Xingguo Temple

Xingguo Temple

synonym

Xingguo Temple generally refers to Xingguo Temple (a temple founded in Shandong Province in the kaihuang period of Sui Dynasty)

Xingguo temple, also known as Xingguo temple, is located on Qianfo Mountain in Jinan City. Qianfo Mountain is located in Lixia District, Jinan City, Shandong Province. Xingguo temple is the main building of Qianfo Mountain, which is located in the middle of Yinshan Mountain, with cliffs in the South and springs in the north.

Xingguo temple, founded in kaihuang period of Sui Dynasty, was called "Thousand Buddha Temple". During the reign of Zhenguan in Tang Dynasty, it was expanded and renamed as "Xingguo Temple"

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Since April 1, 2017, all incense worshippers and Buddhists have used the free incense from the temple. It is strictly forbidden for tourists to bring all kinds of incense and other items into the temple.

Brief introduction to temples

Since the Yuan Dynasty, temple fairs have been held in the Double Ninth Festival. In the Ming Dynasty, the temple was expanded and became a fragrant resort. The temples, pavilions and corridors of the whole temple are well arranged, green pines and cypresses are stored, green and moist, bells are ringing in the ears, and cigarettes are shrouded, which is of great interest to the ancient temples in the mountains. In 1983, the State Council announced that it was one of 143 key monasteries in China.

Every September 9 Double Ninth Festival, Jinan people come to Qianfo Mountain to enjoy autumn. Naturally, they have to go to the temple to worship Buddha and visit. In addition, there is a place where people must visit. From the "qiyanjiudian" memorial archway, you can have a broad view of the mountains in the northern suburb Plain, such as Woniushan, Huashan, Queshan, Fenghuangshan, biaoshan, Yaoshan, beima'anshan, Sushan and Huanshan.

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Beautiful scenery in the temple

Qianfo Mountain is a famous tourist attraction in Jinan City, with beautiful scenery, numerous mountains and beautiful scenery. It was called Lishan in ancient times. It is said that Shun and Yu once worked here, so it is called Shungengshan.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Buddhism flourished in Shandong Province. Many Buddha statues were carved on the precipices and Thousand Buddha temples were built, so it was called "Thousand Buddha Mountain". Among them, the Xingguo temple built during the reign of Tang Zhenguan (627-649 A.D.) is the largest, known as the first temple of Qianfo Mountain.

In Song Dynasty, Xingguo temple was expanded. At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, because of years of war, the temples were "deserted, and there were no bricks and tiles left.". In the fourth year of Chenghua (1468 A.D.), Su Xian donated money for reconstruction. The main hall, the heavenly king hall, the monk's hut, and the storehouse were all rebuilt. In the hall, there were statues of Sakyamuni, the king of Tibetans, the eighteen Arhats, and the four heavenly kings. The poem "Yong Xing Guo Si" written by Liu Chi of Ming Dynasty vividly describes the beauty of ancient temples in mountain scenery: "the South Temple of several Li city is deep and winding. The lake is bright and the sun is setting, and the solitary bee is in the clear stream. Cloud around the mountain monk room, moss intrusion stone Buddha head. The cave is filled with water to wash the worries of the guests. " During the period from Jiaqing to Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1796-1860 AD), it was repaired and the Guanyin hall was added. The existing temples are mainly in the pattern and scale of Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Restore the original appearance

In recent years, under the leadership of the Buddhist abbot, all monks have actively raised funds to maintain the temple and protect cultural relics and historic sites, so as to make this millennium old temple radiate new vitality. In 1983, Xingguo temple was designated by the State Council as the national key Buddhist temple in the Han nationality area. In October 1984, it was handed over to monks for management. In January 1985, the Preparatory Office of Jinan Buddhist Association was established here.

On January 20, about 60 monks and believers from Xingguo Temple held the first Buddhist activity after the "Cultural Revolution" here. On April 20, it began to open to the outside world to receive believers from all over the world and guests from home and abroad. Since 1987, the bell, Drum Tower and the main hall have been restored. Now they are all completed, and the Buddha statues in the hall have been restored to their original appearance. The temple also set up a logistics office and a tea supply office to serve the masses and guests, and achieve self-sufficiency.

Layout structure

Xingguo temple is built close to the mountain. There are seven halls, divided into four courtyards. The temple is deep and quiet, grand and magnificent, and the halls are well arranged. The whole temple winding hillside, simple and solemn.

The four Buddhist temples of Xingguo temple in Qianfo Mountain are commonly called "East Temple" and "West Temple". The East Temple used to be a compound of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, but now it is the Zen courtyard of Xingguo temple. There are Dashun temple, Wenchang Pavilion, Luban Ci and stele Gallery in the courtyard, reflecting the characteristics of the integration of traditional culture and Buddhist culture in ancient China. West Temple is the main part of Xingguo temple.

From Xipan road up the stairs, through the ancient wood shade of the Tang Huai Pavilion, Qiyan Jiudian square, through the "cloud path Zen pass" square, facing the gate of Xingguo temple. The mountain gate faces to the West. On the black marble of the gate tower are carved four vigorous and dignified gold characters of "Xingguo Temple" inscribed by Zhao Puchu, chairman of the contemporary Chinese Buddhist Association and calligrapher. There is a couplet carved on both sides of the gate: "evening drum and morning bell awaken the world's celebrities and profiteers; the sound of Buddha's name evokes the enchanting dream of the bitter sea", which is the calligraphy elixir of Yang Zhaoqing, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty. That is to say, people who pursue fame and wealth in the world will be awakened by the morning bell and the night drum of the temple, abandon the desire for fame and wealth, and those who are struggling to pursue fame and wealth in the sea of people will also be called back. This is a typical picture of persuading the World Federation. The philosophy contained in it is thought-provoking and thought-provoking.

