Tiantai nunnery

Tiantai nunnery

Tiantai nunnery, located 25 kilometers northeast of Pingshun County, Changzhi City, is an isolated mountain in the shape of an altar. It was first built in the fourth year of Tianyou (907) in the late Tang Dynasty. The scale of the nunnery is not large. The existing building was built in the Tiancheng period of the Tang Dynasty after the Five Dynasties. It is a key cultural relic protection unit in China.

Tiantai nunnery, with Valley in the East and zhangshui in the west, covers an area of 970 square meters and a construction area of more than 90 square meters. In the east of the courtyard stands a stone tablet of the Tang Dynasty. Due to hundreds of years of wind and rain erosion, the handwriting has been weathered, and the words on it can no longer be seen.

Historical origin

Tiantai nunnery is the nunnery of Tiantai Sect, the earliest sect of Buddhism. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Buddhism appeared a situation of Southern righteousness and Northern Zen in its practice methods, that is, in the south, justice and reason were emphasized and wisdom were emphasized; in the north, stop and Zen were emphasized. To put an end to this divisive situation

. Following the trend, wisdom puts forward the theory of "stopping observation", which emphasizes both righteousness and wisdom, and holds that these two methods are like the wheels of a car and the wings of a bird. He founded the first unified Buddhism sect with Chinese characteristics. Because he lived in Tiantai Mountain for a long time, he was named Tiantai.

Temple Landscape

The Buddha Hall is built on a 1-meter-high stone platform, with 3 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep, 7.15 meters wide and 7.12 meters deep. The single eaves of the main hall rest on the top of the mountain, with gentle lifting and folding. The eaves are deep and wide. The four thick eaves pillars under the wing angle are all added by later generations. The roof is decorated with grey tiles and huge glazed porches. The glazed ridge decoration of this hall should have been changed in the Jin Dynasty, but it still retains the ancient style.

Under the eaves of the Buddha Hall, there are Taiming on the four sides, and on the front, there are Mingjian and Taiming on the lower side. The hall is surrounded by round wooden columns, and there is no need to clap fangs between the columns. Each column of the hall has a smooth and graceful head. The top of the column is made of wood, and the top of the column is made of wood to support the eaves. In the wall, there are two single timber columns with square head, and between them are supported by a small bucket. On the square surface of the column head, the mud road and heavy arch are carved on the column head. The slow arch made of each column head is very long and simple in shape.

In the middle of the facade, a patch is laid in the middle, which is also called Doukou jump, but it is made of single wood. There is no Doukou jump between the mountain surface and the North facade, only a dousan Sheng Dougong is engraved on the upper column. The corner is paved with a 45 ° inclined springing arch, and the springing in the positive direction is made of single material. The structure of the hall is a typical four rafter house with two columns for the eaves.

Main structure

The existing columns, which are directly under the four rafters, have been supplemented by later generations.

In the Ming Dynasty, the front and back eaves were flat, and the bottom of the eaves was between the loops. Hump and Shu column are applied on the flat beam to support the transverse arch, and timber is applied on the arch to support the ridge. On the surface of the mountain, the top of the arch column turns out to be a jump, and the Chinese arch supports the sheath. 45 ° angle beam is used at the corner. There are simple Qing style paintings on the beams and brackets in the hall, and some murals of Qing Dynasty are still found in the mountain wall. The main hall of Tiantai nunnery is small in scale, but it has concise structure, strict intersection and no sense of complicated decoration, which reflects the characteristics of architecture in Tang Dynasty.

Although the main hall of Tiantai nunnery has many traces of later repair, it is still a precious example of the existing ancient wooden buildings in Tang Dynasty, which has important academic value.

Architectural features

Tiantai nunnery is close to the valley in the East and zhangshui in the West. It is located in the north and south. It covers an area of 970 square meters and has a construction area of more than 90 square meters. In the east of the courtyard stands a Tang stele, whose handwriting is not clear.

The temple is built on a 1-meter-high stone platform, with 3 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep. Its surface is 7.15 meters wide and depth is 7.12 meters. The house slope is gentle, with four wings like flying, single eaves, simple board and tiles, and glass ridge and the top of the mountain. Under the eaves of the Buddha Hall, there are four sides of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, the front side of the hall, and the back side of the hall.

There is no pillar in the hall, the structure is concise, the intersection is strict, there is no sense of complex decoration, and the space in the hall is more spacious, which fully reflects the characteristics of architecture in the Tang Dynasty.

Buddhist activities

Once you hear the name of Tiantai nunnery, you will associate it with Buddhism. Indeed, it is the nunnery of Tiantai Sect, the earliest sect of Buddhism in China.

As we all know, Sui and Tang Dynasties were the heyday of Chinese Buddhism. During this period, most of the Buddhist sects found a new way to rearrange Indian Buddhism according to their own understanding, saying the Dharma they had practiced in their hearts. At that time, the Buddhist practices in China had the situation of Southern righteousness and Northern Zen, that is, the South emphasized righteousness and reason, wisdom, the North emphasized stop and Zen.

The political unity created conditions for ending the split situation of Buddhism in the South and the north. Zhizhuan complied with the trend and put forward the theory of "stopping observation" with "paying equal attention to stopping observation" and "cultivating both wisdom and calmness". He believed that the two methods of "stopping observation" and "observing" were the two most basic practice methods of turning the mind to enlightenment and becoming a Bodhisattva. On this basis, Zhizhuan founded the first unified Buddhism sect with Chinese characteristics. Because he lived in Tiantai Mountain for a long time, he took the name of "Tiantai" as his sect, and then temples and nunneries of Tiantai Sect were built all over the country.

significance

In the past, when talking about the Buddha nature, all Buddhist doctrines believed that the Buddha nature was pure and perfect. Tiantai Sect opposed the traditional Buddhist saying that the Buddha nature was not only good, but also evil. It divided all living beings including Buddhas and Bodhisattvas into ten realms, namely Buddha, Bodhisattvas, predestination, sound, heaven, man, Asura, ghost, animal and hell.

The first four realms are called "four sages", the last six realms are called "six fan", and each realm has the characteristics of other realms. Some people blame Tiantai Sect for changing the true features of Indian Buddhism because of its non religious spirit. In fact, this is also an important manifestation of the creativity and Chinese characteristics of Tiantai Sect.

Address: Pingshun County, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province

Longitude: 113.40370648958

Latitude: 36.389387862536

Chinese PinYin : Tian Tai An