Ta Yuan Temple

Tayuan temple is one of the five famous places of Zen in Wutai Mountain. Tayuan temple has the landmark building of Wutai Mountain, the Dabai tower, which is white. There are more than 200 copper bells on the top of the tower. The sound is clear and sweet. The tower rises from the ground and soars high in the air. The Dabai tower is also an idol in the eyes of pilgrims. Most pilgrims make a detour around the White Pagoda, chanting sutras or kowtowing while walking, and caressing the Falun. When Mongolian and Tibetan Buddhists go to Mount Wutai, they first have to pay homage to the first relic of the "five relic of Tayuan Temple", namely the Dabai pagoda.

There is also a small white pagoda to the east of the white pagoda. It is said that this pagoda contains the golden hair left by Manjusri Bodhisattva when he became a saint, so it is also called Manjusri pagoda. On the north side of the Dabai pagoda, the Sutra Pavilion is a wooden structure. There are more than 20000 volumes of sutras written in Han, Mongolian and Tibetan Languages. Among them, more than 2000 volumes are rare books from the Song Dynasty to the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.  

Ta Yuan Temple

Tayuan temple, the name of the temple, the more famous are Shanxi Wutai Mountain Tayuan temple and Gansu Jinta County Tayuan temple.

brief introduction

Located in the south of Xiantong temple, Taihuai Town, Wutai Mountain, Tayuan temple is one of the five famous Buddhist places in Wutai Mountain. It used to be the pagoda yard of Xiantong temple. After the relic pagoda was rebuilt in Ming Dynasty, it became a temple alone. Because there was a big white pagoda in the courtyard, it was named the pagoda yard temple. The Dabai pagoda towering into the sky is the main symbol of the temple. The full name of the pagoda is Sakyamuni relic pagoda, commonly known as Dabai pagoda. The tower rises from the ground and soars high in the sky. Surrounded by Wutai Mountain temples, it is quite spectacular. People regard it as the symbol of Wutai Mountain. The tower is 75.3 meters high and 83.3 meters round. The base of the tower is square, and the body of the tower is shaped like a algae bottle. It is thick and thin, and the shape is beautiful. Eight copper plates on the top of the tower are round, and they are arranged according to the eight trigrams of Qian, Kan, gen, Zhen, Xun, Li, Kun and dou. In the top of the tower, there is a copper top, about five meters high, covering more than 21 meters, decorated with 36 eaves, more than two meters long; three wind bells are hung at the bottom of each eaves, and there are 252 wind bells in the whole tower. The wind is happy and the bell is ringing.

legend

A long time ago, in the spring and March of each year, there was an "open house" in the Tayuan temple. That is to say, no matter the monks or the common people, no matter the poor or the rich, no matter men, women, old and young, they were given the same food.

One year, there was an open house. When the bell rang, people came to the Tayuan temple. There was a woman named huazi, holding a child in her arms, dragging a child beside her, followed by a dog, and pouring into the temple with the crowd. She pushed forward and said to the kutou monk who shared the food: "I have something urgent. Please share it with me first." Kutou monk gave her three meals, even for her two children. The poor girl said, "a dog has life, and it should be given a share." The monk grudgingly gave another one. But the poor girl said, "I have a son in my stomach, so I have to share my food." Kutou monk said angrily, "before the baby is born, you have to share food. You are so greedy!" The poor girl further argued: "all living beings are equal, and the child in her belly is alive." Then he took out a pair of scissors from his sleeve, cut off a handful of hair, put it on the desk, and sang in verse, "bitter melon is bitter at the root, sweet melon is cherry sweet. It's me who crossed the three realms, but I was hated by Ashi." After that, he jumped into the sky and became Manjusri Bodhisattva. The dog he led became a lion and the two children became heavenly children. Kutou monk is ashamed. Later, a pagoda was built at the place where Manjusri Bodhisattva appeared, and the hair left by the Bodhisattva was kept in it. Qingliang mountain records: "on the east side of the pagoda, Manjusri was transformed into a poor girl, and her hair was kept here. During Wanli period, Yuanguang Taoist rebuilt it, and his hair was as golden as gold, which was regarded differently by people.

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framework

Tayuan temple, named after the pagoda, is quite appropriate. The temple was originally the tower courtyard of dahuayan temple. In 1407, the temple was expanded and built in the fifth year of Yongle reign of emperor Chengzu of Ming Dynasty. It is one of the "five Chan forests" in Wutai Mountain and one of the "ten temples of Qingmiao" in the whole mountain. In 1983, it was determined by the State Council as a key Buddhist temple in China in the Han nationality area. Its inheritance law system includes both obvious secret and hidden secret. The Tayuan temple has secrets. The Tayuan Temple faces south from the north and is composed of a series of halls and Buddhist houses. The buildings on the central axis include shadow wall, memorial archway, stone steps, zhoumen, Shanmen, bell and Drum Tower, Tianwang hall, dacitingshoubao hall, pagoda hall, sutra Pavilion, shanhailou, Manjusri pagoda, etc. Among the numerous pagodas in Wutai Mountain, the great white pagoda of Tayuan temple is the most famous, and other pagodas are surrounded by it like stars holding the moon. It is difficult to check when the Dabai pagoda was first built. According to Qingliang mountain records, this tower was built before Emperor Ming of Han Dynasty. There is a rumor in Buddhism that in 486 B.C., Sakyamuni Buddha was destroyed, and his bones were refined into 84000 relic pagodas. In ancient India, Ashoka made 84000 relic pagodas with seven treasures of gold, which are distributed all over the world. There are 19 in China, one of which is Mount Wutai, which is called "cishou pagoda". It is said that during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Mo Teng, a monk in the western regions, saw that the place of Taihuai in Wutai Mountain was like Linglu mountain as the Buddha said, and there was already a Buddhist pagoda here to play the role of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty in building temples in Wutai Mountain. It can be seen that the Buddha relic pagoda was built at the beginning of the construction of the Buddhist temple in Wutai Mountain. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, Xiantong temple was called "dafutou Temple", which means big pagoda temple. It can be seen that the Dabai pagoda had already stood in Wutai Mountain at the latest in the Northern Wei Dynasty. According to experts' research, the current Dabai pagoda was first built in 1302, the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty. It was designed and built by Nepalese craftsman akhunigo. It is commonly known as "Dabai pagoda". The former cishou pagoda was placed in the interior of the pagoda. The tower is the largest and most difficult to build. In 1407, Zhu Di ordered eunuch Yang Sheng to rebuild the pagoda and set up the temple independently. Emperor Shenzong Wanli (579), Empress Dowager Li Niangniang ordered eunuch fan Jiang and Li you to rebuild. In 1952, the people's government funded the renovation of the Tayuan temple.

