Guiyuan Buddhist Temple

Guiyuan temple in Hanyang is located in the west of Cuiwei Road, Hanyang District, Wuhan city. In 1658, Zhejiang monk Bai Guang and Zhufeng came here to establish the city. The name "Guiyuan" comes from the Sutra "Lengyan Sutra". There are no two ways to Guiyuan, and there are many convenient ways. Guiyuan is Guizhen, which means to transcend the boundary of birth and death and return to the origin of Zhenji. In Buddhism, Guiyuan Temple belongs to caodong sect, which is one of the five schools of Zen, so it is also called Guiyuan temple. Together with Baotong temple, Xilian temple and Zhengjue temple, it is known as the four great jungles in Wuhan.

Guiyuan Temple

synonym

Guiyuan Temple (Hubei Wuhan Guiyuan Temple) generally refers to Guiyuan temple

Guiyuan temple is located in Guiyuan Temple Road, Hanyang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. It was built by master Bai Guang in 1658. Covering an area of 153 mu, there are more than 200 halls and 7000 volumes of various Buddhist classics.

Guiyuan Temple belongs to caodong sect, one of the five schools of Zen Buddhism, so it is called Guiyuan temple. Guiyuan temple is also known as "Hanxi Yijing", because of its towering ancient trees and luxuriant flowers and trees. It is also the seat of Wuhan Buddhist Association. Together with Baotong temple, Xilian temple and Gude temple, it is known as the four great jungles in Wuhan.

Guiyuan temple is a key Buddhist temple in the Han nationality,

National AAAA tourist attraction.

Guiyuan temple will be closed to the outside world from January 24 to February 8, 2020.

Historical evolution

In the 16th year of Shunzhi (1659) of the Qing Dynasty, two mages, Bai Guang and Zhufeng, preached the Dharma and did good deeds, which moved the believers to raise funds to buy Wang's Kuiyuan in Hanyang to build a Buddhist temple.

In 1660, the Chan hall was completed. It is named "Guiyuan Temple" because of the Yi Jing's "Yuanzhe is good, Qianyuan is good, Kunyuan is good, and Kunyuan is good for life", and the Buddhist Classic "Lengyan Jing" says "there is no two way to return to yuan, there are many convenient ways".

In the first year of Kangxi (1662), master Bai Guang left Guiyuan temple and went to Jingshan to revive the ancient Buddhist temple. Leaving "farewell chant" became an important part of "Qinggui" in the early days of Guiyuan temple.

In the third year of Kangxi (1664), the main peak ascended the throne of the founder of Guiyuan temple and became the first abbot of Guiyuan temple.

In 1678, the main peak passed away.

In 1683, the white light passed away.

In the 29th year of Kangxi (1690), when Zhou Jinran, the Hanlin, went to Huguang to preside over the rural examination, he paid homage to the abbot Dan shengshang and wrote Guiyuan temple.

In 1850, five hundred arhat halls were built.

In 1852, the Guiyuan temple was destroyed by the Taiping army.

In the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858) of the reign of emperor Wenzong of the Qing Dynasty, the Guiyuan temple was presided over by Xue Yan, Chang Shiguang, and raised lots of people to rebuild the temple on the ruins, basically restoring its original appearance.

In 1868, the bell and Drum Tower was rebuilt.

In 1887, Guiyuan temple was granted a four character plaque of "Guiyuan Temple" by Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty and a Book of "dragon collection". Thus, the status of Guiyuan temple in the Buddhist jungle is promoted.

In the 15th year of Guangxu (1889), Dezong granted "Guiyuan Temple" and "dragon collection". Guiyuan temple was upgraded from a folk temple to a royal temple.

In 1902, Luohan hall was rebuilt. It is the most famous building in the temple.

In 1911, the first uprising broke out in Wuchang. The general headquarters of the people's army is to the south of Guiyuan temple, and the grain depot is also built in the temple. As a result, the Qing army shelled the Guiyuan temple and destroyed the main hall and Zen hall in the temple. Only the 500 Luohan hall, laozang Pavilion and Putong tower survived the disaster.

In 1953, Guiyuan temple was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Hubei Province.

architectural composition

Guiyuan temple now covers an area of 153 mu, with compact and reasonable buildings. The temple is located in the West and faces the East. The temple is divided into front and back areas. The front area (old area) is composed of three distinctive courtyards, namely north courtyard, middle courtyard and South courtyard. There are three groups of main buildings, namely Sutra Pavilion, main hall and Luohan hall.

Main buildings

main hall

Daxiong hall is the main hall of the temple, or the main hall. It is also the place for monks to have morning and evening classes. It was first built in the 18th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1661), and then repaired many times. The main hall was rebuilt in 1908. In the center of the hall is a sitting statue of Sakyamuni, flanked by his disciples Anan and Kaya, both of which are bodiless sculptures. The four characters of the banner "Da Xiong Bao Dian" were written by Feng Jiahao, a great calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty.

