About the author: Chen Shuning, a Jin'an person who not only yearns for "poetry and far away", but also loves the beauty of his hometown landscape.
Photo: Jiang Changhong, Veteran Wai
Follow the winding mountain path and climb the stairs. Many unknown small yellow flowers bloom on the side of the mountain path, and red and pink and purple rhododendrons can also be seen everywhere. The hillside is lush with lush forests and bamboo. The little bird is the spirit of the mountain, fascinated by the beauty of nature, hidden in the shade of green, opening the throat, a gentle and crisp song lingering between the mountains and forests. Tourists seem to forget the fatigue of mountaineering, immerse themselves in the beauty of the mountains, and revel in the song of birds. Along the way, you can see some rare trees from time to time, and there are signs hanging on the trees, such as small hook catechu, small mulan, incense tree, three-leaf maple, purple stem, etc. are all national second- and third-level protected plants.
It is understood that Wanfoshan also has rare plants such as spring trees, orchid trees, fragrant fruit trees, silver magpies, and silver hazel, which are known as living fossils, just like the hermits in ancient times, hidden in the deep mountains, and tourists rarely see them. Purple violet is common, and purple stems are the first time to see it. Later, when I inquired on the Internet, I learned that the purple stems are distributed in Henan, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan at an altitude of 600 to 1900 meters in evergreen broad-leaved forests or evergreen, deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests. Due to the continuous destruction of vegetation and poor natural renewal power, the plants have been decreasing day by day, and they are listed as "endangered species" in China. Because the bark is very smooth and ruddy after peeling, some places are called "no skin and no face tree".
Walking to the Erxian Welcome Attraction, I saw two pine trees on the roadside cliff holding hands and standing side by side, standing next to the cliff, standing out of the crowd, as if waving to welcome guests, and like showing the style to tourists. At the top of the hill in front of it grows a pine tree, with old dry branches, fine needles, and symmetrical branches fan-shaped, like a peacock opening screen, called phoenix pine. Cross the quicksand cliffs, turn over the crucian carp's back, and go up to the Lanxiu Pavilion.
Standing outside the pavilion, the peaks stand tall, piercing the blue sky, and the near mountains are green and the distant mountains are like Dai. The mountain wind blows and the sound of loose waves is like playing a majestic mountain symphony. Take a nap on a stone chair and look up at the blue sky and white clouds, overlooking the green mountains and green valleys, and enjoying the wonderland. Looking at the dense and elegant silhouette of the mountains, under the sunlight, the scenery of the north and south mountains of the mountains is very different, and slowly taste the artistic conception of "the peaks in the division of the wilderness, the clouds and the sunshine and the differences" described in Wang Wei's poem "Zhongnan Mountain", which makes people feel relaxed and pleasant, and can't help but marvel at the strange beauty of nature's miraculous craftsmanship.
The mountain path from Lanxiu Pavilion to the top of the Old Buddha is getting more and more dangerous, and the sea of clouds is surging from the mountain pass not far away, like the tide of the Qiantang River, like the grassland ten thousand horses running wildly. The mountain wind is getting stronger and stronger, and the sea of clouds is getting thicker and thicker, as if the clouds and mist of Dabie Mountain have gathered here. The surrounding peaks loomed, the mountainside clouds and mist, slowly rising, close to the top of the mountain and then scraped into the distance. Tourists walk through the sea of clouds, bend over and hunch their backs, climb the "ladder" flanked by cliffs and cliffs, and ascend to the top of the mountain.
At an altitude of 1539 meters, the old Buddha peak is one of the main peaks of Dabie Mountain, and it is named after the statue of the old Buddha sitting upright from the west of the flat shoulder pry mountain. The Buddhas' Temples on the top of the mountain were built during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty and destroyed during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The existing Buddhist temple was restored a year ago, the temple enshrines a Buddha, there is an incense burner outside, burning incense and prostrating, and tourists are self-reliant
On the way down the mountain, there are wisps of flowers lingering, there are habits of cool breeze, and there are streams and birds. Tourists are full of excitement, singing songs, sometimes sticking their hands to the side of the mouth into a trumpet shape, shouting loudly in the face of the distant mountains, sprinkling a string of laughter along the way, all of which are worth the trip.
In March 2000, I met with several travel companions who had climbed WanfoShan together, and the travel companions were not exhausted, and they met to climb Wanfoshan again, so they invited a few friends who had not visited Wanfoshan to start the second trip to Wanfoshan.
On October 6, 2016, relatives and friends invited to visit Wanfoshan, and at 9:00 a.m., we gathered in front of the gate of the scenic spot to visit the mountain. Climbing to the top of the main peak, in the afternoon, the mountain began to fog, less than half an hour, the mountain was full of fog, visibility was extremely low, and the three ladies accompanying us were tired, so we could only carefully return to the bottom of the mountain along the same road. On the way up the mountain, I saw a pavilion called Gonglin Pavilion, which seemed to be newly built, and had never been seen before the first two climbs.
Legend has it that Li Gonglin, a famous painter of the Northern Song Dynasty, once painted on Wanfo Mountain, and there are still Gonglin Pavilion and Gonglin Painting Table on the mountain. Li Gonglin, a native of Shucheng, Luzhou, is a resident of Longmian. In addition to being good at landscapes, flowers and birds, Li Gonglin is also good at painting characters, especially horses. Su Shi praised: "There are thousands of donkeys in the chest of the dragon sleep, not only painting flesh and bones." His representative works include "Five Horse Diagram", "Linwei Yan Pastoral Map", "Sixteen Little Horses Figure", "Hundred Horse Diagram", "Longmian Mountain Villa Diagram", "Roselle Futu", "Wei Mo Jie Statue", "Yuanchuan Map" and so on.
Three visits to Wanfo Mountain, different climbing seasons, different scenery, but all left a good impression. Lu'an is surrounded by mountains and rivers, scenic spots are dotted around, in my eyes, Wanfoshan will always be the most beautiful mountain in my hometown.