When I was a child, I asked adults to tell stories. When adults got impatient, they would tell them like this: When I was a child, there was a mountain, and there was a temple on the mountain. There was an old monk in the temple, sitting and telling stories. What are you talking

When I was a child, I asked adults to tell stories. When adults got impatient, they would tell them like this: When I was a child, there was a mountain, and there was a temple on the mountain. There was an old monk in the temple, sitting and telling stories. What are you talking about? When I was a child, there was a mountain with a temple on the mountain. There was an old monk in the temple who sat and told stories, and the cycle continued endlessly. The child knew that the adult would stop talking, so he reluctantly went to sleep.

There is really a mountain in my hometown, called Xiangtang Mountain , and there is really a temple on the mountain, called Xiangtang Temple . Only later did I realize that this Xiangtang Mountain is South Xiangtang Mountain. Opposite of it, thirty miles away, there is North Xiangtang Mountain. There is also a temple on the mountain called North Xiangtang Temple.

Nan Xiangtang Mountain is very close to my home, across the river, less than one kilometer away. I often went there to play when I was a child. The fun I had at that time was just walking around the grotto with a few friends, touching the walls of the cave, and not seeing anything in the dark. I am more interested in looking for grasshoppers, grasshoppers and other grasshoppers on the mountain next to the temple. I occasionally find a few wild jujubes and everyone is very happy to share them.

I heard from adults that the reason why Xiangtang Temple is called Xiangtang Temple is because you can hear the buzzing sound of drums when you tap the wall of the grotto. Sometimes when I go to play, I take off my shirt and beat it on the stone wall, and there is indeed a buzzing echo.

has been playing for more than ten years, and has almost no impression of the Buddha statues in the grottoes, and is not interested in them. In the first month of the year, there is a temple fair, and all the neighbors from the surrounding countryside come to visit Xiangtang Temple. There are huge crowds of people queuing up, going from cave to cave. There were incense and candles at that time, and you could see the stone carvings on the cave wall and the Wall of Ten Thousand Buddhas on the top of the wall. Under the candlelight, you could clearly see it.

After going to school and leaving his hometown, he went to work in other places. He went back less often and had fewer opportunities to go to Xiangtang Temple. After wandering around, I finally fell in love with ancient artworks, and suddenly I discovered that Xiangtang Temple in my hometown is actually a thousand-year-old temple with world-famous stone carving art. Unfortunately, more than a hundred years ago, the stone Buddha statues in Xiangtang Temple were stolen and sold overseas by American "explorers" and displayed grandly in museums in North America. After that, I began to pay attention to the relevant information about Xiangtang Temple.

I saw a piece of information on the Handan Cultural Network today. In March 1936, the Japanese Mizuno Seiichi and Nagahiro Toshio conducted a week-long field survey of Xiangtang Temple in the north and south. Surveyed, mapped and photographed , and published the research results in June 1937. That was an era when the Chinese were poor and weak, and it was an era when the Japanese were domineering in China.

Previously, I also collected and preserved some stone Buddha statues from Xiangtang Temple displayed in museums in North America. Together, I gained a new understanding of Xiangtang Temple in my hometown that is close to its original appearance. Due to space limitations, I will post some photos of Minami Xiangtang Temple as follows:

The black and white photos below were taken by Mizuno Seiichi and Nagahiro Toshio.

Nanxiangtang four distant views

Nanxiangtang four close views

Nanxiangtang Temple overlooking

The front of the first cave entrance

Right side of the right room of the first cave

Left side of the left room of the first cave

Right side of the left room of the first cave

Left rear wall of the right room of the first cave When I was a kid, I had a deep memory of the Wall of Ten Thousand Buddhas in the upper right corner.

The left back wall of the left room of the first cave is sometimes wet on the ground. It may be the water seeping in after the rain.

Below is the Xiangtang Mountain stone sculpture displayed at the San Diego Museum of Art in 2011. These statues are the most exquisite works of art from Xiangtang Temple stolen by Americans a hundred years ago and are stored in major art museums in the United States.

Xiangtang Temple Grottoes Giant stone Buddha and Bodhisattva heads in the Northern Qi Dynasty

Xiangtang Temple Grottoes Northern Qi stone statues of mythical beasts

Xiangtang Temple Grottoes Northern Qi stone Bodhisattva heads

The above three pictures are of the Xiangtang Temple Grottoes The standing stone Buddha statue in the Northern Qi Dynasty

The sitting stone Buddha statue in the Northern Qi Dynasty

The above two pictures are from the Xiangtang Temple Grottoes The sitting stone Buddha statue in the Northern Qi Dynasty