The Lion Grove was built in the second year of Zhizheng of the Yuan Dynasty. The famous monk Tianru Zen Master came to Suzhou to teach Buddhism to believers, and his disciples built a temple for him. Because Zen Master Tianru’s master, Zen Master Zhongfeng, taught Dharma at Lion Rock in Tianmu Mountain, Zhejiang Province, Tianru named this garden Lion Grove in memory of his master, taking the meaning of the “Leo Seat”, the Buddha’s teaching seat in Buddhism.
1. The name of the Lion Grove
The name of the Lion Grove is also related to the lion stone in the garden.
The Lion Forest covers an area of ??more than 10,000 square meters, of which nearly two-fifths are rockery landscape. These rockeries are made of stacked Taihu stones with ingenious techniques. Many strange peaks and rocks cut the garden into pieces, creating different landscape effects and forming a variety of garden scenery with unique styles and different interests. The Lion Forest has also gained the reputation of "Rockery Kingdom".
These rockeries can be roughly divided into east and west parts. The east part is called dry rockery. It was built more than 600 years ago and was designed by Ni Zan, a master gardener in the late Yuan Dynasty. The west part is called water rockery. It was built more than a hundred years ago.
A variety of Taihu stones, some exquisite and clear, some steep and towering, are not only uniquely piled into landscapes such as peaks, cliffs, valleys, caves, etc., but also deliberately shaped into different postures. lion stone. 2. The stones in the Lion Forest
The lion stones in the Lion Forest were built using a large number of relics from the "Huashi Gang" of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the late Northern Song Dynasty, Song Huizong loved the exotic flowers and stones in the south of the Yangtze River, and officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions purchased them as tribute. Every ten boats transporting flowers and stones are organized into a group, which is called a "gang", so it is called the "flower and stone gang". From the south of the Yangtze River to Kaifeng, sails connected with each other, and the sound of oars and oars continued. The "Huashi Gang" stretched for thousands of miles, and no one knew how much manpower and material resources were spent.
The green-faced beast Yang Zhi in the famous classic novel "Water Margin" was imprisoned because he sank a ship escorting "Hua Shi Gang". The Fangla Uprising broke out in the late Northern Song Dynasty because the people in Jiangnan could not bear it. Only after enduring the heavy corvee work of "Hua Shi Gang" did he rise up.