Xiangshan Temple

Xiangshan Temple

Xiangshan temple in Pingdingshan is located about 100 kilometers south of Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue, south of Naodian town in Baofeng County, 3 kilometers north of the new urban area of Pingdingshan City.

In history, due to the change of administrative division, it was once called "Ruzhou Xiangshan Temple" and "Baofeng Xiangshan Temple". It is one of the known early Buddhist temples in China. It has an important and irreplaceable position in the history of Chinese Buddhism and Guanyin culture, and its religious root culture is very prominent.

Development history

Xiangshan temple in Pingdingshan was built at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was built about one hundred years later than Baima temple in Guanghe reign of Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty. It has a history of more than 1800 years since it went through Han, Wei, Jin, southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Due to its location in the Central Plains, it was destroyed and built many times under the influence of the change of dynasties and wars. In the 1950s, some temples built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were completely destroyed during the cultural revolution. Monks were driven away and the temples were demolished. Today's Xiangshan temple complex, except for the Millennium pagoda and more than ten ancient steles, is gradually restored after the Cultural Revolution by relying on the support of the private forces and the government.

Xiangshan Temple

The Xiangshan temple in Pingdingshan has a large scale in history. Its main part is based on the natural geographical situation of the mellow peaks of Xiangshan Mountain, and has always maintained the mandala layout form with the tower as the center and the halls on all sides. The overall distribution across the three peaks, showing a Xiangshan as the center, East and West Longshan as two wings, front out of the foot of the mountain, including the West courtyard and South courtyard pattern. At the same time, there are many commons in the surrounding areas. Xiangshan temple in the past dynasties generally has mountain gate, King Kong hall, heavenly king hall, Weituo hall, Guansheng hall, Maitreya hall, simian Buddha Hall, Guanyin hall, Daxiong hall, Jialan hall, zushi hall, liuzu hall, dizang hall, Guangsheng hall, Shanshen hall, Baogong hall, cangjing hall, FA Hall, Zen hall, guest hall, bell tower, abbot and Kuixing building, as well as pagodas, tombs and scriptures.

According to the literature, the scale of Xiangshan Temple expanded continuously in song, Jin, yuan and Ming Dynasties, and reached its peak in Ming Dynasty. In the fourth year of Shaosheng of Song Dynasty (1097), the imperial court issued a decree to specify the four Zhi of Xiangshan temple, with a total area of more than 50 square kilometers. Over 20000 mu of farmland and 10000 mu of mountain forest were awarded by the imperial court in the past dynasties. In the 25th year of Jin Dading (1185), the second daughter of Jin Shizong, the princess of the Tang state, the Duwei of his son-in-law, and Wulin, the founder of Guangping County, the upper guard army, donated money to rebuild Xiangshan temple, which was "twice as large as at the beginning". According to the inscriptions of the Jin Dynasty, "since the Fu of the song and Yuan Dynasties, the abbot has taken turns in Meifu due to repairs." From 1278 to 1278, according to the request of master miaojian of Yufeng, the emperor issued a decree and engraved the "public evidence of the boundary of Xiangshan Temple", which further determined the scope of the four Zhi period. Xiangshan temple was renamed as "Xiangshan Shifang dapumen Temple". In 1458, Yingzong granted the plaque of "Xiangshan dapumen Temple", which made the mountain and temple prosperous day by day. At this time, Xiangshan temple had 16 lower courtyards, which were distributed in Baofeng, Lushan, Jiaxian, Fangcheng and Mi counties. It was a real Buddhist Center in Southwest Henan.

After the late Qing Dynasty, Xiangshan Temple gradually declined. Since the reform and opening up, Xiangshan temple has been gradually restored. In 1986, the Xiangshan Temple Guanyin pagoda and the Song Dynasty Caijing monument were announced as the second batch of cultural relics protection units in Henan Province.

On the meaning of the temple name

There are many Xiangshan temples all over China, among which 18 are more famous. The most famous ones are Beijing Xiangshan temple, Luoyang Longmen Xiangshan temple, etc., forming a unique cultural phenomenon of Xiangshan temple. Among the numerous Xiangshan temples, Pingdingshan Xiangshan temple is the earliest "zhenxiangshan Temple" in eastern China.

The name of "Xiangshan" comes from Buddhist classics. According to records, the birthplace of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, is the capital of the state of kapilawei (which is called father city in Buddhist Classics). There is a mountain called Xiangshan near it, which is the place where the great mercy Guanyin Bodhisattva got the way. With the introduction of Buddhism, the name of Xiangshan came to China. Xiangshan temple in Pingdingshan is the earliest Guanyin Daochang called Xiangshan temple. Xiangshan temple is located in Xiangshan Mountain, formerly known as Huozhu mountain. Yuan Haowen, a scholar and poet of the Jin Dynasty, said in his a brief account of a journey to the East: "when the temple was first built, a monk Hu came from the western regions. It was said that the mountains and rivers here were very similar to Xiangshan mountain there." so according to the Buddhist holy land Xiangshan temple, a temple dedicated to the great mercy Guanyin Bodhisattva was built, also known as Xiangshan temple.

