Huayan Temple in Xi'an

Huayan Temple

synonym

Huayan Temple in Xi'an generally refers to Huayan Temple (Huayan Temple, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province)

Huayan Temple is the ancestral court of Huayan sect, one of the eight Buddhism sects

It is one of the eight famous temples in Fanchuan in the Tang Dynasty and a key Buddhist temple in China

The national key cultural relics protection unit is located in Shaolingyuan, Chang'an District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province.

According to the records of Chang'an, Huayan Temple was built in the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty (627-649). It is a famous scenic spot in the south of Chang'an city. It is not only a place for spring and autumn banquets and summer holidays, but also a place for scholars to stop and hibernate, leaving a large number of poems and chants. Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his ode to my hometown: "I want to go back to my hometown and follow the western road of Du Ling. The sky is deep and the rock is crooked. Longyun Qinshu, wind high frost early. Zhou Tai Han Garden, sunset grass

In 1956, Huayan Temple was listed as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in Shaanxi Province.

In 2006, Huayan Temple Pagoda in Huayan Temple was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council.

geographical environment

Huayan Temple is located on the original slope of Shaoling in the southeast of Weiqu, Chang'an District, the southern suburb of Xi'an, about 15 kilometers away from Xi'an city. In the Tang Dynasty, Huayan Temple was high, with mountains and rivers in front of it. The palace and courtyard were exquisite and profound. It overlooks Fanchuan, shenheyuan in the west, Wuyan and Yutan peaks in Zhongnan Mountain in the south, just as Tang Dynasty poet Cen Shen praised in his poem about Temple: "there are thousands of peaks in the south of the temple, and the peaks are green and charming."

Historical evolution

According to historical records, Huayan Temple was built in the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty (627-649). According to the unearthed architectural relics, its architectural age can be traced back to the Han Dynasty.

Huayan Temple has no record of high hall buildings since it was first built. He always took the original cave as the cave to house the Buddha statues and monks.

Chang'an was the center of Buddhism in Tang Dynasty. Most of the Buddhist scriptures translated into China through Xinjiang and Gansu were translated here. Due to the social background at that time and the social influence of Huayan Temple, Huayan Temple once became the "World Buddhist Center".

In the second year of Huichang (842), Emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty issued an imperial edict and carried out a series of policies of "exterminating Buddhism", which was known as "banning Buddhism in Huichang". From the second year of Huichang (842) to the sixth year of Huichang (846), the temple property was confiscated, the monks and nuns were ordered to return to the secular life, and countless temples were destroyed. The imperial capital Chang'an left the Ci'en Temple and the Jianfu temple, and the right the Ximing temple and the solemn temple. Huayan Temple is also under attack, with serious damage. After Li Chen, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty ascended the throne, Buddhism was promoted and Huayan Temple was revived. In xinghuayan temple, Tang Xuanzong said: "the clouds are scattered, the mountains are tens of thousands of heavy, and the spring scenery is more harmonious. From the tent hall, you can see the blue cage in the sky. Lin light into the house, low Shaojing, Ling Qi all night exhibition Ji wind. Today's chasing tour is not like that. Don't be ashamed to appreciate Fenzhong in Hanwu. It explains the situation of Huayan Temple when Xuanzong was in power.

In a journey to the south of the city, song Zhangli said: "go up to Zhupo in the East, rest at Huayan Temple, and look down at the victory of Zhongnan. Wuyan, Yutan, Guifeng and Zige are charming at present. They don't need to take a full walk to finish After Zixu and Xigu opened their bottles, they were rewarded with Su Zimei's poems. In the Ming Dynasty, they chanted the Tang Monk Zilan's poem "Shuzhong shakes the feet of the rain, and the cumulus rain soaks the clouds". After reading the Prime Minister Chen Gong's words "regret sending my house to Du Cheng", they know that Huayan has won. If you go through the East Pavilion, it's really like a tower in Yan. Go down to the pavilion and go to Chengjin courtyard. Kouzhun, the famous Prime Minister of Song Dynasty, said in his poem "visiting Huayan Temple": "the temple is green to the south mountain, and the gulls and egrets in the water village are far away. If you look at the scenery of Fanchuan, you can't rely on the fence. It explains the situation of Huayan Temple in Song Dynasty.

At midnight on January 23, the 34th year of Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty (1556), a magnitude 8 "Guanzhong earthquake" occurred. The tower collapsed, the bridge was destroyed, and the buildings collapsed. The ancient buildings on the ground in the Tang and Song dynasties were almost destroyed, and the survivors were rare. According to the records of Shaanxi Tongzhi, the main buildings of Huayan Temple were destroyed in the earthquake, only the pagoda of master Du Shun and the pagoda of national master Qingliang survived.

In 1734, Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty issued an edict to add master Chengguan, the fourth patriarch, as "miaozheng Zhencheng Zen master". This monument is now in front of master Chengguan tower. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, the collapse of Shaolingyuan occurred. There are only two pagodas left: Master Dushun's pagoda, the first ancestor of Huayan, and master Chengguan's pagoda, the fourth ancestor of Qingliang.

In 1930, there was a severe drought in Shaanxi Province. The government of the Republic of China sent Mr. Zhu ziqiao to Shaanxi for disaster relief. When he visited the Huayan Temple Pagoda, he saw that there was a sentence in the rebuilt stele of the Yuan Dynasty that "if you build the pagoda, it will bring down the dew", which is convenient for the people in front of the pagoda to make a wish that "if you build the two pagodas again, you will wish for the rain". Soon after, it rained heavily, so Zhu ziqiao and Buddhist circles started to build the pagoda, which was a good story. In this renovation, two pagodas were rebuilt, three halls were built, and two ancestral figures were carved in the small hall under the pagodas of Dushun and Chengguan.

