Long Baoyu did not hide anything and said straightforwardly, "I heard that you were looking for a Sarira hidden in a ruined temple. I have nothing to do, so I followed you to watch the fun. You can look for yourselves, we will definitely not disturb you. We just want to see something interesting and treat it as fun. "
Seeing that he was telling the truth, the old man was neither angry nor refused. He said with a smile, "Well, we have more people, so we can take care of each other. By the way, is there a local among you? "
Li Rui said, "Uncle, I can be considered half a local, so I am quite familiar with Jiupo Town. But I have never heard that there is a Jin Dynasty temple here, nor have I heard that there is a Buddhist Sarira hidden here."
The old man nodded and said, "You are still young, and you have not studied history and Buddhism. It is understandable that you do not know about this. Let me explain it to you briefly. " After saying that, he waved his hand and called the three treasure hunters who were walking in front of him over. He asked them to sit on the ground, and then he sat on a bluestone protruding from the mountain wall and began to talk.
"The Jin Dynasty was a dynasty that advocated Buddhism. The Nuzhen Tribe who founded the country originally advocated Buddhism. After the destruction of Liao, they inherited the prevailing Buddhism in Liao society. Later on, they went south to the Central Plains and occupied the north. They were also influenced by the Buddhism of Song. Therefore, although it was a short period of time, it provided a very good platform for the development of Buddhism. The period of Jin Shizong, that is, from 1169 to 1189 AD, was the period when the national power was at its strongest. It was also the period when Buddhism in the Jin Dynasty developed the best.
This Jin Shizong liked to visit famous mountains and ancient temples, built pagodas and temples, and gave preferential treatment to famous monks. Once, he met a famous monk in Beijing, Pu Wu. After listening to his lectures, he did not sleep for two days and two nights. After listening to Pu Wu, he regarded Pu Wu as a celestial being. He gave Pu Wu three of the ten Buddhist Sariras that he plundered from the Great Liao national treasury and ordered him to choose a place to build a temple to promote Buddhism.
Pu Wu took the three Buddha relics to the south of the capital and visited all the famous mountains. Finally, he came to Qingtai. Seeing the beautiful scenery here, he built a Qingtai Temple here. He put the three Buddha relics into stone and enshrined them in the temple as the treasure of the temple. After that, Qingtai Temple experienced the changes of dynasties and wars. It was destroyed several times and rebuilt several times. After seven or eight hundred years of wind and rain, it still existed. The last time it was destroyed was in the seventies and eighties of the last century. You should know what happened. It was completely smashed and never rebuilt.
As for the three Buddha relics, they were also buried under the ruins of Qingtai Temple and in the long river of history. In the 1990s, the Buddhist Association first organized a protective archaeological excavation, hoping to find the three rare Buddha relics from the ruins of Qingtai Temple. Unfortunately, the excavation lasted for more than three months, and nothing was found. Later, several archeological teams from several universities came to the ruins of Qingtai Temple to search and excavate, but they found nothing. To this day, no one knows the whereabouts of the three Buddha relics.
I was originally a member of the archeological team of Peking University. I participated in the earliest excavation work. That excavation didn't yield anything, and it became a hurdle in my heart. I couldn't accept it. The three Buddha relics were buried in the temple. They were well-preserved for generations. They were neither kidnapped nor stolen. Why couldn't they be found? I was thinking that if I had the chance in this life, I would definitely come back to explore a few more times until I found the three Buddha relics. They were both national treasures and also fulfilled my long-cherished wish.
Later, I retired and was re-employed by a Historical Research Institute. I had a lot of free time, so I carefully studied the history of the Jin Dynasty, the development of Buddhism, the life of Zen Master Pu Wu, and the history of Qingtai Temple. I also studied the temples that had once unearthed Buddha relics, such as Famen Temple, which had once unearthed Buddha's real finger bone relics, and Yunju Temple, which had once unearthed two red Buddha relics, and so on. Gradually, I had some idea. Then I gathered interested students and came to Qingtai Temple again to try to excavate. "
At the end of his words, the old man seemed to recall the past and said with infinite emotion, "When I first came here, I was still a young and strong man. I didn't expect that when I came here again, I would have a head full of white hair. Alas, I don't know if I can see the three Buddha relics unearthed in this life! "
A tall and strong male student with him hurriedly said, "Professor Wang, don't worry. You can definitely find the three Buddha relics. Maybe we can find them today."
Another female student said, "Yes, Professor Wang, don't be discouraged. We can definitely find them."
Li Rui was a little puzzled and asked, "Professor Wang, right? Pardon me for asking, but since you have been here, why did you ask someone in the town outside for directions just now?"
