Kaifu Temple

Kaifu Temple

Kaifu temple, located in the city of Changsha City, Hunan Province, is located in Beixin River, near Xiangjiang River. The main building faces north and south. It is a temple of Yangqi sect of Linji Buddhism.

Kaifu temple was built in Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and then went through song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. It covers an area of 48000 square meters and a construction area of 16000 square meters. It has three entrances of Buddha Hall, namely Sansheng Hall (Maitreya Hall), Great Buddha Hall (Daxiong Hall) and Pilu hall. In the east of Kaifu temple, there are guest hall, Zhaitang, storeroom and Abbot's room. In the west of Kaifu temple, there are saying hall and Zen hall. There are stone tablets in Kangxi and Guangxu periods of Qing Dynasty. Kaifu temple is one of the key Buddhist temples in China. It is listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Hunan Province. Both Hunan Buddhist Association and Changsha Buddhist Association are located in the temple.

Historical evolution

Kaifu temple, one of the key open temples in Chinese Buddhism, is a famous temple of Yangqi sect of Linji sect. It was built in the Five Dynasties and has a history of more than 1000 years.

At that time, Ma Yin separated Hunan and established the state of Chu, which was known as "Ma Chu" in history. Taking Changsha as the capital, Ma built a palace in the north of the city and a Huichun garden as a summer resort.

In the second year of Tiancheng (927 AD), Ma Xifan, the son of Ma Yin, gave part of the spring garden to the monk Baoning and founded Kaifu temple. After Ma Xifan succeeded to the throne, he built a lot of buildings nearby, built Ziwei mountain nearby, and opened Bilang lake to the north, making Kaifu temple a famous scenic spot with 16 scenes inside and outside.

Li Mian, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, once wrote a poem "Kaifu Temple" praising: "I love to draw scenery, and naturally enter the screen. The water is blue with mirrors, and the mountains are green with snails. When the ape returns to the cave, he rushes down to the cloud and crane, sits calmly for a long time, and the flowers fall all over the courtyard.

The beginning of the construction

Kaifu temple. It was first built in the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in the second year of Tiancheng (927) of emperor mingzong of the late Tang Dynasty. At that time, Changsha was the capital of Southern Chu. Ma Xifan, the king of Southern Chu, founded Kaifu Temple by giving part of the spring garden to monk Baoning.

Ma Xifan also built large-scale construction nearby, built Ziwei mountain nearby, and opened Bilang lake to the north, making Kaifu temple a famous scenic spot with 16 scenes inside and outside. Baoning, the founder of the temple, preached this saying and was strongly supported by Ma's father and son. There were 1000 monks living there.

After the fall of the southern Chu state, the temple has been preserved as a place for Buddhist activities.

The origin of prosperity

Kaifu Temple flourished in the Song Dynasty. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a famous monk Hong Yun (936-1004), who was good at medicine. Zhao Kuangyin, the Taizu of the Song Dynasty, summoned him and gave him a purple robe as master Guangli. In the process of rejuvenating the country through Taiping in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, appealed for medical experience, and Hong Yun extracted dozens of prescriptions and presented them. In the early years of Xianping, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, Hong Yun became a monk official. He was the first monk on the right street and the assistant monk on the left street.

During the reign of emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, the monk Zihe built all the temples once.

In Huizong period of Song Dynasty, daoning (? - 1113), the founder of Kaifu temple, learned his enlightenment from the fifth patriarch of Yangqi School of Linji. According to his lineage, he was the 14th generation of huairang in Nanyue. In the Daguan period of Huizong (1107-1110), daoning was the abbot of Kaifu temple, with 500 monks. In 1113, daoning died.

At the same time as daoning, carpenter Zhang Xun carved many pictures of Buddhist scriptures on the wheel collection of Kaifu temple.

Main scenic spots

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifu temple has become a scenic spot with 16 sceneries, including Ziwei mountain, Bilang lake, Bailian pool, Longquan well, Fangsheng pool, Yuanyang well, fengzuizhou, Muyu ridge, Bajiao Pavilion, Jiayan hall, Huichun garden, Huibu bridge, shecha Pavilion, Qingtai bridge, reli tower and qianseng pot.

From Yuan Dynasty to Ming Dynasty, the scenery around Kaifu temple still aroused people's interest. Li Mian, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, wrote a five character poem entitled "Kaifu Temple", which says: "I love to bring up the scenery most. It's natural to enter the painting screen. The water is bright with a mirror. The mountains are green with snails. The robes of apes return to the cave. The clouds and cranes rush down and sit calmly. After a long time, the flowers fall all over the court." Kaifu temple in Ming Dynasty was built twice: the first was rebuilt by monks in 1371, the fourth year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty; the second was built in 1522-1566, Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty. Jifan, together with local gentry and common people, rebuilt the temple, and Ming Dynasty was not destroyed by war.

