Chongyang palace

Chongyang palace

Chongyang palace, the ancestral court of Quanzhen Taoism, also known as Chongyang Longevity Palace and ancestral nunnery, enjoys the reputation of "ancestral court of the world" and "holy land of Quanzhen"

It is located in Zuan Town, Weiyi District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, 40 kilometers away from the center of Xi'an city. All kinds of buildings cover an area of 10800 square meters, with a building area of 1229.2 square meters, a memorial tower building area of 105.6 square meters, and an attached building area of 222.5 square meters.

Chongyang palace is the first of the three ancestral courts of Quanzhen school. It is the place where Wang Chongyang, the founder of Quanzhen Taoism, practiced Taoism in his early years and lost his life

. Wang Chongyang advocated the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, with the purpose of "three religions are well-rounded, understand the mind and see the nature, and complete the truth alone", so his religion is called complete truth. His disciple Qiu Chuji was highly valued by Emperor Taizu of the Yuan Dynasty, and Quanzhen religion became more and more prosperous in the north. Chongyang palace became the ancestral court of Quanzhen religion.

Chongyang palace in Xi'an is the ancestral court of Quanzhen religion. Although Baiyunguan palace in Beijing and Yongle Palace in Shanxi are also called "ancestral court", they are actually built by Wang Chongyang's disciples.

geographical environment

Chongyang palace is located in Zuan Town, Fuyi District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. It is located in the hinterland of Guanzhong Plain, the northern foot of Qinling Mountains and the Bank of Ganshui river. It is 40 kilometers southwest of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. Looking to the south, the sweet water flows out of the valley from the southeast and flows into the Weishui river through the northwest of Chongyang palace.

Historical evolution

Chongyang palace is the first of the three ancestral courts of Quanzhen sect of Taoism. It is the place where Wang Chongyang, the founder of Quanzhen sect of Taoism, practiced Taoism and lost his life in his early years.

In 1167, Wang Chongyang set himself on fire and traveled eastward to Ninghai, Shandong Province, where he obtained the disciples of Qiu Chuji, Liu chuxuan, Tan Changzhen and Ma Yu to create Quanzhen Taoism. After Wang Chongyang died, his remains were escorted by his disciples and buried in his former residence. After Ma Yu took charge of Quanzhen religion, he established a Taoist temple and wrote the word "Zu Ting" in calligraphy. Later, Wang Chuyi, a disciple of Wang Chongyang, played a song and asked him to build lingxu temple at his site. Qiu Chuji also asked him to change his name to Chongyang palace.

In the Yuan Dynasty, Chongyang palace was very popular and had a great influence on Taoism in the north. It was the first of the three ancestral halls of Quanzhen Taoism. There were about 5048 palace buildings. The palace reached Laoyu River in the East, Ganyu River in the west, Zhongnanshan mountain in the South and Weishui River in the north. At its peak, there were nearly ten thousand people. The scale of the palace was the largest in the world. During the reign of emperor Shizu of Yuan Dynasty, Chongyang palace was renamed as "grand Chongyang Longevity Palace". It enjoys the honorific title of "the ancestral court of the world" and "the holy land of Quanzhen". The gold plaque given by the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty hanging above the mountain gate is still clear.

Although Quanzhen religion suffered two short-term suppression in Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the general trend was in a prosperous period. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the upper level of Quanzhen religion appeared the phenomenon of corruption, which led to the decline of educational administration and the decline of talents.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial Court adopted the policy of restraining Quanzhen religion, and there was a scene of no leader among different schools. Due to the gradual decline of Quanzhen religion, Chongyang Palace also declined from prosperity, the palace gradually reduced, and the original steles were scattered in the open air. In 1445, Emperor Zhengtong of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the memorial tablet of the ancestral court rebuilt by Hou Yuanfang, the host of Chongyang palace, recorded: "there are more people in the ancestral court, so they still abandoned and prospered. Those who were strong and magnificent in the past were frustrated by the wind and rain, and they were unable to recover." it also recorded the repair of Chongyang palace from Yongle to Zhengtong.

In the Qing Dynasty, after the war in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, the Chongyang Palace "collapsed, the palace collapsed, and the wild residence was exposed". During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, "the castle was repaired because of the common people. This maintenance" suffered from prosperity and was extremely difficult to carry on "and" made it a small one ", which made it" still keep the relics ". It is also said in Qianlong's 47 year inscription "the restoration of Chongyang Palace" that "everything in the world has always been successful and declined, and declined and recovered. Those who are prosperous also have a good number of Qi, but those who are weak still need to be prosperous, and those who are lost also have a good number of personnel. In the early years of Tongzhi, the Chongyang palace was devastated. After that, there were several minor repairs. But only to maintain the ancient road view. Until the eve of the founding of the people's Republic of China, only three buildings, namely Laojun hall, linggong hall and zushi hall, as well as "five pagoda tombs", "zushi tombs" and steles scattered in temple sites, remained in Chongyang palace.

At the beginning of the founding of the people's Republic of China, the steles of Chongyang palace were scattered in the fields, tombs, and palace sites within the scope of nearly ten li. They were eroded by wind and rain and artificially destroyed. They were facing the situation of loss, which aroused the attention of the religious circles and the government.

In 1956, Chongyang palace was listed as a provincial cultural relic protection unit by Shaanxi Provincial People's Committee.