Professor Wang sighed and said, "There is an old saying that 'things change with the passage of time'. More than 20 years have passed, and the nearby villages and towns have changed too much. It is completely different from when I first came here. It is God's blessing that I can find this town."
Li Rui suddenly understood and said, "That's right. Oh, so this mountain has a name. It's called Qingtai Mountain."
Professor Wang waved his hand and said, "No, this mountain doesn't have a name, but in ancient times, this place was called Qingtai. Why was it called Qingtai? Because there was a natural bluestone platform at the foot of this mountain. The bluestone was very pure, like green jade. The platform was also very flat, like a place where immortals meditated, so people called it Qingtai. However, later on, the wind and the sun were strong, and the mountain rocks rolled down. Slowly, the Qingtai was destroyed. Now, not a single piece of bluestone can be found. "
Li Rui nodded and thought that he knew a little about finding treasures. Back in the days, he found the treasures left by the Fragrant Cult in the mountains west of his hometown. After a while, when he arrived at the ruins of Qingtai Temple, he could help Professor Wang look for it. He said, "Then we will help you look for it later."
Professor Wang laughed when he heard this, but he didn't say anything. However, his smile showed his thoughts, which was that he didn't agree with Li Rui's words. In fact, there were many professional archaeological teams, but none of them found the Buddha's relics. Li Rui was young and didn't know much about archaeology, so how could he dare to say that he would help? However, his good intentions were still commendable.
After Professor Wang told Li Rui and the others about the history, he rested for a while. After he finished, he continued on the road. Li Rui and the others followed behind, laughing and joking. They didn't feel tired from climbing the mountain.
After climbing for more than half an hour, they climbed to the top of the first mountain. On the top of the mountain, there was a flat land about the size of a football field. The ruins of Qingtai Temple were located on this flat land. Behind the temple was another mountain, which could be called the back mountain. There were two mountain roads on the left and the right, but the mountain wasn't very high, and the peak wasn't very sharp. The height difference between the two mountains was about sixty to seventy meters.
There wasn't much left in the ruins of Qingtai Temple, except for a lonely mountain gate made of bluestone bricks, which stood at the entrance of the temple. There were only some foundations of the temple house, a few broken stone tablets, and more broken bricks and tiles.
When Professor Wang saw the ruins, he sighed and said, "The last time I was here, the walls of the temple were still there, and there were a few broken houses in the temple. Now, there are only bricks and tiles left. Alas." After he finished speaking, he shook his head and turned to Li Rui, "You can look around if you want, but I don't think there's much hope. If you don't want to look, go to the back mountain. There's a stone cave on the mountainside of the back mountain, and there are many stone scriptures inside. You can still look at them. You can also see the scenery from the top of the back mountain. There's also a pagoda, but it's already collapsed. "
Long Baoyu was very disappointed with the ruins of Qingtai Temple. She didn't think that Professor Wang and the others could find the Buddha's relics in such a big ruins. Her desire to see something new had been replaced by looking at the scenery. She asked Li Rui, "Let's go to the back mountain and look at the stone cave, and then go to the top of the mountain to look."
Li Rui nodded. After greeting Professor Wang, he led the seven people to the back mountain along the left side of the mountain. After climbing 40 to 50 meters, they arrived at the mountainside of the back mountain. They could already see the stone cave that Professor Wang had mentioned.
The stone cave was excavated on the mountain wall on the south side of the back mountain, and it was located at the highest point of the mountainside. In front of the cave, there was a narrow mountain path with stone steps. At the narrowest part, it was difficult for two people to walk side by side. On the outside of the mountain path was a very steep slope. If one slipped and fell down this path, he would definitely be injured or killed. However, the monks who paved this mountain path had long considered this risk, so they specially carved a long fence out of the mountain stone to surround this narrow mountain path, and to ensure that people who came and went would not roll down the slope. The fence was very beautifully carved, and there were stone pillars with lotus flowers carved at intervals. It was breathtaking.
The eight people walked along the mountain path that rose all the way to the entrance of the stone cave. They saw that the huge stones at the entrance were neatly piled up, and the gate was tall and imposing. The two stone doors were wide open, just like the immortal's cave. No wonder Professor Wang recommended them to come here for sightseeing.
Li Rui took the lead to enter the cave, and found that there was no one in the cave. He looked around and saw that the cave was as spacious as a hall, about 30 to 40 square meters in area. It was not very high, only about the height of a person. If he stood on tiptoe, his head might touch the top of the cave. It was worth mentioning that the top of the cave was not the same height. It was higher on the side of the outer wall of the cave, and lower as one went in. This height pattern might have something to do with its predecessor. Maybe its predecessor was a natural stone cave, and it was later excavated and developed by the monks of Qingtai Temple.
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