Chengen Temple

Chengen temple, an ancient temple with a history of more than 1700 years, was built in the Sui Dynasty. It is said that it was the place where Princess Yang lived in seclusion to cure diseases. During the Ming Dynasty, the main hall, bell and Drum Tower, Pilu Buddha, Maitreya stone Buddha and Wanjin bronze bell were built. According to the brief history of Xiangfan, in order to repay his uncle, Yingzong repaired the temple during the Tianshun period, changing its mountain to "Yongle mountain" and its temple to "dachengen Temple", hence the name of Chengen temple. Beside the temple, there are golden mountain, Lion Peak, jade stele, woniuchi, qingsiquan, Yudai water, suofengqiao, wanjinzhong, etc., which are known as the eight sceneries. The construction of carved beams and painted buildings is magnificent. With rich vegetation, no mountains, no green, and excellent geomantic omen, this place is known as a treasure land for accumulating wind and practising. In recent years, many domestic Qigong research conferences have been held here. The main landscapes are wuduolian mountain, Xiangxian King's tomb, Suozhou, Gongzhufen, Lingquan, etc. In front of the main hall of Chengen temple, there are two bell towers and one drum tower. Unfortunately, the drum tower has been destroyed. On the remaining clock tower, there is a bronze bell about eight feet high and weighing more than 10000 Jin. There is no textual research on which dynasty and which generation it is. However, the weight of ten thousand jin decorated with Sanskrit hung on the bamboo shoots, which made people wonder. When the moon is white and the wind is clear, and the light is early in the morning, monks go to the temple to chant scriptures, and they will strike the bell to chant. The sound of the bell is melodious, and it can be heard for tens of miles. The sound of the bell is like galloping horses and roaring lions.

Chengen Temple

Chengen temple is located in the east of modokou street, Shijingshan District, Beijing. It was first built in 1510, and was completed in 1513. Facing south from north, it covers an area of 19000 square meters. The east of the temple is the temple of the third world demon subduing emperor, and the west is the temple of the Dragon King.

Chengen temple is located in the north facing south, with towering ancient trees and complete pattern. There are Mountain Gate, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, FA hall, bell and Drum Tower, East and west auxiliary hall and daozuo room.

On both sides of the main hall, there are dozens of auxiliary halls and wing rooms. There are three inverted corner rooms on the left and right of Tianwang hall, with the bell tower on the East and the drum tower on the West; there are five front porches and back halls on the north of Tianwang hall; there are five Dharma halls on the north; there are three accessory halls and seven wing rooms on the left and right between the two; there are one ancient stone watchtower on each corner of the courtyard.

On May 25, 2006, Chengen temple was announced as the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

Historical evolution

In the fifth year of Zhengde (1510), Wen Xiang, the eunuch of Si Li, built the temple. In the eighth year of Zhengde (1513), it was completed. Wu Zong of Ming Dynasty granted Chengen temple, and Zuo Jueyi Zong of Seng Lu Si was the first abbot of the temple.

It was rebuilt three times in 1757, 1843 and 1850.

After the liberation of Beijing, the place was taken over by the village committee.

In 1955, it became part of the No. 9 middle school.

At the beginning of the 1960s, the school was established as "Shijingshan middle school".

After the reform and opening up, in 1980, Shizhong was incorporated into the ninth middle school and became a part of the ninth middle school again.

In the 1990s, Chengen temple was under the jurisdiction of Shijingshan Culture Committee.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Chengen Temple began three large-scale maintenance, and the main building basically restored to its original appearance.

Architectural pattern

pattern

Chengen temple is located in the north of modokou street, Shijingshan District, Beijing. It faces south from north and covers an area of 19000 square meters. In the east of the temple is the third world demon subduing emperor temple, in the west is the Dragon King Temple, and in the north is a 6000 square meter drill ground. From the south to the north, there are four halls in turn, including Shanmen hall, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall and Fatang hall. On both sides of the main hall, there are dozens of auxiliary halls and wing rooms. The old copper statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in the main hall was destroyed during the cultural revolution. There are three inverted corner rooms on the left and right of Tianwang hall. The corner starts from the pavilion, with the bell tower in the East and the drum tower in the West. In the north of Tianwang hall is the main hall, with 5 rooms in width, front porch and back building. There are five Dharma halls in the north of the main hall. Between the main hall and the Dharma hall, there are 3 auxiliary halls and 7 wing rooms on the left and right. There are six murals in Tianwang hall, one dragon in each of the four murals on the East and west walls, and two "free life pictures" on the north wall. There is an ancient stone Diaolou in each corner of the courtyard. There are tunnels between the Diaolou. In the east of the temple is the temple of the three world demon subduing great emperor, with two courtyards in front and back, and more than ten temples in the courtyard.

characteristic

Chengen temple has five unique features: one is mural, one is watchtower, one is bell and Drum Tower, one is Renzi cypress, one is Shangma stone. The main hall, the heavenly king hall and other halls are painted with exquisite color paintings, except for the heavenly king hall, the rest do not exist. There are four stone Diaolou around the temple, three stories high, and there are tunnels under the Diaolou. Each watchtower is square and square, with a side length of more than 10 meters. There was a partition between the layers, and a stone window was built on the wall, which was chiseled into a grate shape by the whole stone, playing the role of archery eyes. The temple is built in the shape of "Hui". Except for the outer wall, from the heavenly king hall to the Dharma hall, all sides of the temple are surrounded by hall houses, which become the inner courtyard. The southeast and southwest corners of the inner courtyard are bell and drum towers, which are different from the bell and drum towers of other temples. The north of FA Tang is a flat land of 6000 square meters. No flowers or trees are planted.