Built successively

In the Qing Dynasty, Kaifu temple was built four times

The first time was in 1660, when the monk was the abbot of the Buddhist kingdom;

The second time was in 1669, when general Bu Shilong advocated donation and reconstruction. Governor Zhou Zhaonan, vassal Lang Yongqing, Quansi Li Rongzong, magistrate Hu and Zhuangsheng helped to build Tianwang hall. Tuiguan Hu Jing once wrote the inscription of rebuilding Kaifu temple in Ziwei mountain, which is the earliest Qing Dynasty inscription preserved in Kaifu temple;

The third time was in 1772, when gunpowder was made after the temple, the temple was burned, and the governor Liang Guozhi ordered monks to collect and repair;

The fourth time was in the 60th year of Qianlong reign (1795), when the temple's rear hall was burned down and restored because of gunpowder.

In 1806, the calligrapher Chaofeng wrote the couplet "Ziwei Qifeng, Bilang Qianlong" for Kaifu temple. In 1891, the banner of "ancient Kaifu Temple" with the theme of Chen Haipeng was erected together with Han Shu. In 1886, 19 Taoists, such as Wang Kaiyun, jichan and Zhu Yun, organized the Bihu poetry club to drink and write poems, which was a great literary event. In the following year, Xu Shujun wrote the monument of Kaifu temple in Changsha, which is now preserved. At the end of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Zhu Yun, a famous poet monk, founded Hunan sengli normal school in the temple. In 1905, at the invitation of Japanese Buddhists, he led his disciples to travel to Japan to visit Buddhism.

In the early years of the Republic of China (1911), Shi Seng Hai Yin established the Hunan Branch of the Chinese Buddhist Association here.

In 1918, the main hall of Kaifu temple was burned.

In 1919, the abbot huixiu rebuilt the Pilu hall. From 1922 to 1924, the succeeding abbot, monk Baosheng, successively built the main hall and the three holy halls, and invited master kongye, a monk of Tiantai Sect, to open the Hunan Buddhist Academy here.

Buddhist tradition

On August 14, 1939 (August 14, 1939), the Buddhist Youth Service Group led by master juzan organized 70 monks and nuns. There was a patriotic meeting of historic significance. From January 1948 to may 1949, Kaifu Temple continued to run three sessions of Hunan Buddhist Academy. Understanding is the best. At that time, most of the temples in the temple were forcibly occupied by the Kuomintang army and became armory, and the temple was destroyed to an extent. Monks are not free to go in and out.

After 1949, the people's Republic of China was founded. In 1952, the people's government restored the Kaifu temple with master Mingzhen as its abbot.

In 1965, Kaifu temple was announced as a provincial key cultural relics protection unit.

A large number of precious cultural relics preserved in Kaifu Temple disappeared in the "Cultural Revolution".

Since March 1980, Kaifu temple has been gradually restored. The Changsha Buddhist Association has successively rebuilt the front, middle and back halls, left and right wing rooms, and newly molded statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva and arhat, and recovered the lost cultural relics.

At the beginning of 1983, Kaifu temple was designated by the State Council as one of the first batch of Chinese Buddhism key open temples in China. On October 10, 1983, the people's Government of Hunan Province announced that Kaifu temple is a key cultural relic protection unit in Hunan Province.

Opening to the outside world

In 1994, Kaifu temple was designated as a Buddhist monastery of bhiksuni. Abbot Nengjing built a large-scale Kaifu Temple: a new monk hall, a free life pool, a Qingtai bridge, a bell and drum tower; a main hall, a lecture hall, a Zen hall, a Buddhist Chanting hall, a manisuo, a Zhai hall, a guest hall, and a sutra collection building.

In 1997, he invited back the jade statue of Sakyamuni (5 meters high) and the jade statue of anangya's second disciple (4 meters high) from Myanmar. Later, five Tibetan scriptures were invited from Taiwan and other places to worship.

In 1998, Kaifu Temple undertook the Ministry of Buddhism of Hunan Buddhist College.

In 1997, master Nengjing attended the International Buddhist exchange meeting held in Japan at the invitation of "Buddhist foundation ties of China, Korea and Japan".

In 2000, at the invitation of the Buddhist community in Taiwan, master Nengjing went to Baodao to make a tour of Baodao, which received a good response.

In 2002, at the invitation of Korean Buddhist circles, master Nengjing attended a Chinese Buddhist delegation and visited Korea.

In November 2004, Kaifu Temple began large-scale expansion, covering an area of 175 mu (116700 square meters) from 80 mu.

In 2011, Kaifu District Government of Changsha City expanded Kaifu temple, which will restore 16 sceneries in the heyday of the late Northern Song Dynasty, including Ziwei mountain, bilichao, Bailian pool, Longquan well, Fangsheng pool, Yuanyang well, fengzuizhou, muyuling, baling Pavilion, jiayantang, Huichun garden, Huibu bridge, shecha Pavilion, Qingtai bridge, and so on

Chinese PinYin : Kai Fu Si