Tongnan Dafo Temple

Tongnan Dafo temple is located at the foot of Dingming mountain, 1.5km northwest of Tongnan County. There are four ancient wooden buildings, namely, Dafo Pavilion, Guanyin hall, Yuhuang hall and Jianting. The Great Buddha Pavilion is built by mountains and rivers. It is a seven eaves mountain building with spectacular scenery. The statue of Sakyamuni Buddha sitting on a cliff in the pavilion is 18.43 meters high and solemn. This giant Buddha is commonly known as "eight Zhang golden immortal". Centered on the Giant Buddha, there are 83 inscriptions, poems, steles, statues, etc. inscribed by poets and scholars in the past dynasties on the cliffs of Li Xu in the East and West.

Tongnan Dafo Temple

Tongnan Dafo temple, located at the foot of Dingming mountain, one kilometer west of Tongnan District, Chongqing, was built in the Xiantong period of Tang Dynasty (860-873). It was originally named "Dingming Temple", also known as "Nanchan Temple". Later, because the Song Dynasty chiseled a big Buddha in the temple, it was renamed "Big Buddha Temple".

Dafo temple is a national key cultural relic protection unit, with rich tourism resources and profound cultural heritage. There are not only the world's seventh and largest indoor jinmoyan Giant Buddha, the earliest ancient building with full glass roof "seven eaves Buddha Pavilion", one of China's four echo buildings "shidengqinsheng", the country's largest Moshi calligraphy "Buddha" and the rare natural Echo Wall "haichaoyin", but also 18 scenic spots that began in the Sui Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, followed by the Ming and Qing Dynasties and ended in the Republic of China, The cliff statues of Buddhism and Taoism, which have lasted for more than 1400 years, and the inscriptions, couplets, inscriptions and inscriptions written by the literati and important ministers of all dynasties, are of great historical, artistic and scientific value and are precious historical and cultural heritage.

Historical evolution

In August 1956, Chongqing Tongnan Dafo temple was designated as one of the first batch of key cultural relics under provincial protection; in 1999, it was rated as Chongqing scenic spot; in 2006, it was listed as national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council; in August 2010, the scenic spot was successfully established as national AAA (3a) scenic spot; in September 2014, Chongqing Tongnan Dafo Temple scenic spot was officially approved as national AAAA (4a) scenic spot by the National Tourism Administration.

Tongnan Dafo temple was first built in Suining County of Suizhou in the Xiantong period of Tang Dynasty (860-873). It was originally named "dingmingyuan", also known as "Nanchan Temple". Later, because the Song Dynasty chiseled a big Buddha in the temple, it was renamed "Big Buddha Temple". In the Ming Dynasty, the statue was covered with seven flying pavilions to protect it from the wind and rain. Today, it is still in good condition. The great Buddhist temple has been rebuilt three times in history. The first two (1151, 1278) were built by Deng Licheng, Feng GUI and Qinghui respectively; the last one was rebuilt in the 11th year of the Republic of China.

Layout structure

There are four ancient wooden structures in Tongnan Dafo temple, including Dafo Pavilion, Guanyin hall, Yuhuang hall and Jianting, which are mostly relics of the late Qing Dynasty. Yuhuang hall was first built in 1922. It is said that it was originally built by local people to pray for rain and worship heaven. The Guanyin hall between the Jade Emperor hall and the Great Buddha Hall was built in the song and Yuan Dynasties and rebuilt in 1946 with a thousand hands of Guanyin inside. It is said that Guanyin is on the right side of the Buddha, which is different from other temples in Tongnan.

On the cliff on the left side of the seven eaves Buddha Pavilion, there are seven year flood marks and inscriptions. The inscription began in the Ming Dynasty and continued with the flood marks in 1519, 1781, 1873, 1889, 1945 and 1981. These flood marker lines of different ages are concentrated in one place, which can compare the elevation of previous Fujiang floods in this area, and has a certain scientific value for exploring the evolution law of ancient floods.

geographical position

Main attractions

Tongnan Giant Buddha is a large gold decorated Buddha carved by Buddha and Taoism. It is a rare treasure among stone sculptures. It is one of the "four great Buddhas in Sichuan". It is the largest Golden Buddha in China and the seventh largest Buddha in the world. It is praised as the "crown of Golden Buddha" by Chinese and foreign cultural relics experts. There is a saying that "to see tall Leshan, to see exquisite Tongnan".

The Song Dynasty stele of Tongnan Great Buddha records that it is eight Zhang high and named Jinxian, so it is called "eight Zhang Jinxian". It is commonly called "JINDA Buddha", with a height of 18.43 meters, a head length of 4.3 meters and an ear length of 2.74 meters. He sat down with bare chest, put on a double collar coat, put his left hand between his knees, and his right hand flat chest, with fearless seal. All parts of the Buddha's body were well proportioned, with smooth grain, realistic shape, solemn and solemn posture, bright and vivid eyes, especially majestic momentum.

According to the inscriptions, the body and head of the Great Buddha in Tongnan Buddhist temple were excavated at a very different time. The Buddha's head was chiseled in the first year of Xiantong (860) of Tang Dynasty and completed in the first year of Guangming (880). The excavation of Buddha's body began in 1126, the first year of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty, lasted for 26 years, and was completed in 1151, Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty. It took 290 years before and after the excavation of the whole Buddha statue.

