Bao'en Temple, Pingwu

In Pingwu County, Sichuan Province. In the fifth year of Zhengtong in the Ming Dynasty (1440), Wang Xi, the governor of Long'an Prefecture, planned to build his mansion in the form of a palace in the Ming Dynasty. Later, in the 11th year of Zhengtong, it was rebuilt into "Baoen Temple", which was built in 1460. The temple covers an area of nearly 2.5 hectares, with the main hall at the top of Xieshan with double eaves as the center. The front is the Tianwang hall, the back is the Wanfo Pavilion, the left is the Dabei hall, and the right is Huayan Cang. There is a pair of Huabiao in the square in front of the temple, a pair of stone lions in front of the mountain gate, three Jinshui bridges in the mountain gate, and bell and drum towers on the left and right. The layout is rigorous and the decoration is gorgeous. It is a group of buildings with the characteristics of palace and temple. Baoen temple in Pingwu provides important material materials for studying the inheritance relationship of Ming Dynasty architecture in terms of structural form and architectural art. Many of the great wooden works of Baoen temple are preserved in song style, with obvious "side foot" and "birth"; Jiaoke supports the old angle beam with the "angle God" of wood carving. In order to meet the local seismic requirements, many unique treatment methods are adopted in the structure. In particular, the center truss is made into a rectangular section, and the vertical and horizontal joints are closely meshed, so as to strengthen the overall seismic effect of the building. Therefore, after the completion of the temple, it is still intact after many earthquakes. The Ming Dynasty's color paintings on the forehead and Fang left behind by the Tianwang Hall of Baoen Temple began to show the pattern characteristics of Qing style spiral painting (see color paintings). Huayan Tibet has a complete wheel collection, commonly known as "Star car". There are exquisite vertical sculptures, relief sculptures and murals in the great compassion hall, the great male hall and the Ten Thousand Buddhas Pavilion.

temple baoen

synonym

Baoen temple in Pingwu generally refers to Baoen Temple (Baoen temple in Pingwu County, Sichuan Province)

Baoen temple is located in the middle of Pingwu County, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, China. Baoen temple was built in the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty. It was rebuilt into "Baoen Temple" in the eleventh year of the Ming Dynasty. It was built in the fourth year of Tianshun (1460).

Baoen temple, a well preserved Ming Dynasty palace style Buddhist temple complex in China, is a typical representative of ancient historical, cultural, religious and artistic relics in Pingwu area, Sichuan Province.

Baoen temple, covering an area of nearly 2.5 hectares, is one of the largest and most complete Ming Dynasty ancient buildings in Sichuan

. In February 2020, the development and Reform Commission of Mianyang City issued an initiative to the cultural and tourism units such as tourist attractions and Mianyang museum to implement a free visit policy for all medical workers in the country and provide a series of free and intimate services. Within one year after the restoration of operation, 17 scenic spots in Mianyang City, such as Baoen temple, will implement a free ticket preferential policy for medical workers, who hold valid certificates and can be free of charge Free tour

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Brief introduction to temples

Baoen temple was built by Wang Xi, the hereditary local official of Xuanfu Department of Longzhou in Ming Dynasty, Wang Jian and his son under the imperial edict of Yingzong in Ming Dynasty. It was built in 1440, the fifth year of Zhengtong in Ming Dynasty, and has a history of nearly 600 years.

In 1956, it was designated as a provincial cultural relics protection unit by Sichuan Provincial People's Committee. In 1996, with the approval of the State Council, it was upgraded to a state-level cultural relics protection unit.

Baoen temple is the teaching and research base of Architecture College of Tsinghua University.

Construction scale

It is called the reduced version of the "Forbidden City". The temple is located from west to East, covering an area of 27800 square meters and a construction area of 3500 square meters. It is composed of Mountain Gate, bell tower, Tianwang hall, Dabei hall, huayanzang, Daxiong hall, Beiting, Wanfo Pavilion and other main buildings. All the buildings are symmetrically arranged along a 300 meter long central axis. Due to the complete imitation of the layout design of the Forbidden City in Beijing, it is called "deep mountain palace" ”It's called "the best of the best".

Layout structure

All the buildings in the temple are built with pure and precious nanmu. They are grand in scale, harmonious in layout, strict in structure, exquisite in architecture and rich in characteristics. They are the only ones in China and are praised by Chinese and foreign architectural experts as "rare relics in the early Ming Dynasty". Temple towering ancient trees, strict weather, flying eaves, resplendent.

The thousand handed and thousand eyed Avalokitesvara carved from the whole nanmu, the wheel Sutra collection and clay dragon in Huayan collection, and the painted murals all over the temple are rare art treasures in the world. The roof tiles are all glazed tiles, and each tile on the eaves is carved with dragons.

