The left column of a couplet
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The right column of a couplet
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Back hall
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As soon as one sees yellow gold and white silver one is consumed by covetousness and greed, and forgets that there is a blue heaven above
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After one tastes the sour of tears and the saltiness of blood one feels regrets; one ought not to have acted vicious and lied and thought said that there is no abyss of suffering in the world
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The god’s image has been recast; this place for praying for good fortune flourishes in all its glory
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The temple has been renovated; inquire about good fortune and ill
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As long as I am steadfastly moral, what does it matter if I do not worship
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As long as you are obsessed with the false, what good will it do even if you burn incense
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The man died and became a god, the commemoration is on the 16th day of the 4th month
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His honor first built a city for this county five hundred and twenty one years ago
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The people are responsible for giving good protection to historical relics
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The city-god temple is the largest historical architecture in Tangxi
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Front hall, Back section
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You should know that I can be lenient and I can be understanding; the executioner’s sword us put aside. Turn back and repent
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No matter how lawless and wild you may be, when the bright mirror hangs before you do you feel fear or not?
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Central row of columns left side
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Central row of columns right side
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Think! Whom have I ever easily pardoned? You should quickly repent and not harm others
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Stop! What are you doing secretly? How dare you come here and deceive me!
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Whatever happens is the result of cause and effect, know that the auspicious and inauspicious, good fortune and disaster, are accurate retribution
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When you see the imposing edifice of the temple you understand that honesty and sycophancy are rewarded and punished differently
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It is only because the god has unvarying true insight and correctness that he can oversee reward and punishment
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In this place high and low, rich and poor do not matter, only the ranking of good and bad is kept
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The mirror of your deeds hangs above the altar; as long as you meet an acceptable standard, I am prepared to be merciful
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Hell is before your eyes, do not wait until you have committed a crime to wake up to it
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Left side
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Right side
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Drum
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Bell
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The mirror reflecting wrongdoing hangs on high, it will not harm people who look straight into it with a heart of goodness
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Illuminating the person like a mirror reflects, good and ill luck, disaster and fortune are bestowed with total impartiality
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Those with much to be ashamed of and those with evil thoughts ought to fear that there is something spying on them
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The god knows all your thoughts, he can immediately make a judgment of good and bad, true and false
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Black Non-constancy and White Non-constancy
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Minor spirit court officers
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Front hall, middle section
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I however cannot be fooled, I will remember everything that has been done, and final reckoning has never been wrong
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Your calculator is fine, every step is correct, but the end result is entirely false.
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Front hall, front section
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Central row of columns left side
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Central row of columns right side
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When one has offended Heaven there is no prayer, early on one should distinguish righteousness from advantage, the public good from self interest
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If you wish to be sincere do not deceive yourself, what need is there to ask about good and ill, disaster and fortune
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Look up to heaven-and-earth and be first concerned with being for the people your whole life long; should you die within the day you still will attain glory
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When grudges fill the heart and you are only concerned with benefiting yourself then even if your good fortune lasts a long time what good will it do you
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Left wall – Punishing the Evil
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Right wall – Rewarding the Good
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When behave as a good person your heart will be correct your person will be secure and you will feel peace even in your dreams
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When you compete for fame and profit you should know that there will always be a day of reckoning
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What benefits the good and harms the perverse – these are discerned as clearly as by the sun and moon suspended on high a thousand miles away
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Good and evil are like ice and hot coals, neither can survive the other – let this encourage you, Sir, to reflection on yourself
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Suppress the powerful, support the weak – thus will the peace in the world be secured forever
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Righteousness and profit, auspicious and inauspicious, are the two paths; please, Sir, be careful even when all alone
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When you do some good things, heaven will know, earth will observe, and the ghosts-and-spirits will be respectful
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Good and evil will have their recompense, do not say that nothing carries over from previous lifetimes
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The hidden assignment of reward and punishment are hard for the eye to behold, but you can see how it works out
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Good and evil in our world are every person’s responsibility, when you come here the assessment is never wrong
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Missing characters
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Don’t fight fate, know that what happens has a prior cause, just focus on the present
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Gate
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The city is secured: there is Nine-Peak Mountain full of beauty and Gu River with its spiritual power.
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The customs are honest: there are farmers chatting in the Ge fields and fishermen singing on the Yue river
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Morality has declined but people still like to offer incense and pray for help, they know the gods are there
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The temple’s appearance has been renovated, look up to the majesty and fame of its spiritual power; we shall not forget its protection through the ages
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