Qingyun Chan Temple

Qingyun Chan Temple stands on Golden Rooster Ridge east of Gaomiaofan Village in Zhuangtou Township. The ridge rises abruptly with imposing momentum. No one knows when a Temple of the Five Great Mountains was built atop its peak.

Buddhism flourished in the early Tang Dynasty, and the Taoist temple was converted into Qingyun Chan Temple. It was burned down during wars in the Jin Dynasty and rebuilt during the Jingtai reign of the Ming Dynasty as a branch monastery of the Daxiangguo Temple in Kaifeng. The complex was enormous, with rows upon rows of magnificent halls. Most remarkably, statues of Sakyamuni, Laozi and Confucius were enshrined together under one roof, bringing Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism into a single hall. Patriarchs, immortals, heavenly kings and vajra warriors were all placed in the same building.

The temple today is not as grand as it once was, yet the four thousand-year-old pagoda trees at its gate remain extraordinary. Gnarled with age, some trunks are hollow right through, allowing people to climb inside. Even so, they still boast luxuriant, leafy branches full of vitality.

According to local legend, a well-known story took place here in the Northern Song Dynasty: "Monk Wang had Judge Bao suspended and flogged; Yang Paifeng fought fiercely on Golden Rooster Ridge." During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, the daughter of a local squire named Liu Cuicui came to the temple to burn incense with her mother. The abbot Monk Wang took a fancy to the girl and imprisoned her in a hidden chamber. Squire Liu filed a lawsuit in Kaifeng Prefecture. Judge Bao went to investigate incognito, but the monk discovered his identity, captured him and hung him from an old pagoda tree to be brutally beaten.

When news reached the Yang Family Mansion in Kaifeng, the old matriarch sent Yang Paifeng to the rescue. She fought a bitter battle with Monk Wang on Golden Rooster Ridge, arrested the monk and freed Judge Bao. The ancient tree still standing in the temple is said to be the very spot where Judge Bao was strung up.

Qingyun Chan Temple is one of the officially opened Buddhist venues in Weishi County.