★ Tourist location: Shigong Temple on Shigong Mountain in Xishan, Suzhou

I have a special liking for Shigong Mountain in Xishan. I thought there wouldn't be too many tourists on rainy days, but the parking lot at the entrance was actually full of cars and there were no parking spaces. Fortunately, the security guard patiently told us that there was a parking lot next door. Although it was not completely built, it was ready for parking.

The parking fee in Xishan is still very reasonable. No matter how long it is parked, it is charged per visit, 5 yuan per visit. Therefore, I also especially like to throw my car into the Shigongshan parking lot and then take the bus to visit other scenic spots in Xishan.

Although I have been to Xishan several times, this is the first time I have brought a friend. So I acted as a tour guide and introduced all the attractions one by one from the moment I entered the gate. Perhaps it was due to the high tide in Taihu Lake that the downhill road along Taihu Lake was blocked. Fortunately, Shigong Mountain itself is on the edge of Taihu Lake, and you can appreciate the charm of Taihu Lake in the rain wherever you walk. Coincidentally, it seems that whenever you come to Shigong Mountain, it usually rains.

This time, I was surprised to see that the Fuyu North Hall was actually open. It was probably due to the holidays and there would be more tourists. The past few times, even when I came here on weekends, the door was closed. This used to be the place where Shigong Nunnery received female donors, but now it has been transformed into a teahouse. It is said that Shigong Mountain is surrounded by water on all sides, like a piece of jasper floating in Taihu Lake. Maybe later, roads were built for convenient transportation, connecting Shigong Mountain and Xishan Island.

The scenery of Shigong Mountain is as good as ever. Whether it is rainy or sunny, you can see the beautiful charm of Taihu Lake. What's more, there are fault cliffs and moon-inviting pavilions on the lake, which are enough to amaze our friends.

Laihe Pavilion on the top of the mountain is a view of Taihu Lake from another angle, and you can vaguely see the small islands in Taihu Lake. Hangzhou has a crane releasing pavilion, and Wuxi Meiyuan has a crane soliciting pavilion. It seems that after Hangzhou released cranes, Wuxi recruited part of them, and then another part flew to Shigong Mountain?

When we reached the back mountain, the scaffolding of Shigong Temple, which was still under repair last time, had been removed. It seemed that it had been completed. Since there was still time, we still went in and visited.

There is a copper bell in front of the temple door, which is directly fastened to the ground. "Martial" and "Zen" are written on both sides of the entrance respectively, which shows that the monks in Shigong Temple were originally martial monks.

There is nothing special about the Hall of Kings. The four major Vajra are sitting majestically with their weapons in hand. Maitreya was still smiling, and Weituo Bodhisattva stood behind him.

There are Plum Blossom Piles in the courtyard. In fact, there is also one in front of the Qianshan Master Haideng Memorial Hall. Because it originated from Shaolin, it is also called "Shaolin Plum Blossom Piles", also known as Plum Blossom Boxing, or Plum Boxing for short. It is one of Master Haideng's three great skills. All wooden piles in Plum Blossom Pile are only three to five inches in diameter. The lower half is buried underground, and the upper half is three feet and three inches above the ground. The distance between piles is three feet from front to back, and the distance between left and right is one foot and five inches. It is said that this layout is in line with the weather and time.

There is no exact data to test the age when Shigong Temple was built, at least before the Ming Dynasty. Because Yao Ximeng, the famous filial son of the Ming Dynasty, once wrote "Shigong Mountain Records" in his writings, mentioning Shigong Temple. Gong Zizhen, a famous thinker and writer in the Qing Dynasty, also visited Shigong Temple, which seems to have been more than once. During this period, it was sometimes a temple and sometimes an nunnery. Judging from the existence of Fuyu North Hall, it seems that Shigong nunnery was older.

Perhaps because of these remains, Ye Shengtao, Tian Han, Xian Xinghai and others all visited Shigong Temple. Even during the war, they still drank wine beside Taihu Lake and stayed overnight in Shigong Temple.

Later, Master Hai Deng traveled around the West Mountains and became the abbot of Shigong Mountain. He lived there for ten years. If it had not been for the Cultural Revolution, he might have continued to live. In the winter of 1987, Master Hai Deng visited his hometown again, lived in Shigong Mountain for ten days, and built Plum Blossom Pile. His residence at that time should be the present showroom, where there were still some cultural relics he left behind. Before his death, Master Hai Deng made a will to "return the bones of Shi Gong", which shows that he still has a strong sense of belonging to Shi Gong Mountain.

The Temple of Finance, the Temple of Ksitigarbha, and the Temple of Guanyin have been here before, and there have been no changes. However, the Dharma Hall behind it has been renovated, and even if it rained, the Thousand Buddha Pagoda still shines brightly. This was built to commemorate Master Hai Deng. The spire and the tip on the roof of the Dharma Hall behind them are unified in style, and seem to echo each other from afar.

The Daxiong Hall is the main hall of the temple, so it is naturally the most majestic and solemn one. The Nanhai Guanyin painting behind the hall is very bright in color. The buildings use vermilion, but such colors are rarely seen.

The building behind it should be newly built and looks like it was used for a library or museum, but it is estimated that it will be empty not long after it was built.

The last time I came to Shigong Temple, the temple was not large. This expansion was completed and it became magnificent all of a sudden. Since it was the place where Master Hai Deng returned to his bones, it should also need such a scale. When it comes to the origin of Master Hai Deng and Shaolin Temple, there has always been a lot of controversy. Master Hai Deng said that he once studied under Shaolin martial monk Rufeng, but the senior monk of Shaolin Temple pointed out that according to Shaolin Temple's pedigree, the monk of the "Ru" generation will not come out until 300 years later, so Shaolin Temple does not have a person named Rufeng.

No matter who Master Hai Deng studied from, he is also recognized as a Buddhist monk, a member of the Sixth and Seventh National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a director of the Buddhist Association of China. He is famous for his One-Finger Zen Skill, Tongzi Soft Skill and Plum Blossom Pile Boxing. At least, he did serve as the abbot of Shaolin Temple in Songshan Mountain. In the 1980s, the filming of the promotional video "Master Hai Deng" pushed Master Hai Deng's reputation to a new level. Master Hai Deng said that he would return to Shigong after his death. It shows that his feelings for Shigong Temple are even deeper than that of Songshan Shaolin. Perhaps it is because of the beautiful scenery of Shigong Mountain?