Kunrou Notre Dame Temple

On the earth wall of Xiexi village, 8 kilometers northeast of Jixian City, Shanxi Province. Surrounded by mountains, the view is broad, and the temple site is high. It was first built in the first year of Tiansheng of Song Dynasty (1023), rebuilt in the seventh year of Yanyou of Yuan Dynasty (1320), and partially rebuilt in the fourth year of Longqing of Ming Dynasty (1570). There are three rooms in width and three rooms in depth, with single eaves. In the hall, four gold pillars were moved to the second room. The capitals were replaced by big sparrows, and the beams were divided into two layers, the upper and the lower, forming a well shaped beam frame. The lower layer is equipped with angle beam, the upper layer is equipped with railing and pubaifang, the front and rear eaves and two hills are supported by climbing beams, and the center is carried by a bucket arch carrying a lotus column, forming a sparse caisson, which is rarely seen in ancient Chinese architecture.

Kunrou Notre Dame Temple

Kunrou Notre Dame temple is located on the earth wall of Xiexi village, 8 km northeast of Jixian County, Shanxi Province. Surrounded by mountains, the view is broad, and the temple site is high. It was first built in the first year of Tiansheng of Song Dynasty (1023), rebuilt in the seventh year of Yanyou of Yuan Dynasty (1320), and partially rebuilt in the fourth year of Longqing of Ming Dynasty (1570). There are three rooms in width and three rooms in depth, with single eaves. In the hall, four gold pillars were moved to the second room. The capitals were replaced by big sparrows, and the beams were divided into two layers, the upper and the lower, forming a well shaped beam frame. The lower layer is equipped with angle beam, the upper layer is equipped with railing and pubaifang, the front and rear eaves and two hills are supported by climbing beams, and the center is carried by a bucket arch carrying a lotus column, forming a sparse caisson, which is rarely seen in ancient Chinese architecture.

brief introduction

Kunrou Notre Dame temple is also known as Huangtian Houtu temple, or can be directly called Houtu temple. It is a place for people to pray for rain, agricultural harvest and full of children. Kunrou Notre Dame temple is for the empress, also known as the empress temple.

There are three interpretations of Houtu in Cihai

One is the name of the earth in ancient times, which is opposite to "Huangtian".

The second is the God of land, which also refers to the Social altar where the God of land is worshipped.

Third, the ancient officials in charge of land affairs.

In ancient times, when people saw that land had the function of breeding all things, they came to the understanding that "land is the basis of breeding all things". So people respect the land as they respect the emperor, and put the word "Hou" in front of the word "Tu". As Du Yu noted: "the earth is the owner of the group, so it is called houye." In this period, people's worship of land was due to the worship of the ability of land to carry and nurture all things. People connect the ability of land to breed all things with women's reproductive ability, and create the image of women, namely "Mother Earth".

Stone carving art

The stone carvings of Mount guajia are on Mount Xu guajia in the south of Jixian County, Shanxi Province. This place is backed by Jinping Mountain, facing Qingshui River, willow cliff, arch bridge like rainbow, beautiful scenery.

According to the county annals, Yuchi Jingde of the Tang Dynasty went to battle and lived here. He had been in Jinping and changed his name. It is also said that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and Qin Qiong went to Chang'an, where they once hung on the top of the Jiashan mountain, hence their name. In the third year of kaihuang reign of Sui Dynasty (583 AD), five areas of Buddha statues were carved on the rock cliff at the foot of the mountain. Each area has two or three niches. The niches are flame like. Most of them are one Buddha and two Bodhisattvas. The niches are in the shape of lotus petals, waist girdle and Xumi. Bodhisattvas are on both sides. One of them is a niche of reclining Buddha, with the right hand supporting the cheek and the left knee bending. It has vivid shape and free expression. Compared with other round carvings in grottoes, the combination of carving technique and line carving is unique.

history

With the development of society, the matriarchal clan society gradually disintegrated, and the development of human history entered the patriarchal clan society. In this period, the later earth changed from female god to male god, and connected with specific historical figures. After the consolidation of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set a precedent for the unified sacrifice of Houtu by the state, and took it as a custom. Since then, all the feudal dynasties have included Houtu in the sacrificial ceremony, making it a great God corresponding to the emperor and the earth. The worship of Houtu in this period is mainly the worship of the natural attribute of land and its influence on social life. The land became a land God with region and nationality, which was called the Lord of land, the Lord of land, the later God of land and the City God. In the fourth year of Yuanding (113 BC), Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty Liu Che held a ceremony to offer sacrifices to the emperor in Yong. After that, he ordered the establishment of Houtu temple on fenyin temple. In 14 years (113 bc-100 BC), he offered sacrifices to Houtu six times in person, which was the same as the ceremony to offer sacrifices to the emperor.

