Xilong mountain and its people

Xilong Mountain, a small mountain in my hometown. I once described it like this: Northwest of Guizhou mountains, forest, there is a mountain deep in the depression, resembling a dragon's head, and the dragon's head faces west, so it is named West Dragon Mountain. In fact, the dragon head of Xilong Mountain does not face west, but east. It is a definition I gave to it out of context. As for its formation, it must have started from the Cretaceous orogeny; it is impossible to trace when the name was called up.

At the foot of the mountain, there is a village hidden by trees, named Longtou Village, and to the east of Longtou Village is a seasonal river with waves only in the rainy season, and the east bank of the river is where I was born and raised, a stone street in the shape of a spherical character - Longtou Street. The names of Longtou Village, Longtou Street and Longtou Township are taken from the hill that looks like a dragon. The dragon is the totem of the nation. The legend of dragons was given to Nuwa, who created human beings, and Jiu, who saved all the people from water and fire. Han Gaozu Liu Bang was also born because of the dragon: "Liu old woman tried to rest in the big zephyr and dreamed of meeting with God. It was a time when lightning and thunder were obscure, and when the gods went to look at it, they saw a dragon on it. The woman had a body, and gave birth to Gaozu." (The Records of the Grand Historian - Gao Zu Benji). Dragon, came to the Qing Dynasty, it will be pushed to the extreme: corridors, carved pillars, jade, onyx, the emperor's clothes, all the noble, power, auspicious all kinds of things, will be involved with the dragon.

Of course, this small mountain in my hometown is no exception. The ancestors imagined this natural mountain, which was made in heaven and earth, as the totem of the Chinese nation, created it as the supreme god and worshiped it. The long-cherished wish of the ancestors is simple and clear, and the longing of the ancestors is obvious.

In fact, I don't know much about Xilongshan, I only knew it by this name when I was a child, but I didn't know the origin and meaning of its name, let alone its resemblance to a dragon's head. I once went there to play, it was during the Cultural Revolution of the 10-year calamity. I just remember that there is a cave on the mountainside, temples, bodhisattvas, inscriptions, statues of Buddha a mess, cobwebs fall dust, eerie, and then never had the courage to go there, for it also has no deep impression.

Until some years ago, my elementary school classmates sent me a few photos from WeChat, in which the shape of the mountain is clear and well-defined, and the gate into the mountain "Xilongshan Scenic Area" a few big words shining in gold, the scenic stone paths, ancient trees, bamboo shadows, glazed pavilions everywhere bright and eye-catching, and the monument to the martyrs of the anti-Japanese hero Huang Ying is straight into the sky. Xilongshan - the famous mountain in the heart of the hometown, the sacred mountain, until now to catch my attention. Carefully examine the photo, the mountain like a lying ostrich, "bird head" facing west, thin and short "neck", slightly tilted, from the "bird" of the body out, the head slightly down The head is slightly downwardly curved and hooked. I kept changing the angle, trying to find the image of "dragon" from the photo, but how to turn, how to find the traces of "dragon" can not be found. Perhaps it was not a "dragon" at all, but rather a snake. If the mountain is covered, only the isolated "neck", there are indeed some snake resemblance and resemblance. I have tarnished the spirit of my hometown! There is no dragon in the world, but the image of "dragon" among the Chinese is derived from the snake body of Nuwa and Fuxi. That's right. In fact, if you look at the complete Xilongshan from the perspective of the image, it looks more like a dinosaur. It looks like a dinosaur with an ostrich-like body and a short, thin neck.

However, the dinosaur was a solid animal that existed 70 million years ago, and its fossils were only discovered at the beginning of this century, giving it the name "dinosaur". It is inferred that the ancestors of the hometown did not know that there was such an animal as dinosaur when they gave the name "dragon" to the hill. The paradox is that I made a mistake earlier! Did the ancestors also make a mistake? Otherwise, the mistake is still mine. The ancestors of my hometown never said that the section of the mountain facing west, which looks like a snake's head or a dinosaur's head, is the "dragon's head".

Perhaps a description by a sage can prove it: "West Dragon Mountain is in the west of Longtou Market, with a beautiful mountain shape and beautiful forest gullies, sitting west to east, and the sun and moon come to the tide. There is Qing Yun Temple on the mountainside, and after the temple there is Kui Xing Pavilion; the upper floor, the eyes exhausted for a thousand miles, for the Chung Kau ascent of the summer place, the tourists and poets poems inscribed on the bik; widely planted peach and plum, the purple tent often hanging in the temple; swallowing and warbling, welcome tourists, maple and bamboo, the scenery is pleasant, the number of the county's famous mountains, the first one."

Obviously, Xilongshan "sits in the west and faces east". This passage written by the sage not only gives its location, but also describes its charm.

Then look at the "Ding Jian Wenchangge Monument" written by Peng Xianshou, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, and written by Li Chongpei, the official of the tributary: "Half a mile west of the market for the West Dragon Mountain, the veins winding stretches, far away from the inquisitive, the head of the high hanging, the horns of the endangered, the mouth of the do open, like a dragon head, the name of the market all cover this." Here Peng Xianshou Gong wrote about its resemblance to God and appearance.

The sages depicted the scenery of this mountain and river in their hometown so exquisitely and vividly. Here, the shape of Xilongshan, which resembles a dragon but is not a dragon, could not be clearer. Is there anything I can argue or doubt? At this moment, besides guilt and self-condemnation, I also feel a bit embarrassed. It is because I don't know my hometown too well.

But how much do I know about the peach and plum (widely planted peach and plum) planted in it, and the famous teachers and senior apprentices under the Jiang Jiang tent (Jiang Jiang tent is often hung in the temple)?

First of all, let's take a look at a book compiled by Wang Sen, a famous scholar in the Qing Dynasty: "Yuexi Wenzai". "Yue" in ancient times mostly refers to Guangdong, Guangxi, and "Yuexi" refers to the current Guangxi. In "Yuexi Wenzai", the style of the hometown is recorded as follows: "The soldiers hold the scriptures and talk, the people are mixed with soldiers and planting, and the land is also anonymous and self-sufficient."

"Shi hold the scriptures and talk", this is a scene of how elegant. Close your eyes, it seems that the hometown riding down the street a long cedar coat, ink-colored clothes, melon hat beard face of Confucian scholars, holding the scriptures, or walking and discuss, or stop and talk, or look at the building from the chant, or bamboo chairs to read.

People created the "mountain" and worshiped it as a god, while the mountain gave its people wisdom, wisdom and loyalty. In this regard, I always think of them and ask about them under the distant starry sky as a wanderer in a foreign country. I ask them for the secret of their success, or admire their popular poems; I ask them how they are doing, and I say how much they mean to me. I feel the beauty they brought to me, as well as the culture and the baptism of thought.

For example, Peng Xianshou, Huang Ying, Liao Bohua, and so on.

Peng Xianshou Gong is the only famous person I know well from my hometown in the Qing Dynasty.