Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan

Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan

The site of Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan is located in the deep stream under the Fuhui peak in the southeast of Qianfo Mountain. Here steep mountains, autumn flowers everywhere, is one of the eight Jinan. The temple has a long history. According to the continuation of Licheng county annals · Jinshi 3, the stone wall of the temple site is left with the word "great Sui emperor". It can be seen that Buddhism set foot in it in the Sui Dynasty. During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty (713-741 AD), another "Buddha wisdom Temple" was built. It was rebuilt during the reign of Jingyou in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan City was occupied by the government, and monks moved here, so it was renamed "Kaiyuan Temple". Kaiyuan Temple is surrounded by mountains on three sides, covered with pines and cypresses, and with vines and vines, it is extremely quiet. There were 5 main halls, 3 East and west side halls, and several cloves in Song Dynasty. There are many stone chambers on the north wall behind the hall.

Looking for Kaiyuan Temple in history

Looking for the location of Kaiyuan Temple

On August 21, 2003, the archaeological excavation in the West Lane of Jinan City was temporarily stopped. However, the speculation about the Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan did not come to an end. Where is the Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan? Can it reappear its glory? The shadow of Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan has always attracted people's attention

Foguang County West Lane

The archaeological excavation in the old city has never been as exciting as this one! On August 21, the archaeological excavation work in the West Lane of Jinan county was suspended. At this time, the speculation around Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan has become a topic of concern to Jinan people.

On April 19, 2003, six dilapidated stone Buddha statues were found on the site of the West Lane widening project. These dilapidated and headless but gilded and painted Buddha statues of the northern and Sui dynasties attracted people's attention. The archaeological excavation of the West Lane of the county started from this.

In the process of archaeologists' tedious excavation, no one would think that there are so many secrets hidden in the underground: pottery pieces, ancient wells, stone Buddha statues, Kaiyuan Temple site of "zabao Jingcang underground palace" built in Song Dynasty, stone steles with important written records, fragments of Han white jade Sutra in the second year of the Tang Dynasty, underground palace with stone Buddha statues, and square altar rammed with "sanhetu" …

Kaiyuan Temple in the West Lane of the county

Kaiyuan Temple is in the West Lane of the old city? People who got the news flocked to the archaeological excavation site. With the attention of countless eyes, archaeologists slowly brushed away the dust on the cultural relics and the wind and dust on the site of Kaiyuan Temple.

Under the shovels and brushes of archaeologists, the Buddhist light of Kaiyuan Temple, which is buried underground, gradually reappears

On July 27, after many days of hard work, archaeologists excavated the site of "zabao Jingcang underground palace" in Kaiyuan Temple built in the Northern Song Dynasty and the inscription tablet of "Kaiyuan Temple xiuzabao Jingcang underground palace record", with the inscription "Zhiquan, the two main monks of Kaiyuan Temple in Qizhou of Weida song Dynasty, has the ancestral master inside and outside the altar, and the great virtue Guangjiao master speaks Weimo Sutra and gives ziseng CI performance..." The inscription reveals the life experience of Kaiyuan Temple.

Unearthed cultural relics

On August 4, a piece of white jade Scripture block engraved with the words of "the second year of the dragon of the Tang Dynasty" was excavated, which pushed the history of Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan City to before the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty.

On August 7, an underground palace with damaged stone Buddha statues was found. In the center of the underground palace, there is a square "altar" rammed with "sanhetu". This discovery puts a mysterious veil on Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan City

According to the cultural relics and written records unearthed in xianxixiang, many experts involved in archaeology believe that the site of Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan City is near xianxixiang, and the Kaiyuan Temple was founded at least before the dragon year of Tang Dynasty.

Because the archaeological excavation activities of the West Lane of the county are mainly to cooperate with the reconstruction work of the West Lane of the county, the archaeology did not continue to excavate in full accordance with the procedures. When the West Lane of the county is reconstructed, there are still many unknown secrets about Kaiyuan Temple buried deep underground

Kaiyuan Temple

What is confirmed by archaeological excavation is the historical records of Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan.

Xu beiwen, a professor of Jinan Institute of education and an old expert dedicated to the study of Jinan's history and culture, said that in 738, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered all States to create Kaiyuan Temple, and some places changed the name of the original Temple directly. The popular Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan may be named after it.

The earliest historical records about Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan that he consulted began in the Song Dynasty. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jin soldiers went south to encircle Kaifeng, Tokyo, and all over the country set up troops to serve the king. At that time, Jinan volunteers promoted monk Liu of Kaiyuan Temple as their leader and rushed to Kaifeng for rescue. Later, the Jin soldiers came again, and another monk named Liu wenshun in Kaiyuan Temple of Jinan led the army to fight against Jin again until he went to the south.

The underground palace of Kaiyuan Temple

Xu beiwen believes that the underground palace for the collection of scriptures in Kaiyuan Temple was excavated in the West Lane of the county, indicating that Kaiyuan Temple should be nearby. According to unearthed cultural relics and historical records, the scale of Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan City is from Quancheng road in the south to Minghu road in the north, Xiandong Lane in the East and donggeng road in the West. According to the range he said, the area of Kaiyuan Temple at that time should be more than 10000 square meters

In the Ming Dynasty, Jinan became the capital of Shandong Province, and the provincial government yamen also moved to Jinan. The original Jinan government office became the chasi Office (the address of today's No.1 Middle School), while Kaiyuan Temple was transformed into the Jinan Government Office (the address of today's Provincial Political Consultative Conference in the east of Xixiang County). The Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan came to an end.

