法苑珠林 39.29

39.29

雍州鄠縣南繫頭山寺者。其山本舟人繫船其頂。故以名焉。昔太一未分。山連太行。王屋白鹿河水停於此川。號為山海。及巨靈大人秦洪海者。患水浩蕩。以左掌托太華。右足蹋中條。太一為之裂。河通地出。山遂高顯。仍本號為。張衡西京賦云。高掌遠蹠以流河曲者是也。古老傳云。繫頭南有九空仙寺。昔有人山採逼暮不知歸道。依林而宿。夜聞鍾聲在近。即尋之忽見一寺。僧眾百餘。但有行坐而不敘問。其人怪之。至明失寺。此來在近無往尋者。有僧曾至山。但有層峯秀林不可登踐。又云。山有九窟。仙人所居也。有藍田大谷伏羲城側歸義寺僧弘藏者。有膽勇聞而往尋。積日累夜巡繞山隒。止獲五窟。甚圓淨如人所造。無缺漏。似有居者。又光明寺了禪師亦往尋覓。依窟一夏。今所謂照陽窟也。足為華望之大觀也。而仙寺終不見焉。

Regarding the Xitoushan (Boat-Tethering Mountain) Temple south of Hu County in Yongzhou: this mountain was originally where boatmen tethered their boats to its summit, hence its name. Formerly, when the Great Unity had not yet separated, the mountain joined Taihang, and the waters of the Wangwu, Bailu, and Yellow River pooled in this valley, called the Mountain Sea. When the Giant Spirit Great Man, Qin Honghai, troubled by the vast billows of water, propped Mount Taihua with his left palm and stamped upon Mount Zhongtiao with his right foot, the Great Unity split on account of this. The river opened and the earth emerged; the mountain then stood tall and prominent, still bearing its original name. This is what Zhang Heng's Western Metropolis Rhapsody meant by: "With raised palm and distant tread, he diverted the river's bend." The elders pass down a saying that south of Xitou there is the Jiukong (Nine Voids) Immortal Temple. In the past, someone gathering in the mountains was overtaken by nightfall and did not know the way back; he lodged by the forest. At night he heard the sound of bells nearby, and upon seeking it, suddenly saw a monastery with more than a hundred monks, who merely walked and sat without exchanging words. The man wondered at it. By dawn, the monastery was gone. Since then, although it is near, no one goes seeking it. A monk once reached the mountain, but there were only tiered peaks and luxuriant forests, impossible to climb. It is also said that the mountain has nine caves, where immortals dwell. There was a monk of Guiyi Temple beside Fuxi City in the Dagu Valley of Lantian, named Hongzang, who was bold and courageous. Hearing of this, he went to seek it. For days and nights on end, he circled the mountain ridges, but found only five caves, very round and clean as if man-made, without defects, appearing as though someone lived there. Furthermore, Chan Master Liao of Guangming Temple also went to seek them out, relying on a cave for a summer retreat; this is what is now called the Zhaoyang Cave, which is truly a great spectacle of prominent renown. Yet the immortal temple was never seen in the end.