Chongfu Temple

Chongfu Temple

Chongfu temple is located in the north of the East Street in the old city of Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province. It is an ancient temple with large scale and gregarious pavilions. Chongfu Temple faces south with a simple and solemn appearance. The lion sits upright in front of the gate. In the temple, there are five pavilions, 200 meters long from north to south, 117 meters wide from east to west, and an area of 23400 square meters.

Chongfu temple, founded in the second year of Linde in Tang Dynasty (AD 665), was built by the general of Tang Dynasty, Shuozhou people and Yuchi Jingde, Duke of Hubei. In the Liao Dynasty, the temple was changed to Lin Tai Shi Fu Ya, and later to a temple, named Lin Ya temple. During the reign of emperor Xizong of the Jin Dynasty, the temple was expanded and built. In the second year of Tiande in the Jin Dynasty (1150 AD), Wan Yanliang, king of hailing in the Jin Dynasty, inscribed "Chongfu Temple" until now.

The origin of history

Chongfu temple is located in the north of the East Street of Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province. It is commonly known as a big temple by local people. The temple is located in the north and faces the south. It is 200 meters long from the north to the South and 117 meters wide from the east to the West. It covers an area of more than 23400 square meters. It has five courtyards and ten halls. The layout is neat and the structure is spectacular. The statues, murals, glass ridges, carved doors and windows are all in one hall. It is a rare ancient art hall.

Chongfu temple was founded in the second year of Linde (AD 665) of Tang Dynasty. It was built by the general of Tang Dynasty, Shuozhou people and Yuchi Jingde, Duke of Hubei. In the Liao Dynasty, the temple was changed to Lin Tai Shi Fu Ya, and later to a temple, named Lin Ya temple. During the reign of emperor Xizong of the Jin Dynasty, the temple was expanded and built. In the second year of Tiande in the Jin Dynasty (1150 AD), Wan Yanliang, king of hailing in the Jin Dynasty, inscribed "Chongfu chanwei", which has been preserved to this day.

The layout is well organized

Chongfu temple has mountain gate, Tianwang hall, bell tower, Drum Tower, thousand Buddha Pavilion, Manjusri hall, dizang hall, Sanbao hall, Mituo hall, Guanyin Pavilion and other buildings. The buildings, statues and murals of Jin Dynasty in the temple are well preserved. It is an ancient temple with high historical value.

Mituo hall is the main hall of Chongfu temple. It is the largest hall in the temple. It was built in the third year of emperor Xizong's reign in the Jin Dynasty (1143 AD). It has a history of more than 850 years. The Maituo hall is tall and spacious, with green glass trimming on the top and elegant and exquisite front eaves and window lattice flowers. It is a well preserved work of Jin Dynasty in China. On the Buddhist altar, there are three seated statues of the "three saints of the west". On both sides of the main statue, there are four Bodhisattvas and two Vajra. These statues are all original works of the Jin Dynasty. They are simple and exquisite.

Well preserved

On the wall of the hall, the mural covers an area of more than 340 square meters. The mural depicts the scene of Buddhist preaching. Guanyin hall, located behind the Mituo hall, is another representative hall in the temple and the last one in Chongfu temple. There are three statues in the hall, among which are Guanyin Bodhisattva, Manjusri Bodhisattva on the left and Puxian Bodhisattva on the right, all of which are original works of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to the above-mentioned splendid buildings, Chongfu temple also preserves wooden pavilion shaped niches, stone sculptures of Tang, Liao and Song Dynasties and many unearthed cultural relics. Among them, the stone statues of Liao Dynasty and the stone pagodas of Northern Wei Dynasty are also very attractive.

Temple Exhibition

As soon as Chongfu Temple enters the courtyard, the 5-ying hall on the front is called Tianwang hall, also called Jingang hall. Originally, there were four Tianwang and two Jingang in it. Now there are no statues left. It has been turned into a cultural relics exhibition room for special exhibitions from time to time.

Chongfu temple's second entrance courtyard is a two-story attic with 5 rooms in width and 3 rooms in depth, which is called Qianfo Pavilion. Before the Ming Dynasty, it was called the Sutra Pavilion. After the restoration in the Ming Dynasty, there were thousands of Buddha statues in the pavilion, so it was renamed the thousand Buddha Pavilion. Although Thousand Buddhas no longer exist, their names are still used today. Maitreya Buddha and wooden loft model behind the Buddha are mainly preserved in the front. The statue of Buddha, made of copper and about 1 meter high, is a work of the Ming Dynasty handed down from Chongfu temple. The three eaves double-layer attic at the back is about 4.5 meters high, with exquisite structure and unique shape. It is said that it was made in the Ming Dynasty in imitation of the style of the Tripitaka Pavilion here in the Tang Dynasty, and has high ornamental and research value. There are also statues on both sides. In the East, there are 7 sandstone statues, each about 1 meter high, unearthed from the site of the old temple in South Yulin township of Shuozhou; in the west, there are 7 gold plated sandalwood statues, including 1 Buddha, 4 Bodhisattvas and 2 Arhats, which are relics of Shenying temple, a famous temple in the west of Shuozhou.

Display of cultural relics

The sanjinyuan of Chongfu temple is opposite to each other in two auxiliary halls with an average width of 5 rooms. In the East is Manjusri hall, which was originally used for Manjusri Bodhisattva and the eighteen Arhats. In the west is dizang hall, which was originally used for dizang Erzheng Bodhisattva and the ten great Yanjun. Now there are no statues in the two halls, and they are turned into cultural relics exhibition rooms.

