Geography determines the main form of transportation, and transportation is an important condition for economic development and cultural communication. Yulin City is an important transportation hub in southeast Guizhou. Qin Shi Huang Ping Nanyue, excavated the Xiangling Canal Channel, descended the Li River to Guangxin Cangwu, then traced the Yu River through Teng County to the Xiujiang River to Rongzhou, along the Beiliu River through the Ghost Gate Pass to Maolin Boat Port to board the ship, through The Yulin Prefecture (鬱林 i.e. Yulin, hereinafter the same) straight down the Nanliu River, and then through Bobai, until Hepu, east to Qiongya, west to Jiaotong (Vietnam) and ocean trade straight down to Southeast Asia. The passage of the Nanliu River and the Beiliu River runs through the east and west of Yulin, and is the north-south traffic avenue to which officers and soldiers have migrated since the Han Dynasty, which is called the Official Road. "The dynasties have not ceased to make pearls, and hundreds of generations have been salt brine boats." Therefore, since the Tang and Song dynasties, and even after the Ming Dynasty, the five genera of Yulin have been formed, and the extensive transportation has played a huge role in social and economic development and the formation of the metropolis.
Yuntian Palace on the banks of the Nanliu River - picture from the Internet
Buddhism was introduced to China in the last years of the Western Han Dynasty, spread widely in the Eastern Han Dynasty, flourished and developed during the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and flourished in the Tang Dynasty. Guangxi was one of the earliest regions where Buddhism was introduced to China by sea. Some scholars have proposed that in addition to the Guangdong route, the route of Buddhism spreading from the Maritime Silk Road to the Central Plains should also have a route from Hepu along the Nanliu River and the Beiliu River to Cangwu into the Central Plains. Yulin benefited from the passage of the Nanliu River and the Beiliu River, and became the earliest area for Buddhism to spread to Guangxi.
Yanshi Temple - Picture from the Internet
In Yanshi Mountain, on the banks of the Nanliu River in Bobai County, Yulin City, the rocks are all rocky and standing on the wall, more than 100 meters high. Under the cliff wall in the south of Yanshi Mountain, there are two caves, "Dongtian" and "Dongdi". Legend has it that there was a god named Chen Yue Wang, who saw the Western Pillow Qingbo of Yanshi Mountain, the southern Cuizhuang Mountain; the Baizhang Cliff, the clear spring flying, and the stream side of the flower. In particular, the top of the mountain is vast and flat, and it is more than enough to put a thousand tables and banquets. So he feasted on all the gods and princes at the top of the stone mountain. Yanshi Mountain is also named after the Chen Yue King's Feast of Immortals. Huanyu Ji vol. 167 Bobai County: "Banquet stone, feast place of the King of Western Yue." Yudi Jisheng Vol. 121 Yulin Prefecture: Yanshi Mountain "Its mountains are all coiled stones, the walls are steep, and the north is bordered by the Great River. There are streams of springs, and there are two stones."
Buddhism was introduced to Guangxi at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but its large-scale development in Guangxi did not take until the Tang Dynasty. In the sixth year of Tang Xiantong (865 AD), Jiedu had Gao Biao lead his troops to retake an ancient place in Annam, and when he drove his troops through Baizhou (that is, Bobai County), he sculpted Buddha statues in the "Dongtian" and "Dongdi" of Yanshiyan and created the "Yanshi Temple". This temple is limited by the size of the cave and the scale is not large, but the momentum is very majestic. Yanshi Temple is the first Buddhist temple established in Guangxi, so it is called "Guangxi First Temple". There are 3 statues of the gods engraved on the west stone wall of the Temple. The statue is carved on a red sandstone cliff about 15 meters from the river. The statue is about 5 meters from the ground, the two niches are connected side by side, the carving surface is 0.5 meters wide and 3 meters high, and the three statues are all high reliefs sitting side by side, and the upper ones are chiseled diamond-shaped pointed arches. The statue without inscription, from the carving art style and its shape, appearance, clothing analysis, should be carved in the Sui Dynasty or Sui slightly before, identified by experts as "Guangxi's first Cliff", is currently known in Guangxi one of the earlier cliff statues. The statue is located on the banks of the Nanliu River, the main traffic route from the Central Plains to Jiaotong (present-day Vietnam) during the Han and Tang dynasties, which provides valuable information for the study of the development of Buddhism and the southern transmission in China.
Yanshi Temple Cliff Stone Carving- Picture from the Internet
Yanshi Temple was later expanded by Liu Chongyuan, the governor of the Southern Han Dynasty, and was called "Jueguo Zen Temple". According to legend, Liu Chongyuan served as the prefect of Lianzhou, took a boat along the river through Yanshi Mountain, overheard the rocks on the left bank of the mountain, drums and music, stopped the boat to the cave to see that there was no shadow, and suddenly woke up: This is the sign of the gods! He hurriedly knelt down in the cave and made a promise: "May the gods bless me for three consecutive terms as prefect, and in the future build a temple here and mold a golden body." Later, he served as the prefect of Lianzhou for five consecutive years, and when he became famous, he also wished to expand and repair this temple. There is a temple called "Silent Hall" in Yanshi Temple, which was built by Liu Chongyuan.
Scenery of Yanshi Temple - Picture from the Internet
There are two stalagmites on the south side of the Yanshi Temple, which are several meters high, just like a pair of red candles burning on the temple, constituting a natural landscape of "candlelight illuminating the ancient temple". According to the "Record of the Newly Opened Yanshi Mountain" of the "Guangdong Western Jinshiluo", there was a Buddha statue about five meters high at the riverside of Yanshi Mountain, which was not chiseled in what era, unfortunately, this giant Buddha collapsed and fell into the river at the end of the Qing Dynasty or the beginning of the Republic of China.
The mountain is not high, and the immortal is named. There is a poem that sighs: "The village girl has no daisy appearance, and the mountain peak Danxia is drunk with tourists." It is the feast stone good scenery, and the mountain viewing season is also a good time. ”