But where there are ancient places, there will be some legends. With a history of more than 1,500 years, The Temple is no exception.
It is said that there are 4 ancient ginkgo trees in this Baosheng Temple, two males and two females, who have lived for more than a thousand years, and the canopy of the trees is luxuriant, and every year in the early winter, it is full of golden yellow, and little by little it is crushed in the branches and leaves.
According to legend, this ancient ginkgo biloba was transformed by two pairs of young men and women with love and righteousness, and it is said that they prayed to the Buddha for a thousand years, just for the sake of life and death.
The story is very old-fashioned, telling that two rich families in the town, Qianjin, and two poor students who borrowed to live in the Baosheng Temple eloped under the moon, but they were unexpectedly beaten by their parents, and the two Qianjin threw themselves into the river in shame.
Knowing the martyrdom of their sweethearts, the two scholars, unwilling to die, knelt in front of the Buddha statue and pleaded bitterly, willing to transform into ginkgo biloba and suffering from the wind and sword frost and the thunder of the sky, only hoping that one day they could spend a good full moon with their lovers.
The Buddha was touched and fulfilled the wishes of the two scholars. And the two golden incense souls learned of this matter, and they were willing to transform into ginkgo biloba, accompanied by a lover, and gazed deeply for thousands of years.
For beautiful things, people always like to circulate. How many generations this story has been passed down, no one can say. But the old man in the town can tell you a true story. This story is also related to the ginkgo biloba in this temple.
In order to facilitate the telling of the story, for the time being, let alone a ginkgo tree separated from the wall of Baosheng Temple and enclosed by private houses.
In the backyard of this temple, there are 3 ancient ginkgo trees. On the east side of the pond, there is a male tree, more than 15 meters high, with parasitic goji berries in its abdomen. There are two other ginkgo trees on the west side, one in the south is a female tree, and the one on the north is a male tree, which parasitizes an elm tree in the belly of this tree, like a "bosom in the arms".
Under the ginkgo tree lie two interesting souls. One is Mr. Fu Li, a tang dynasty literary scholar Tortoise Meng; the other is Mr. Ye Shengtao, a pioneer of new education, a modern writer and publisher. Today, I will talk about the story of Ye Lao and this beautiful ginkgo biloba.
In the spring of 1917, the 23-year-old Ye Shengtao was invited by the principal Wu Binruo to teach at the Fifth Higher Primary School of Luzhi Wu County.
Here, he and his principal Wu Binruo and colleague Wang Boxiang had similar interests, broke through the shackles and various obstacles of the feudal education system, carried out a series of bold innovations in teaching materials, curricula, and education and teaching methods, and carried out a vigorous rural education reform experiment of "education for life".
Lu Zhi's customs and customs gave Ye Shengtao unlimited inspiration, and his famous short story "Collected Three or Five Buckets", the long novel "Ni Huanzhi", the fairy tale collection "Scarecrow", the social background and character image all came from Lu Zhi, from his life and educational practice during The period of Lu Zhi's teaching.
In Ye Lao's articles, there are often descriptions of ginkgo biloba. For example, the novel "Ni Huanzhi" begins by writing: ... There are tall ginkgo trees everywhere near the shore, and the southwest wind rushes over and blows the branches of the branches that have fallen out of leaves...
The famous freehand essay "Three Ginkgo Trees" is an affectionate brushstroke, through the depiction of various forms of ginkgo biloba in different seasons, condensing childhood memories and rich nostalgia on three ginkgo trees.
The materials and background of these two articles cannot be avoided in the beautiful Jiangnan water town of Luzhi, nor can they avoid the thousand-year-old ginkgo biloba that is still standing tall and lush in Baosheng Temple.
And this ancient ginkgo biloba is a witness to Mr. Ye Shengtao's unswerving love.
In the summer of 1919, Ye Lao moved his family from Suzhou City to Luzhi, and lived a peaceful township life with his grandmother, mother, wife Hu Molin, and the eldest son Ye Zhishan, who had just turned one year old.
Elder Ye and his wife both taught at the "Five Highs", and Hu Molin taught the Women's Department, and in addition to teaching Chinese, he also taught family life classes and life skills. The various cutting and sewing techniques she taught soon spread in the town of Luzhi. In the evening, groups of three or five girls often come to visit the door and ask her for advice on pattern cutting and tailoring.
In the years of time, I watched the ancient ginkgo blossom and scatter new branches, and the leaves turned yellow and the leaves fell. In the primary school under the ginkgo tree, teaching during the day, the beloved person is next door; the home is in the town, pushing open the window, it is the scenery of the small bridge flowing water; the door is a small river, you can wash and pan rice; downstairs is the old street, raise the coal stove to cook.
This quiet hour of light holding the hand of the son never came out of Ye Shengtao's heart again. In his diary, there are often words like this, "If Mo is not at home, he feels strange", "Mo is not at home, and Yu is silent and bored." A few simple words, the road to the two of them deep affection.
After the death of his wife, he once had a poem cloud, "The mountains are shoulder to shoulder, the lake is light and shadow... Habitual coming and going, Songbo thirty-six, canopy window double reclining, Fuli Suzhou. ”
In the end, I can't forget Lu Zhi. When Ye Shengtao died, he often chanted about the Qingfeng Pavilion, the Fighting Duck Pond, the tall ginkgo trees and the Shengsheng Farm.
On February 16, 1988, Elder Ye passed away. In December of that year, Mr. Li's ashes were placed in the ancient town of Luzhi, and the school where he taught at that time also became a memorial hall.
Since then, he and Lu Zhi, the "second hometown that cannot be forgotten", have never been separated again. (Photo/Ying Zhigang)