Anyuan Temple

Anyuan Temple

Anyuan temple, also known as "Yili Temple" and "Jinding Temple", is commonly known as "fangtingzi" because its main hall, Pudu hall, is square. Located in the northeast of Chengde summer resort in Hebei Province, on the East Bank of Wulie River, it is a Gelug Temple of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the "eight outer temples". It was built in the 29th year of Qianlong (1764).

The layout of Anyuan temple is rectangular, with open front and compact rear. Covering an area of 26000 square meters, the temple is divided into three courtyards. Inside the first entrance is a vast area. There are five auxiliary halls in the north and south, and there are three original Lingxing gates in the front and on both sides. The second entrance courtyard is separated from the first entrance courtyard by the platform gate of the combination of Han and Tibetan. The third courtyard is composed of 70 corridor rooms, with the main building "Pudu hall" in the middle, and the plane is in the shape of Hui, which is a common "dugang style" in Mongolian temples.

On January 13, 1988, Anyuan temple was announced as the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

In December 1994, "Chengde summer resort and its surrounding temples", including Anyuan temple, was registered as a world heritage site by UNESCO.

Historical evolution

Anyuan temple is also called "Yili Temple" because it imitates the guerzha temple on the Bank of Yili River in Xinjiang.

In May 1759, the dashdawa tribe arrived in Chengde in two groups. Emperor Qianlong was very concerned about their religious beliefs and the destruction of the original Yili gurzha temple in the war, so he ordered the construction of Anyuan temple on the hills on the East Bank of WuLie river near the dashdawa tribe.

In 1764, the Anyuan temple was built and a grand celebration was held.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Anyuan temple was repeatedly robbed and destroyed. The cultural relics in the temple were lost, the hall was destroyed, and the temple was in ruins.

Before and after 1949, only the Pudu hall, the mountain gate and the affiliated small hall were left in Anyuan temple, and other buildings had collapsed.

In the 1980s, the state allocated special funds to repair the Anyuan temple, restoring the Pudu hall, Shanmen, erdaoshanmen, Peidian and Mendian to the original appearance of the Qing Dynasty.

In 1985, Anyuan temple was opened to the public.

Architectural features

layout

Anyuan temple is located between Puning Temple and Pule temple, facing the southwest. Its central axis is directly opposite to the summer resort. It is located in Fugang, and the temple is flat. The layout is rectangular, with open front and compact rear. The temple is divided into three courtyards. Inside the first entrance is a vast area. There are five auxiliary halls in the north and south, and there are three original Lingxing gates in the front and on both sides. The second entrance courtyard is separated from the first entrance courtyard by the platform gate of the combination of Han and Tibetan. The third courtyard is composed of 70 corridor rooms, with the main building "Pudu hall" in the middle, and the plane is in the shape of Hui, which is a common "dugang style" in Mongolian temples.

characteristic

The architecture and scale of Anyuan temple in the eight outer temples are far less than that of other temples, but it completely breaks the traditional architectural layout of "Jialan seven halls" of Han style temples, which faces south from north. Have a unique style of retaining the original folk style of the "guzarzai", which ingeniously incorporated into the essence of the Han and Tibetan architecture, so that the whole temple has a unique layout, appearance and architecture.

Architectural form

There are three entrance walls inside and outside the Anyuan temple, three lattice gates on the front and both sides of the outer wall, and a mountain gate in the middle of the two entrance wall, with three broad couplets on the surface and Han style double eaves resting on the top of the mountain. Three arches, brick concrete structure. Facing the entrance is a lattice star gate, brick concrete structure, red and white plastering, blind windows on the wall, and two pairs of poles in front. There are two mountain gates passing through Jixing gate, a masonry city block and three arched gates. Blind windows are set on the wall, a gate hall is built on the top of the gate, and the top of the gate hall is rested on the top of the mountain. Waist walls are set on both sides of the gate hall, and the courtyard is divided into one and two in the middle. When one enters the courtyard, walls are built on the north, East and west sides. A gate tower is set in the middle of the courtyard, and T-shaped arches are built in the doorway. One gate is set in the middle of the courtyard, and the other two gates protrude out of the wall. The courtyard is rectangular and composed of 64 single-layer group rooms. There is a gate hall in the center of the front and a royal lying stele in the hall.

Main buildings

overview

Anyuan temple is located at the foot of the chime hammer peak. Its plane is rectangular, facing south by West. It is 255 meters long and 146 meters wide, covering an area of 2.8 hectares. There are three walls inside and outside the temple.

Shanmen

The gate of Anyuan temple is a three room hall with Han style double eaves and brick masonry on the top of the hill. There are three round arched openings under it, namely the empty gate, Wuxiang gate and Wuzuo gate.