This event is recorded in the renewal of Licheng county annals: "Kang monk's courtyard is on the South Bank of the lake (Daming Lake). In the early Ming Dynasty, Kaiyuan Temple was used as the mansion, and the bell tower was moved here. It was renamed Zhen'an courtyard, also known as bell tower temple Today its shop is still known as zhonglousi street. "

The bell tower of Kaiyuan Temple

According to Xu beiwen, the existing Ming Chang bell in Daming Lake Park used to hang on the clock tower of Kaiyuan Temple in the city. In the early Ming Dynasty, Kaiyuan Temple was rebuilt into Jinan mansion, and the bell tower needed to be moved. Therefore, another bell tower was built in the Kang monk's courtyard on the southeast Bank of the former Daming Lake, which removed the 8000 kilogram clock cast in the Ming Chang period of the Jin Dynasty. At the same time, the temple was repaired, which was then commonly known as the bell tower temple. Up to now, the north and South streets facing the base of the bell tower are still called the bell tower temple street.

"Before the Ming Dynasty, Kaiyuan Temple took the place of the government in the management of Buddhist affairs, which was called Senggang. After the Ming government occupied Kaiyuan Temple, the bell tower temple took over the position of Senggang. This record shows that Kaiyuan Temple had a very high status and grade at that time. "

According to historical records, after the Kaiyuan Temple was rebuilt into the Jinan government office, the monks in the temple had nowhere to go and moved to the lower courtyard of the Kaiyuan Temple, the Fuhui temple in Fuhui mountain, south of Shandong Province. Since then, fohui temple has been renamed Kaiyuan Temple.

After more than 600 years of ups and downs, the popular Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan has disappeared. Only the Buddha statues and sites buried in the ground are left, keeping the secret of Kaiyuan Temple before Ming Dynasty.

Buddha's shadow at the foot of fohui mountain

Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there have been many Buddhist traces in the area of Qianfo Mountain in the southern mountain area of Jinan. Surrounded by mountains on three sides, fohui mountain shrouded by emerald cypresses carries thousands of years of Buddhism inheritance from Sui Dynasty to Qing Dynasty.

There are some words with the character "emperor of the Sui Dynasty" carved on the stone wall under the peak of fohui, the Buddha carved on the whole stone on the top of the mountain, the cliff carvings, and the inscriptions on the grottoes, all of which convey the Buddhist scenery of the past. The quiet deep stream at the foot of Fuhui mountain in the southeast of Qianfo Mountain contains the ups and downs of Kaiyuan Temple after Ming Dynasty.

According to Kong xianlei, a retired cadre who is compiling a thousand Buddha Mountain records and has done a lot of research on Jinan's historical anecdotes, fohui temple, which was renamed Kaiyuan Temple after the Ming Dynasty, has been involved in it since the Sui Dynasty, and the inscription "great Sui emperor" is still left on the stone wall of the temple site. During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, the temple was officially founded and rebuilt during the Jingjing period of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was not until the monks of Kaiyuan Temple in Jinan moved here in the early Ming Dynasty that the incense of fohui temple was replaced by the Buddha light of Kaiyuan Temple.

Xu beiwen recalled that after liberation, there were no monks in Kaiyuan Temple, which was hidden deep in the Buddha Huishan stream. Because of no management, local farmers began to demolish the brick and wood houses of the temple for fire, and Kaiyuan Temple was gradually abandoned. When Kong xianlei visited Kaiyuan Temple during the cultural revolution, the old momentum of Kaiyuan Temple still remained.

According to Kong xianlei's recollection, there were five main halls in Kaiyuan Temple, three East and three west side halls, and several lilacs in the courtyard. After that, Kaiyuan Temple was gradually destroyed, and finally the Buddha statue was destroyed and the temple collapsed. Today, when people enjoy the cool in the fohui mountain stream, which is covered with pines and cypresses and covered with vines, they can't see any old view of Kaiyuan Temple except for the ruins of the temple base.

Kaiyuan Temple, once the most popular temple, is only left with stone sculptures and Buddhist statues on the surrounding rock walls and celebrity inscriptions in the grottoes, which tell the story of "the evening drum, the morning bell and the Buddhist name". In the east of Kaiyuan Temple, there is a cave for the Buddha statues of Tang Zhenguan years. Under the cave, there is a spring, named "Changsheng spring" by chahanpuhua of Yuan Dynasty. Under the cliff in the south of the temple, there is "Dilu spring", also known as "Mannu spring". Water seeps from the rock wall, just like dew, and falls into "qiutang pool". Under the stone wall in the west of the temple, there is "woyun cave", about 30 meters deep, which is said to be woyunhe of Kaiyuan Temple On the north stone wall of the temple, there are ghost snake sculptures and upper and lower stone chambers, in which there are still poems by celebrities of Sui, Tang, song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

"After Kaiyuan Temple moved to fohui temple, the environment was quiet and the climate was cool. Many celebrities in history have visited here. Ming and Qing Dynasties

Chinese PinYin : Ji Nan Kai Yuan Si