It is worth noting that according to the Buddhist temple practice, if the east side is Manjusri hall, the west side is Puxian hall; if the west side is dizang hall, the east side should be Guanyin hall. But here is the Manjusri hall and the dizang hall opposite, for the world is rare. The fourth entrance of Chongfu temple is Mituo hall, the main hall of Chongfu temple. It has 7 rooms in width and 5 rooms in depth. The building area is about 937 square meters, and the height is more than 21 meters. The platform is about 2 meters high, and the clear height of the main hall is more than 19 meters.

Mito temple, built in the three years of the golden unification (AD 1143), is one of the three largest Buddhist shrine in China's existing Liao and Jin Dynasties (the other two are in Datong and Yixian, Liaoning), and also the essence of the temple. The plaques, statues, murals, carved doors and windows, and ridge decorated glass of Mituo hall are known as the "five wonders of Jin Dynasty".

The wujinyuan of Chongfu temple is also the last Hall of Chongfu temple, Guanyin hall, which is second only to Mituo hall in Jin Dynasty. Its beam structure is the most original.

Construction history

Chongfu temple was founded in the second year of Linde, Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty (AD 665). It was built by Yuchi Jingde, a famous general of Tang Dynasty. At that time, the King Kong hall, the Sutra collection building, the main hall and the East West Hall were built, and the scale was beginning to take shape. In the Liao Dynasty, it was changed to be Lin Taishi's office, which was called Lin Ya Yuan and Lin Ya office. However, it is said that there were many miraculous lights in the courtyard, and the residents were worried, so they changed the Yamen office into a monk's house and named it linya temple.

Jinxizong believed in Buddhism. In 1143 ad, Zhai zhaodu, the general, built the Mituo hall behind the main hall. Soon after that, the Guanyin hall was built. The temple finally became the existing scale. Wanyanliang, king of jinhailing, granted the temple Chongfu in 1150 ad.

Since then, the yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have had reconstruction, expansion and repair. After the temple was rebuilt in the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the main hall was changed into the three treasures hall and the Sutra library into the thousand Buddha Pavilion. The existing Mituo hall and Guanyin hall are relics of the Jin Dynasty, more than 850 years ago. The Sanbao hall, Qianfo Pavilion, dongxipei hall, Jingang hall, bell and drum tower were all built in the Ming Dynasty, and the mountain gate is a newly restored building imitating the Ming Dynasty. Shuozhou Chongfu temple is located in the north of the East Street of Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province. There are a pair of stone lions in front of the gate. From the south to the north of the gate, there are diamond hall, bell tower, Drum Tower, thousand Buddha Pavilion, Manjusri hall, dizang hall, Daxiong section, Mituo hall and Guanyin hall. It covers an area of 23400 square meters, with five courtyards in front and back. It is a complete and magnificent ancient building with proper arrangement and clear priorities.

Famous

Chongfu temple is an ancient temple of Shuofang. The Sutra pavilion was first built in the second year of Linde reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty (665 ad, renamed Qianfo pavilion after reconstruction in Ming Dynasty). At the time of Khitan, it was the office of Lin Taishi. It may be a relic of the Sui and Tang Dynasty's custom of "giving up residence as a temple". It was named linya temple, and was granted Chongfu temple during the reign of Jin Tiande (1149-1153 A.D.). At present, Mituo hall and Guanyin hall in the temple are built in gold, the mountain gate is built in Qing Dynasty, and the rest are built in Ming Dynasty. Mituo hall is the main hall of the temple. It was built during the reign of emperor jinhuangtong (1141-1149) and was constructed by the founding Marquis Zhai zhaodu. The plaque of "Mituo hall" hanging under the eaves of the temple is the original object of the 24th year of jindading (1184).

Summary in the temple

Main hall: Mituo Hall

overview

The main hall of Chongfu temple is Mituo hall. It was built in 1143, and has a history of more than 800 years. The hall is seven rooms wide, 40.96 meters wide and 22.31 meters deep. Hall for the single eaves Xie peak, the total height of about 21 meters. The hall is located on a high platform with a height of 2.4 meters. There is a spacious platform in front of the platform, which makes the hall tall, magnificent and spectacular.

The vertical plaque of "Mituo hall" under the front eaves is the original object in the 24th year of jindading (1184 A.D.), which has experienced more than 800 years of spring and autumn. In front of the hall, there are five separate doors. In the back eaves, there are two large plate doors for visitors to enter the hall. In order to expand the internal space area, be careful of five rooms, subtract the central pillar, and leave only two gold pillars in the front slot, and move them to the middle line of the second room, which increases the space of the Buddhist altar and the part of worshiping the Buddha. This method of reducing and moving the pillars is a bold innovation in the history of Chinese architecture.

There are five Buddhist altars in the hall, with nine statues. The three sages of the West sit on the main position, with the middle Buddha, the East Bodhisattva Guanyin and the West Bodhisattva dashizhi. The three statues are elegant, dignified and quiet, with extraordinary bearing. The four standing statues on both sides of the main statue are bodhisattvas, and the two corners in front of the altar are Dharma protector Vajra, commonly known as the second general of hem ha. The nine statues live together in the Buddhist altar, with distinct priorities and different sizes, forming a harmonious whole. Although the statues were re decorated in Ming Dynasty, their shape, body, face and clothing still keep the original style of Jin Dynasty, which is a rare fine sculpture of Jin Dynasty.

Architectural features

Built on a platform more than two meters high, the Mituo hall is 21 meters high and is the largest existing building of Jin Dynasty in China. The building is seven rooms wide and four rooms deep. There is a spacious platform in front of the hall and connected with the platform of Guanyin hall

Chinese PinYin : Chong Fu Si