Puhua Temple

Puhua temple, formerly known as Yuhuang temple and imperial palace, was rebuilt during the period of the Republic of China. The temple is not big. It is the latest temple built in Wutai Mountain. What is most worth seeing in the temple is the screen wall, which is made of stone and brick. It is the longest screen wall in Wutai Mountain Temple. In the middle of the wall, there is a stone carving of "three stars of fortune, fortune and longevity". On both sides, there are "Wen Wu BIE Zi" and "fan Xi Qiu Xian". On the back, there are carved Guanyin, shancai and Longnv, with flowers and plants as a foil. These stone carvings are excellent and can be compared with the Longquan Temple. They are one of the masterpieces of brick and stone architecture in Wutai Mountain.  

Puhua Temple

Puhua temple is located 1 km south of the central temple cluster area of Taihuai Town, Wutai County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province. It is located at the foot of the mountain on the east side of Qingshui River. The temple has a flat terrain and a symmetrical layout. The hall is built from east to west, with the central courtyard as the main body, and the north and South are protected by two courtyards, forming five courtyards side by side, covering an area of 15800 square meters, with more than 100 hall buildings.

brief introduction

Puhua temple, whose founding date can not be verified, is located in the South Erli of the temple cluster area in the center of Taihuai, at the foot of the mountain on the east side of Qingshui River. The temple has a flat terrain and a symmetrical layout, which is quite elegant. The temple is built from east to west, with the central courtyard as the main building. There are Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, Sandashi hall, Yuhuang Pavilion and Liangxiang Gallery, left and right Zen hall, luzu Pavilion, and two-story courtyards in the north and south, forming five courtyards side by side, covering an area of 15800 square meters, with more than 100 halls and buildings.

Puhua Temple

Originally known as the Jade Emperor Temple and the Imperial Palace, the existing temples were rebuilt in the Republic of China. The architectural features here are as follows: first, the floor gallery pattern; second, the fine decoration. There are many white jade stone carvings on the entrance of the door, the lower sill wall, the corner pillar and the column base, which reflect the architectural style of the Republic of China.

The earliest temple in Wutai Mountain should be Dafu lingjiu temple, the predecessor of Xiantong temple, and the later one should be Puhua temple. Puhua temple, originally known as the imperial palace. During the reign of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1628-1644), there was a jade emperor's pavilion built here, which was dedicated to the Jade Emperor, so it was also known as the Jade Emperor's temple. The present building was rebuilt on the ruins of Yuhuang temple in 1925.

Architecture

Main buildings

The main building of the temple is the great hall behind the heavenly king hall. The hall is three rooms wide. Single eaves rest on the top of the mountain, around the hall four corridors, eaves with a "main hall" wooden plaque. Two dragons playing with pearls are carved on the wooden coupons between the pillars of the front porch. Twelve lattice fans are installed between the pillars of the porch, dragons are carved on the skirt board, and flower windows are on the top. The base plate on the eaves is painted with colored paintings, and the brackets and brackets are equipped with cushion arches, which are painted again. Generally speaking, the decoration of the main hall is exquisite and gorgeous, which is different from other general buildings of the temple. The hall is mainly for Sakyamuni Buddha. Next to the Buddha are Manjusri and Puxian Bodhisattvas. On the two walls of the hall are eighteen Arhats. There are large murals on the two inner walls of the gable. It is a picture of Buddhism, also known as Sakyamuni's genealogy, which depicts the process of Sakyamuni from the crown prince to becoming a monk. In the right corner of the rear wall of the hall, there is also an old man Manjusri, with a long beard on his chin and a face like arhat, which is unique in the setting of statues in Wutai Mountain.

Sitting on the East and west side of the main hall, there are 30 wooden buildings with two upper and lower floors on the north and south sides respectively. The corridors come out layer by layer, and the pillars are arranged in rows. The long ends in the middle of the corridor are connected by a ticket hole, and the lower corridor is connected with the upper corridor by a wooden ladder. Walking around the corridor, or standing at the bottom of the building for sightseeing, there is a kind of elegant taste of full of scenery.