After the Great Buddha was chiseled, in 1152 of Shaoxing, the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to decorate the Buddha statues with gold, and further refine the Buddha statues, the monks of the temple also went to Luzhou to cultivate their affinity with Feng Zhen, the governor of Luzhou. Feng Zhen was a devout Buddhist. He generously used his salary as gold ornament, and wrote articles and engraved steles to record events. In February of the 22nd year of Shaoxing (1152), the decoration of the Buddha was completed, and the whole body of the Buddha was covered with gold. Later, in the seventh year of Jiaqing (1802), the ninth year of tongzhi (1870), the third year of the Republic of China (1914) and the tenth year of the Republic of China (1921), the Buddha had been re decorated with gold body four times, which is still in good condition and dazzling.

Research value

On the steep cliff in the east of Dafosi temple, there are three niches of Taoist statues excavated in the 11th year of kaihuang (591) and the 6th year of Daye (610) of Sui Dynasty. They are not only the earliest cliff sculptures in Chongqing, but also one of the earliest stone sculptures in Southwest China, which have important historical research value.

Architectural style

The Great Buddha Hall, also known as the great elephant Pavilion, was originally built with five eaves and covered with colored glass. It is one of the earliest ancient buildings in China to use all colored glass roofs. After maintenance, it was rebuilt into seven eaves in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that in such a tall ancient building, all the joints of beams, purlins, columns, and braces do not use an iron nail.

The Great Buddha Hall is built by mountains and rivers. It is a seven eaves mountain building. The hall is 33 meters high and faces the river. The double eaves rise up. It has a unique structure and is majestic and spectacular. It makes people sigh with emotion that "Xiaosi is far away from Baiyun top and looks up at the craggy mountains.".

On the left side of the seven eaves Buddha Pavilion is the seven emotions platform. Qiqingtai was called "Buddha cave" in ancient times, also known as "the sound of zither in stone". The broad stone steps with 42 steps are chiseled from the cliffs, just like 42 strings. When visitors climb up the steps, they will sound "Dong Dong" at their feet. What's more wonderful is that the echo of the seven steps is especially clear and loud. It's like hammering a chime bell and playing an instrument, so it's called "seven step playing".

It is said that "the sound of zither on the stone steps" was chiseled in the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty (1426-1435). It was built more than 100 years earlier than the echo wall of the temple of heaven in Beijing. It is one of the four echo buildings in ancient China.

On the stage of seven emotions, there is a pavilion called Changle Pavilion. According to the record of Changle Pavilion engraved on the wall, when you climb the pavilion, you can see the same color of water and sky, and the blue and blue of the pavilion embraces the Zen pass, which is relaxing and pleasant, so it is called "Changle".

Under the stage of seven emotions, there is another Pavilion called "Le Weng Pavilion", also known as "Jian Pavilion". It was created and built by Wei liaoweng, a neo Confucianist of the Southern Song Dynasty. It is 15 meters high, with the pagoda in the air, the corner of the pavilion flying up, and the pavilion reflecting clear water.

Founded in 1922, Tongnan is the hometown of Chen Tuan, the founder of Taoist Taiji. The supreme god of Taoism, the Jade Emperor, worships Sakyamuni together, which is a powerful witness of the integration of Buddhism and Taoism.

Inscriptions

Further to the left of qiqingtai is the Danya cliff along the river. On the cliff as long as Li Xu, there are 83 inscriptions, poems, steles, statues, etc. written by poets, 20 gold-plated couplets, 5 hydrological inscriptions, 104 niches and more than 700 Buddha statues.

Among them, the most striking is the huge word "Buddha". Carved on the steep cliff, the character "Buddha" is 8.85 meters high and 6.78 meters wide, occupying 60 square meters of the rock surface. It was written by Yunyan Fucheng in 1870, and is the largest character of Moyan Buddha in China.

The word "Buddha" is simple and vigorous, vigorous and straight, with strong writing power. It is also called "Dingtian Buddha" because it has a foot on the Bank of the river and a blue sky overhead. In front of the "Buddha", there is just a stone standing alone in the river. It looks like the palm of both hands together. It worships the word "Buddha" and adds a little boundless Buddhism. Stubborn stone nods and realizes the aura of Zen.

Green screen and Autumn Moon

On the flat rock wall, the vines are intertwined, green and green. In the center of the rock wall, there is a group of orange stone grains with different colors around, forming an oval clear moon shadow. The wonder is that no matter how the rock is weathered and peeled off, the moon shadow remains the same. The ancients called it "Autumn Moon on green screen". The Qing Dynasty chanted: "the mountain spirit is strange and unpredictable. When will it fly out of the moon. The people of the two dynasties are as white as their heads today. "

Related allusions

On the far left side of Danya, there is a huge strange stone on the top of the rock which looks like an eagle, so it is also called "Yingyan". When pedestrians stand in front of the rock, calm down and concentrate, they will hear the roaring sound of the sea tide coming from the depth of the rock. Therefore, it is called "the sound of the sea tide". Actually,

Traffic information

Take the bus to Tongnan in Chongqing

Chinese PinYin : Tong Nan Da Fo Si