Yuhuang Cave Grottoes
Yuhuang Cave Grottoes: One year, a feng shui master drove a golden horse from Yongshun, chasing it along the way until it entered the house of Li Jingkai in Li Family Valley of Longpan Gang. The feng shui master said: 'Master, I have a horse that entered your house. Let me look for it.' Li Jingkai was a failed scholar reading in his study. Hearing that a horse had entered the house, he quickly helped search...
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Yuhuang Cave Grottoes
One year, a feng shui master drove a golden horse all the way from Yongshun, driving it on and on until it entered the house of Li Jingkai in Liziyu, Longpangang. The feng shui master said: "Master, I have a horse that has entered your house; let me search for it." Li Jingkai was a failed xiucai who was reading in his study. Hearing that a horse had entered the house, he hurried to help search, but no matter how they looked, they could not find even a trace. The feng shui master sighed and said: "Master, this is a golden horse I drove here from Sichuan. Who would have thought it would enter your house—it seems this fortune is not mine. However, this golden horse is both fortune and calamity; it can only be used to do good and accumulate virtue, not to buy fields and property."
As soon as the feng shui master left, Li Jingkai heard a horse neighing in the main hall. He ran in and saw the whole room glowing with golden light—but where was the horse? There was only a pile of gold.
Li Jingkai was overjoyed at obtaining so much gold. He did not know whether to put the gold here or there. His wife clamored to buy fields and land, to build a stilted house with a two-handed pushcart, to have a sedan chair, to hire a wet nurse, and to taste the life of a noble lady; his son wanted to buy several pretty wives, buy several horses, keep hundreds of dogs, and support a dozen retainers to accompany him hunting every day; and his daughter wanted gold bowls, gold chopsticks, a carved bed with a gold-leafed face, and quilt covers embroidered with gold thread—all these things as her dowry. In the middle of the night, bandits climbed over the wall and entered the house to steal the gold, making Li Jingkai restless day and night. Within a few days he fell gravely ill. Only then did he remember the feng shui master's words. The next day he hired people to repair the mountain path in front of his house, and also built bridges, opened canals, and set up a porridge stall at the crossroads to give alms to passing beggars. But all this used only a tiny fraction of the gold. So he built a temple by the stream in front of Fengquan Cave, asking the Bodhisattva to bless the common people with favorable weather and bountiful harvests. But the very next year a flood rushed down the river and washed it away without a trace. He thought again: Simply carve the Bodhisattva into the stone cave—wind cannot destroy it, water cannot wash it away, and it will remain for generations! The first grotto he built was at Fengquan Cave. He made use of the cave's natural terrain, carving stone Bodhisattvas and stone beasts inside, and also inscribed plaques and couplets; this was approximately the sixtieth year of the Qianlong reign. Then he carved stone images of emperors, sages, immortals, Buddhas, and beasts in eight stone caves on Makong Mountain. The whole project took seventeen or eighteen years, and altogether nine grottoes were opened. Li Jingkai also named them according to the three levels of heaven, the human world, and hell: "Thunder Cave," "Earth God Cave," "Brush Tip Cave," "Ink Pool Cave," "Tiger Dragon Cave," "Lion Cave," "Confucius Cave," "Karma Cave," and "Fengquan Cave," collectively called "Yuhuang Cave."
After Li Jingkai finished the nine grottoes, he named himself Jiudong Le, "Joy of Nine Caves," and the Master of Nine Caves, and lived in seclusion. By then the gold was nearly spent and he was exhausted, so he had a statue of himself made, with a plaque above it inscribed: "Is this not joy?" In the end, some gold still remained. His wife and son, who had disowned him over the grotto project, saw that the gold was not yet used up and demanded it from him again. Li Jingkai said: "If my children and grandchildren are not as good as I, what is the point of leaving it to them? If my children and grandchildren surpass me, what is the point of leaving it to them?" He gave them not a bit. Afraid that others would snatch it, he flung it with a wave of his hand into Yanggao Spring. He also said: "Whoever wants to get it—only if dogs eat grass, horses grow horns, and chaff is twisted into rope." The country folk who sang the yugu ballad sang: "In the thirteenth district there was a Li Jingkai, a rich and mighty squire; his wife unvirtuous and his son unfilial, he took his gold and silver to build temples..."