Zhantai Temple

Zhantai Temple

Zhantai temple is located in the north of Xinye County, next to Fenghuangshan site. It is one of the thousand year old temples in China. Located 22 kilometers north of Xinye county and 2 kilometers east of Waizi Town, Henan Province, it is next to Fenghuangshan site, a key cultural relic protection unit of Henan Province. It is said that its original name is zhantan temple. According to the inscriptions of the Tang Dynasty, the temple was known as one of the four major temples in the Tang Dynasty. In order to maintain the dominant position of the Tang Dynasty in the local area, the monks of the temple made great contributions. In the 10th year of Zhenguan period, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin personally inscribed the name of the temple and presented it with a gold plaque: "man Tai Guan RI, Buddha Guang Zeng Yu". Unfortunately, the stele of Tang Dynasty was damaged early, and the gold plaque was stolen by bandits. No trace was found. After the temple is newly built, it will form a 15 km long ecotourism belt with the beautiful lotus lake in the West and the famous Manjing mountain in the East.

Brief introduction to the temple

Zhantai temple is located 22 kilometers north of (Xinye) County, 2 kilometers east of Waizi town government, 1 kilometers east of Shahe, and north of xiaoshenying natural village, Dongpo village, yingzhuang Town, Wolong District. The temple is located next to Fenghuangshan site, a key cultural relic protection unit of the province. The north of waishi road is close to the entrance and exit of nandeng Expressway in the west, with obvious geographical advantages. Fenghuangshan site is located on the mound in the north of Shimen village, Waizi township. It is 5 meters above the ground, 550 meters long from north to south, 460 meters wide from east to west, and covers an area of about 250000 square meters.

The terrain of Fenghuang mountain is like the shape of a Phoenix. People all regard it as a precious place with auspicious meaning. After completion, it will form a 15 km long ecotourism belt with the beautiful lotus lake in the West and the famous Manjing mountain in the East.

Historical records

A thousand year old temple

Zhantan temple, 40 miles northwest of the city, is located in Waizi Town, Xinye county. The temple has a high earth, vast terrain, and a Tang stele behind the main hall. There are lots of debris nearby. When villagers find tile money, jade axes, jade chisels, antlers, animal bones and so on, they build it. The factory or the city has been demolished for several years, and the stone carvings have been destroyed There is nothing left. It is still recorded in Xinye county annals published in the 1980s.

In the inscription of the memorial to the restoration of Chongxing temple during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, it is clearly engraved with the following words: More than 40 Li, the place name is Huangqu. On the east bank (where Fenghuang mountain is located), there is a temple, and the temple of richongxing is also a famous ancient temple.

The inscription in the inscription of rebuilding the temple of heavenly king of Luohan in Chongxing temple in the 36th year of Qianlong of Qing Dynasty states: "there is a temple about 40 miles north of Baining city (where Xinye county is now located), which is famous for Chongxing and is also a famous ancient temple. Liaoshui in the East, Huangqu in the West (between Liaohe River and Huangqu, which is the location of Fenghuang Mountain).... ".

In the 22nd year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty, the inscription of "sincerely do good and redeem the local people" says: "there may be a temple within 40 li of the city, which is named rizhantai temple, and the ancient Chongxing temple also "Zhantan Temple" is called "platform Temple" in the inscription of "mengfurao naming" in the 28th year of the Republic of China, which is inlaid on the "Gong" floor of the former Fanji primary school in Fanji Township, Xinye.

When I learned about it in Shimen village of Waizi town in February 2006, Wang Deyuan, an 87 year old man in Shimen administrative village, said: "the original name of the temple on Fenghuang mountain was Zhantai temple. My master was a scholar of the Qing Dynasty. When I was a child, he taught me to write the name of the temple with the word" Zhan ".