There is another important reason why huozhushan was renamed Xiangshan. A few kilometers northeast of the mountain, there is the father city of Han and Wei dynasties. The predecessor of the father city was the father city of Chu in the spring and Autumn period. The coincidence between the name of father city in eastern China and that of father city in Tianzhu Buddhist holy land also became an important reason why the eminent monks in the western regions chose Huozhu mountain to build Xiangshan temple. Buddhism pays attention to the relationship between Buddhism and its name, which makes Pingdingshan Xiangshan the earliest Guanyin Taoist temple and the earliest Xiangshan temple in China. Later, Buddhism spread from the Central Plains and Xiangshan temple was established in various places. However, as the ancestral temple of Xiangshan temple in China, Pingdingshan Xiangshan temple is unshakable.

Main attractions

Caijing stele of Song Dynasty

In the cave under the Guanyin tower, there is a thousand year old stele, which is known as the "three unique stele" of the great compassion Bodhisattva biography stele. It has a very high historical and artistic value, which effectively established and established the historical status of Xiangshan temple in Pingdingshan as the "root" of Guanyin culture. As far as the version is concerned, it is the source of Guanyin's life experience. All the historical studies on Guanyin can not bypass its existence

 

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The monument was erected in 1100, the third year of Yuanfu in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was dictated by daoxuan, an eminent monk in the Tang Dynasty (as his disciples often recorded). It was embellished by Jiang Zhiqi, the magistrate of Ruzhou. Cai Jing Shudan, an important official of the Northern Song Dynasty, was praised as one of the four greatest calligraphers of the Song Dynasty by later generations. It stood in the cave under the Guanyin tower. The stele is 2.22 meters high and 1.46 meters wide, with 49 lines of regular script and 7 characters. The inscription in the biography of great compassion Bodhisattva, based on the dialogue between heaven and man, expounds the fate of Miaoshan, the daughter of King Miaozhuang, who has a firm heart to Buddha, painstakingly inspires herself, gives up her life to save her father, and finally nirvana.

The historical fact that Guanyin was preached in Xiangshan in the monument established the status of Xiangshan temple in the history of Buddhism as the original place of Guanyin. The monument is also the model and basis of the Taoist testimony of Miaoshan Guanyin in Xiangshan, which has been widely spread since the Tang Dynasty. It is the most authoritative text about the original place of the Taoist testimony of Guanyin. It has the earliest history, the highest specification, and has the indisputable persuasive power of stele relics. It is also the source and mother of the monument of the great mercy avalokitesvara of Tianzhu temple in Hangzhou. In 1986, the monument and the tower were listed in the second batch of cultural relics protection units in Henan Province.

In 1976, at the special invitation of Oxford University, the cultural relics department of Baofeng County, Pingdingshan, sent the rubbings of the monument to the great compassion Bodhisattva to the UK for exhibition.

Guanyin tower

In the center of Xiangshan temple stands a thousand year old song pagoda, which is well-known and recorded in historical records. This tower is the landmark of Xiangshan temple in Pingdingshan, which has important religious symbolic significance.

Guanyin Dashi pagoda is an octagonal nine storey brick Pagoda with a height of 33 meters. According to research, its predecessor was a square wooden pagoda built at the same time with the temple in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In Tang Dynasty, temples and pagodas coexisted and were destroyed in later generations. This tower was built in 1068, the first year of Xining reign of emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty. According to the literature, there is an underground palace under the pagoda, where there are relics. The outline of the tower is a parabola. From a distance, it looks like a cone and a bullet. It is rhythmic, delicate and beautiful. From a close view, the tower is tall and powerful, and it breaks into the clouds. Each floor of the tower is equipped with wooden pavilion doors, and there are two existing ones. The first and second floors are imitated wooden tower eaves, which are made of 5-9 layers of green bricks. All of them are decorated with various patterns and patterns. There are five rows of niches on the outer walls of the second and third floors of the pagoda. A total of 304 niches are built with sitting Buddhas. Among them, there are 35 statues of Avalokitesvara with thousands of hands and eyes. They have different poses, exquisite carvings and great religious significance. They can be regarded as a unique pagoda and a treasure of the temple. The Tasha is composed of iron nine phase wheel and moon. Tower layers such as pavilions, from the fourth floor above the height and diameter of the rapid harvest.

The combination of complex decoration and simplicity of the whole pagoda has both the bold and concise style of the Tang pagoda and the delicate style of the song pagoda. It is a treasure of the temple. Together with the Caijing stele, it strongly proves that the Xiangshan temple in Pingdingshan of Henan Province is the original document record of the Chinese Guanyin sermon. However, there are many cracks in the Millennium pagoda, which need to be repaired.

Under the tower, there is Guanyin real body relic, which is known as "real tower". This is recorded in many Ming and Qing local chronicles and Buddhist documents. For example, according to Ming Zhengde's Ruzhou annals, "the great compassion Bodhisattva is the place where the daughter of King Zhuang of Chu practiced and became a Buddha, and the spiritual bones are still buried under the pagoda." many modern research works, such as Pingdingshan annals, dictionary of Chinese scenic spots, and walking in China's Tallinn, have also been identified. The Guanyin pagoda of Xiangshan temple in Pingdingshan can be called the "holy tower" of Guanyin. It is precisely because "the great master left his body in the tower" that "the spirit should be unique" and the fragrance is strong.

Significance and value

The right result of Chinese Guanyin

Guanyin is the abbreviation of "GuanShiYin", also translated as "guangshiyin" and "Guanzi". Guanyin Bodhisattva is an important figure in the Western Buddhist kingdom and the left flank of Amitabha, the leader of the Western Paradise