Dinghui Temple

Dinghui Temple

Dinghui temple is a national AAA scenic spot. Located in the southeast corner of Rugao ancient city, it was built in 591, the 11th year of kaihuang reign of Sui Dynasty. It is famous at home and abroad for its long history, grand scale, unique pattern and strong fragrance. In the 35th year of Wanli (1607), the main hall and King Kong hall were rebuilt, with the mountain gate facing north. Later, the second floor of the bell and drum, the Sutra Pavilion, the Zen hall, the ancestral hall, and the Zhaitang were built one after another. The gate of Dinghui temple is facing the Yudai River, facing the Fangsheng pool in the East and the Yulian pool in the southwest. The layout of the temple is in the shape of "Hui". The hall is surrounded by buildings and the hall is located in the center, forming a unique pattern of "water ring Temple, buildings embracing the hall".

Historical development

Dinghui temple, according to the continuation of the biography of eminent monks written by monk daoxuan of the Tang Dynasty, in November of the 11th year of emperor kaihuang of the Sui Dynasty, King Yang Guang of the Jin Dynasty (later Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty) set up a thousand monks' studio in Jincheng Hall of Yangzhou, inviting master Zhiyi, the actual founder of Tiantai Sect of Buddhism, to a banquet. Master Zhiyi was invited to Yangzhou to teach the Bodhisattva Precepts. He passed through Rugao and found that the sky above Rugao was full of Buddha light. He believed that this was a treasure land It was here that Mao Jianlu was killed. At that time, it was named "Dinghui Temple".

In the Song Dynasty, due to the looting, Dinghui temple was decadent, leaving only the broken walls.

Jinshi of song and Yuan Dynasties: Shi Sheng, a former magistrate of Rugao County, wrote a poem about Dinghui Temple: the name of the temple is Dinghui; the bridge and ancient stele do not remember the year; the old trees crow in the evening; the new dishes dance in the hometown. The seven storied pagoda turns into a road, and the five colored clouds scatter into the sky; only the water in the Yulian pool and the old dragon sleeping in the deep of the waves.

The existing main building of Dinghui temple was rebuilt during the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty. At that time, a monk named Sufang came to Dinghui temple with two disciples, Xingqian and Xingde. After a little repair, he stayed temporarily. Xing Qian is determined to repair Dinghui temple. In order to raise money, he used oil lamp to bake his ankles and iron rope to plate his chest to show his piety. The faithful men and women were deeply moved and donated one after another.

In the thirtieth year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1607 AD), the temple reconstruction project started. Soon, the main hall was completed. Xing Qian also vowed to carve Buddhist statues in sandalwood. So he was partial to the south. Later in yulinzhou (today's Yulin City, Guangxi), a giant sandalwood tree with a length of 10-6 feet was obtained from a merchant ship returning from overseas, and it was carved into a statue of the Great Buddha of Pilu.

In the 43rd year of Wanli (1615), the Buddha statue arrived in Rugao and was placed in the main hall. During this period, master Zhanming built the bell and Drum Tower, master Yunshi built the Sutra collection tower, and master Delin bought the Sutra collection in Jiahe (now Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province).

The master of Delin has a profound influence on both morality and learning, and Dinghui temple is flourishing unprecedentedly.

In the Qing Dynasty, the main hall of Dinghui temple, the bell and Drum Tower, and the Sutra collection building were renovated many times, and the ancient buildings were well protected.

At the end of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the Dongyue Temple in Duihe of Dinghui temple was demolished and built into a normal school. The prison was afraid that the house of the temple would be occupied. Through Yi Zhe, the prime minister and Prince of Qing, they obtained the plaque of "Huiying Zhonghua" written by Empress Dowager Cixi. However, the Empress Dowager Cixi's father Huizheng was predestined, so she ordered to preserve the temple. In order to avoid the taboo of Empress Dowager's father, Dinghui temple was renamed as "Dinghui Temple".

Before the "Cultural Revolution" in 1966, Dinghui Temple basically maintained the style and features of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. During the ten-year turmoil of the cultural revolution, the cultural relics in the temple were destroyed and looted, the monks were driven out of the temple, all the Buddha statues were destroyed, and the temple buildings were seriously damaged.

After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the religious policy was implemented. In November 1983, the people's Government of Jiangsu Province approved the restoration and opening of Dinghui temple. Today, with the reappearance of gold statues, the splendor of the temple, the cigarette smoke, and an endless stream of believers and tourists.

In 1983, it renovated and shaped the Buddha statue, restored the Mountain Gate (Tianwang Hall), Daxiong hall, sutra collection building, Guanyin building in the East, Guandi hall, yunshuitai, Abbot's room, ancestral hall, Yintang, Huayan building and nianfo building in the West. In the main hall, there are six Buddha statues sitting on a lotus flower with one stem. The two saints of Xianghua, the Buddhist emperor, the eighteen Arhats, the twelve Yuanjue, the island Foshan, and the dizang Guanyin are all created by Zhan Zhenhui, a master sculptor of Zhejiang Institute of fine arts. Professor Yuan YUNPU, a master of Chinese murals, wrote an inscription praising "the crown of contemporary Chinese Buddha.". In 1988, the Burmese white marble Reclining Buddha presented by master Shouye, abbot of Guangming temple in New York, USA, is 12 feet tall and weighs 6.5 tons. In 1990, the bell and Drum Tower was restored on the East and west sides of the mountain gate, with a height of 16 meters, imitating the Tang style. The bell is made of copper. It is 1.5 meters high, weighs 400 kg and has a drum diameter of 1.5 meters. Nantong City for cultural relics protection units.

