Heaven Temple

Tiantang temple is a holy land full of birth legend and yearning in the eyes of Tibetans. It used to be the cradle of the growth of nomads in huare Tibetan area, and also one of the well-known Tibetan Buddhist temples in Ganqing Tibetan area. The temple has a long history and a large scale. In its heyday, there were more than 1000 monks here. When there were important Buddhist activities, there were white prayer flags and green mulberry smoke everywhere around Tiantang temple. The sound of chanting and drumming could not be heard, and prayers flocked to the temple. In fact, in the eyes of Tibetans in Tianzhu, the local Tiantang temple is no less than the Potala Palace thousands of miles away. The origin of the name of Tiantang temple. The reason why Tiantang temple has become the pure land in the eyes of Tianzhu Tibetans is not only the beautiful mountains and rivers, but also the origin of the name of Tiantang temple. There is also a magical legend. The temple is located in Tiantang Temple by the Datong River in the west of Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, Gansu Province. Its predecessor is the primitive Tibetan Benjiao temple built in the period of Tang Xianzong, also known as Yangzhuang temple. According to Tian Zhu Shi Hua, it is said that in ancient times, an evil dragon broke away from the control of the Dragon Palace and went up along the Yellow River in search of its own treasure land. It entered the Datong River from the Yellow River. It was very happy to see the beautiful scenery here. From then on, it settled down here and often made waves and troubles in the world. Nearby residents call it "poisonous dragon.". For a time, this rich land became gloomy and terrifying, and people suffered a lot from the "poisonous dragon". I don't know how many years passed. During the Yuan Dynasty, the fourth generation of black hat living Buddha Gama rabedoji of Tibetan Buddhism Gama Gaju came to Beijing and stayed in Yangzhuang temple. When people heard that a living Buddha had come, they asked the living Buddha to subdue the poisonous dragon in the Datong River for them. The living Buddha agreed, so the monks in the temple called the poisonous dragon by blowing the trumpet. When the poisonous dragon heard the name of the Dharma, he thought it was to pay homage to human beings and animals. Then he came out of the Datong River and threw his teeth and claws at the living Buddha sitting on the Dharma platform. The living Buddha stopped the poisonous dragon and said, "the sea of bitterness is boundless. When you look back, you should return to the sea as soon as possible, cultivate your mind and get rid of your sins as soon as possible." The poisonous dragon didn't listen to the living Buddha's advice at all. Instead, he opened his mouth to the living Buddha. When the living Buddha saw that the poisonous dragon was obstinate, he threw the beads in his hands and hit the poisonous dragon. The poisonous dragon was beaten to the dust and still wanted to struggle. The Buddha beads turned into 108 pagodas again, pressing the poisonous dragon under the pagoda. The poisonous dragon, unable to escape, asked the living Buddha, "when will the light be visible?" The living Buddha said, "after 640 years, there will be Buddha light visible." When people saw 108 pagodas landing out of thin air, they named it baotatan, or "Quedian hall" in Tibetan. Yangzhuang temple also changed its name to Gaju temple, since then incense is very strong. Later, people transliterated "kediantang" as "chaotiantang". Later, people went to "chaotiantang" and simply called it "Tiantang". This is the origin of the name of tiantangsi. "

Heaven Temple

Tiantang temple is the head of Tianzhu 14 temples. Its predecessor was the Tibetan Bon temple built during the reign of emperor Xianzong of Tang Dynasty (806-822). At its peak, there were more than 1000 monks, known as "eight hundred monks in Tiantang". It is famous for its strict discipline, large number of eminent monks and large scale.

In the thousand Buddha Hall, there is the world's largest wooden statue of master zongkaba, 23 meters high. The cliff cave at the back of the temple is the holy land of Zen meditation for Hua Ruijian, a disciple of zongkaba master. Surrounded by mountains and lush trees, the temple is surrounded by Datong River, which meanders through the front of the temple with beautiful mountains and rivers, humid climate and auspicious scenery.

The main buildings preserved and rebuilt are: Sakyamuni hall, Shilun college, Kongxing palace, Manjusri hall, Dajing hall, little potala palace, Tuzhi hall, Longwang hall, Duoshi living Buddha Nangqian, Saiyi living Buddha Nangqian, etc.

Historical evolution

Tiantang temple has a long history. From the early Tang Dynasty to the early liberation, the temple lasted more than 1000 years. During this period, it was destroyed several times by war, and rebuilt and expanded many times. The scale of the building is becoming larger and larger.

During the period of emperor Xianzong (806-820) of Tang Dynasty, the original Benjiao Temple named "Yangzhuang Temple" was built near Datonghe, which was the predecessor of Tiantang temple.

At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism, such as Saban gonggajianzan, came to Liangzhou. With the support of the Mongolian rulers, the Sakya sect gained the belief of some local people, so it built a Sakya sect temple on the basis of Yangzhuang temple, which is called "Sashi Yinggong" in Tibetan. In 1360 (the 20th year of Zhizheng reign of Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty), the fourth generation of Tibetan Buddhism, gamabaruobedojie, passed through here and built 108 Zhenlong pagodas in zhaxitan, the flat land in front of the temple. The place where the pagodas were built was named "Qiao Dian Tang" (meaning "ta'ertan"). The original Sakya Monastery was converted into a Kaju monastery, which was destroyed again in the war. After the rise of Gelug (yellow Religion), Tiantang temple was converted to Gelug temple.

