Dayun temple in Shangluo

Dayun temple in Shangluo

Dayun temple, originally known as "xiyanyuan", is located on Jinfeng mountain in the north of Shangzhou District, Shangluo city. Dayun temple is a provincial key cultural relics protection unit announced in 1992. It was built in the Tang Dynasty and has a history of more than 1300 years.

Dayun temple in Shangzhou is a relatively complete one. It is located in the West Street of Shangzhou City, covering an area of 8000 square meters. The four main halls have been repaired several times and still maintain the historical style.

brief introduction

Now it is located in the middle of Gongnong Road, Shangzhou District, Shangluo city. Built in the Zhenguan period of Tang Dynasty (627-649 AD), Wu Zetian worshipped emperor Xuanwu, the Buddhist God. In order to be the empress, she used the "magic power" of religious divine law to build Dayun temple in various states, and then Dayun temple in Shangzhou rose. During the Zhizheng period of the Yuan Dynasty (1341-1368 AD), it was renamed "Dayun Temple". The existing Dayun temple covers an area of 8000 square meters, with four main halls basically unchanged. Now it is a key cultural relic protection unit at the provincial level. In Dayun temple, there is a mural of the five commandments, which describes five stories about the origin of the Buddhist "five commandments" (abstaining from killing, stealing, prostitution, lying and drinking). The murals are painted on the east wall of the main hall of Dayun temple. Five groups of paintings are arranged from right to left, from top to bottom.

structure

Along the central axis, there are Mountain Gate, front hall, middle hall and back hall. It is now in the architectural style of late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty. There are 22 Dougong under the front and back eaves of the front hall. The arch holes are blocked with bricks, and there are 40 single line painted Buddha murals on both sides. The colorful Buddha sits on the lotus seat with Buddha light on its body. It looks kind and well preserved.

historical origin

Dayun temple was built by Empress Wu Zetian of the first generation, who ordered the two capital states. Its purpose is to use Buddhism to create public opinion for him to ascend the throne of God. Only three months after her death in 683, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian expelled Li Xian from the throne and monopolized the power of the imperial government. At the same time of the drastic reform of the court system, it also stipulated that Buddhism, above Taoism, gave high courtesy to some famous monks, and paid money to build temple statues. For example, the famous piluzana Buddha statue of Fengxian Temple in Longmen was carved with the direct support of Empress Wu. Wu Zetian spared no effort to support Buddhism, and the Buddhists also showed their gratitude and made plans for her accession to the throne. In the sixth year of Yongchang (689), a group of monks falsely wrote the Dayun Sutra, which was published in the imperial court. The Sutra says that Empress Wu should be the emperor of the world with "female body". In April of the sixth year of Tianshu (690), faming, a monk of the Eastern Wei temple, and others used this story to compile a four volume "Dayun Jingshu" for Empress Wu. "The Empress Dowager is the descendant of Maitreya Buddha, and the contemporary Tang Dynasty is the Lord of Yan Fu," says Jing Shu. After seeing it, Wu Zetian immediately promulgated the book of scriptures to the world, ordered the States to build "Dayun Temple", and collected a Book of Dayun scriptures, which was widely publicized. It laid a theoretical foundation for Li tangjiangshan to become the emperor of Wu Zhou and ascend the throne of God.

In Qing Dynasty, Qixiu Pavilion became one of the "eight sceneries and Ten Views" in Shangzhou. Wang Shixu of the Qing Dynasty praised this pavilion in his poems on distant mountains: "thousands of peaks and thousands of Xius go to the mall, Jinfeng mountain is famous for its high height, and a Baiju river opens a pavilion. The sound of Buddhism doesn't listen to the sound of books.". In the early Ming Dynasty, it was destroyed by the war. In 1661, a new temple was built in the west gate of the city, still known as "Dayun Temple". The original temple is called "Shangsi", and the new one is called "Xiasi". In the third year of Guangxu (1877 AD), Zhizhou Li Su raised money for large-scale renovation. Before the completion of the work, he left his post. In the 26th year of Guangxu (1900 AD), Zhizhou Jiao Yunlong began to build it all. The existing front hall, middle hall and back hall have 5 rooms each, and there are more than 40 wing rooms, covering an area of more than 20 mu. After reconstruction, most of the roofs have lost their original appearance, but the beams are still the same. The overall layout of the three halls is a courtyard style high-rise building group. For more than a thousand years, the "Dayun Temple" in the "two capital states" has collapsed and burned. Only the "Dayun Temple" in Shangzhou has survived today. The Dayun temple in Shangzhou has also attracted the attention of the world because of the hidden history related to the Empress Wu Zhou. Today, Dayun temple is the site of Shangluo Museum.

Dayun temple is a special Temple created in a special era because of a special event. The foundation of this temple is related to a special woman, who is Empress Wu Zetian. In 690 A.D., Wu Zetian, who had already been queen and empress dowager, wanted to be emperor and tried hard to find suitable reasons. With the help of Feng Xiaobao, a monk of Baima temple in Luoyang, we found a book called Dayun Jing, which said, "Maitreya was born to be a queen, and is powerful all over the world.". They took advantage of these words to carry out "the revolution of changing the world", saying that Wu Zetian was "born under Maitreya and promoted by Yan Fu in the contemporary Tang Dynasty". So he changed the Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty and became a female emperor. She ordered the two capital states to build Dayun temple, recite Dayun Scripture, and preached "divine power". For a time, Dayun temple was built in all counties of the country. At that time, Shangzhou belonged to the capital of Chang'an in the western capital, and the Dayun temple was quite spectacular. It faces Danjiang River in front of it and Jinfeng mountain behind it. Half of it is inside the city and half outside the city. Those outside the city are called Shangsi and those inside the city are called Xiasi.