In 1962, after Yang Zixiu's appeal, the provincial government appropriated special funds, and the cultural center of Fuyi District organized the implementation of centralized collection of scattered steles from Chongyang palace to the former site of Yuhuang hall, and built the stele forest of Zuan temple in Chongyang palace.

During the "Cultural Revolution", the Taoists of Chongyang palace were sent to the production team of Zuan North Street to work, the "Laojun hall" was demolished, the tomb of Chongyang palace was destroyed, and the temple was neglected

.

In 1973, 11 stele halls were built to protect the steles properly.

In 1979, 3.14 mu of land was expropriated from Zuan Beijie village to build a wall.

In 1980, the Chongyang palace literature management office was established.

In 1982, the ancestral hall and the spirit palace were repaired, and the ear door was rebuilt.

In 1986, the new cornice angle antique Chongyang palace Mountain Gate.

In November 1986, 17 stone carvings from Qingyang palace, yuanmadian, "xiantuoyuan" and Zuan town in Ma village were moved for the protection of Chongyang palace.

In 1993, Huang Shengde, a Taiwan compatriot, donated money to build a memorial tower of Wang Chongyang.

In 1998, master Hou Baoyuan of Qingsong temple in Hong Kong donated tens of millions of yuan to repair the Chongyang hall and the second floor of the bell and drum.

In 2001, the stele forest of Chongyang palace in Zuan was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit.

In 2005, the "Daodejing" stele was erected on the left side of the mountain gate.

Architectural pattern

In its heyday, the Chongyang palace extended to the north foot of Zhongnan Mountain in the south, the Weihe River in the north and the Baima River in the East. It covers an area of about 40 square kilometers and has 5048 halls, halls, towers, pavilions. Due to the war and historical changes, the palace city gradually shrank.

Chongyang palace covers an area of 53 mu, with more than 100 halls, Lingguan hall, zushi hall, Chengdao palace, Jixian temple, Yuxian palace and other temples.

On both sides of the hall are the stele forest viewing area, ancestor worship area and penglaixian park. In addition, there are several major areas, such as Taoist health studio, Chongyang culture and art research center, Taoist living area and office reception area.

Cultural relics

overview

At the peak of Chongyang palace, there were more than 5000 pavilions and nearly 10000 Taoists. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most of the buildings were gradually abandoned. The original stone inscriptions of the Yuan Dynasty are more than 70, but only more than 30 remain. There are more than 30 inscriptions since the yuan and Ming Dynasties. Most of these steles were carved in Mongolian and Chinese characters. Among them, the stele of chicang Yufu in the second year of yuanyan (1315) and the stele of sun Zhenren Daoxing in the second year of Yuantong (1334) are most praiseworthy. In addition, there are stone inscriptions such as "Qizhen image", "Wanshougong map" and imperial edict steles written in Mongolian, Tibetan and basiba languages. These steles are valuable materials for studying the development history of Taoism in China.

Important relics include the Gaotai site of Lingguan hall and Qizhen hall in Yuan Dynasty, the site of Yuhuang hall, and the stone censer in front of the site of Beiji hall. In the Yuan Dynasty, the stone pillars of the palace were carved, and the stone letters were placed by the master of Chongyang palace.

the forest of steles, tablet forest

Zuan stele forest, also known as Zuan stone carvings, was announced as a key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council in 2001. More than 80 stone inscriptions of Chen lieyuan's Quanzhen Taoism are collected. Most of them are Jushou guidi or fangfu. There are 55 stone inscriptions, among which 31 are the most famous. Many of the inscriptions are written by Gao Dao, such as Zhao Mengfu, Han Chong, Yao Sui, Wang Chongyang, Yin Zhiping, Shang Ting, Yang Huan, Yao Sui, song Bo, Wang pan, Li Daoqian and sun Dehuan. The inscriptions reflect the rise and fall of Chongyang palace and Quanzhen sect of Taoism in detail, and the close relationship between Quanzhen religion and the social and political development of Jin and Yuan Dynasties. The methods recorded in the inscriptions provide detailed information for the study of Taoist culture and traditional Chinese medicine. The stele also provides a lot of important information about temple economy, which is of great value for the multi-faceted study of the history of Yuan Dynasty and the development of Taoism.

There are "four unique" in the forest of Steles in Chongyang Palace:

There are 8 tablets of imperial edict issued by the emperor of Yuan Dynasty;

As the birthplace of Taoism, Quanzhen is the only one in China;

The number of articles and elixirs written by famous scholars in Yuan Dynasty was the only one in China;

It is the only one in the country that the four imperial edict steles are combined in Mongolian and Chinese.

At present, 31 steles are preserved in the stele hall. If there is a difference according to the folk legend of "72 steles of Jiaolong", it may have been damaged or not found.

Among the more than 40 steles related to the history of Quanzhen sect of Taoism in the forest of Steles in Chongyang palace, the famous ones are the stele of Wang Chongyang's patriarch and Qizhen's portrait, the stele of wumengling's poem, the stele of Dayuan's imperial collection of imperial clothing, the stele of Quanzhen's Secret words, the stele of emperor's imperial edict of Yuan Dynasty (Mongolian and Chinese), and the stele of Wu Daozi's painting of Zhongkui's ghost play, which can be regarded as a national treasure Zhao Mengfu, a great calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty, wrote the stele of imperial clothing and the stele of immortal Daoxing of huangyuansun. and

Chinese PinYin : Zhong Yang Gong