原文: 村民劈竹开路 一座千年古寺从地下冒出(图)

沉睡了325年的古寺

明堂村三面环山，“罗莎”来袭时，大雨整整下了一天，村里原本见底的溪已经快被洪水淹没了。第二天，村委委员李信国走到村西面大山岙时，发现通往山里的唯一一条小路已经塌陷了，原本20米左右的路成了一个2米多深的大坑。

“这一塌，上山的路就断了。”这么一想，李信国就拿了砍刀把路边茂盛的竹子砍掉，好开一条新的路出来。

“竹子一砍掉后，一个巨大的房柱石地盘就露了出来，颜色有些发青。坍塌的坑里有很多青瓦。”

李信国马上就联想到了老人们提起过的“村里曾经有个大寺庙”，他想，这应该就是那个大寺庙的部分遗址吧。李信国马上把这个事告诉了鄞州区文管会。

占地千亩、千僧过堂

鄞州区文管会得知消息后，马上派人到明堂村。通过对石地盘、瓦砾堆积层的勘察，工作人员确定这里是一处古寺院遗址，并且应当是明朝前的。

当天，工作人员判断该遗址可能就是明觉寺。根据《宝庆四明志》记载：明觉院，旧号明堂院。唐宝历二年（826）建。常住田九十四亩，山九百八十亩。《鄞县通志》毁废寺院中也有相关记载。

鄞州区文管会主任谢国旗说：“我们推断明觉寺前身为明堂院（明堂村的名字或许也就是由此而来），建于公元826年至今已有1181年的历史，改为明觉寺也有943年的历史了。”

一提起明觉寺，不少年长的村民，就想起前人曾经形容它是“千僧过堂”、“一庙有三殿”。上千的和尚一起做法事、一个庙三个殿、占地近千亩，明觉寺的规模可见不小。

传说寺里小和尚激怒了龙王

明觉寺距今已有943年的历史。《鄞县通志》记载：“明觉寺，唐宝历二年（826）建，宋治平元年（1064）赐今额，元泰定年间废，僧子琦重建，宋濂有碑记，后废。清康熙二十一年（1682）移建于岙口白云山旁。”

由此，工作人员推断，这座寺庙在地下沉睡了325年左右。李信国说，大概20多年前，他还看到过有碑立在坑的附近，现在已经没有了。

而关于明觉寺被毁的原因，一直有这样的传说。明觉寺坐南朝北，三面环山，连绵的山上共有9个山头，于是就有了山头有9条龙的说法。

相传古时候有一天，明觉寺的一个小和尚在寺里厢房边上的一个古井里洗尿盆，他的这一做法激怒了龙王，它发了一场大水，将明觉寺冲毁。而村里的一条溪流也因此一直被村民们称作“旱家龙”。

译文: Ancient Temple Emerged From Underground

 

Immense pillar foundation emerged when bamboos were cut down

Ruins of an ancient temple of over a  thousand years' age emerged in Mingtang Village, Wuxiang County, Yinzhou District, Ningbo City after Typhoon Krosa caused a local mountain massif to cave in.

 

Consequently, a mysterious veil has  in the past few days spread over this ordinary little village, while many villagers employed their free time to wander in the hill, in hope of bumping into some treasure.

 

A 325 years' disappearance

Mingtang Village is surrouned by hills on three sides. It rained for a whole day when Typhoon Krosa attacked it, and the stream which had been dry to the bottom was flooded over. The next day, Li Xinguo, a member of the Village Committee,  found that the only path uphill at the western col had caved in. The 20-meters' long path was now a 2 meters deep hollow.

 

Thinking that the path uphill could not be left blocked like this, Li Xinguo cut down the bamboos growing densely along the path with a hatchet in order to open up a new path.

 

"The moment the bamboos were cut down, a tremendous pillar foundation hit my eyes. It has grown a little black. There are many black tiles down in the hollow."

 

At sight of this, Li Xinguo recalled that the elders in the village had mentioned that "there was a big temple in the village". "This must be part of the ruin of the temple." And he immediately reported this to the Cultural Relics Committee of Yinzhou District.

 

The temple

Having examined the stone foundation and the rubble layers immediately after the information had reached them, the archaeologists determined that it is an ancient temple ruin and the temple should have been built before the Ming Dynasty.

 

Later the same day, the archaeologists determined that this temple is probably Mingjue Temple. According to Baoqing Si'ming Records, Mingjue Yuan was originally named MingTang Yuan, and built in the second year of Baoli (title of the emperor's reign) period of Tang Dynasty (826 A.D.).  It covered 94 mous (1 hectares = 15 mous) of farms and 980 mous of hills. There are relevant records under the register of "ruined temples" in Yinxian County Records.

 

Xie Guoqi, the director of the Cultural Relics Committee, said: "We infer that Mingjue Tang was the precursor of Mingjue Temple (Mingjue Village was probably named after the former), built 1181 years ago in 826 A.D., and renamed as Mingjue Temple 943 years ago.

 

Many older villages can still remember  their forefathers'  description of the temple as "a thousand of monks together in the hall" and "three halls within the temple" --- the size of the temple can be easily imagined.

 

The tale

According to Yinxian County Records, Mingjue Temple was built in the second year of Baoli period of Tang Dynasty (826 A.D.), and renamed as Mingjue in the first year of Zhiping period of Song Dynasty (1064 A.D.) by the emperor. It was destroyed during Qinding period of Yuan Dynasty and was later rebuilt by the Monk of Ziqi, for which event was erected a monument and an essay by Song Lian was engraved upon it. It was abandoned later, and rebuilt in the cole of Baiyun hill in the 21st year of Kangxi eriod of Qing Dynasty.

 

According to the above record, the archaeologists inferred that the temple has been buried for around 325 years. Li Xinguo said that he had seen a monument near the hollow about 20 years ago, but it was gone by now.

 

There was a tale in relation to the destruction of the temple.

 

Mingjue Temple faced north with three sides surrounded by hills which had nine hilltops, thus the tale of nine dragons dwelling on the nine hilltops.

 

The tale goes that, one day, a young monk washed a urine basin with the water from the well beside the wingrooms. The Dragon King was infuriated with this irreverent behavior and ordered a flood which destroyed the temple, hence the so-called Drought Dragon Stream in the village.

 

The archaeologists are doing textual research about the real reason why the temple was buried.