Kawazu Temple

Hejin Temple, also known as Buddhist Zen Temple, was founded in the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, and it has been more than 400 years so far. It is located on a boulder in the middle of the river, across the river from Shenmu Suppression Huangshitodi Village. The temple faces south from the north. There were originally 18 halls in three entrances, and more than 18 meditation halls and guest houses in the back of the hall.

The temple mainly enshrines the patriarchs of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as Guan Shengdijun, Eye Bodhisattva, Erlang God Yang Jian and so on. The mountain gate is facing Lelou, guarded by stone lions on both sides. Inside the gate is an ancient cypress, more than Zhang high, with a round crown and a straight trunk, like the hammer of a god. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Hejin Temple was repaired many times, and the incense was strong. By the 1920s, there were still more than 20 monks, and Buddhist activities involved 48 altars, with a radius of hundreds of miles. Every year on the 28th day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, there are traditional temple fairs, where villagers gather and merchants fill the fields, offering god worship, entertainment and trade an unprecedented grand occasion. After the war and the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, the monks fled and the temples were completely destroyed. Since the reform and opening up, inspired by the national religious policy and cultural relics protection policy, villagers have spontaneously restored cultural relics and rebuilt the main hall and some corridors.

The stone on which Hejin Temple stands faces water on three sides, with a hundred landings, forming a peninsula shape. Although the stone wall near the water is not very high, it is steep and unclimbable. There is a huge iron ring embedded on the north end wall, which is left by folk traditions and gods. It is said that when Dayu controlled the water, he cut a gully in the north mountain of Shenmu City, and diverted the water from the Zhuolun River into the Kuye River. This gully is Shiguzi. Unexpectedly, the cut stones were washed by the water three times and twice to Shamaotou at the mouth of Kuye River, blocking the river course and causing frequent floods. But once the stone gully was opened, the feng shui of Shenmu was broken. Since then, famines have continued here, and the land is barren and the people are poor. Dayu regretted it very much when he learned about it, so he ordered his Hercules to pull the stone from the mouth of the river to the north of Shenmu City overnight to block the stone gully. Hercules placed iron rings on the boulder and took the night to pull the stone northward, suffering hardships along the way. Before dawn, I finally arrived at Huangshidi. At this time, some people in the village got up early to make a living. Hercules asked a village woman: "How far is this place from Shenmu City? Can we get there before dawn?" , Hercules suddenly lost his energy, so he threw the boulder on the river to be careful. Since then, the mouth of the Kuye River has been unblocked, and the floods have been reduced. Thousands of years later, the Feng Shui cycle of the Shenmu area has gradually become rich. It can be said that it is the right place to build a temple of gods with magical stones!

The original site of Hejin Temple is on the stone cliff in Hexi, Guojiata Village, upstream, commonly known as Yanya Temple. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Cunwu, a wealthy family in Shiyao Village downstream, moved his life savings to the present site. Zhang Cunwu is a clean and honest man, and he does not take any money from the temple during the construction. He even brings his own drinking water. Soon after the temple was built, Zhang died. To commemorate it, people set up a merit tablet for him in the temple, allowing him to share incense with the gods.