess on the right, and Jiayian and Anan below. On the Suspending Tomple ,inside the hall, there are 24 deities and 18 arhats, showing us a scene where Sakyamuni was making a speech on Buddhist scripture to his followers. There statues of Daoist Gods are in Sanguan Hall. They are Yiao standing for Heaven; shun standing for the Earth, Yu standing for water. And inside Chunyang Palace,,Lu Dong Bing is sitting in the Middle, LiaoXian on the left and a child servant on the right. The three statues in Sanjiao Hall are Sakyamuni with a look of composure, Confucius, head of Confucianism on the left, with a respected smile and Li er, head of Daoism, with an open—minded expression of above politics and material pursuits. The three Gods and philosophers share the same hall, peacefully, which can be highly praised by the world. The two followers Jiayian and A' nan are before Sakyamuni. On both sides of his are some pupils of Daoism. In Jin Dynasty, there are two tablets in the rock under the Hall of Mercy Goddess, in which there are eight charaters "Zhun Chun Zi Tu" "San Jiao Zi Tu" singing high praise for the three religious belief accounts of their life and great causes. In the Hall of The Three Gods, the middle statue is Guanyin Buddha, the left is Wenshu Buddha and the right is Puxian Buddha. There are also ten followers from left to right which is so called "ten followers worship three Gods ".In the Four Buddhas Hall there are four Buddhas on the east, west, south and north sides. In these frescoes on the wall, there are beautiful shapes, smooth lines, and vivid figures. They are the best frescoes. Three caves are carved in the rocks along the steps; there is one Buddha in each cave. The names are Baoshen, Yinshen and ashen with full shapes, dignified manners and true to life. On the stone cave, there were carved four huge characters Gun Shu Tian Qiao (workmanship in art) .It means that it was Luban, a skillful carpenter in ancient China slid. Near the Suspending Temple on the rocks there are several stone carved characters, which were written by famous people from Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Those styles of calligraphy are full of change, and with vigorous strokes. And they are worthy of being enjoyed, especially the two character "Zhuang Guan" Magnificent" was written by the famous poet Libai in the Tang Dynasty. Lofts and towers of the Suspending Temple take on a grand, elegant, magnificent and miraculous look. The temple complex was properly built, full of sense of harmony. High above the temple is projecting rocks. Down below it is deep valley. So it is said commonly the temple high in the mid air, suspended by three horsetail hair. The Temple looks like a wood cut relief sculpture or like a paper cut or a print, with perfect craftsmanship and pleasing and pretty scenery. The whole construction was built with fancy design

and true structures. It is a real fantastic and amazing visit to climb the suspending ladders, step the winding corridors, go through the caves, squeeze the skylight, walk the ridges and stride over the flying plank road up and down by turns. It really is an aerial construction rare in China.