Architectural style

On both sides of the entrance, the second floor of the bell and drum stands. Welcome to Tianwang hall, Maitreya welcomes the guests from all over the world. Two into the courtyard, the main hall in the east side of the temple, sitting east to west, magnificent. In the center of the hall, on the lotus throne, there is a statue of Sakyamuni, the Buddha. On both sides, Bodhisattvas and Arhats stand by. On the north and south sides, there are ten disciples, such as Puxian, Manjusri, Ananda and Kaya. Behind the statue of Sakyamuni, the statue of Nanwu Avalokitesvara stands facing east, and attends the boy on the left and right. The Jade Buddha Hall is located in the north of the main hall, facing south. In the center of the hall, there is a Buddha statue of Sakyamuni. It is made of white jade and is invited by Thailand. Tibetan Bodhisattva is worshipped in the niche on the west side of the Jade Buddha. The Bodhisattva hall is located on the south side of the main hall, facing north from south. The central niche is for Guanyin Bodhisattva, and the East and west sides are dizang Bodhisattva and Qianshou Guanyin Bodhisattva. There is a hall in the center of the temple. In the hall, the statue of Maitreya sits at the mountain gate. Behind it, Bodhisattva Weituo stands facing east.

Buddha statues of Sui Dynasty

There is a long corridor on the north side of the back of the hall, with inscriptions on the poems of vice president Dong Biwu, poet Guo Moruo and calligrapher Zhao Puchu. Among them, in the spring of 1959, Guo Moruo's poem "climbing Lishan" said: "overlooking the nine points of smoke in Qizhou, we can find many Buddhas in cliff grottoes. Half a crescent moon, the heart of heaven spits, and the east wind sweeps the snow Opposite to the corridor, Qianfo cliff stands on the south side of the corridor, on which there are many Sui Dynasty Buddha statues. From west to East, there are Longquan cave, blissful cave, qianlou cave, dongtianfudifang, duihuating and other historic sites.

The most attractive part of the temple is Qianfo cliff in Nanya. There are nine Grottoes here. They are carved stone statues by Liu Maojing from the seventh year to the twentieth year of emperor kaihuang of Sui Dynasty (587-600 A.D.), and some statues from Zhenguan of Tang Dynasty. There are more than 130 statues with exquisite carving. They are important historical materials for studying the art of stone carving in Sui and Tang Dynasties. Among them, the Buddha statue in the blissful cave is the most magnificent and exquisite. There are more than 20 statues of Buddha in the blissful cave. On the stone wall of the front, there are three Western saints. In the middle, the statue of Amitabha is 3 meters high. It sits in front of each other. There are two statues of Avalokitesvara and dashizhi, each 2.5 meters high. The three Saints look calm and free, and the carving is fine and the lines are beautiful. They are the best stone carvings of the Sui Dynasty.

Hanging rock relief

In Longquan cave, there is a spring with a depth of 3 meters, and there are more than 20 relief Buddha statues in the cave. In addition, qianlou cave was the seclusion place of qianlou, a senior scholar of Qi State in the spring and Autumn period. The cave is several feet deep and zigzag. There is a hole of more than 20 square meters in the cave. The cave is about 2 meters high. It is engraved with qianlou sitting statue. The six Buddha statues in the cave are incomplete. It is said that when qianlou lived in seclusion here, the states of Lu and Qi invited each other, but Qianjian left. Guizhou is full of talent, but poor. At the time of death, the quilt was long and short, covering the head and exposing the feet. Some people wanted to cover the whole body with the quilt slanted over. His wife said, "it's better to slant than to correct. The husband didn't slant before he died, but it's not his intention to slant after he died.". Tao Yuanming, a poet of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, praised: "those who live in poverty and keep humble have lived in qianlou since ancient times. I'm not proud to be a good Baron, but I'm not well dressed. "

In the north of the temple, there is the Duihua Pavilion, which is built between the cliffs 10 meters higher than the temple. It used to be a place for monks to meditate and preach. Now it is the guest hall of Xingguo Buddhist temple.

Main attractions

Qianfo cliff and blissful cave are located in the south of Xingguo temple. On the cliff, there are more than 130 Buddhist statues carved in 9 caves from the 7th year to the 15th year of kaihuang (587-595 A.D.) of the Sui Dynasty. They are the earliest Grottoes in Jinan. Blissful cave is one of the main caves, with 87 statues. The middle one is Amitabha Buddha, sitting on his knees, 3 meters high, decorated with Buddha light behind him, with dignified Dharma.

On the left and right are dashizhi and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, who stand on their feet and are nearly 3 meters high. Other caves are scattered on the stone walls outside. Some of them are high on the top of the wall, some are within reach, some one or two of them are caves, some three or five of them are districts. These Buddha statues are exquisitely carved, skillfully cut, smooth lines, plump and lifelike. Some of them are dressed in brocade clothes, some of them are holding lotus flowers in their hands, some of them are frowning, some of them are sitting in a knot, some of them are meditating with their hands closed, and they have different and vivid expressions. In the cave, there was an inscription of Shi Runzhang, a famous poet of Qing Dynasty.

During the "Cultural Revolution", the Buddha statues were destroyed artificially. In March 1979, the municipal government appropriated a special fund to organize professionals to repair the old as it is in line with the principle of "repairing the old as it is".

Longquan cave, located in the south of the west gate of Xingguo temple, is located in the towering stone cave

Chinese PinYin : Xing Guo Chan Si