Architecture

Tayuan temple, originally the Tayuan of Xiantong temple, was an independent temple when the relic pagoda was rebuilt in Ming Dynasty. The main buildings in the temple take the relic pagoda as the center, with the main hall and the Sutra Pavilion arranged. There are 33 storeys of wooden wheels in the Sutra Pavilion, each of which is full of sutras. There are more than 20000 volumes of sutras, which is worthy of the name of the Sutra hall. The stupa in the courtyard, also known as the great white pagoda, is snow-white and about 56.4 meters high, 20.5 meters higher than the White Pagoda in Beihai, Beijing. The great white pagoda towering clouds, in the red wall, glazed tile palace top of the foil, appears majestic and spectacular, has become the symbol of Mount Wutai.

The lower layer of the Dabai pagoda is the temple, commonly known as the pagoda hall. There are four Bodhisattvas Manjusri, Guanyin, Puxian, dizang and Shiying Buddha statues in it. There are also bright colored porcelain statues of monk Jigong and delicate and exquisite wood carvings of Golden Toad in Bangxi. There are two kinds of temples in Wutai Mountain, one is the Han monk temple, commonly known as "Qing Temple", the other is the Lama Temple, commonly known as "Huang Temple". In the Qing Dynasty, some Qing temples were changed into Huang temples, and then the monks in Qing Dynasty were changed into Huang monks. Therefore, there were Lamas of Han nationality here. The first temple of the Green Temple is the Xiantong Temple mentioned earlier, while the first temple of the Yellow temple is the top of Bodhisattva.

On the south side of Xiantong temple, Taihuai Town, Wutai Mountain. One of the five great Zen places in Wutai Mountain. It was originally the pagoda yard of Xiantong temple. When the relic pagoda was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty, it became an independent temple and was renamed today. There are three wooden archways in front of the temple, exquisite and elegant, built in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. The main buildings in the temple are the Mahatma hall in the front, the Sutra Pavilion in the back, and the relic pagoda among them. There are corridor houses around the temple, and the eastern Buddhist temple. The statues in each hall are well preserved. There are 20 layers of wooden wheels in the Sutra Pavilion, and each layer is full of sutras. For believers to worship and monks to chant. The temple is mainly composed of relic pagodas. The base of the pagoda is square and Tibetan. The total height is about 60 meters. All the pagodas are built with mortar and lime. Among the green hills, the towering white pagoda is particularly eye-catching. The pagoda, the dew plate and the jewels are all made of copper. The wind is hanging around the waist of the pagoda and the dew plate. The wind is jingling, which is very interesting for the ancient temple. Taihuai temples are surrounded by mountains, and the Tayuan temple is in the front. The tall white is fascinating. People regard it as the symbol of Wutai Mountain.

The Tayuan Temple faces south from the north and is composed of a series of halls and Buddhist houses. The architecture of Tayuan temple is characterized by magnificence, which is much more cheerful than that of Xiantong temple. On the central axis, there are Yingbi, memorial archway, stone steps, Mountain Gate, bell and Drum Tower, Tianwang hall, Daci longevity hall, pagoda hall, sutra Pavilion, shanhailou, Manjusri pagoda and other buildings, which are magnificent.

The hall is 27.4 meters wide and 11.5 meters deep, with a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain. This hall was built to pray for the Empress Dowager Li, the mother of Emperor Wanli, to live a long life, so it is called "Da CI Yan Shou Bao Dian". In the center of the hall, Sakyamuni Buddha is worshipped, Manjusri Bodhisattva is worshipped on the left, and Puxian Bodhisattva is worshipped on the right.

The floor is 25.3 meters wide and 13 meters deep, with two floors and three eaves. Under the eaves of the first floor, there is a plaque of Emperor Qianlong, and under the eaves of the second floor, there is a plaque of Emperor Kangxi. Inside, there are ten Buddhas and eight Bodhisattvas, and in the middle, there are "Huazang world wheel collection". It was designed and built by master Hanshan himself in 1526. There are 33 storeys of star anise in Huazang world, 11.3 meters high. Each layer has a number of small grids on it. The bottom of each layer is equipped with a disc, which can be pushed to rotate. This wheel collection is famous for its collection of Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan scriptures and rare scriptures of yuan and Ming Dynasties.

relics of a sage

The Dabai pagoda is located between the halls and pavilions. It is tall and straight, and points straight to the blue sky. It has the air covering mountains and rivers, and has a view of five platforms. The ancients praised this tower: "Jue high into the cloud, magic lamp."

Chinese PinYin : Ta Yuan Si