During the reign of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (about 1639), Danma cuichenjiacuo, a famous monk in Qinghai Province, rebuilt the temple, which was called "chaotiantang" (the sound of "Qiao Dian Tang"), and since then people have called it "tiantiansi", which is still in use today.

In 1647, at the invitation of the monks of Tiantang temple, Jiacuo, the fourth living Buddha of dongke temple in Qinghai Province, expanded the temple on a large scale for many times and became the master of Tiantang temple. Tiantang temple also became the subordinate Temple of cheke temple. In 1652, the fifth Dalai Lama, Luo sangjiacuo, passed by qiangchuan (today's jinqiangchuan, Zhu county) in Pingfan (today's Yongdeng County) town when he came to Beijing. He gave the name of "zaxida Jilin" to "Tiantang Temple", which means "Guanghui Temple" in Chinese.

In 1956, Tiantang temple covers an area of more than 1500 mu, with 14 Buddhist halls and 40 Scripture halls. The living Buddha angqian has 17 such as dongke'er, Jiayi, jiaruo, BAHA, Maqi, awan, Saiyi, Moke, cangwa, dege, Shama, Dalong and Huazang. There are more than 300 Buddhist courtyards and more than 4000 houses. The halls and pavilions, the high walls and the Luan courtyard, have their own postures and set off each other, forming a spectacular Han Tibetan architectural complex. The temple is divided into Junwen college and Shilun Jingang college, offering five classics of Xianzong (namely Prajna, Zhongguan, Shiliang, commandment, qushe) and Tantric discipline. It has both Xianzong and Tantric discipline, especially Tantric discipline, and takes supreme yoga as the highest practice order. The temple has a complete set of cultivation, upgrading, assessment and degree evaluation system and strict learning system, which has cultivated the first batch of Artemisia monks and gradually become one of the famous temples in Northwest China.

In the historical calamities from the late 1950s to the 1970s, the temple was completely destroyed and turned into a ruin. After the reform and opening up, in 1981, it was allowed to reopen and resume, and the Tiantang Temple gradually resumed its old bustle.

According to Tianzhu county annals, there were many eminent monks in Tiantang temple in history, such as Zhang Jia, ruobedoji, the national teacher during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and Tu Guan quejinima, who received enlightenment education in this temple. Most of the Tibetan Buddhist temples in Gansu Qinghai region have been destroyed by wars for many times in history. However, due to the dangerous geographical location of Tiantang temple and the direct protection of Zhangjia national master and dongke living Buddha, the Tiantang temple is one of the only ancient temples that have not been damaged by war and earthquake for more than 300 years.

Main attractions

Tiantang temple is a large academic temple with five four sutras. There are 13 Sutra halls. There are many rare objects and tens of thousands of Sutras in the world, such as a red jujube sized statue of Sakyamuni with the bone of ancient JIAYE Buddha and a Bodhi Pagoda with the finger bone of Sari Buddha. There are a large number of sculptures, carvings, murals, classics, magic tools, woodblock printed and hand copied Tibetan classics and historical materials in the temple. In the later period of the existence of the temple, many traveling monks often stopped to study Buddhist scriptures. In the Qing Dynasty, there were no two West German people studying Buddhism here. It can be seen that the temple also had influence abroad at that time.

Zongkaba Hall

Also known as jianjieda hall and Qianfo hall, in order to make the wisdom of master Zong shine on the world forever, under the leadership of Duozhi Rinpoche, a 35 meter high zongkaba hall was built. Among them, a 23 meter high and 9.52 meter wide gilded wooden statue of zongkaba Buddha is the highest in the world. In the process of carving, this statue had some miracles such as lighting. There are 4000 bronze Buddhas and 21 wooden statues in the hall.

Shilun College

Founded in 1840 by the ninth dongkehutuktu, who has been the national teacher of the Qing Dynasty for four generations: Dao, Xian, Tong and Guang, the great Dharma meeting is held every year in the middle of March of the lunar calendar. In addition, there are the intensive Dharma meeting in June of the lunar calendar, the super Dharma meeting in Puming altar in July, and the Shengle Dharma meeting in August.

Sakyamuni Hall

Built in the early 18th century, it was presided over by the fifth dongke living Buddha. Sakyamuni, the main Buddha in the hall, is more than five meters tall. He is a gold-plated statue made of fragrant clay. The statue is exquisite and lifelike. There is an egg hidden in his chest. It is a giant Buddha relic. In the middle of the 19th century, Xikang Rinpoche added a golden crown to the statue of Buddha and changed it into a body Buddha, which is called "Jue" in Tibetan.

According to historical records, Tiantang temple is known as one of the "five ancient temples in the northern part of the Yellow River" in history, with more than 800 monks living in the heyday, known as "800 monks in heaven". In its heyday, Tiantang temple had 10 Buddhist halls, 40 Scripture halls, 17 living Buddha mansions, more than 600 monasteries, and more than 4000 monk houses. The temple covered an area of more than 1000 mu, with more than 1000 monks at the most. It has always been an important place for Buddhist activities in Northwest China, and also a Gelug temple for both study and study. There are Xianzong college, namely, shennizacang college and Shilun college, which respectively set up five branches of Prajna, Zhongguan college, Shiliang college, commandment college, jushe Xianzong college and Tantric school. They have a complete set of study system, such as study, promotion, assessment, degree and title.

Chinese PinYin : Tian Tang Si