Erxian Temple

Erxian Temple, literally the temple of two immortals, surrounded by beautiful views, is situated at the eastern part of the entrance to the Xianshen River.

The name of the temple is associated with a legend in the early Tang Dynasty. It is said that Li Yuan, the first emperor of Tang Dynasty, had ever fled to the place with his son Li Shimin before his reign over China. At that time, they were faced with army provision crisis. Then two immortals came out from a cave and gave them instructions on how to overcome the crisis. Thanks to their help, Li Yuan and his son managed to solve the problem. After Li Yuan became the emperor, he ordered a temple to be built in honor of the two immortals. That is how the temple gets its name of “Er Xian”, referring to the two immortals exactly.

The cave is over 1,500 meters long and about one hundred meters wide. In the front, there are five gates one after another; in the interior, many tablets ordered to be built by the emperor; at the back lie statues of different divinities and Buddha’s warriors as well as the bell-drum tower and five double-eave-roof towers. On the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the lunar year, thousands of people, men or women, old or young, come here to worship the immortals.

Visitors to the temple may also marvel at a fancy rock here called the Heaven Rock, towering in isolation to about ten meters. There is a crack in the middle, where a dressing table for the two immortals is set, accessible by winding stages. A myth also goes with the rock: Laozi (called Li Er), who is also named Laojun in Chinese Taoism, has ever fought with the two immortals on the very rock. Moreover, many lines of words are found on the rock, such as the teachings carved by one of the emperors in Song Dynasty, and the inscriptions during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. An interesting phenomenon discovered here is that when tourists travel here, they will toss a stone through the crack to foretell the sex of their would-be child by the location where the stone falls.

Publishes at : 07-12-12 13:03

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