To sum up, the same temple, the same place, created at the same time, why there are so many titles? Through in-depth understanding, on-the-spot investigation and consulting relevant materials, the author has carefully studied some of the existing original inscriptions on gold and stone, investigated the landform of the former site of the temple, and identified many relics of the temple. In the preliminary test, "Zhan" in Zhanshi agrees with "Zhan", meaning to occupy a high place. The Jade Emperor's hall was first built on Fenghuang mountain, and then four Buddhist temples (first Hinayana, then Mahayana) were built in the second century. The platform of the temple is more than 10 meters above the ground, so it is called "Zhantai Temple". The name of the temple has obvious advantages of taking the terrain characteristics. It seems that the word "Zhan" in the later inscriptions of Zhantai temple is purely based on the sound of "Zhan". If we explore its meaning from other aspects, we can find no evidence and no meaning. For this reason, I dare not take the name rashly.

As for the appellation of "Zhan Tai Temple", it is purely a folk name. It comes from folklore. Wang Zizhen, an 89 year old man from the fourth group of Simen village, said when talking about this legend, when I was 11 or 2 years old, I heard the old people say that one morning when a monk was sweeping the floor in the temple, he said to a Buddha statue, it's better for you to just stand up and ask me to sweep it. After all, the Buddha really stood up. From then on, people called the temple of Fenghuang Mountain "Zhantai Temple". Therefore, the name of the temple should not be adopted.

The appellation of "zhantan Temple" is a kind of honorific name for the temple according to the meaning of Buddhism. Therefore, the appellation of "zhantan Temple" not only conforms to the meaning of religion, but also expresses the wishes of Buddhists and believers. As Guan Xiu's poem "visiting Jinhua Mountain Buddhist temple" says: "this place once inhabited by Bodhisattvas and monks, and the waterfall in zhantanlou hall collapsed and soared." According to legend, the original "zhantan Temple" was once recorded in the Tang Dynasty stele, which was known as one of the four temples in the Tang Dynasty. This reflects that the monks of the temple have made great contributions to maintain the dominant position of the Tang Dynasty in the local area. In the 10th year of Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin personally inscribed the name of the temple and presented it with a gold plaque of "man Tai Guan RI, Buddha Guang Zeng Yu". Unfortunately, the stele of Tang Dynasty was damaged early, and the gold plaque was stolen by bandits. No trace was found. It can be seen that the name of zhantan Temple recorded in the county annals is well founded.

As for the appellation of "Chongxing Temple", it is probably due to the psychological role of Buddhists and believers. They think that the temple is magnificent, the palace is brilliant, the Buddha is broad, the auspicious spirit is dense, the spirit is prosperous and the spirit is strong. Therefore, they hope to be blessed all the year round and keep it for a long time. The author thinks that the title of "Chongxing Temple" is only suitable for the use of temple number. Whether it can be used as the only accurate name of the temple still needs to be considered.

Another research: there is another site 800 meters away from juzhantai temple, which is the cemetery site of shenbaoxu, a senior official of Chu. According to Zuo Zhuan, the fifth year of Dinggong, in the summer of 505 BC (the 11th year of King Zhao of Chu), when the Yue army invaded the state of Wu, the Qin Dynasty also sent zipu and Zihu to accompany shenbaoxu into Chu. Because zipu didn't know the "way of Wu" (tactics), the Chu army fought with Wu first, while zipu led his army to join the Chu army in Ji (today's Tongbai border in the south of the river). The above Records confirmed that Zhantai temple in Fenghuang mountain was the place where shenbaoxu, zipu and Zihu divided their forces. Shenbaoxu was later buried in the north of the temple There is a good basis for Shen Baoxu to build this temple. According to the description of Shen qingxun (90 years old), the descendant of Shen Baoxu under the temple, Shen Baoxu was buried in the outer city of Nanyang City, which was his fiefdom at the foot of Fenghuang mountain. In order to promote the idea of loyalty and patriotism in the imperial society, later generations built the Zhantai temple. Zhantai temple was built to commemorate the battle of Shen Baoxu. Therefore, from the perspective of history, culture and allusions, it is more appropriate to name the temple as Zhantai temple.

Address: Fengming Town, Qishan County, Shaanxi Province

Longitude: 107.6240622575

Latitude: 34.442684896451

Chinese PinYin : Zhan Tai Si