Xingfu Temple Pagoda

Xingfu Temple Pagoda

Xingfu Temple Pagoda is located in the west of Baotong Buddhist temple in Hongshan, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. It is also called shadowless pagoda. It is said that this pagoda is shadowless at noon of the summer solstice, so it is called "shadowless pagoda". It is also called small pagoda because it is much smaller than LINGJI pagoda nearby.

Xingfu Temple Pagoda, originally at the foot of the east end of Hongshan mountain, was moved to the southwest of Hongshan mountain in the spring of 1963.

Brief introduction to temples

Xingfu Temple Pagoda is located in the west of Baotong Buddhist temple in Hongshan, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. It is also called shadowless pagoda. It is said that this pagoda is shadowless at noon of the summer solstice, so it is called "shadowless pagoda". It is also called small pagoda because it is much smaller than LINGJI pagoda nearby. Originally at the foot of the east end of Hongshan mountain, it was moved to the southwest of Hongshan mountain in the spring of 1963.

Xingfu temple, originally named Jin'an temple, was built in the reign of emperor Chengsheng of Liang Yuan (552-555). It was renamed today in the reign of emperor Renshou of Sui Dynasty (601-604). The pagoda was built in 1270, the sixth year of Xianchun in the Southern Song Dynasty. In modern times, when the Qing army and the Taiping army fought for Wuchang City, all the temple buildings except the stone pagodas were destroyed.

In 1953, Central South University for Nationalities built a school building, and the abandoned site and stone pagoda of Xingfu temple were enclosed in the college. At that time, the stone pagoda was broken and tilted. The Cultural Department moved it to the present site.

Layout structure

Xingfu Temple Pagoda is a wooden structure pavilion type pagoda, all made of stone, octagonal plane, 11.25 meters high. The lower part of the tower is a stone xumizuo with a diameter of 4.25 meters. The pagoda is a solid body, with false doors on its four walls, on which there are carved statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva, arhat, heavenly king, strongman, donor and so on as decorations.

According to the county annals of Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, Baotong temple and Xingfu pagoda were built in the Weitong period of Yizong of Tang Dynasty (860-874 AD). At that time, the temple was large-scale and magnificent. The archway, chongmen, Tianwang hall, front hall, back hall, Xingfu temple tower and other main buildings were arranged from south to north. The evening drum and the morning bell are full of fragrance. In the early years of the Republic of China, the temples suffered many misfortunes, the halls were destroyed one by one, and the main buildings were the Xingfu pagoda.

Xingfu temple tower is a brick and wood structure of nine storey pavilion type tower, the plane is octagonal, 41 meters high, standing on the octagonal platform. The first to fourth floors of the pagoda were rebuilt on the remains of the Tang Pagoda in the Song Dynasty. They are of brick structure, and the upper floors are rebuilt in the Jin Dynasty.

The front of each floor is provided with arched openings or straight skid windows. From the fourth floor to the ninth floor, the brackets and cornices are all made of wood. Starting from the fifth layer, the height of each layer decreases layer by layer, and the outer contour shrinks layer by layer, giving people a sense of lightness and straightness.

Architectural features

The biggest characteristic of Xingfu Temple Pagoda is that a wooden pillar is erected in the center of the fourth floor of the pagoda, which directly reaches the top of the pagoda, and is connected to the outside with eight radial beams and columns according to the layer. There is only one such structure in China, which is extremely valuable. The tower structure is not only different from the general wooden tower, but also different from the general brick and wood structure tower.

Xingfu Temple Pagoda was damaged repeatedly in the great changes of more than one thousand years. The iron hollow jujube shaped pagoda was destroyed by the earthquake on March 22, 1866. Since then, due to the wind and rain, the eight and nine floors of the pagoda collapsed one after another. In order to protect this ancient pagoda, which occupies an important position in the history of ancient architecture, the people's government organized forces to carry out a comprehensive survey, and on the premise of striving to maintain its original appearance, the pagoda was removed and rebuilt in 1981. In February 1982, the underground palace was discovered under the tower base during the survey.

After cleaning up, a number of valuable cultural relics were unearthed. According to the two stone inscriptions, the pagoda, formerly known as Huiguang pagoda, was built in the Tang Dynasty from about 762 to 799 ad. it was overhauled in the fifth year of Qingli (1045) of the Song Dynasty and rebuilt in the fifth year of Huangtong (1145) of the Jin Dynasty. In 1988, the tower was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit.

Brick carving art

Xingfu Temple Pagoda is an octagonal 13 storey brick Pagoda with dense eaves. It is more than 50 meters high. The base of the pagoda is a double-layer xumizuo. There are many small niches on it. The niches are engraved with stories of Buddhist rites, mountains, rivers, pines and cypresses, auspicious clouds, pagodas, temples, sacred animals, figures and so on, which are lifelike. In particular, the Sheng, Xiao, Qin, Se, yunban, gongs, drums, flutes and other musical instruments on the upper part of xumizuo, as well as the eight auspicious treasures, such as magic snail, umbrella, baigai, lotus, vase, goldfish and Panchang, are extremely beautiful and lifelike. The ribbon attached to the yunban looks like a wave moving with the wind, which is amazing. If you listen carefully, you can feel the mysterious sound or the sound of Buddhist scriptures, Such as in the ear, silk lingering.