What is worth integrating is that due to the influence of yin and yang philosophy in the Western Han Dynasty, people think that after the creation of heaven and earth, the pure Qi rises to heaven, the turbid Qi falls to earth, the heaven is positive and the earth is Yin, the father and the mother of heaven, so people shape the later earth as a goddess, symmetrical with the emperor and heaven. In the long years since the Han Dynasty, the later earth gods appeared as women. Another example: in 433 A.D., the bequest officials of the Northern Wei Dynasty went to gaxiandong, the Autonomous Banner of Oroqen, Inner Mongolia, to offer sacrifices to their ancestors and engraved a congratulatory inscription, among which there was "the emperor's heaven, the emperor's Queen's earth", the heaven was Yang, the earth was Yin, and the emperor and the empress corresponded. Later, Houtu was absorbed by Taoism and was listed as one of the four emperors. Among them, only Houtu became the goddess in charge of the fertility of yin and Yang, the beauty of all things and the mountains and rivers of the earth. The couplet in the main hall of Houtu Temple: "the heaven of Liuhe is the highest, and the holy virtue should be respected from generation to generation. The earth is the mother of all things, and it is necessary to nurture the world, so it is called Niangniang." It explains the meaning of "Empress of the earth" for tourists.

protect

Mount guajia cliff Statues (including xiexikunrou Notre Dame Temple) (the second batch of provincial protection)

Times: Sui, Tang and Yuan Dynasties

Address: Mount guajia, 0.5km south of Jixian City

Cliff statues were first carved in the second year of kaihuang (582) of the Sui Dynasty. There were many additional carvings in the Tang, song and Jin Dynasties. The existing cliff stone carvings are of Sui and Tang styles, especially those of Jin Dynasty. The cliff statues of Song Dynasty are not preserved, only the inscriptions are preserved here.

The statues are carved at the lower end of the cliff facing north and south. From west to East, there are five statues with 2-3 niches in each area. Most of them are flame or pointed arch. The carving technique is based on the combination of ground relief and line carving, which is unique compared with other round carvings in grottoes.

Xiexikunrou Notre Dame temple was first built in the first year of Tiansheng in Song Dynasty (1023), rebuilt in the seventh year of Yanyou in Yuan Dynasty (1320), and partially rebuilt in the fourth year of Longqing in Ming Dynasty (1570). At present, only the Notre Dame hall remains, which is a legacy of the Yuan Dynasty. The main hall is three rooms wide and three rooms deep, with a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain. The front eaves are made of two layers of large beams.

Religion

The belief of Houtu is complicated because of its original and inclusive connotation. The functions of Houtu in people's life are various, and its functions are constantly changing with the development of society. In the early period of human society, Houtu is the God of the earth, which carries and breeds all things. It is the mother of all things, and its main function is to ensure high yield. After entering the class society, the natural attribute of Houtu God was gradually replaced by the social attribute, and transformed into a personified God related to the management of special social affairs. For example, Gonggong's dragon was the official in charge of land and was respected as the God of the earth. In the early period of feudal society, Hou TU was specially sacrificed by feudal emperors. As the objects of respecting heaven and earth, the rulers offered sacrifices to Hou Tu temple in fenyin to prove the rationality and legitimacy of their rule. Hou Tu gods played a role in maintaining the feudal rule.

At the same time, in the traditional agricultural society, men bear the rights and obligations of production and labor, supporting the elderly, and inheriting life, so the people's enthusiasm for seeking children has never been reduced, which adds the authority of taking charge of childbirth to the later earth God (female God). The Han nationality has a custom of burial since ancient times, people are buried in the ground after death, so the folk believe that people are buried in the earth after death. After entering the modern civilized society, people's life has become increasingly rich and their demands for interests have gradually become diversified. Houtu God has been shaped as a full-time God who responds to all demands and does nothing. People can turn to her for help in all kinds of problems they encounter in their daily life. The main function of the latter God of earth has changed from being in charge of land to being in charge of giving birth and giving birth to children. In addition, it is also within the scope of her functions to protect people's safety and health, punish evil and promote good, uphold justice, and recruit wealth.

special snacks

Sanzi is a unique fried food in Hongdong county. According to the annals of Hongdong County, on February 2 of the lunar calendar, Hongdong and Zhaocheng counties hold water sacrificial temple fairs in Guangsheng temple. On this day, there are many people in Guangsheng temple, and the magistrates of the two counties and local gentlemen all come to attend. But there are gongs and drums, three eyes, oil cakes, bean curd dishes, sheep chowder and other snacks in the temple fair. Among the numerous stalls, the most eye-catching one is the culinary experts from the two counties, who set up fried Sanzi in oil pan. This is not only a technical performance competition, but also a necessary preparation before water sacrifice. When the San characters were piled up on the Dafang table, people began to sacrifice water. The water sacrifice was presided over by the eminent monks of the "Water Temple", whose main content was to throw Sanzi to the lotus pool. Strange to say, for every 10 Sanzi thrown into the water dividing Pavilion, it must be divided into seven in the north and three in the south. After measurement, the ratio of water flow in the north is 7:3. There is a popular story about why the water is divided into three or seven parts: long ago, Hongdong county and Zhaocheng County fought for Huoquan water, and even killed people. Later, the two counties reached an agreement to put 10 copper coins in the boiling pan of fried Sanzi, and each county selected a representative to fish them by hand, according to the number of copper coins.

Chinese PinYin : Kun Rou Sheng Mu Miao