Cultural relics

According to the selected monk cases in the 20th year of the Republic of China, the area of Chengen temple is more than 14 mu, and it is adjacent to 33 mu. There are 125 houses in this temple. The subsidiary land is 2.07 mu in plain and mountainous areas. It is also said that monk Huizhi has set up a land of two hectares and eighteen mu for the people's Republic of China The statues in the temple include Pilu Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, Bodhisattva, Weituo, Kalan, heavenly king, Vajra, eighteen Arhats, goddess of heaven, Erlang God and Guandi. There are 27 clay statues, 51 bronze statues, two bronze bells, two big drums and one iron chime. Four tenths of all the Scriptures. "

There are three steles in front of the main hall: one is the stele of Chengen Temple granted by Emperor Zhengde of Ming Dynasty (1506-1521), the other is the stele of Chengen Temple rebuilt by Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795), and the other is the stele of Chengen Temple rebuilt by Emperor Daoguang (1821-1850).

On the East and west sides of the north wall of the heavenly king hall, there are "flying pictures" and "releasing pictures" respectively. The main characters in the pictures are the emperor, the queen and six accompanying maids. These frescoes are all made of gold piled up with Lifen in Ming Dynasty.

The painting is about 2 meters high and 3 meters wide, with four huge and powerful dragons. There are yellow dragon, green dragon, green dragon and white dragon, among which the white dragon frescoes are well preserved, complete and clear in shape, hovering in the clouds.

The two shops on the back wall are both "pictures of release", depicting the scenes of Buddhist people's love for living things. All the characters are one man and seven women. The men are senior officials and the women seem to be their dependents. On the west side of the bridge, the man held a basin of water and poured it into the river. There were fish and shrimp in the water. The ladies were gorgeous in dress and looked serene and solemn. On the east side are free birds.

There are nine colored paintings on both sides of the eaves of the East and west side halls. The main theme of the painting is "two dragons playing with pearls", which uses a slightly exaggerated technique of expression. On one side, two dragons are dancing with each other, and in the middle is a shining golden bead. The whole body of the dragon is covered with gold foil. In addition to dragons, there are eight animal images, namely: Tianma with wings carrying tortoise, tiger down the mountain, crouching fox, strong yak, looking back wolf, howling leopard, wild deer and unicorn like monster. The color is gorgeous, and the background environment is suitable for animal identity.

Research value

The Hexi color paintings not only reveal the special identity information of the temple owner, but also show superb painting skills. The fact that Chengen Temple dares to draw dragons on the wall shows the high status of the temple, leaving precious material materials for artists to study the Dragon paintings of Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, Chengen temple is also an important material for studying the architectural art of Ming Dynasty.

protective measures

On February 23, 1990, Chengen temple was announced as the fourth batch of cultural relics protection units by Beijing municipal government.

In March 1992, the Beijing municipal government published the report on the fourth batch of delimitation of the protection scope and construction control zone of 15 cultural relics protection units.

On May 25, 2006, Chengen temple was announced as the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

In July 2012, the Beijing Municipal Government renovated the Chengen temple, which was hit by the "July 21" natural disaster.

History and culture

After the construction of Chengen temple, the Ming and Qing Dynasties maintained the "three no", not subject to incense, not as a Taoist temple, not to open a temple. On the forehead of the Mountain Gate of Chengen temple, there are five big characters, which are written by Zhengde Emperor Zhu houzhao. It is said that the temple was built by eunuch Liu Jin on the basis of the ancient temples of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Dongyang, a great scholar of Ming Dynasty, once expounded his Fengshui characteristics of "towering in front of the tower and standing behind the hillock" in his Chengen temple. And in the records of visiting various places of interest in the western mountains, it is recorded that the abbot monk of the temple is the substitute monk of emperor Guangzong Zhu Changluo. Emperor Wanli also stayed in the temple, and there are "dragon seat" and other objects in the temple. Therefore, the special function of the temple was granted by the emperor as "Chengen Chan Lin". Until the Qing Dynasty, Prince Chun, Prince Li and other dignitaries had stayed in the temple many times.

Tourism information

Address: No.20, modokou street, Shijingshan District, Beijing.

Transportation: East of Chengen temple is Jinding North Street, Beijing public transportation center

Chinese PinYin : Cheng En Si