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he was asked to come down from his cave to pray for rain. As he arrived the clouds opened and sufficient rain fell ending the lengthy drought. The grateful populace insisted that he should stay with them and many wanted to build him a house. However, he returned to his cave which he named Clearwater Cliff [Ch'ing-shui Yen] from the brook that flowed from a rock just outside his cave. Henceforth he was known as the Patriarch of Clearwater He died at the age of 65
A third story, common to a number of deities, tells of Ch'en killing with his bare hands a large man-eating snake which lived in a cave on Ch'ing-shui cliff. He himself died in the struggle and turned black In another version he is said to have a black face following an incident in which a demon unsuccessfully tried to smoke Ch'ing-shui out of his cave, or in another variation the demons tried to cook him alive in his cave. He stepped out alive, arrested the demons and imprisoned them for ever in his cave He was later deified by the Jade Emperor Ch'ing-shui is also said to have been hermit in a cave called Ch'ing-shui in a cliff on the P'eng-lai mountain near Anhsi where, on his death, devotees built a shrine dedicated to him on the ridge above the cave.
The story told about his unusual nose has one or two variations but in general it relates how a robber cut off the nose from his main image in a fit of anger. It was picked up by one of the devotees who tried to reattach it but without warning, the nose disappeared After a short search someone noticed that it was now reattached. It is now said that whenever the deity is angered the nose disappears until his anger dissipates During the Franco-Chinese War [1884/1885] following the defeat of the French at Keelung in northern Taiwan, part of the invading force retreated to the old centre at Tamsui. The French troops were again repulsed by the Chinese under Sun Kai-hua who was assisted by local Chinese from the Manka district [now down-town Taipei] who brought along an image of their patron deity, Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih. This led to a fifty year struggle in the law courts between the Chinese of Tamsui and those in the Manka as the Tamsui people had held on to the image refusing to return it. The Manka Chinese won in the end. The image is also known as the Drop-nose saint [Lo-pi Tsu-shih] after the nose on the image in the temple fell off every time something bad was said in his presence
He is famous for his extraordinary powers and is said to have been able to have conjured up rain during his lifetime whenever there was a
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he was asked to come down from his cave to pray for rain. As he arrived the clouds opened and sufficient rain fell ending the lengthy drought. The grateful populace insisted that he should stay with them and many wanted to build him a house. However, he returned to his cave which he named Clearwater Cliff [Ch'ing-shui Yen] from the brook that flowed from a rock just outside his cave. Henceforth he was known as the Patriarch of Clearwater He died at the age of 65
A thnd story, common to a number of deities, tells of Ch'en killing with his bare hands a large man-eating snake which lived in a cave on Ch'ing-shui cliff. He himself died in the struggle and turned black In another version he is said to have a black face following an incident in which a demon unsuccessfully tried to smoke Ch'ing-shui out of his cave, or in another vanation the demons tried to cook him alive in his cave. He stepped out alive, arrested the demons and imprisoned them for ever in his cave He was later deified by the Jade Emperor Ch'ing-shui is also said to have been hermit in a cave called Ch'ing-shui in a cliff on the P'englar mountain near Anhsi where, on his death, devotees built a shrine dedicated to him on the ridge above the cave.
The story told about his unusual nose has one or two variations but in general it relates how a robber cut off the nose from his main image in a fit of anger. It was picked up by one of the devotees who tried to reattach it but without waining, the nose disappeared After a short search someone noticed that it was now reattached. It is now said that whenever the deity is angered the nose disappears until his anger dissipates During the Franco- Chinese War [1884/1885]7 following the defeat of the French at Keelung in northern Taiwan, part of the invading force retreated to the old centre at Tamsui. The French troops were again repulsed by the Chinese under Sun Kar-hua who was assisted by local Chinese from the Manka district [now down-town Taipei] who brought along an image of their patron deity, Ch'ing-shur Tsu-shib. This led to a fifty year struggle in the law courts between the Chinese of Tamsui and those in the Manka as the Tamsui people had held on to the nnage refusing to return it. The Manka Chinese won in the end. The image is also known as the Drop-nose samt [Lo-pi Tsu-shih} alter the nose on the image in the temple fell off every time something bad was said in his presence
He is famous for his extraordinary powers and is said to have been able to have conjured up rain during his lifetime whenever there was a
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