Well preserved

It is said that there are 9999 large and small dragons in the temple. Baoen temple also has one of the world's largest Scripture turning tubes, and this is the only one that can be turned in the world's largest Scripture turning tube. Baoen temple was originally built by Wang Xi in the mountains. Later, the emperor found out, so he moved the Buddha statue in a hurry and escaped. However, due to the hurry, the Buddha statues in the temple were placed in disorder. In the hall, there was an extremely precious piece of Phoebe, which was engraved with "long live the Emperor today", which enabled Baoen temple to survive the disaster in history. The whole temple is of pure wood structure, which can be completely preserved for more than 600 years without a nail.

Related allusions

Baoen temple is famous for its square in front of the mountain gate, the scripture building, the eight character glazed walls on both sides and the Jinshui bridge in the temple, which are similar to the Palace Museum in Beijing. The overall structural layout and architectural style are also in the same line with the Palace Museum, which is called "deep mountain palace museum" by the local people

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Walking into the central courtyard of Baoen temple, you can see from the inscription on repairing the great Baoen temple in the tablet pavilion that Baoen temple is the king's seal of the Ming Dynasty. After the imperial court granted the great collection of scriptures to the ancestors, it invited the imperial court to build a temple because there was no place to collect the ancient scriptures.

Wang Xi witnessed the splendor of the Forbidden City in Beijing, so he invited 20 craftsmen who had participated in the construction of the Forbidden City from Beijing to Sichuan, and recruited skilled craftsmen in Pingwu. This temple was built into a "small forbidden city" by him

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Due to the lack of historical records, it is not known why Wang Xi risked the risk of beheading to build a "small forbidden city". However, this kind of behavior of "committing crimes below" once alarmed the imperial court. After his explanation, Zhu Qizhen, Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, even went so far as to open up his mind. In the inscription on repairing Dabaoen temple, the imperial edict reads: "since the local official is not an example, he is allowed to suffer this..." "It took Wang Xi and his son Wang Jian 20 years to build the temple in the name of repaying kindness."

historical value

The first is the building materials of Baoen temple. Its columns, beams, rafters, purlins and other wood materials are all precious Phoebe, which has the marvelous effect of not boring or forming cobwebs. It's unique across the country.

Second, there is a dignified and effective thousand handed Avalokitesvara in the hall of great sorrow. It is covered with gold, with a crown on its head, a Jingsha on its body, with a wreath on the ground and red feet. It stands on the lotus throne. Its body is soft, tall and symmetrical. It is carved from a thousand year old Phoebe. It is 9 meters high. Behind it is fan-shaped and densely covered with 1004 hands. These hands are staggered from front to back, encircled from left to right, and overlapped with each other Cover, hanging in the air into 15 round solitary, look up, Wan like a huge and blooming chrysanthemum, a variety of beautiful and spectacular.

The third is the ingenious wheel Scripture collection in Huayan hall, which is 11 meters high and 7 meters in diameter. It is divided into seven layers and looks like a seven level pagoda. Buddhism believes that turning it around is like reciting the "six character" mantra once, which can eliminate disasters and prolong life. It has complex structure, peculiar production, exquisite technology and complicated carving. All kinds of statues, wood carvings, colored paintings and Buddhist statues on it have high historical and artistic value. It is the best preserved one in China.

Fourth, Baoen temple is a gathering place for dragons. The image of the dragon is highlighted everywhere in the temple, such as pillars, beams, ceiling, caisson, ridge tiles, incense burners, plaques, bell buttons, etc. In particular, the seven meter long four clay dragons in Huayan hall are the most exquisite. There are 9999 dragons in the temple. With the dragon throne of "long live the Emperor today", there are 10000 dragons in total. It is also known as "Dragon Palace in deep mountains". If you have elegant interest, you may as well count them by yourself. These various dragons will surely make your eyes full and add endless fun.

The fifth is the architectural Dougong of Baoen temple. Dougong is a major feature of Chinese ancient architecture and a miracle in the history of world architecture. The use of Dou Gong in architecture is particular, and bao'en temple's Dou Gong is not only the largest in quantity and pattern in China. There are 36 kinds of Dougong and more than 2000 Dougong in the temple, also known as "Dougong Museum".

Precious murals

The murals of Baoen temple are more than 300 square meters of precious Ming Dynasty Murals in the main hall and the Ten Thousand Buddhas Pavilion. These murals include tall and solemn emperors, dignified and beautiful goddess of heaven holding tributes, fierce and ferocious warriors, and humble Temple monks. All kinds of portraits are as high as 3 meters, scattered in height, looking left and right, surrounded by flowing clouds and immortals, and the Golden Buddha statues worshipped in the pavilion are like stars and moons, echoing back and forth, moving and static, vividly forming a solemn "Dharma protection picture".

Address: Baoen temple, Pingwu County, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province

Longitude: 104.53305356628

Latitude: 32.408570914561

Tel: 0816-8822178; 0816-88

Ticket information: 40 RMB

Chinese PinYin : Ping Wu Bao En Si