The journey of Sansu father and son in Sansu Township

Meishan is the hometown of Sansu and Dongpo. We all know that Sansu’s former residence is the Sansu Temple located in Shahuxing, Meishan City. But in fact, Sansu’s real former residence is in Sansu Township, Dongpo District, Meishan City.

Sansu Township, Dongpo District, is located about 35 kilometers southwest of Meishan City, bordering Danling County. In the past, the seat of Sansu Township government was called Sansu Chang. Now the township government has been moved to Fudong. "Meishan County Chronicle" says: "Sansu Chang was originally the former residence of Su Xun and his son. In the Yuan Dynasty, Sansu Temple was built, later called Bugu Temple. In the Qing Dynasty, a place was built here and named Sansu Chang." The county annals recognized "Sansu Chang" It was originally the former residence of Su Xun and his son." The "Dianji" written by Liu Hong, a scholar of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, says: "There is the Bugu Temple seventy miles west of (Mei)zhou, which is said to be the former residence of Sansu. The speaker said that both Sansu and his son were born in the Bugu Temple, and then moved to Sha The Sansu Former Residence and Sansu Temple in Sansu Township were originally located in today's Sansu Middle School. It is said that the temple is a courtyard house. In the 1980s, there were still several old rooms in the main hall. There are still three Su statues in the room. Su Xun is in the middle, and Su Shi and Su Zhe are on the left and right. At that time, there was still a stone tablet from the Qing Dynasty in the temple. The inscription said: "There has been Sansu Temple since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. The so-called place today was established in the 20th year of Jiaqing (1815), and it was named after Sansu Temple..." But now It was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and now only a towering ancient cypress and scattered stone tablets remaining in the pig pens and cowsheds of nearby farmers are left.

Sansu moved from Sansuchang to Shahuxing in the sixth year of Qingli (1046). Su Shi was 11 years old at that time. After leaving Sansu Chang and walking about 4 kilometers to Sansu Village in the southeast, you can see a continuous mountain called Sanfeng Mountain. The three peaks rise suddenly, the mountain is handsome, and the middle peak stands erect. According to the "Meishan County Chronicle" in the 12th year of the Republic of China: "Sanfeng Mountain is a rising mountain. The middle peak stands high in the clouds and stands tall. It makes people look at it with respect. The two peaks on the side are gentle and approachable. When you climb the peak and look to the west, you can see a continuous line on the left and right. The mountains surround it like a city. Turning east, the terrain is open and you can overlook everything. There is a cave on the right side of the mountain. The cave wall is porous. When it is going to rain, smoke and clouds are spitting out. "It is said that at that time. The Su family's "private land" is at the foot of Sanfeng Mountain. It is this geomantic treasure land that gave birth to Sansu. Therefore, these three peaks represent Sansu and his son, and the highest peak in the middle is Su Shi, who has achieved the greatest achievement. At the foot of the mountain peak, there used to be a Bashe Villa, but now it is empty due to the lack of tourists.

But there is another local legend about Sanfeng Mountain. It is said that there is a cave on Sanfeng Mountain, and there is a white snake practicing in the cave. This giant snake is the white snake killed by Liu Bang during his uprising. At that time, after the White Snake was beheaded by Liu Bang, his soul remained, and he sneaked to Sanfeng Mountain to practice Taoism. After practicing hard for thousands of years, he became human and was called Ba Snake by the locals. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Sanfeng came to Sanfeng Temple to preach. One year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhang Sanfeng got drunk and sang, which alarmed Ba Snake, who fell in love with him at first sight. Since then, Ba She often transformed into a young woman and came to the temple to offer incense, looking for opportunities to get "close" to Zhang Sanfeng. As time went by, there was something interesting between the two of them. Unexpectedly, Zhang Sanfeng suddenly contracted a terminal illness. Ba She, who was in love, couldn't bear to see his sweetheart suffering from the illness, so he offered his pearls to carefully heal his wounds every day. Seeing that his condition was getting better, Zhang Sanfeng listened to the old man's slander and believed that people and snakes cannot get married, and that swallowing a pearl can lead to enlightenment and immortality. As soon as Zhang Sanfeng swallowed the pearl, he heard a scream coming from the bottom of the mountain. The next day, Zhang Sanfeng went down the mountain and saw a giant snake dead in the cave. He felt ungrateful and ashamed of the snake, so he immediately gathered up three dustpans of earth, covering one dustpan each on the head, waist and tail. The soil immediately turned into three peaks. Therefore, this mountain is named Sanfeng Mountain. Behind Ba She Villa, there is a stone carving of "Sanfeng and Ba She" on the stone wall.

On the right side of Bashe Villa, there is a niche carved with stone Buddha statues, which is said to have been carved in the Tang Dynasty. It is understood that there were originally 8 niches and 576 cliff statues in Sanfeng Temple, which were distributed on two semicircular stones of 7 meters long and 4 meters wide and 10 meters long and 3 meters wide. Unfortunately, none of them are intact now.

This is the Sanfeng Temple on Sanfeng Mountain. Although the current Sanfeng Temple is so dilapidated, it is a thousand-year-old temple built in the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, this is the place where Brother Su Dongpo received his enlightenment and studied.

Su Dongpo started reading at the age of 8. He said in "Zhongmiaotang Ji": "Meishan Taoist Zhang Yijian taught primary school with hundreds of people, and he stayed with me when he was young. He lived in Tianqingguan Arctic Courtyard and built it for him. Su Zhe also said that when he was a child, he "went to Zizhan to study Tianqingguan". The Tianqing Temple mentioned by brothers Su Shi is Sanfeng Temple. "The Story of Shu" written by Peng Zunsi, a native of Danling, also recorded: "There is a reading place on the east slope of Sanfeng Mountain." From Su Shi's description, we can see that the Sanfeng Temple must have been very large at that time, because it was only used for students to attend classes. The place can accommodate "hundred people". However, the current Sanfeng Temple is just a desolate small temple alone on the top of the mountain with no one to guard it. Perhaps, only these stone lions can still remember the childish and clear voice of Su Shi and Su Zhe