In 1956, Huayan Temple was listed as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in Shaanxi Province.

Since the start of steel smelting in 1958, steles have been used to make steel, temples and monasteries have been occupied, and all ancient trees have been cut down. During the cultural revolution, Buddhist statues were smashed, monks were expelled, and temples were demolished.

In 1976, after the end of the cultural revolution, only the relic pagoda and a few steles of master Du Shun and master Chengguan remained in the temple.

In 2006, Huayan Temple Pagoda was approved by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit, and partial renovation was carried out.

In 2009, the reconstruction of Huayan Temple was officially launched, and the reconstruction project is expected to be completed in about 10 years.

Architectural pattern

According to the records of Chang'an, the buildings in Huayan Temple of Tang Dynasty, such as Dongge FA Tang, Huisheng yuan, Chengjin yuan and Zhenru Ta Yuan, were built successively from south to north, with a very large scale.

Today, Huayan Temple is located on a narrow and open land about 400 meters long and 60 meters wide on the half slope of Shaoling plateau, with a steep slope of nearly 90 degrees to the South and a vertical loess barrier of more than 30 meters to the north. Deep ditches and barriers constitute the natural "wall" of Huayan Temple. Restricted by geography, the gate of the temple opens to the north and the buildings are arranged from north to south.

In 2009, the reconstruction of Huayan Temple was officially launched. According to its functions, the whole temple is divided into two modes: open and closed, which are reflected in three areas. On the central axis, a public hall "open area" is built for the four disciples to carry out Buddhist activities and pilgrimage. On the left side, the "closed area" with monks as the main body of cultivation and living is perfected. On the right side, a "closed area" for study, study, living and living is built.

Main buildings

In Huayan Temple, there used to be Dongge FA Tang, Huisheng temple, and the pagoda of master Du Shun, master Zhiyan, master xianshou, master Chengguan, master MI and Zhenru. After song, Jin, yuan and Ming Dynasties, the pagoda was repaired many times, but it was gradually abandoned due to many landslides. Especially in the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, a great collapse destroyed all the temples in the temple.

Today, Huayan Temple has been built into a simple temple, a pagoda and several monk houses.

Cultural relics

The first ancestor of Huayan sect, master Du Shun's pagoda, and the fourth ancestor, master Chengguan's pagoda, stand side by side in the East and West, with master Du Shun's Pagoda in the East and master Chengguan's Pagoda in the West.

Master Du Shun's pagoda

The existing Dushun tower is a square pyramid, with seven floors and a height of about 21 meters. It is a brick tower with wooden structure.

On the base layer of the tower, there is a gate to the south, and a niche hall is built inside. Each layer of the tower body is covered with an eaves. Under the eaves, there are two layers of water caltrop teeth, as well as wooden structure columns and columns. The top of the tower is made of flat bricks and a bottle type tower brake. The wall of the tower is made of flat columns, hurdles, brackets and arches. The upper layer is engraved with the word "Yan Zhu" and the third layer is inlaid with the six character tablet of "no dirt Jingguang pagoda". It is said that the quadrilateral tower of master Du Shun's Tower symbolizes the "four Dharma realms" of Huayan sect, while the six storey tower symbolizes Huayan sect's "six phases origin" theory. Adding the two together to ten, it represents the important theory of Huayan Sutra, the "ten Xuanmen", and also symbolizes consummation, which means Huayan sect is the ultimate Buddhist theory.

Master Du Shun passed away in 640, the 14th year of Zhenguan in Tang Dynasty. This pagoda has been standing in Huayan Temple for 1370 years. It is a valuable historical relic and the town pagoda of Huayan Temple.

Master Chengguan's pagoda

Chengguan master's pagoda is also called Qingliang national master's pagoda.

Chengguan (737-838) was a famous thinker and scholar of Huayan sect in Zhongxing, who was born in Shanyin, Yuezhou (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) and was the actual founder of Huayan sect. His thought of consistency of Zen and integration of various sects had a great influence on Chinese Buddhism after the middle Tang Dynasty.

Qingliang national master tower is hexagonal, seven story six sided brick tower, about 17 meters high. Because the master was once known as the "National Master of Sangtong Qingliang", there is a carved stone on the tower, which has a history of more than 1100 years. Due to the fact that the west side of the tower is near the original bank and the possibility of overturning due to rain erosion, Chang'an District was demolished in 1986 and moved 10 meters from the original site to the southeast for local restoration. During the demolition, gold-plated bronze Buddha statues, thousand Buddha steles and Buddhist scriptures were found in the center of each tower. At the base of the tower, a two-story brick tower with different styles and exquisite carvings was found, about six meters high. Chengguan pagoda of Huayan Temple has a unique shape with a hexagonal body, which represents Huayan sect's view of "the origin of six phases". The tower, not counting the base, has five layers, representing the "five religions" of Hua Yan Zong.

According to records, the Qingliang national master tower was rebuilt in the Yuan Dynasty, but from the unearthed bronze Buddha and Buddhist scriptures, it is a relic of the early Qing Dynasty. It can be seen that the five storey brick tower on the ground should be of high quality

Chinese PinYin : Xi An Hua Yan Si