Chongshan Temple

Chongshan temple is located in dilianggong street, Yingze District, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. It was founded in Tang Dynasty. It was first named Baima temple, then Yanshou temple and Zongshan temple, and Chongshan temple in Ming Dynasty. In 1381, the third son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the third son of Jin Gong Wang, was expanded. Before the Ming Dynasty, it was just a small temple. Some said that it was the imperial palace of Sui Yang emperor when he visited Taiyuan. Others said that it was the former site of Wu Zetian's monastic life when she was young. Now the word "Zongtang site" on the right forehead of Shanmen probably originated from these legends.

Chongshan Temple

Chongshan temple, located in the southeast corner of Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, is a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Chongshan temple, built in Tang Dynasty, is a famous ancient temple in Taiyuan. It was first named Baima temple, then Yanshou temple and Zongshan temple, and Chongshan temple in Ming Dynasty. In 1381, the third son of Zhu Yuanzhang, King Jingong of Jin Dynasty, in memory of his mother, empress Ma Shi, the empress Xiaoci, the temple was expanded. In the third year of tongzhi (1864) of the Qing Dynasty, the temple was on fire, and all the main buildings were destroyed. Only the Dabei hall and some ancillary buildings survived. In 1881, Zhang Zhidong, governor of Shanxi Province, built a Confucian temple on the ruins of Chongshan temple. Since then, Chongshan temple has been divided into two parts, and the Confucian temple has occupied most of the place. This is the first part of the Shanxi Museum. The Dabei hall, which only accounts for one fortieth of the original temple area, has become the representative of the ancient Baima temple and the Chongshan Temple of the Ming Dynasty.

Chongshan temple is now the seat of Shanxi Buddhist Association. On March 5, 2013, the Dabei Hall of Chongshan temple was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit (the Seventh Batch).

Brief introduction to temples

Chongshan temple is located in dilianggong street, Yingze District, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. It was founded in Tang Dynasty. It was first named Baima temple, then Yanshou temple and Zongshan temple, and Chongshan temple in Ming Dynasty. In 1381, the third son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the king of Jin Gong, in memory of his mother, empress Ma Shi, the empress xiaocigao, the former site of the temple was expanded. It is 550 meters long from north to South and 250 meters long from east to west, with a total area of 140000 square meters. It is the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in Shanxi Province. On March 5, 2013, the Dabei Hall of Chongshan temple was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit (the Seventh Batch). Before the Ming Dynasty, it was just a small temple. Some said that it was the imperial palace of Sui Yang emperor when he visited Taiyuan. Others said that it was the former site of Wu Zetian's monastic life when she was young. Now the word "Zongtang site" on the right forehead of Shanmen probably originated from these legends.

Related allusions

According to the wooden plaque in the temple, in order to commemorate his mother, empress Mahalanobis, Zhu Lei, King Gong of Jin Dynasty, played the role of emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty in April 1383, and approved the establishment of a new temple. It took eight years, and was completed in 1391, which is called Chongshan temple. Unfortunately, in 1864, a fire broke out in the third year of the reign of emperor Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty. All the main buildings were destroyed, and only the great mercy hall and some ancillary buildings survived. In 1881, Zhang Zhidong, governor of Shanxi Province, built a Confucian temple on the ruins of Chongshan temple. Since then, Chongshan temple has been divided into two parts, and the Confucian temple has occupied most of the place. This is the first part of the Shanxi Museum. The Dabei hall, which only accounts for one fortieth of the original temple area, has become the representative of the ancient Baima temple and the Chongshan Temple of the Ming Dynasty.

main hall

The main hall in the temple is in the middle, nine rooms wide and more than 30 meters high. There are thousands of pavilions and pavilions. In 1864, most of the buildings were destroyed by fire. Some parts of the existing Chongshan temple, including the mountain gate, the bell tower, the East and West wings and the great compassion hall, also form their own pattern.

The latter is the Dabei hall, which is seven rooms wide and four rooms deep. It is the most complete and standard building in the Ming Dynasty with double eaves. It has high artistic value. The front eaves are equipped with partition fans, the back is equipped with plate doors, the hall has a ceiling, under the eaves are brackets to support the eaves, and the tile top is cut with yellow green glass. In the middle of the hall, there are eleven Avalokitesvara with thousands of hands and eyes; on the left is Manjusri Bodhisattva with thousands of bowls, and on the right is Puxian Bodhisattva with 8.5 meters in height, moderate proportion, fluent and intact clothing.

Buddhist scriptures in the temple

In Chongshan temple, there are Qisha Sutra (all) in the fourth year of shaoding in Song Dynasty, northern Sutra (all) in the fifth year of xiatong in Ming Dynasty, Dehua Sutra (seven volumes) in Chijin in the eighth year of Chenghua in Ming Dynasty and southern Sutra (all) in the thirtieth year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty. In addition, there are two volumes of Sakya Tathagata Yinghua's deeds and fifty-three color paintings of shancai Tongzi A pair of iron lions were made in Hongwu 24 of Ming Dynasty, and a big bell was made in Zhengtong 14 of Ming Dynasty. All these are valuable materials for studying the art of song, yuan and Ming Dynasties.

