Qufu Jia Zhentao
Ludou Temple is located in the northwest of Huiquan Valley in Fenghuang Mountain. It is a famous Buddhist resort in Jiuxian Mountain Scenic Tourist Area. It is named because it is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is shaped like a funnel. Legend has it that Ludou Temple was built in the Sui Dynasty by the famous calligrapher and Taoist monk Zhiyong.
Monk Zhiyong is the seventh-generation grandson of Wang Xizhi, a famous calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the first person in Chinese running script. His real name is Wang Faji and his courtesy name is Zhiyong. He believed in Buddhism since childhood and became a monk at the age of sixteen. He is known as Monk Zhiyong or Zen Master Yong in the world. After becoming a monk, Zhiyong began to practice calligraphy while traveling around. Two years later, he wandered to Yongxin Temple in Shanlian Town, Wuxing County, Zhejiang Province. Here he devoted himself to studying calligraphy for 30 years. Only the scrapped brushes were filled with ten pens, and he became a world-famous calligrapher. . He buried these scrapped pens in the ground as a memorial, leaving the world with the eternal legend of "returning pens to graves".
After mastering calligraphy, monk Zhiyong was not satisfied and decided to once again embark on a journey to travel around the world. After leaving Yongxin Temple, he began to travel from south to north, visiting famous mountains and rivers and looking for eminent monks. He traveled north to the foot of Mount Tai. After visiting the Buddha at Mount Tai, he returned and traveled from north to south. Within a few days, he arrived near the mouth of the Dawen River, just in time for the Sui Dynasty's war to unify the north. The Sui army and the northern minority armies were fighting fiercely. Monk Zhiyong witnessed the tragedy of the war with his own eyes. He saw numerous casualties among soldiers on both sides and the corpses strewn across the fields. He also saw the tragic situation of people being displaced and fleeing in all directions wherever the war went. Facing the killings in the world, he was heartbroken, and since he was just a monk, he had no choice. The only thing he could do was to find a secluded place, concentrate on promoting Buddhism, educate mankind, and let them put down their butcher knives and become Buddhas immediately.
Monk Zhiyong decided to temporarily stop his wandering and look for a quiet place to stay. One day, he heard from people who were fleeing that the Fenghuang Mountain in the north of Qufu City was surrounded by fairy mist, the water was pure, and the mountains were secluded. It was the best place to wash away the secular world and cultivate one's character. He searched all the way to Huiquan Valley and was immediately attracted by the beautiful scenery in front of him: on the left is the majestic and mysterious Jiuxian Mountain; in front is the sweet Huiquan Valley Flowing Sound Ring; on the right is the legendary Phoenix Mountain where the Phoenix is reborn from the ashes; Behind it is Xiaodong Mountain, which looks like a huge natural funnel.
He began to live here. During the day, he went to the mountains to collect medicines and develop prescriptions. While taking in and treating the seriously wounded left by the war, he also checked the pulses of the nearby people. In the evening, he would read scriptures and promote Buddhism. Due to his excellent medical skills and his willingness to do charity, there was an endless stream of people who came to him to seek medical advice and learn calligraphy. He saw that many of the people who came to see him were living in poverty, and some were even barely clothed. His compassion arose spontaneously, and he set a rule for himself. All poor people who came to see him would not be charged a consultation fee. Sometimes you can bring a brick, a tile or even a piece of wood as medical expenses. More and more people came here to see doctors, and soon a large amount of building materials were piled up at the foot of the mountain. There were some craftsmen among the nearby people who received the favor. They spontaneously used these materials to build three simple temples on the spot, which served as a place for monk Zhiyong to practice medicine and express their gratitude to him. Monk Zhiyong was very happy. Looking at the brand new monk's residence, he happily wrote the three characters "Ludou Temple" and hung it in front of the door. This was the earliest Ludou Temple.
Monk Zhiyong lived here for another ten years. During these ten years, he focused on medical research, improved countless prescriptions, cured countless people, and was deeply respected by the people. As more and more people visited him, Ludou Temple became more and more famous, more and more monks came to practice in the temple, and its scale continued to expand. By the time Monk Zhiyong left this place, Ludou Temple had become a larger temple, with a double-eaves main hall, a mountain gate, and more than a dozen monk rooms.
Later Emperor Li Tang believed in Buddhism and promoted Buddhism vigorously, and the incense of Ludou Temple became more prosperous. In the Song Dynasty, it reached its peak. It is said that there were at most fifty or sixty monks practicing here at that time.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Ludou Temple began to decline and its incense gradually decreased. Later, in the Republic of China, Ludou Temple completely collapsed due to disrepair, and there were no monks living there for a long time. After the founding of New China, local people began to build mountain roads and demolished the only remaining wall foundation of Ludou Temple. Since then, Ludou Temple has completely disappeared from people's sight. At the end of the 20th century, people's living standards were getting higher and higher, and the tourism industry began to flourish. Jiuxian Mountain, as a famous scenic tourist area in Qufu, has been favored by many people. The number of people visiting this place has increased day by day. People are even more concerned about the lack of Ludou Temple. It's a pity. In order to make up for the lack of tourists, the local Buddhist Association, with the support of the government, restored its original appearance on the site of the ancient Ludou Temple, which is what we see today.