The plaque of Anyuan Temple written by Emperor Qianlong in Han, Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan Languages is embedded on the forehead of the central arch. The name of the temple means to stabilize the distance, unite all ethnic groups in the frontier, consolidate the northern border defense and maintain national unity. From the mountain gate to the platform gate of the second courtyard, there is an open area. There are two pairs of stone buildings with mani poles on both sides in front of them. In the Qing Dynasty, it was a place for religious activities such as jumping and stepping.

North south side hall

There are five auxiliary halls on the north and south sides between the mountain gate and the platform gate. The side hall used to be a place for storing guard of honor and scriptures, but now it is an exhibition room. In the exhibition room, a detailed family map of the dashdawa tribe and a schematic diagram of the route from Ili to Chengde are listed. It also shows the Emperor Qianlong '.

In the exhibition room of the north side hall, there are pictures, books and classics of the former Rehe Confucian temple. During the construction of the Confucian temple, Emperor Qianlong issued 40 pieces of bronze ritual and sacrificial utensils from the inner palace, such as Cuang, Dou, bell and so on.

Erdao Mountain Gate

The lower part is a masonry city block with three arches and blind windows on the wall. On the base of the stone city, there is a gate hall, resting on the top of the mountain, and a waist wall on both sides of the gate hall. The second Mountain Gate is located in the middle of the south side of the third wall. The East, West and north sides of the third wall are integrated with the second wall, with doors respectively, similar to the shape of the second Mountain Gate.

Gate Hall

Entering the mountain gate, there is a square courtyard surrounded by 64 single storey group rooms (commonly known as "manigara corridor" in Tibetan Architecture). The three rooms in the South Center are the gate hall. In the hall, there is a lying stele engraved with Qianlong emperor's "Zhanli Shushi" (orderly) in Anyuan temple. The front of the lying stele is in Manchu and Chinese, the back is in Mongolian and Tibetan, and the two sides of the lying stele are engraved with a poem by Qianlong emperor.

Pudu Hall

Pudu hall is the main building of Anyuan temple. It has four floors in appearance and three floors in reality. Its plane is square. The hall is seven rooms in width and depth, with triple eaves, 27 meters in height. The first and second floors are single eaves, and the third floor is double eaves, with Xieshan black glazed tile roof. It is said that this is because in the five colors, black represents the water in the five elements. In order to prevent the Anyuan temple from being destroyed by the fire, the black tile was used to cover the top of the temple, and water was used to overcome the fire. The fourth floor is actually the double eaves structure of the roof, which is divided into five rooms. The big roof is 8.8 meters high. There are three bell towers in the middle of the ridge, which are big in the middle and small on both sides, and are decorated with eight magic weapons. At the top of the hall is an octagonal caisson with a panlongkou Xuanyuan mirror in the center. On the first floor of the Pudu hall, a wooden Green Tara statue is worshipped. In front of the gold pillar, there is a banner "Zhu ganyun protects the three Moshi, Shuo mofeng and wanlisui". Inside the gold pillar, there are carved bears and tigers. The four walls on the first, second and third floors of the hall are murals. The contents of the murals are the origin of the Buddhist kingdom and the story of the Buddha conquering the eight dreads. The murals are mainly green, white and red with smooth lines. The first floor is 3 meters high and the second floor is 1.5 meters high. In the painting, there are buildings in the pure land of Buddhism, urban and rural landscape, mountains and rivers, temples and pagodas, figures, flowers and birds of the Qing Dynasty. There are Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, heavenly kings and so on in figure paintings. The murals were badly damaged.

Cultural relics in the temple

Green Tara

The wood sculpture of Green Tara Buddha in Pudu hall, with a Jewel Crown on its head, looks calm and serene, and stands majestically on the lotus platform. Holding the lotus with the left hand, the chest is outward, the right hand is on the right knee, the left leg is crossed, and the right leg is slightly extended to the outside for "auspicious sitting". The arms, bracelets, Yingluo, lotus and other objects on the Buddha's body are carefully carved. The wood carving behind the Buddha's body, with the bold Mirs, golden winged birds and auspicious clouds on the backlight, is well-defined and rich in carving layers, which is integrated with the Buddha's body.

The woodcarving Green Tara is now a national first-class cultural relic and a treasure of Anyuan temple.

mural

There are murals on the four walls of the hall. It can be divided into two parts. The first floor is full of murals from the bottom 1.2 meters or more, with a height of 3 meters and an area of 230 square meters. Apart from some damaged areas, most of them are intact; there are also color paintings on the second floor wall, some of which are 1.5 meters high, but are damaged in many ways. The landscape of the picture can still be seen clearly in the mural on the first floor. Bodhisattvas, Heavenly King strongmen, human headed snake monsters holding mani beads, Taras, as well as palaces, temples and lotus ponds; at the same time, they are interspersed with natural landscapes, trees, flowers, animals, birds and buildings; there are also secular figures in real life, such as villages, farmhouses, tent yurts, and beggars, such as knights, merchants, common women, children and so on. The lines are smooth and the colors are gorgeous, showing a fresh, soft and beautiful color

Chinese PinYin : An Yuan Miao