History played a joke on the queen. In 705 ad, Li Xian, the son of the empress, restored the Tang Dynasty system. The first thing he did was to order the destruction of Dayun temple, which was soon completed in all States. Dayun temple in Shangzhou was renamed "xiyanyuan" by local officials and survived. From the Yuan Dynasty to the Zheng Dynasty, the Dayun temple in Shangzhou was overhauled. Because every brick on the gable of the main hall was printed with the word "Dayun Temple", the name had to be changed again.

Some people may ask, how did the statue of Maitreya of a young woman become a big bellied Maitreya? Please go to the back of the Buddhist palace. The statue behind the Buddhist palace is like Maitreya Buddha. During the Five Dynasties, a "cloth bag monk" was born in Fenghua, Zhejiang Province. He was enthusiastic about helping people, relieving worries and difficulties, and won the belief of the masses. On his deathbed, he said a few words: "Maitreya really Maitreya, divided into tens of billions, always show the time people, when people do not know." Therefore, some people think that the Budai monk is the incarnation of Maitreya. According to the image of Budai monk, the image of Maitreya Buddha is shaped, and the female image of Maitreya Buddha becomes the male image of Maitreya Buddha. The following three sentences of Maitreya Buddha: "feeling but not confused, being but not evil, being pure but not stained" are the Chinese interpretation of "Sansheng" and "Sanmen". The three treasures of Buddhism are "Buddha, Dharma and monk", and the conditions of apprenticeship are "three conversions" (to Buddha, to law and to monk). Some people misunderstand this and regard "three conversions" as conversion to Buddha statues, Buddhist scriptures and monks. During the Wu Zhou period, the Buddhist "Zen" with Chinese characteristics came into being, and Huineng, the "sixth patriarch" of Zen, talked about the "Tan Jing" and said "three conversions" as "conversion to consciousness, conversion to certificate, conversion to purity", which makes people refreshing. According to the interpretation of the Sutra of the altar, the Buddha is aware, the Dharma is upright, and the monk is pure. Later, "Jue, Zheng and Jing" became the "three gates" of Chinese Buddhism. All the sects of Buddhism are differentiated from these three sects. Those who enter the teaching of Buddhism can choose one according to their own physical and mental conditions. Anyone who leaves these "three gates" is a cult. The main hall is called Tianwang hall. It is the place where the four heavenly kings and Maitreya Bodhisattva are worshipped. The Buddha in the temple of heavenly king is close to Maitreya. Maitreya is his surname. His Sanskrit name is "Maitreya ayido". The great cloud Sutra says that Maitreya was born ahead of time to save all living beings. Wu Zetian borrowed these scriptures to imply that Feng Xiaobao and others advocated that she was "Maitreya reincarnation". Therefore, the statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva in Dayun temple has the characteristics of "male head and female body". Some people say that this is a portrayal of Wu Zetian.

Between the eaves and arches of the main hall of Dayun temple, there are 40 color portraits, all of which are sitting portraits. They were sitting on the lotus, as if they were in paradise. There is no written record of when these paintings were painted. After the Yuan Dynasty, there were many traces of painting and painting. The original clay sculpture in the main hall was destroyed at the beginning of liberation. According to people familiar with the situation, the statue of the main Buddha is shijimuni, his two disciples Jiye and Ananda. Fang wuru (the four empty gates) reflects the general view of Buddhism on the "world". Here is a brief introduction: "Huainanzi" says: "the upper and lower four sides are called the universe, and the past and present are called the universe." The Sutra says, "in the past, now and in the future, there are four dimensions of the world, East, West, North and south." Both of them refer to infinite space and infinite time. Therefore, the "world" in Buddhism is also the "universe". "Three thousand worlds" and "all four are empty" are the two "cornerstones" of Buddhist cosmology. Buddhism believes that the place where the sun and moon can shine (Xumishan) is a small world; a thousand such small worlds are called small thousand worlds; a thousand small thousand worlds are called middle thousand worlds; a thousand middle thousand worlds are called great thousand worlds. Because there are three thousand numbers in it, it is called three thousand world or three thousand great thousand world, and the three thousand great thousand world is a Buddhist land. You see how big this "Buddhist land" should be! In countless Buddhist lands, there are four kinds of "color accumulation" bodies composed of earth, water, wind and fire (earth generally refers to solid matter, water generally refers to liquid matter, wind generally refers to gaseous matter and fire generally refers to function). The law of causality. Under the influence of the new system, it is constantly experiencing the cycle of "success, living, failure and emptiness". In the "three realms", except colorless, all other objects can not escape this process, so it is called "all four are empty". It's just that the process of "becoming, living, breaking and empting" of all kinds of objects is fast and slow, the fast one is only "in a moment", and the slow one is calculated by "robbing", which is called "being doomed". "Jie" is Sanskrit, translated into Chinese as "long time".

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