On November 8, 2004, a pagoda with a total height of 43.88 meters and seven floors was built in the east of the temple and the south of fangshengchi. Inside it, 32 yingshen84 portraits of Guanyin Bodhisattva can be seen. Visitors can go straight to the top of the pagoda and enjoy the scenery of the ancient city. Now Dinghui temple has become a 3A level important scenic spot in Rugao.

In 2007, according to the urban construction plan of Rugao City, for example, 0.8 hectares of land in the inner city of Henan and east of Guanfeng road was allocated to Dinghui Temple free of charge for the construction of new 500 arhat hall, lecture hall, Manjusri temple, Puxian hall, gaoseng hall, Gongde hall, cultural Relics Museum, service center, etc. on October 29, 2010, the West Expansion Project of the Millennium ancient temple and the provincial key Temple Dinghui temple was solemnly laid.

Ancient and modern status

The layout of Dinghui temple is in the shape of "Hui", with buildings outside and temples inside. The layout is neat and the building is magnificent. It is a thousand year old temple with a long history, unique style and a large number of eminent monks. People call it the most ancient temple in Rugao.

When was the Dinghui temple in Rugao built? One is that it was built in the Zhenguan period of Tang Dynasty (627-649 A.D.) and the other is that it was built in the Tianxi period of Song Dynasty (1017-1021 A.D.). However, more people think that it was built in 591 A.D., and there is no doubt that it has a history of at least 1000 years.

The rulers from Tang Dynasty to Qing Dynasty all respected Buddhism. In urban and rural areas of Rugao County, Buddhism has a far-reaching influence. Before liberation, there were more than 60 Buddhist temples in Rucheng alone. Among them, Dinghui temple has the longest history, the largest scale and the largest number of monks.

From the middle of the 17th century until the outbreak of the Anti Japanese War, Dinghui temple was regarded as the "richest man" in Rugao county. It owned more than ten thousand mu of leased land, and set up village houses in Zhangjiabao (now near chaoqiao in Rudong County) and silibandou (now near dingjiasuo in Hai'an County) to collect rents.

A large amount of land rent income is the main source of monks' living and Buddhist expenses, and also one of the reasons for its long-standing reputation.

architectural composition

In November 1983, the people's Government of Jiangsu Province approved the restoration of Dinghui temple and its opening to the outside world. During the ten years of turmoil, the cultural relics in the temple were destroyed and looted, the monks were driven out of the temple, all the Buddha statues were smashed, and the temple buildings were seriously damaged. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the religious policy was implemented. Today, with the reappearance of gold statues, the splendor of the temple, the cigarette smoke, and an endless stream of believers and tourists.

Dinghui temple covers a total area of about 16 mu. The plane layout is slightly in the shape of Hui, with a hall on the outside and a palace on the inside. It is rare that the mountain gate faces north.

The most obvious feature of Dinghui temple is that the gate faces north, and the gate is a nine purlin hard mountain building with three wide faces. Inside the mountain gate, there are many halls and squatters on both sides of the central axis of Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall and Sutra library.

On the east side, there are ancestral hall, Guanyin hall, shadow hall, Abbot's room, Guandi hall, yunshuitai, Gongdelin and so on. On the west side, there are Huayan building, nianfo building, Zhaitang, Jiaojing hall, Liaofang and so on, forming a pattern of "building embracing Temple".

Now after a large-scale restoration of the Dinghui temple, the Mountain Gate standing in the shade is a nine purlin through the bucket type hard mountain building, which is made of water polished blue brick, with four convex gold characters of "Dinghui Temple" written in regular script on the forehead.

There is a pair of stone lions in front of the door. There is a hairpin on the door and a drum stone on the bottom.

Entering the mountain gate is the temple of heavenly kings. In the middle of the gate is a smiling Maitreya Buddha with a simple manner. On both sides is a pair of intriguing couplets: "when you open your mouth, you will smile, but now you will laugh at everything; the Buddha's belly can accommodate heaven, earth and people.".

Maitreya's back seat is a statue of Wei Tuo, who sits and stands.

Main building

There are four statues of heavenly kings on both sides of the hall, one holding a sharp sword, one holding a lute, one holding an umbrella and one catching a dragon beast. It is said that when the four heavenly kings take charge of heaven and earth, they will have good weather and good harvest. They have different faces and postures; the king of heaven holds a sharp sword with his eyes wide open; the king of heaven holds a Pipa with his hands and looks up high; it's often heard that the king of heaven holds an umbrella with his face ferocious; the king of heaven with wide eyes catches dragons and beasts with his hands and his muscles bursting. However, their swords have no scabbard, their harps have no strings, their umbrellas have no bones, and their dragons have no scales.

In the middle of the courtyard, there is a tripod more than Zhang high, which is donated and cast by the believers. Through the courtyard, along the nine stone steps, is the majestic majestic, resplendent hall. The hall is more than 10 meters high, and is a brick and wood structure of jiuxie mountain style. Copper bells are hung on the four high cornices. In the middle of the back of the hall, the newly installed two meter high "guide to bliss" makes the hall more graceful and spectacular.

The main building of Dinghui temple is the Daxiong hall, which is made of brick and wood with folded palms and string corners, with copper bells hanging at the four corners. In the center of the hall, the Tathagata Buddha, one foot and six feet high, sits on the lotus, with a night pearl inlaid on its forehead. The whole body is pasted with red gold, red and yellow

Chinese PinYin : Ding Hui Chan Si