Fuyan Temple

Fuyan temple is located at the foot of throwing bowl peak in Hengshan Mountain. Here, with dense pine and fir trees, bamboo trees and ancient vines, it is the scenic spot of Nanyue. The temple is a national key Temple of Chinese Buddhism determined by the State Council. Fuyan temple was founded by monk Huisi in the first year of the Chen Dynasty (567). At that time, it was called Prajna temple, also known as Prajna temple. In the third year of the Tang Dynasty, huairang Zen master came to Nanyue and settled here. Today, on the Mountain Gate of Fuyan temple, there is a banner of Tianxia court. On both sides, there are vertical couplets of ancient temples of Six Dynasties and Daochang of seven ancestors, which refers to this period of history. In the Song Dynasty, it was renamed Fuyan temple, which is still in use today. At that time, a monk named Fuyan built the temple and planted 10 cypress trees, hence the name of Fuyan temple. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, Fuyan temple was prosperous. The temples and statues of Fuyan temple are basically restored according to the original historical appearance. The temples in the temple include Yueshen hall, Abbot's room, ancestral hall, Lianchi hall, Youshen hall, zuozhai hall, Yunshui hall, sutra Pavilion, FA hall and other buildings. Although the scale is small, the layout is regular, forming a complete temple. In the east of Fuyan temple, there is a clear spring gushing from the square stone well. This is Hupao spring. There is a stone tablet beside the spring, which records the origin of the spring. After Huisi built the Prajna temple, he saw that there was no water around the temple, so he led the monk to the foot of the mountain, raised his staff and stabbed at the sand. After a while, a spring gushed out, and the disciples expanded the spring mouth into a well. This is the origin of Zhuo Xiquan. One day, when Huisi and his disciples came to the spring to draw water, they saw a tiger coming out of the jungle. They took Huisi's stick from the spring and went to the rock behind the Prajna temple. After three loud shouts, the spring water came out of the rock. Huisi built a stone well beside the spring and named it Hupao spring. These two strange springs are still murmuring. There is an ancient ginkgo tree on the right side of Fuyan temple. According to the records of Nanyue, this ancient ginkgo tree was planted by Huisi himself, with a history of more than 1400 years. Now the ginkgo tree is still luxuriant, surrounded by 1.5 Zhang, is a view of Fuyan temple. In the east of Fuyan temple, there is a famous mirror grinding platform. It is said that this is the place where huairang grinds the mirror to spread the Dharma. Before and after Fuyan temple, there are many stone carvings, including the extremely brilliant stone carvings carved by the Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty. This stone platform is the Gaoming platform. There is another stone carving on the rock beside, with the character of Buddha in the middle and the top phase of gaowu on both sides. This is the meaning of the extremely brilliant stone carving, which means that the Buddha statue is extremely high and the light of the Buddha is extremely bright. There is also the Sansheng pagoda of Huisi Zen master. It is said that the remains of Huisi Sansheng are hidden in it.

Fuyan Temple

Fuyan temple was founded by monk Huisi in the first year of the Chen Dynasty (567). At that time, it was called Prajna temple, also known as Prajna temple. In the first three years of the Tang Dynasty, huairang Zen master came to Hengshan Mountain and settled here.

Fuyan temple, the gate of the "world court."

”On both sides of the banner, there are vertical couplets of "Six Dynasties ancient temples" and "seven ancestors Daochang", which refers to this period of history. In the Song Dynasty, it was renamed Fuyan temple, which is still in use today. At that time, a monk named Fuyan built the temple and planted 10 cypress trees, hence the name of Fuyan temple.

Historical evolution

Fuyan temple, located at the eastern foot of the throwing bowl peak, is one of the top ten jungles of Buddhism. It is well-known in the history of Chinese Buddhism. It is a famous Buddhist resort of Southern Zen sect and a key cultural relic protection unit in Hunan Province.

According to the records of Nanyue, Fuyan temple, formerly known as Prajna temple, also known as Prajna terrace, was founded by Zen master Huisi, the second ancestor of Tiantai Sect of Buddhism, in the first year of Chen Guangda (567 AD). It is one of the oldest temples in Nanyue. Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty once gave the temple 50 volumes of Sanskrit scriptures. In the second year of Xianxian (713 A.D.), huairang, a Buddhist monk, went to Nanyue and turned Prajna temple into a Buddhist temple. Through his disciple Daoyi, the Buddhist dharma of Nanzong was spread to the world. The temple was used by Buddhists all over the world to spread the Dharma, which shows its prominent position in Nanzong.

During the period of Taiping and rejuvenating the state in the Northern Song Dynasty (976-984 AD), he served as the abbot of the temple. He led the monks to plant pine and fir around the temple, rebuild and expand the temple, and renamed the Prajna Temple "Fuyan Temple". Master huairang, the seventh patriarch of Zen Buddhism, expounded the Buddhism style here and preached "insight method", so he is also called "court of the world".

The scale

Fuyan Temple maintained the scale of Qing Dynasty. In 1983, the temple was designated as the national key temple in the Han area. Fuyan temple is not only an ancient temple, an ancient Buddha and an ancient tree, but also a generation of great masters such as Chuyuan, Baozong, cigan and Wenyan. Fuyan temple, together with the three temples of Nantai, Zhusheng and Shangfeng, is known as the "four famous blue of Nanyue". Fuyan temple was first built in the second year of Chen Guangda (568) of the Southern Dynasty. It was originally named Prajna temple. It was renamed Fuyan temple during the Taiping reign of the Northern Song Dynasty (976-984). It was rebuilt in 1870.

