sweeps away the fallen leaves of the ancient Zen Temple and checks where there are scratches and where the bricks are loose. Guo Mofa, 48, guards this cultural relic located in Jishan Village, Lingchuan County, Shanxi Province.
In 2002, two Buddha statues in the Sansheng Ruixing Tower were stolen. Guo Mofa looked at the two empty holes dug out and thought to himself, "The things left by our ancestors cannot be lost in our generation." He decided to be a "pagoda guardian", doing farm work during the day and a lamp, a bed, and a desk in the temple at night. Time is very lonely. Guo Mofa has been adapting for more than a year, and he has been guarding for 14 years.
He studied under the tower and took 6 years to get his correspondence college diploma. He was also unwilling to give up and did not go to college like his brothers and left the countryside. But when he was patrolling the tower alone, he looked at the inscription engraved in the tower and sootheed his unwillingness. He said calmly, "This is probably fate. I am very satisfied to stay in the village to take care of my parents and guard the tower."
left picture shows the Three Saint Rui Xian Tower before the Cultural Relics Bureau repairs, and the right picture shows the Three Saint Rui Xian Tower repaired after the heavy rain. Photo provided by the interviewee
【1】Where are some bricks in the ancient pagoda? I know
In 2002, after the Buddha statue was stolen, I was very sad. I ran to the tower from time to time to wander around. In 2006, I still lived in the tower for a month. It was not until 2008 that the county cultural relics bureau came to the village to inspect and I said I was willing to guard the tower. In this way, in addition to home, the ancient Zen temple under the pagoda became my second base.
There is a small room in the temple with a bed, a kettle, a lamp, and a desk. I stay there at night. Sometimes when my friends are on duty for me, I will go back to the village to accompany my wife and daughter.
During the day I farm in the village, the temple is semi-open, and my phone and name are hung on the door. When tourists came to visit the tower, I went to open the door and led the tour and explained, and made sure they did not write or draw on the ancient tower. During holidays, up to thirty tourists can come to visit the ancient tower.
You cannot burn incense in temples, you are afraid of fire, and you cannot make a fire to cook even when guarding the tower. Sometimes it is your family who delivers food, and sometimes you eat instant noodles by yourself.
At the beginning, I was very lonely when I was at the beginning, and it took me more than a year to get used to it. In 2015, the Cultural Relics Bureau installed surveillance for the ancient tower. The contents of my guarding the tower include watching surveillance with a computer, using a fire extinguisher, and checking flammable and explosive items .
Cultural Relics Bureau gave me a subsidy for guarding the tower, 10 yuan a day and 3,650 yuan a year. However, I don’t rely on this money either. I planted three or four hundred acres of land and drove a rural cooperative, which is enough for my life.
Every day, I turned along the tower layer by layer, seeing where there were scratches and where the bricks were loose. After patrolling for so many years, I have become familiar with the tower and have a clear understanding of the number of bricks.
The ancient Zen temple where Guo Weifa lives. Photo provided by the interviewee
[2] Things passed down by our ancestors cannot be lost in my generation
I am a farmer, but I can talk about the historical allusions of this tower, the year of construction, and from ancient times to the present.
Three Shengrui Xianta was built in Sui Dynasty . After it was destroyed, it was rebuilt during Jin , which is the "Jin" that Yue Fei resisted the Jin Dynasty. Above the north wall of the third floor of the tower, there is a stone tablet called "The Book of the Skeleton Monk". The inscription records that "In the sixth year of Dading (1166 AD), the skeleton monk Shundu passed away and dug out a stone turtle from the west of Zhaoqing Courtyard. The back was engraved with the "Three Saints of the Ancient Zen Temple" and the abdomen was engraved with the words "The Monk Fengyan of the First Year of the Sui Renshou" so the skeleton monk hid the stone turtle and built a tower on it.
so this is something left by my ancestors for thousands of years. It cannot be lost in my generation, otherwise we It is the sinner of history.
When I was a child, the temple under the tower was a primary school in the village. I was studying under the tower, and the children in the village were climbing up and down the tower to play. We all said that this tower has spiritual energy and pigeons will not fall on the tower.
This tower also makes us Jishan Village proud. Jishan Village is an ancient village of Chinese history and culture, with more than 100 yards and more than 20 ancient cultural relics hanging on the signs by the Cultural Relics Bureau.During the heavy rain last year, I was walking around the temple with an umbrella, very anxious. Suddenly I heard a rumbling sound. I followed the sound and found that the eaves of the west hall collapsed.
I was reluctant to throw the broken bricks of the ancient building and piled them in a corner of the yard. During the rainy days, whenever I saw some damage, I took pictures and reported them to the Cultural Relics Bureau.
all villagers know that these buildings cannot be repaired casually and dare not repair them. It must be approved by the Cultural Relics Bureau. The national construction team will use old bricks and tiles to build them, and cannot use steel bars, cement or red bricks.
It’s okay. After this year, several corners of the tower have been repaired. It would be great if the ancient courtyard could be repaired as well.
The ancient buildings in Jishan Village were covered with a blue rainproof cloth after the heavy rain in 2021. Photo provided by the interviewee
[3] I have been unwilling to give up and failed to get out of the countryside
in Shanxi, from in the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty ancient buildings. We are not afraid of floods on Taihang Mountain . Moreover, Shanxi people pay attention to construction, and there has always been a saying in rural areas that "we would rather be hungry than build a house."
I have been unwilling to give up. I haven’t left the countryside, but I have been guarding the ancient tower for more than ten years. My father was an accountant in the village and I also worked as a village cadre for 15 years. My four brothers and one sister all went to college and left the mountain village. They are all civil servants either in the city or in the county.
Back then, I was admitted to university because I was the youngest brother and had to stay at home to take care of my parents. I became the only child among my brothers who did not go to college. In 2006, my father passed away, and two years ago, my mother passed away. My parents are my care and company, and I will not regret it at all when I send them away safely. I thought, fate kept me in the countryside and by my parents, not necessarily a good thing. After all, there must be regrets that you have less time around your parents, that is, "the son wants to support his parents but the parents are not waiting."
Not going to college is still my heart knot. When I was a child, I was studying under the tower, and when I was forty, I was still studying under the tower. In 2012, I applied for the correspondence technical secondary school examination in agricultural economic management and completed the course in three years. Immediately afterwards, I applied for a college degree and obtained my diploma in 2018.
Others say that it’s useless to get a diploma if you farm alone. What I think is that I have to get it regardless of whether it is useful or not.
There is an ancient poem written on the stone tablet under the tower. When I look at this poem every day, I imagine the artistic conception of this room. Now, I just want to farm well, strengthen my rural cooperative, and guard this ancient tower.
Source: Jiupai News
