Hutou Temple

In the south of Yunlong County, Hutou mountain is surrounded by towering dangerous rocks, majestic mountains and boundless scenery. Hutou temple is a famous ancient temple in Dali. Hutou mountain is a sandstone formed in Cretaceous more than 100 million years ago. The whole mountain is a huge rock. Due to thousands of years of weathering and erosion, there are many magical and vivid natural traces on the surface of the rock, such as immortal fan, immortal bed (or meditation trace), immortal footprints, stone fish, turtle and so on. The front hall is called Guixiang building. It is built on the overhanging rock. The plaque on the top reads "Dongtian gaolang". Standing on the top, you can have a panoramic view of Yunlong County. The back hall is now the main hall. There are "three body Buddha" in the hall, namely Sakyamuni Buddha, piluzana Buddha and Lushena Buddha. In front of the hall are Bodhisattva Weituo, a Buddhist dharma protector.

The ancient temple is covered with trees. Behind Hutou temple, there are two banyan trees which have been planted for hundreds of years. On its side, there is the Queen Mother Temple, surrounded by towering trees, old pines, quiet trees, gentle mountain wind, and unique scenery.

Hutou Temple

Hutou temple is located at the foot of South Hutou mountain, Miao village, 12.5km east of Yiyang County. It is named after the shape of the cliff like Hutou. The temple is also named Hutou temple after the name of the mountain, and the grottoes are named Hutou Temple Grottoes because of the temple. There are nearly a thousand Buddha statues in the grottoes, so it is also called thousand Buddha Temple. The earliest excavation of this statue was in the first year of Zhengguang reign of emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei Dynasty (520 AD). Now it is a key cultural relic protection unit in Henan Province.

After Luoyang was established as the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Buddhism flourished. At that time, people took shape here, dug caves and built Buddha statues. Grottoes from northeast to southwest, cliff ring arch, an arc, an area of more than 300 square meters. To the north of the grottoes, there is a stone wall with two sides of inscriptions, 2.1 meters high and 1 meter wide. Unfortunately, due to the age, wind and rain erosion, the handwriting has been blurred beyond recognition. In the southwest of the stele, facing the northwest, a cave was excavated, 6.2 meters deep, 2.7 meters high and 2.25 meters wide.

Seven statues of Buddha are carved in the grottoes. In the middle of the grottoes, Sakyamuni Buddha is worshipped. The height is 1.8 meters, the shoulder width is 70 cm, and the stone base is 1.2 meters wide. On both sides of the grottoes, two statues of Ananda and Kaya stand, each 1.3 meters high and the shoulder width is 35 cm. On the right stone wall stand seven Bodhisattvas, 1.23 meters high and 29 cm wide. On the left side of the samurai, two small Bodhisattvas were carved, only 35 cm high. To the south of the Grottoes is a cliff, about 10 meters high. It stretches up and down, and falls forward. If the eaves of the grottoes, it can avoid wind and rain. The slope of the cliff is about 30 degrees. Nearly a thousand Buddha statues have been carved on the cliff, and 780 of them can be seen now. There are so many Buddha statues in this area, which is 5.6 meters high and 4.8 meters wide. Most of the Buddha statues are 12 cm high and 8 cm wide, and they are arranged neatly. Among the statues, there is a niche, 7.6 meters high and 46 cm wide. There is an inscription under the niche, recording the age of the statue, and the handwriting is still vaguely visible. Its text is: "July 15, the first year of Zhengguang in the great Wei Dynasty.". There are four small niches on the left side of the statue. The niches vary in size, but they are about 40 cm high and low. There are 6 niches and 820 statues in the grottoes. The largest one is 1.8 meters high and the smaller one is about 12 cm. There are 3 inscriptions and inscriptions. In the past, there were many monks living in Hutou temple, and incense kept burning all the year round. Later, due to the age, war, famine, wind and rain and other factors, the temple was seriously damaged, leaving only nearly a thousand residual Buddhas and a natural stone cave.

Address: Yunlong County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Longitude: 99.36635

Latitude: 25.895444