On the high platform in the center of the hall, there is a statue of Sakyamuni, the Buddha. In the niche on the back of the statue, there is a colored clay sculpture of "island Guanyin". This group of 6-meter-high, 4-meter-wide, 30 degree inclined large-scale group plastic is made of silk, brown hemp and other primary materials.

On the walls on both sides of the hall are the stone statues of the eighteen Arhats. In most temples, the eighteen Arhats are in the form of statues. When the current abbot of Guiyuan temple, master Longyin, was repairing the main hall, considering that the statues occupied a large area and affected tourists' sightseeing, he used the arhat stone carvings of the eminent monk zhuchan of the Qing Dynasty.

Sutra Pavilion

The Sutra Pavilion is the main building of the north courtyard, where Buddhist classics and art treasures are collected. It was built in the eighth year of Kangxi (1669) of the Qing Dynasty and was destroyed by the war. It was rebuilt in 1888. Abbot Xinjing of Guiyuan Temple (1920-1922) raised funds to rebuild the Sutra Pavilion again. The existing Sutra Pavilion is about 25 meters high, with a total of two floors and five rooms. It is an ancient building of brick and wood structure in Wuhan city. It was rebuilt in 1920 and is a building style building. The hall in the Sutra Pavilion is high and wide, and the white jade statue of Sakyamuni Buddha is worshipped in the center. It was given to Guiyuan Temple by the three treasures disciples of Myanmar Buddhism in August 1935. It weighs about 2 tons. It was carved by Myanmar craftsmen with a piece of milky white jade about 3 tons in weight and 2 meters in height. It is one of the "four major Chinese jade Buddhas" in the 1930s.

Luohan Hall

The Luohan hall in the temple was first built in the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty and was destroyed in the second year of Xianfeng (1852). It was rebuilt in 1902 and has a history of nearly 200 years. Luohan hall is arranged in the shape of "Tian", with more than 500 statues. The five hundred Arhats of Guiyuan temple are based on the rubbings of the five hundred Arhats of Zhusheng temple in Hengshan Mountain, Nanyue. They were molded by two sculptors in Huangpi for nine years by using the "plastic removal" process.

Xinshanmen

The outer gate of Guiyuan temple is a new gate, which is designed in an antique style. The gate of the outer Mountain Gate is an antique vermilion hall gate, which is a three door type, with a large arch in the middle and a small arch on the left and right.

The name plates of most temples are hung horizontally on the lintel of the temple's Mountain Gate, while Guiyuan temple is a straight plaque, which is rare in China and can be called a wonder. Because in the imperial period, only the temples granted by the emperor could write plaques directly. The plaque is 6 feet high and inscribed with four big characters "Guiyuan Temple". The font is neat and the style of the pen is vigorous. It imitates the handwriting of Feng Jiahao, a famous calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty. In Wuhan, there are only two temples with plaques, Guiyuan temple and Gude temple.

Shanmen

The mountain gate is a classical eight character gate. It opens in the morning, symbolizing auspiciousness. The stone lion in front of the Mountain Gate of Guiyuan temple is 2.3 meters high. It was originally guarded in front of Hanyang County Yamen and fuyamen. It is a relic of the Ming Dynasty. After the liberation of Wuhan, the Yamen of Hanyang Xianzheng street was canceled, and the believers moved the abandoned stone lion to Guiyuan temple.

Changming elder memorial tower

Changming elder memorial tower is also known as the tower yard. Here is an introduction to the life of elder Changming, and an exhibition of his relics and calligraphy. In addition, there are places for the reception of believers and memorial hall.

Guiyuan zhengzang Library

Guiyuan zhengzang library is the first modern Buddhist theme library in China, which is fully initiated by the temple, CO built by believers, relatively complete supporting facilities, and open to the public. It has a building area of nearly 14000 square meters, six floors of imitation Qing style Hui architecture, and the main functional buildings include Guiyuan temple zhengzang library and Guiyuan Dajue guest house.

Guiyuan Temple library is open to the public free of charge. In the early stage, the collection of books was mainly Buddhist books, and gradually increased to other categories of books. Finally, the collection reached 200000 books, accounting for 40% of Buddhist books and 60% of other books.

A gathering room

The predecessor of yunjizhai was the nanyunshuiliao house rebuilt in the Republic of China. Nanliao was built in the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi. After the war of Xianfeng and Xuantong, it was destroyed twice and rebuilt. In 1953, 28 monks in the temple opened a vegetarian restaurant. On November 21, 1980, he hosted a state-run vegetarian state banquet for the state guests, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and his party, which was a brilliant page in the history of vegetarian restaurants. The vegetarian dishes in zhainei are light and salty, with more than 200 varieties.

Treasure Palace

There are five bronze statues in the hall of the heavenly king of treasure, each of which is about 3 tons. The king of treasure is the God of Dharma protection in Buddhism, also known as the vaisham God, in charge of financial resources. The mount of treasure king is a lion, which is located in the southwest of the rear area.

Chinese PinYin : Gui Yuan Si