Faxing Temple

Faxing temple was built in 401, the first year of houliangshending in the period of Sixteen Kingdoms. In 673, Emperor Zheng Hui, the 13th son of emperor Gaozu, gave him 3000 volumes of scriptures and built a stone relic tower. In 674, Emperor Gaozong changed its name to Guangde Temple. In 773, Emperor Dali built another stone tower for lighting lamps. In 1081, Emperor Yuanfeng rebuilt the twelve Yuanjue Bodhisattva hall and renamed it Guangde Temple“ In Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, the temple was repaired frequently. The main buildings are distributed on the central axis, including the relic tower, the lamp burning tower, the Yuanjue hall and the back hall.

Faxing Temple

Faxing temple was first built in 401, the first year of houliangshending in the period of Sixteen Kingdoms. In 673, Emperor Zheng Hui, the 13th son of emperor Gaozu, gave him 3000 volumes of scriptures and built a stone relic tower. In 674, Emperor Gaozong changed its name to Guangde Temple. In 773, Emperor Dali built another stone tower for lighting lamps. In 1081, Emperor Yuanfeng rebuilt the twelve Yuanjue Bodhisattva hall and renamed it Guangde Temple In yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the "Fa Xing Temple" was repaired many times.

Faxing temple, sitting north to south, is not large in scale. The main buildings are distributed on the central axis, with relic tower, lamp tower, Yuanjue hall and back hall.

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Brief introduction to temples

20 kilometers southeast of Changzi County, there is an altitude of 1160 meters of Cilin mountain. On the mountain there is a famous faxing temple. Faxing temple was first built in the first year of Shending (the year name of Houliang Lulong) in the later Wei Dynasty (401 A.D.). It is said that one of Gao abhorrent traveled to Cilin mountain in those years. He enjoyed the Buddhist scenery here very much, so he built the Cilin temple on the mountain.

Emperor Li Zhi visited Cilin temple on his way from Kaifeng to Taiyuan in the first year of Shangyuan Dynasty of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty. He changed the temple to Guangsheng temple and gave two Zhuang Dan flowers to the temple. During the reign of emperor Yingzong of Song Dynasty, Emperor zhao shu changed Guangsheng temple into "faxing Temple".

Due to the disrepair and dilapidated appearance, and its location is the main mining area of cilinshan coal mine, the ground of faxing Temple collapsed in the late 1970s, the temple foundation cracks, the temple tilted, the courtyard wall out of shape, and there was a risk of collapse and destruction. The county, city, province and the central cultural relics department repeatedly investigated and studied, and confirmed that the original site of the Northern Wei Dynasty building could not be restored. Therefore, they decided to move the faxing temple to the opposite Cuiyun mountain.

Many repairs

The construction and relocation of faxing Temple started in 1980 and has been basically completed.

The newly built temple is located at the southern foot of Cuiyun mountain, covering an area of 60 mu, six times the area of the original temple. The newly built parking lot in front of the temple is connected with Cuizhuang village at the foot of the mountain. Two cypress trees, like the welcoming pine of Huangshan, are cleverly preserved in the population department. With its evergreen green, tourists are welcome. The benches under the weeping willows around the parking lot provide visitors with a cool rest.

Climb 60 stone steps from the parking lot to the mountain gate. This door belongs to the reconstruction part. The layout of the original site of faxing temple was originally set in the Tang Dynasty. It was renovated and built many times in the song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and one in the Qing Dynasty took 13 years. But in the long history, it was often damaged, and the Mountain Gate disappeared.

"After Wei Jianxiu knew the beginning, the Tang Dynasty finished the construction and the Xia Dynasty renewed.

True portrayal

This is a true portrayal of the vicissitudes of the temple. The newly built gate was rebuilt according to the size of the site. After entering the mountain gate, the Guandi hall and the Galan hall stand symmetrically on both sides. There are three Guandi halls in the style of Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Jialan hall, the God of Guandi, is a new building. Through the two halls in the central axis is the stupa.

This tower plays an extremely important role in the history of the development of faxing temple.

Historical records

According to records, in 673 A.D., Li Yuanyi, the 13th son of emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, visited the faxing temple when he was a historian of Luzhou. Seeing the magnificent scenery here, he spent a lot of money to expand the pagoda and personally presided over the construction of the pagoda. He presented his 37 relics and Tripitaka to the temple and kept them in the stone pagoda. The stone pagoda he presided over is still perfect and stands as it used to be.

The shape of the pagoda is similar to that of tafei pagoda and that of Dian Fei temple, which is unique among the existing ancient pagodas in China. The whole body of the relic tower is made of sandstone slab. The plane is square, and the shape is double eaves Pavilion style. The inside of the relic tower is square caisson, and the four corners are zanjian Baozhu top. There are frescoes on the four walls of the lower trough. The relief in Baoding caisson is exquisite. The figures in the frescoes are dignified and the shape of the whole tower is very exquisite. When the pagoda was built, it was in the Tang Dynasty when Buddhism reached its peak. King Zheng Hui's gift of relic and Tripitaka had a far-reaching impact. Later generations called this place a blessed place, which brought about the rise of Buddhism

Prosperous period

The prosperity of the temple. There is a lighthouse behind the stupa and in front of the front hall. On the pillars of the lamp tower is engraved the sentence "in the eighth year of the Tang Dynasty, Dong Xixuan, a Puritan, built a Changming lamp stand in this temple", so it is also called the stone carving Changming lamp. All of them are stone carvings with beautiful shape and fine carving, reflecting the artistic level of stone carvings in the Tang Dynasty. There are only three stone lighthouses in Tang Dynasty in China. The stone lighthouse in faxing temple has the most exquisite shape, the finest carving and the most complete preservation. It is known as the treasure of ancient stone carving.

