introduce
Going west along National Highway 316 from Gangu County, the Huagai Temple Grottoes are located 10 miles west of Gangu County, at the east end of Ershipu Village on the south bank of the Weihe River. Because the top of the mountain is full of green grass, it looks like a red religious monk's hat, which is worn on a red cliff shaped like a column, so the local people call it the top of the lama hat. Because of the strange mountain situation, a peak protrudes like a knife and an axe, and goes straight into the clouds, like a red and green roofed canopy standing next to the mountain. .
There used to be a large-scale Buddhist temple at the foot of the mountain. There were three rows of iron tiles on the roof of the main hall, known as the Tiewa Temple. The temple was demolished when the Ding (West) Tian (Shui) Highway (316 National Highway) was opened in the 1960s, so Huagai Cave is also called Huagai Temple.
Huagai Temple is connected to Zhushan Mountain in the west, with red sunset glow; Weishui River in the north, green waves lingering; Qinling Mountains in the south, empty and dangerous. The Dingtian Highway at the foot of the mountain is full of traffic and flows continuously. Since ancient times and the scenic spot of Sangzi, it has been an ideal place for Buddhists to practice Zen and Taoism to preach.
There are 18 numbered caves in Huagai Temple, including Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and ancestor worship. The Taoist caves dominate. There are 60 statues in the 18 caves, including 44 statues over 60 centimeters in length, 13 miniature sculptures under 13 centimeters in length, and three exquisite heads of Fu Lv Shou Sanxing. Among them, there are 46 Taoist statues, accounting for three quarters of the entire statue.
From the combination of statues, except for Wuliang Hall and Yuhuang Cave, which are group sculptures, and Confucius Cave, Fuxi, and Lingguan Cave are single statues, all other caves have a layout of statues of one master and two waiters. The painting and layout of the murals are basically the same in all caves. Except for the story paintings in Wuliang Hall and Shakyamuni Cave, the others are all single-object paintings on the left and right walls, and the ceiling is a circular fan or calligraphy and painting.
The Huagai Temple Grottoes were excavated during the Taiding period. Emperor Jiajing of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty believed in Taoism and rejected Buddhism, and many temples were converted into Taoist temples. The phenomenon of the fusion of the three religions was very common in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Although the Daxiang Mountain was mainly a Buddhist place in the Tang Dynasty, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, except for the giant Buddha that survived, the rest of the grottoes were all changed to Taoism or the integration of the three religions. Therefore, Daxiang Mountain, Xianlong Cave, and Huagai Temple in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were all based on Taoism. It's just that all the statues in the other grottoes were destroyed, and only the statues in the Huagai Temple Grottoes survived because they were in refuge.
The Three Eyes Cave is named after three interconnected small caves. The two murals of the Yuan Dynasty, "Tang Monk Learning Buddhist Scriptures" and "Tang Monk Returning from Buddhist Scriptures" preserved on both sides of the cave wall, are treasures in the mural art of Huagai Temple. The images of the four monks and disciples in these two murals are complete, which are very similar to the story paintings of "Journey to the West" that appeared later in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
opening hours
The specific business status is subject to the opening of the day.
