Xiangtang Mountain in Handan｜A Thousand Years Since the Lotus Left the Country, Today I Come to See It

“So close, so beautiful, spend the weekend in Hebei” — because of this phrase, on my return trip during the National Day holiday passing through Handan, I deliberately stayed for a day to visit the Xiangtang Mountain Grottoes that have endured for a thousand years. Alongside the famous Longmen and Yungang Grottoes, known as the "Three Great Royal Grottoes of China," Xiangtang Mountain remains remarkably low-key. Only upon arriving did I realize its profoundness and vastness. The statues, sutra carvings, and patterns inside the caves silently tell the story of the Northern Dynasties' splendor; while the many Buddha heads lost overseas evoke a deep melancholy. Standing before the grotto, I watched the silent mountain rock, enduring thousands of dawns and dusks, like a great dream not yet awakened; though the Buddha statues are damaged, they still lower their eyes with a gentle smile, as if still preaching and making vows, expressing the Four Noble Truths and the Great Compassion and Great Vows. This was an unplanned stop on my journey, yet it became the most soul-stirring encounter of this autumn. It was a coincidence, yet also a convergence of fate. I believe that one day, those scattered Buddha heads will return, just like that free dove gently landing on the Buddha statue’s crown — just as I, with this mountain and these caves, meet as scheduled in the October wind.