Stone carvings of Qianxiang temple in Tianjin

Stone carvings of Qianxiang temple in Tianjin

Tianjin Qianxiang temple stone carving in Jixian Panshan Qianxiang Temple North hillside. It is said that a Tang Dynasty master came here from afar with his staff. Suddenly, he saw a thousand monks washing bowls beside the Chengquan pool under the rocks, which disappeared in a short time. The venerable built the temple here and engraved the statues of Thousand Buddhas on the hillside rocks. There are hundreds of existing line carved Buddha statues, which are divided into two types: discrete type and drop sitting type, with 2-4 statues in a group. Standing Buddha has a bun on its head and a plump face. It is 1.5m high and 0.44m to 0.49m wide when stepping on a lotus flower. Sitting Buddha is 1.3m high and 1.09M wide. With the Tang Dynasty statue style, it is the only remaining cliff stone carving in Tianjin

historical background

Xiwu vowed to carve a thousand Buddha statues on the stream stone. There is a legend in Ji county annals: there are five temples in Panshan, one of which is youtang. "In the past, it has been said that there was a venerable person holding his staff far away to seek a place to plant his feet. There was a clear spring under the rock in the northeast corner of the monk's room. When he was in a trance, he saw thousands of monks washing their bowls and disappeared in an instant. Because of this structure, he later carved a thousand Buddha statues on the face of the stone in xigujian, to show his unique performance. It's a miracle!

The splendid scenery of Qianxiang temple has also attracted many literati and poets to visit, singing and writing poems to express their feelings. Li Xi's travel to Qianfo Temple vividly describes the dangerous and crisscross environment of Qianxiang Temple: "overlooking juegu, admiring Shanyuan, and walking along the way of Muyu. There are many stones, and the tiger is suspicious. The song and Jie are strange. They learn from the dragon and pan. There is a cold rain in Feiliang stream and a cold wind in Chongge. But I'm afraid of the mountain spirit and the vulgar guest, and I can't bear to throw the orchid and green things into the saddle! " Huang ruting, a poet of the Ming Dynasty, also laments that "thousands of Buddhas are full of wind"!

Qianlong had a special love for Qianxiang temple. He wrote another poem and recited it. As early as 1742, his imperial work "Panshan Ji" has a brief description of the statue carved in Xigu valley of Qianxiang Temple: "look around at the blue of Fanyu, hide the valley by the mountain, carve out the peak stone, depict the innocence."

In 1745 A.D., there was a poem "the shadow of the Tathagata" written by the emperor. The preface said: "there is a Tathagata image on the stone of Qianxiang temple in Panshan, and the poem chants it: the Tathagata is better than nothing, and nothing is better than nothing. How can you leave a trace on the stone and get the stone not to be a real Buddha? Nothing is not Buddha, is not stone alone? It's not a long moss. It's kind of Zen.

Two years later, the meaning is not enough, and Fu "Qianxiang Temple" to a song: "he Lailong like a couple, said Li Mountain God. The scene is joyful and serene, and you can understand the cause of tranquility. The door is loose and the road turns to stone. A thousand faces are not faces. Who can distinguish the true from the false Quiet understanding of Qianxiang, you Tuo Zen heart.

About ten years ago, in a general survey of cultural relics, it was found that there were 301 line carved Buddha statues scattered on the ravine rock walls around the thousand Buddha Temple. So far, nearly 500 statues have been found (it is estimated that they should be close to or more than one thousand, which can't be a whole number). Buddha statues vary in size, height, or sitting or standing, some three or four in a group, some a single stone. Most of the Buddha statues carry the light of the Buddha on their backs, and their feet are on the lotus. The clothes are open collar, the left big placket and the right shoulder are exposed. The appearance is dignified, the image is tall, the carving is simple, the style is unique, and the characteristics are distinct. It forms a huge scattered stone carving group of Buddha statues, which is also rare in the country!

historical value

Qianxiang temple in the "Panshan Qianxiang youtang temple to create a lecture stele", is the Liao Sheng Zong Yelu long Xu Tong and five years (987) set up. It is three meters high and one meter wide. The four corners of the stele are carved with a smooth and vivid line. The inscription on the front of the monument is more than 1600 words, written by Li Zhongxuan, a military judge of Jizhou, and written by Delin, a monk of Minzhong temple in Yantai. Calligraphy is vigorous and handsome, is a rare art treasure, known as "the first monument in Jingdong".

The inscription describes the development of Jizhou and Panshan in Liao Dynasty, and the establishment of the temple. The stele said that Jimen "is a place thousands of miles away, with the crown of a hundred cities, red rice and green japonica rice, rich soil of solid fishing and salt, prison controlled by Jinhe River, and an Olympic area of halberd." It provides historical materials for studying the history, geography and products of Panshan area. It also records the origin of the name of Qianxiang Temple: "from the past, it is said that there are venerable people holding their staff far away to seek a place to plant their feet. In the northeast corner of the monk's room, there is a clear spring under the rock. In a trance, you can see thousands of monks washing their bowls, which vanishes in an instant, so you can sit at the jingshe banquet. Later, a thousand Buddha statues were carved on the surface of the rocks in the valleys to show its unique superiority. " On the side of the stele is a supplementary inscription in 1046, the 15th year of the reign of emperor Chongxi of the Liao Dynasty. It is a border record jointly established by Qianxiang and Miaoxiang temples after a dispute over land.

To the west of the stele, there is a stele with the inscription of youtang temple, an ancient temple in Panshan. It was written by Meng Xia and Song Ming De'an in 1536. In front of the Sutra hall, there is still a fallen stele of rebuilding the Sutra Hall of Qianxiang temple.