Layout structure

The front hall, also known as Yuanjue hall, is the largest building in the temple. It was built in the third year of Yuanfeng of Song Dynasty (1066 AD). The hall is about 8 meters high, with stone door frame, lattice windows and skeleton all supported by stone and wooden columns. The Dougong is fat, and the cornice is flying in the air. It is very powerful and solemn. There are six rafters on the top of the mountain. The front eaves are carved with animal and lotus patterns on the bluestone walls. The carving is meticulous and vivid. Most of the 18 Buddhist statues in the hall are clay sculptures of the Song Dynasty. In the hall, there is a stone "concave" Buddha platform, in which the Buddha statue of Sakyamuni is placed, about 3 meters high, sitting on a square lotus platform.

Zuo Youwei, Manjusri and Puxian Bodhisattvas. There are two Dharma protectors in front of the station. Nanhai Guanyin sits with his back to the statue of Sakyamuni. On both sides of the wall, there are 12 Yuanjue statues, either bare upper body or naked clothes, with round face, high bun and beautiful eyebrows. They have a solemn and elegant look, soft colors, smooth undulating patterns, and a sense of rhythm. In particular, the round vision image with one hand holding the cheek for thinking is beautiful and lifelike.

Architecture in the temple

Sarita

Also known as the "stone hall", the whole body is made of sandstone slabs. The plane of the tower is a square shape with a length of 8.8 meters on each side. It is equipped with arched stone doors and double eaves Pavilion style. The eaves of the tower are stacked in three layers, forming a square caisson with purlin rafters on the four slopes above, Dougong eaves on the four corners and Pearl top on the four corners. The inner groove of the lower layer can be bypassed, and the murals on the four walls show dignified figures and deep colors of clothing. The shape of the whole building is like the tower, like the hall, which is unique among the existing ancient pagodas in China.

Light tower

It is 2.26 meters high and octagonal in plane. It has two layers of base. The base of the lower layer is a folded waist type. There are running animals carved around the chassis, and eight killetian carved inside the door of the pot. On the column is engraved "Dong Xirui, a Puritan in the eighth year of the Dali Period of the Tang Dynasty In this temple, a "Changming lampstand" is built. The base is carved with round upside down lotus petals, and four hollow octagonal lamp pavilions are carved on it. The tower is hollow. A lotus column is carved beside each door, and a bucket is set on the top. Between the two columns, an appendix is carved, and square doors and broken lattice windows are carved. At night, the light is emitted from the four doors and shines around the temple. The overall shape of the tower is very beautiful and the carving is fine. It is one of the best existing stone lighthouses in China.

Zhongyuanjue Hall

There are six rafters hanging on the top of the mountain, five spines and six beasts, stone door frames, wooden doors, green stone small octagonal columns carved with twig patterns, the front eaves and stone walls carved with animal lotus patterns, the carving is meticulous and vivid, and the upper sill of the hall door is engraved with inscriptions.

Inside the hall, the Buddhist altar is very wide, with a concave shape. On the altar, Sakyamuni sits at the beginning. The two disciples bow to serve each other. Manjusri and Puxian drive lions and elephants on both sides. The two Dharma protectors are located in the front corner of the platform.

There are six Yuanjue statues in the hall, with plump face, plump muscles, high bun and beautiful eyebrows. They are solemn and graceful, elegant in appearance, soft in color, smooth in undulating lines, full of rhythm, free in posture and different in expression. The Yingluo is concise, especially the Yuanjue statues in the first year of Zhenghe in the Northern Song Dynasty (111), with one hand holding the cheek for meditation, and the expression overflowing on the tip of the eyebrow, flowing in the corner of the mouth, and more beautiful It gives people a pleasant and amiable feeling. This hall is a masterpiece of the Song Dynasty with its beautiful shape and exquisite workmanship. It is the representative work of the Song Dynasty with the Liao Dynasty statues of Huayan Temple in Datong and the Song Dynasty statues of Jin CI in Taiyuan.

Surrounding scenic spots

Guangzhishan

At the border between Licheng and Xiangyuan, there is a Guangzhi mountain with an altitude of 1807 meters. Guangzhishan is commonly known as changzhinao, also known as zhongyangshan. The mountain is towering and precipitous,

The cliffs are sharp, and the peaks rise into the sky. On a sunny day, you can have a panoramic view within a hundred Li. It's relaxing and open-minded, so you can take a bus from Licheng to the Northwest for 30 kilometers to reach the mountainside of Guangdong mountain. Here, the hinterland is broad, the grass is green, the forest and spring are set against each other, and the environment is beautiful. Based on this unique natural resources, after liberation, Licheng county established a medicinal plant here for economic development. They grow dangshen, forsythia, astragalus, Zihu and other precious medicinal materials with excellent quality, and also raise many lively and lovely sika deer, which are very good-looking.

Chinese PinYin : Fa Xing Si