Historical origin

Chongshan temple, first built in the Tang Dynasty, was named Baima temple, later renamed Yanshou temple, Zongshan temple, and later called Xinsi. According to records, that's because Chongshan temple was rebuilt on the basis of the old temple. The name of the new Chongshan temple has been used for hundreds of years from the early 14th century to the Republic of China in the 20th century. In the 15th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1382 AD), Ma Shi, empress xiaocigao, the first wife of Zhu Yuanzhang, died of illness. The third son of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu (Mugang), king of Jin, was raised by Ma. In memory of his mother, Zhu Gang asked for permission to build Chongshan temple.

Prosperous period

The construction of Chongshan Temple lasted eight years from 1383 to 1391. The Grand View of Chongshan temple can be seen from a complete picture of Chongshan temple architecture, which is still preserved in the temple. Before Ming Dynasty, it was just a small temple. Chongshan temple in Ming Dynasty was built according to the standard palace style architecture.

On the central axis, the diamond hall, the heavenly king hall, the Mahavira hall, the Pilu hall, the Dabei hall, and the Jinling hall are arranged from south to north. On the left and right of the main hall, there are a series of small courtyards. They are not only symmetrical, but also uniform. This pattern is very similar to the layout of the main hall on the central axis of the Forbidden City and the six Eastern and Western palaces in Beijing. From this picture, we can imagine how magnificent the Chongshan temple, which covered 245 mu in those days, was.

The scale

Chongshan temple is not only attractive in appearance, but also has the conditions that other temples don't have. Chongshan temple is not only a temple, but also a ancestral temple of Zhu Dynasty. The last hall on the central axis, Jinling hall, is a ancestral temple without a throne. This is rare in the construction of Buddhist temples in China. Chongshan temple is not only a Buddhist temple, but also a royal ancestral temple. Therefore, it enjoys more incense than ordinary temples. In this context, it has gone through its vigorous and prosperous period. The Chongshan temple I saw was only one tenth of the original temple. It was only one of the six main halls, the hall of great sorrow. Other magnificent buildings of Chongshan temple were all reduced to ashes in the fire in 1864.

Although the Dabei hall, which survived the destruction, was repaired in Chenghua of Ming Dynasty and Jiaqing of Qing Dynasty, it was all minor repairs, ranging from the beams to the doors and windows, which were basically the original objects of the early Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it has higher historical value. The hall of great mercy, which covers only nine hundred square meters, is only a few parts of the original temple, but it preserves the essence of the temple and keeps very valuable treasures. The Sutra is its first treasure. The number of Buddhist scriptures preserved here and the precious editions are rare in the whole country.

The temple preserves the early precious editions in the history of woodcut printing in China -- Chongning Wanshou collection in the Northern Song Dynasty and Qisha collection in the Southern Song Dynasty. Chongning Wanshou collection, also known as Gushan dazang, took 33 years to carve. The original edition consists of 564 letters and 5800 volumes. There are only 17 volumes and 18 pages left. Qi Sha Zang was carved in 1231 and completed in 1323. Qisha Cang, a collection of 591 letters and 6362 volumes, has been carved for a hundred years. There are 562 letters and 4846 volumes. In addition, the yuan version of the Tibetan scriptures, namely puningzang, which was printed in the first year of emperor Qing's reign (1312 AD), is still preserved here. There are 505 letters and 4257 volumes in puningzang, which are 81 letters and 2068 volumes less than the original version. In addition to the above versions, there are many kinds of Tibetan scriptures that were later moved from other temples or places, such as the Ming version of nanzang, which was moved from zhongshiwanyuan in Taiyuan, and the Beizang, which was moved from Datong, and the photocopied Tibetan version of Dazangjing, also known as ganzhur, which was purchased from Qing Dynasty in Japan in the 1970s. In addition, there are other distinctive stone rubbings of Vajrayana Sutra, gold lettered Huayan Sutra, fahua Sutra and pricking blood Huayan Sutra. It is these different periods, different versions and different characteristics of Tibetan scriptures that make Chongshan Temple occupy an important position in Buddhist temples.

Buddhist inheritance

The second treasure of Chongshan temple is the two copies of murals. In ancient times, when there was no photography and plate making technology, copying was the only way to spread the famous paintings in history. Today, I can see the painting style on the corridor of the main hall of Daxiong in those years. Thanks to the ancestors who left such precious copies. These two sets of paintings, one is "the illustration of Sakyamuni's Yinghua", which depicts the story of Sakyamuni's becoming a Buddha; the other is "the painting of good fortune boy 53 reference", which depicts the story of Sakyamuni's becoming a Buddha

Chinese PinYin : Chong Shan Si