Yunding Mountain Ciyun Temple.

It was sunny today, so I went out early and cycled over 40 km to the Dragon King Temple on Yunding Mountain, parked, and started hiking. I climbed the stone steps all the way up to Ciyun Temple and had a vegetarian meal before noon. Then I started to slowly explore the temple. It is a very historic temple, but unfortunately, it is not as easy to reach as Shijing Temple, so some areas don't seem to be well maintained. There is a place with many statues that reminds me of Sanjusangendo in Kyoto. The story of "dotting the eyes of the dragon" happened here: It is about Zhang Sengyou, a court painter of the Southern Liang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He was very good at painting dragons, but he rarely painted their eyes because he said that if he painted the eyes, the dragon would become real and break through the paper or wall. Once, Zhang Sengyou was invited to paint a mural of a flying dragon for a temple (this one). After he finished, the dragon's eyes were left blank. The abbot of the temple asked why he didn't paint the eyes. Zhang Sengyou said that if he painted the eyes, the dragon would fly away. But the abbot didn't believe him, so he secretly persuaded Zhang Sengyou's apprentice to paint the eyes. Zhang Sengyou found out and said, "Okay, you insisted, so I'll paint the eyes." As soon as he did, there was thunder, lightning, and a storm, and the dragon on the mural came to life and flew away. The mural was left with a dragon-shaped blank space, and from then on, everyone believed that if Zhang Sengyou painted the eyes, the dragon would fly away. Jintang Ciyun Temple