Qianxiang temple is an important cultural relic. Archaeologists from Tianjin Cultural Heritage Protection Center once carried out a comprehensive archaeology on the site. After more than two months of archaeological cleaning and excavation, they found out the beginning, process and relative age of the main hall, front hall and East and west side halls of Qianxiang temple, mastered the plane layout and characteristics of Qianxiang temple in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and unearthed the Qianxiang temple Nearly 100 cultural relics of different materials, such as pottery, iron and copper, have obtained a number of precious, true and reliable written and physical materials for the restoration and study of the history of Qianxiang temple.

According to the latest archaeological findings of the qianxiangsi site, the strata and inscriptions of the Jin and Yuan dynasties have been found. Under the main hall and other base sites and around the hall sites, there is a layer of black ash soil, and fragments of Jun porcelain of the Yuan Dynasty and Tongbao of Jin Dading have been unearthed. In addition, a remnant stele was found. Most of the donors on the stele were the names of ethnic minorities in northern China, such as badai and amuchi. The discovery of the remnant stele filled the blank of no written records in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties of Qianxiang temple. In addition, the archaeology also found three architectural relics and a drainage channel about 1000 A.D. In the south of the entrance of Qianxiang temple, a base site of Bell and Drum Tower in Ming and Qing Dynasties was found.

Cultural value

Qianxiangsi stone sculpture group, the Sixth Batch of key cultural relics protection units in China, is located in the north of Lianhe village, Guanzhuang Town, the eastern foot of Pan mountain in Jixian County. The stone sculptures in Qianxiang temple are of great historical, artistic and scientific value, providing precious material for the study of Buddhist Archaeology and traditional line carving techniques in Liao Dynasty.

It is understood that Panshan Qianxiang temple, also known as youtang temple, is one of the famous Panshan temples in Jizhou during the Tang and Liao dynasties. It was destroyed by gunfire during the Anti Japanese War and has an existing site. According to the Ming Dynasty's preface to the inscriptions on the founding of the lecture hall of Panshan youtang temple, it is said that from the past, a venerable man came from afar with his staff. Suddenly, he saw a thousand monks washing bowls beside the Chengquan pool under the rocks, which disappeared in a short time. The venerable built a temple here and engraved thousands of Buddha statues on the hillside rocks. Qianxiang temple stone Buddha is the largest group of Liao Dynasty stone Buddha found in China so far. So far, a total of 535 stone Buddhist statues, 1 relief statue and 5 relics have been found.

The statues are mainly distributed on the large boulders or relatively flat cliffs around the site of Qianxiang temple. They are all carved by lines. The carving techniques and style show a unique folk traditional craft charm, with strong local characteristics. Sakyamuni Buddha, Tathagata Buddha, pharmacist Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, Guanyin Bodhisattva and dizang Bodhisattva can be identified in the statues. The statues are divided into standing posture, sitting posture, lying posture and so on. It can be inferred from the hair bun style, facial features and clothing patterns of the statues that they were published in the Liao Dynasty, and they were all published spontaneously by the people. There is a stone cave under the rocks on the north slope, which is called wuliangshou cave. The cave is 4 meters deep, 2.2 meters high and 1.5 meters wide. The four characters "wuliangshoufo" are first printed outside the cave. On the north wall of the cave, there is a relief statue of wuliangshoufo, which is 1.98 meters high. The engraving age is unknown. According to experts, this is the only remaining grotto Buddha statue in Tianjin.

The cultural relics department has strengthened the cultural relics protection of the stone Buddha group in Qianxiang temple. It has carried out many "pull net" surveys in the area of four square kilometers around the site, comprehensively extracted the ontology information of the stone Buddha, mapped the plan of one thousandth of the stone Buddha group, investigated the geological environment, geological landforms, diseases and other aspects of the stone Buddha group, and is formulating the protection plan.

Architectural features

There are more than 300 Buddha statues on the rock walls around the temple. They are 1.5-2 meters high, 0.4-0.49 meters wide, 1.3 meters high and 1 meter wide. There are two types of Buddha statues: vertical and pedestal. Some of them have three or four statues in a group, while others have only one stone. The statue of Buddha has plump cheeks, dignified demeanor, a crown on the head, a broad ribbon on the back, the light of Buddha on the back, and a lotus on the back. It is shallow and smooth, which is quite the artistic style of the Tang Dynasty.

tourist resources

On the cliff behind Ganxiang temple, there is a huge round stone standing on top of another rock. People use their hands to push and shake, and the stone body shakes slightly. It is called "shaking stone". It is one of the eight strange stones in Panshan. It is recorded in Liu Dong's the scenery of the imperial capital and Yuan Hongdao's you Panshan in Ming Dynasty. "You Pan Shan" wrote: "rock, two stones, greater than the wheel. If you try to draw slowly with one arm, you will shake left and right. If you pull together with many people, you will not try again. " Wang Ying, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in his rock shaking: "if the stone has spirit, it is also good and dangerous. It is not necessary to wait for Shenggong, but to point it at every head." Rock stone, South Line carved Buddha, East "rock" and other inscriptions. Beside the rock, there is a cave named Qizhen cave, which is engraved with the seal script "wuliangshoufo". There is a relief sitting Buddha in the cave, about two meters high, which is the only grotto Buddha statue in Tianjin.

reference

1. 446 ancient line carved Buddha statues were found in Tianjin

2. Tianjin strengthens the protection of Liao Dynasty stone sculpture group

3. More than 400 Buddha statues were found in the site of Qianxiang temple

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