Boundless Temple

Boundless Temple

Boundless temple, the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units

Located in the southwest corner of Taigu County, it is commonly known as Baitasi and Nansi. Taigu has a saying, "first there is Baita village, then there is Taigu city.". This is because the boundless temple was built very early, and there is a white pagoda in the temple, so it is named after taming village, which is the location of Yangyi County in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. In the 18th year of kaihuang (598), it was renamed Taigu County, and the old county was changed to Yangyi township.

Historical evolution

The temple was founded in 272, the eighth year of Taishi in the Western Jin Dynasty, and changed its name to PuCi temple in the reign of Zhiping in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was repaired in yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. In 1906, it was rebuilt and renamed boundless temple.

Overall layout

Located at No. 10, Nansi street, the south corner of Taigu County, the temple was once known as Baitasi and Nansi. Now, in addition to the Baitasi, there are still some buildings, such as mountain gate, inverted stage, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, Xianting hall and Sutra collection building. Outside the Baitasi, there are seven stories, more than 40 meters high, which are octagonal brick and wood concrete

The appearance of the tower is still in the style of Song Dynasty, with brick and stone eaves, imitation wooden brackets, doors and windows on each floor, decorated with Fengduo.

There are nine floors in the tower, with wooden floors and wooden stairs for climbing. From the top of the tower, you can see Taigu city.

Temple block north to south, the plane is rectangular, an area of 3500 square meters. There are three courtyards in front of and behind the temple, with complete scale, rigorous layout and sparse appearance. On the central axis, the mountain gate and the stage are connected as a whole. The upper side is the stage, and the lower side is the tunnel type Mountain Gate with brick coupons. Through the narrow door opening.

After entering the temple, I suddenly felt enlightened. I saw the carved beams and painted buildings in the temple, the shade of trees in the courtyard, the sound of birds and the fragrance of flowers, which had a special taste. In the middle of the pavilion, there are four Ming pavilions. The pavilions are open all around, with three broad faces and three deep ones. The carvings are gorgeous and the eaves are far-reaching.

A pair of green glazed pottery lions, 2.3 meters high, are placed in front of the pavilion. A wooden archway was built on the left and right.

There is a hexagonal fish pond behind the pavilion. In summer, there are fountains in the pond, goldfish playing in the water and microwave ripples.

A few meters north of the fish pond is the famous white tower.

The pagoda is octagonal in surface, with seven storey Pavilion style brick pagoda, 43.6 meters high. Each floor has eaves and flat seats.

There are brick arches under the eaves. The arched door openings of each floor are connected with the eaves, and carved with false doors and windows. The first floor of the tower is a small square room with a ramp.

Above the second floor, the tower has a hollow core, and is equipped with floor and wooden ladder for climbing. On the top of the tower, there are Zunsheng stone buildings, which are magnificent and exquisite. From the top platform, you can have a bird's-eye view of the whole city and the surrounding scenery for more than ten miles.

The existing white pagoda was built when the boundless temple was rebuilt in the fifth year of Yuanyou (1090) of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is a real example of the transition form from the hollow Tang pagoda to the solid song pagoda

Representative building

White Pagoda

The white tower is the symbol of Taigu County. It is said that in the year of the founding of the Imperial College in ancient times, white cranes landed on the top of the pagoda and dropped a few cranes. In Taigu County, there were several emperors who named them. Therefore, Taigu people regarded the white pagoda as an auspicious thing and passed it on from generation to generation.

In the north of the pagoda, there are three halls and five main halls in turn. The original Buddha statues have disappeared. On the East and west sides of the temple, there are stele corridors, wing rooms, sutra collection buildings, side halls, Zen halls, etc.

Today, the hall is set up as a showroom to display Zhao Changxie's calligraphy art, ancient wooden ware, embroidery and other crafts. The flowers and plants in the hall are luxuriant and the color paintings are new. It is the main tourist attraction of Taigu County.

Cultural relics protection

On May 25, 2006, as an ancient building from Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, boundless temple was approved by the State Council to be listed in the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Address: southwest corner of Taigu County, Shanxi Province

Longitude: 112.55747623945

Latitude: 37.422858872318