On top of xumizuo is a three-layer lotus petal arch supporting tower body, which is relatively tall, surrounded by brick arches and semicircular carved windows. There is a plaque on the door. Because of its long history, although the handwriting on the plaque is blurred, the five words "Xingfu temple tower" can still be seen. But the words on the other three plaques could not be seen clearly. On both sides of the doors and windows, there are statues of vajras and Bodhisattvas. Vajras are powerful and powerful, and Bodhisattvas are dignified and beautiful. They are rare works of art. These statues have gone through wind and rain, and have been seriously weathered. Some clay sculptures have exposed wood cores. Nevertheless, you can still appreciate the powerful, powerful, beautiful and vivid style of that year.

Gold plated bronze Buddha

There are 24 niches on each floor of the pagoda, and 312 gold-plated bronze Buddhas were once worshipped. In the 1980s, the bronze Buddha was still there, but today, none of them can be seen. The pagoda is carved with coupons on all sides, with coupons windows on all sides. Statues of Vajra are carved on both sides of the doors and windows, and flying dragons are carved in octagons. The statues are different in shape, powerful and powerful; the flying dragon is vivid and ready to appear. But after years of wind and rain, it has been eroded.

The wind bells hanging on the dense eaves of the pagodas correspond with the white clouds in the sky. The sound of "Ding Dong" in the breeze is clearly a distant favorite. Under the pagoda, there is an old man with a kind face, white hair, grey beard and light beard. He is carrying the music box of "amituo Buddha" chanting sutras. He walks around the pagoda slowly. At each side of the pagoda, he stops to hang his head, hands together, and mouth Sutras.

The sound of Sutra, the sound of Buddha, the bell ring, melodious transmission, curling around the earth, reverberating in the heart. Hearing the sound of sutras, Buddha's voice and bells, it not only reminds people of the couplet of Xingguo Buddhist temple gate in Qianfo Mountain of Quancheng City: the morning bell wakes up the worldly celebrities, and the Buddhist name calls back the dream of the bitter sea.

historical significance

The pagoda of Xingfu temple has been standing there quietly for hundreds of years. People who have seen it all praise the beauty of the ancient pagoda, but few people know its history. People don't even know its name, when it was built and why it stands here.

Because the ancient pagoda is beautiful and lovely, it is said that it is called "shadowless pagoda". It is also said that it is called "Balizhuang tower", and that it is called "sister tower of Tianning Temple" because the shape of the ancient tower is similar to Tianning Temple Tower. For its construction time, some people infer that it was built in the Liao Dynasty together with Tianning Temple Pagoda because of its shape. However, no matter what the legend is, the name of "shadowless tower" has been passed down from generation to generation.

This "shadowless tower" is well-known in the local area and has a great reputation. In 1954, the second construction company and other units built a relocated dormitory here and built a residential area. When the police station compiled the house number of the residential area, it named this area "shadowless lane" because there was an ancient tower called "shadowless tower" by local residents. Now the name of nanwuying Lane in Balizhuang comes from this tower.

This tower is a brick tower with dense eaves. After hundreds of years of sunshine, rain and time, some bricks have been broken and the remains are mottled. However, it still retains the soul stirring charm, which is still so majestic, straight and exquisite. The tower is octagonal and thirteen story, solid brick, no steps, can not climb. The whole tower is divided into three parts: tower base, tower body and Tasha. The tower base is divided into upper and lower parts. The lower part is a platform with stone inlaid edges. The upper part is a double-layer xumizuo, and the upper part is supported by three layers of inverted lotus petals. The dense eaves of the pagoda are gradually raised layer by layer, and the brick arch under the eaves is supported layer by layer until the top of the pagoda, which makes the pagoda stable and beautiful, but not exposed. It is a typical "dense eaves pagoda" shape. This kind of pagoda was very popular after Liao Dynasty. This pagoda is very similar to Baotong Temple Pagoda in appearance. If it is not located in a different place, it is really thought that Tianning Temple Pagoda has moved.

The difference between the pagoda and other pagodas with dense eaves is that the upper part of Xumi seat of the pagoda is engraved with all kinds of musical instruments, such as Sheng, Xiao, Qin and Se, which is extremely rare in pagodas. There are also many Buddhist stories on the sumizuo in the tower base. There are more than 200 characters in the stories with different expressions and vivid images. On xumizuo, the three-layer brick carved lotus petals arch the tower. The first tower is tall, with brick arches and semicircular windows on all sides. There are plaques on the door. Unfortunately, some of the handwriting on the plaques are illegible due to their age.

On both sides of the doors and windows are wooden figures of vajras and Bodhisattvas. Vajras are powerful and powerful, and Bodhisattvas are dignified and beautiful. They are rare works of art. However, after a hundred years of wind and rain, it is not complete. But from the remains of the statue, you can still see their exquisite. There are 24 niches on each floor of the pagoda, offering 312 bronze Buddhas. Tasha was originally covered with rosette, bearing mani style jewels. The whole ancient pagoda is tall and beautiful with exquisite carving, which is a rare "artwork".

Well preserved

The pagoda of Xingfu temple is still well preserved after 900 years of wind and rain erosion, earthquake and war. In addition to its firm foundation and strict structure, the continuous maintenance of the pagoda is also an important reason, especially in the past

Chinese PinYin : Xing Fu Si Ta