The couplet on the left side of the main hall of Fuzhen Temple
#Taizi Slope
·2022-08-20 23:32:13
The main hall of Fuzhen Temple preserves an absolute painting from the Ming Dynasty. The upper couplet reads, "Among the three thousand worlds, a famous mountain stands alone; when the smoke from the stove rises, it flows on and on." The lower couplet reads, "Among the five hundred feathered forests, the ceremonial guards line up; where the iron cavalry rings, its might spreads far and wide." The "postscript" for later generations to evaluate reads: "All the believers bowed their heads in respect." The gist of this couplet is: The fullness of merit and virtue or achieving fame and success is like the Tianzhu Peak of Wudang Mountain standing alone among the mountains. When it is worshipped by all, it demonstrates the act of bestowing blessings upon the world. It presents a solemn procession of numerous guardian deities, invincible and evil-fearing, with an overwhelming divine might. Of course, the character "zuo" also means "imperial throne and national unity". The couplet placed on a famous Taoist mountain can easily be understood as the cultivation of good deeds and the accumulation of virtue, representing the Taoist realm and actions of achieving three thousand accomplishments. However, the couplet was written in the Ming Dynasty, and the inscriptions and postscript do not clearly state it. They merely contain the words that "all the believers bowed their heads in respect", which is very unique among the couplet couplets seen, making people think that it originated from the imperial residence.