The origin of the building

Fuyan temple was founded by Huisi. Huisi (515-577), a native of Wujin (now Shangcai County, Henan Province), led more than 40 disciples to Nanyue Mountain in the second year of Chen Guangda. With the support of emperor Chen Xuan, he founded Prajna Temple (now Fuyan Temple). Chen Taijian died in 577, known as "master Nanyue" in the world. Later, he was honored as the third ancestor by Tiantai Sect. Before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Prajna temple was a Taoist center centered on promoting Prajna and fahua thought.

After the Tang Dynasty, Prajna Temple became a famous Taoist temple of Zen. When Zen spread to Hongren, the fifth ancestor, it was divided into North and South schools. Huineng, the sixth ancestor of the south school, was divided into two schools: Qingyuan Xingsi and Nanyue huairang. The Prajna temple was the place where huairang lived for more than 30 years to expound the style of Zen.

Huairang (677-744) was born in Ankang, Jinzhou (now Hanyin County, Shaanxi Province). After becoming a monk, he went to Caoxi to learn Zen from Huineng. After gaining the Dharma, he lived in the Prajna Temple of Nanyue. There were six disciples, among whom Daoyi was the most outstanding. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, huairang's Buddhism had developed into two schools, namely, Taiyang and Linji, and five schools of Zen. After the Song Dynasty, Linji was divided into Huanglong and Yangqi, commonly known as five schools and seven schools of Zen, while huairang had four schools. So later generations called the Prajna Temple (Fuyan Temple) where huairang lived "the court of the world."

After Huai rang, the famous Zen monks related to Prajna temple were Shen Cheng and Liang Ya in Tang Dynasty; Chu Yuan, Bao Zong, CI Gan and Wen Yan in Song Dynasty; Hong Chu in Ming Dynasty; Dan Yun, Xuan Miao and Hai'an in Qing Dynasty. They were all great masters.

Reconstruction period

Fuyan Temple basically maintained the scale of reconstruction in 1870. The buildings in the temple include: Mountain Gate, Temple of the gods of the mountains, main hall, Abbot's room, Dharma hall, sutra collection building, ancestral hall, Zen hall, Huayan Pavilion, etc.

There are also many places of interest around the temple, such as Huisi's first meditation place, Sansheng pagoda (it is said to be the burial place of Huisi Sansheng's spiritual bones), mirror grinding platform (i.e. huairang's brick grinding as a mirror, which is engraved with the word "Zuyuan"), Scripture worship platform, Luohan cave and Hupao spring, etc.

During the cultural revolution, all the cultural relics in the temple disappeared. In 1983, the temple was designated as the national key temple in the Han area.

Opening to the outside world

In May 1984, General Secretary Hu Yaobang criticized and commented during his inspection: "Bodhisattvas have been destroyed, scriptures have been burned, monks have been decentralized, open up, tourism, what do tourists see? Hunan has done this too much. " After the implementation of religious policy, Fuyan temple was managed by Nanyue Buddhist Association. After a comprehensive renovation, the statue of Buddha was rebuilt. In 1986, the temple held a grand opening ceremony. Fuyan temple, together with the three temples of Nantai, Zhusheng and Shangfeng, has been listed as the "four famous blue of Nanyue", which has restored the magnificence of the former fanbei, the blue trees in the air and the red walls around the temple.

Layout structure

Fuyan temple stands in the shade of lush forests and bamboo trees, with ancient vines and old trees crisscrossing among them. The towering green forest and solemn and dignified Temple make the temple look very ancient and elegant. There are banners of "court of the world" at the mountain gate, and vertical couplets of "ancient temples of the Six Dynasties" and "Daochang of the seven ancestors" on both sides. In the temple, there are ancient temples, such as Yueshen hall, Abbot's room, ancestral hall, Lianchi hall, youchan hall, zuozhai hall, Yunshui hall, sutra Pavilion, and Dharma hall, forming a whole temple.

In the hillside of the temple, there are tall rocks in front of and behind the temple. On the left mountain, there is a stone carving with the three characters "extremely brilliant" written by Li Mi, the Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty, so it is named extremely brilliant platform. Another stone is named "Huisi Shengsheng rock". On one side of the big rock, there is Sansheng tower, which is the bone of Huisi monk, the founder of Fuyan temple. It is said that the body of Huisi monk Sansheng is hidden in it, because it is named.

Colonnade couplets

The temple is built on the mountain and covers an area of about four mu. The whole building is made of brick and wood. The courtyard hall is the mountain gate, Zhi living room, Yue Temple, Da Xiong hall and Zu hall. The first entrance is the mountain gate. The red wall encircles the temple and the gate faces northeast. Engraved on the door: "the court of the world", on both sides of the couplet: "the ancient temples of the Six Dynasties; the Daochang of the seven ancestors." The second entrance is the living room with the gate facing east. Couplets are carved on the pillars: "Fuyan is the first ancient temple in Nanshan; Prajna is the only Dharma gate of the ancestors." The couplet illustrates the history and status of the temple. The third entrance is the statue of Yue God. There is a statue of Yue God in the hall.

According to the records of Nanyue, "empress Chen worshipped the sacred statues of the mountains. Three thousand jin copper casting, together with three Buddha, a total of thousands of years Huang Tingjian, a great poet and calligrapher of the Song Dynasty, said in his book "a record of the journey to the South": "there is a bronze statue of the God of the mountains.". The temples here are unconventional. There are no statues of four heavenly kings, but there are statues of Yue gods. According to the records of Nanyue, it is said that master Huisi won the game of chess with Yueshen at that time. In order to thank the God of Yue for his kindness, he specially built a temple in the temple as a place for the God of Yue to stay and enjoy the fragrance of the world. So there is the statue of the God of the mountain. The fourth step is

Chinese PinYin : Fu Yan Si