It is said that the Jade Emperor in heaven learned that there are two states in the world, Suzhou and Hangzhou, with beautiful scenery that is better than heaven, so he decided to build a palace in each of these two places for the convenience of visiting.
One day, he sent four stone Buddhas from Hangzhou to Suzhou for on-site inspection. The four stone Buddhas turned into four ordinary people and boarded an incense-burning boat from Hangzhou to Suzhou.
When the boat arrived at Wuzhen, the four stone Buddhas looked out from the cabin and saw crisscrossing streams and ponds, rows of green trees, pink willows, and beautiful scenery. The four stone Buddhas thought that Suzhou had arrived and planned to send one ashore to have a look first.
When the boat arrived at the Rihui Bridge in Xizha, Wuzhen, a stone Buddha said to the man rocking the boat: "Brother, boatman, I want to go ashore to relieve myself. Please make it easier. Can you stop here for a while."
The boatman agreed immediately and immediately stopped the boat to let the guests ashore. Unexpectedly, as soon as this guest landed, the people on the boat felt that the boat was relieved, and it rose up in vain, floating several inches higher. The boatman said in amazement: "This passenger is really heavy, like a stone Buddha." As soon as the boatman finished speaking, the guest on the shore seemed to be under a spell of immobilization, and stood there motionless.
The three people who stayed on the boat saw that the truth about the stone Buddha on the shore had been exposed by the boatman. They hurriedly said that they were going to visit friends, so they also hurriedly left the boat and landed, and hurried south. At this time, the incense-burning boat was even more buoyant. The pilgrims on the boat were talking a lot, and they all speculated that these four people were really immortals and were Stone Bodhisattva.
Soon, the one at Rihui Bridge turned into a stone Buddha and stood there. The other three, when they walked near Fangsheng Bridge, also revealed their original shapes and turned into three stone Buddhas.
After the news spread, people said that the Buddha had fallen to heaven and that Wuzhen had good feng shui. In order to preserve this fairy land, people built a small temple at Rihui Bridge for the stone Buddha who came ashore first, and then built a large temple for the three stone Buddhas south of Fangsheng Bridge, named "Stone Buddha Temple". ". People also hung a plaque in the temple with the four characters "Floating on the Water" written on it. Since then, many faithful men and women have come to the temple to pay homage every spring. Especially those pilgrims from Suzhou and Changzhou who came back from burning incense in Hangzhou. When they passed by Wuzhen, they would always go ashore by boat and go to the Stone Buddha Temple to burn "turning incense". It is said that this is to apologize to those stone Buddhas! Legend has it that this is the origin of Wuzhen Stone Buddha Temple.