Architectural features

The screen wall of Puhua temple is made of stone and brick. It is the longest screen wall in Wutaishan temple, with stone inscriptions in the middle

The pattern of "three stars of fortune, wealth and longevity" has "Wen Wu BIE Zi" and "fan Xi Qiu Xian" on both sides, with Guanyin, shancai and Longnv carved on the back, with flowers and plants as a foil. These stone carvings are excellent and can be compared with the Longquan Temple. They are one of the masterpieces of brick and stone architecture in Wutai Mountain.

There is a tall shadow wall in front of the temple, on which there are brick eaves carvings of imitation wood buildings. In the middle, there are three round stone carvings embedded in the shadow wall. In the lower part, there is xumizuo, a stone building. The waist, upper owl, lower curl, upper Fang and lower Fang are all carved with figures, medicinal flowers and ancient instruments. Among the round stone carvings on the screen wall, the central one is "three stars of fortune, wealth and longevity". The three immortals are uncertain of their age, kind and kind, with the demeanor of the elderly in real life. The one on the north side is "King Wen of Zhou invited Jiang Taigong", which is very interesting. This high screen wall is exquisitely carved and is one of the treasures in the screen wall of Wutai Mountain Temple.

On the left side of the screen wall, the first one you can see is Tianwang hall. There is a stone plaque on the front of the hall, which is engraved with the word "Puhua Temple". The three doors of the heavenly king hall are open at the same time, and the word "Fa Lun Chang Zhuan" is engraved on the front eaves. There are stone carvings on the plinth of the hall, on the wall of the sill, on the entrance of the middle gate, and on the corner of the long head. Some of them are carved with bamboo in the wind, showing a natural and elegant charm. Some carved Monkey King, showing a quiet and comfortable mood. There are also stone carvings, which give people a kind of aesthetic enjoyment of life. For example, a shepherd boy sits on the back of an ox and plays a flute; a shepherd holds a whip to graze sheep; a farmer carries a Puzi to drive an elephant, with a pine branch on his head and a magpie on it; an old man rides a donkey across a bridge and the water flows fast under the bridge. There is a fairy tale in the stone carvings of the main hall. It turns out that these stone carvings were built by the disciples of monk Puji, the leader of Jiugong road in Nanshan Temple, who was converted to Buddhism in the Republic of China. Therefore, the content of the stone carvings in Nanshan Temple is the same as that in Nanshan Temple, which is full of Taoist color. On the two walls of the hall, there are four majestic heavenly kings. On the altar of the central hall, the statue of Maitreya is placed in a small wooden niche with fine carving and colored gold imitating the structure of the hall. On the back of the Maitreya screen, there is a stone statue of Bodhisattva Weituo. In addition, the difference between the Tianwang Hall of Puhua temple and the Tianwang Hall of Taihuai Temple district is that two generals, hem ha, who sit side by side with the four heavenly kings, are added. One is black and red, and the other is red and brown. They both hold a magic wand in one hand and a magic ring in the other. The two generals belong to the mythical characters in the romance of Fengshen, and they are also modeled as Dharma protectors by Buddhism. In addition, there are "subduing the dragon and subduing the tiger" on the ground. One God rides on the back of the dragon and the other captures the tiger. These are also Taoist.

Foreign contacts

Although Puhua temple is a relatively young temple in Wutai Mountain, it has a good place with outstanding people, good guidance, many monks, and many eminent monks. Master Fazun, a famous Buddhist master, Famen dragon elephant and translator, is a monk in the temple. He is progressive in thought, patriotic and religious, proficient in Buddhism, wandering between the two languages. He has translated Chinese classics such as Dabi bosuo, on the people's democratic dictatorship, on new democracy, and history of social development into Tibetan; he has also translated Tibetan dictionary, Bodhi daoci Guanglun, Mizong daoci Guanglun, Bian Bu Yi Lun, xianguan solemn Lun, Bian FA Xing Lun, 400 Lun song, Ru Zhong Lun Lue, etc《 The translation of Tibetan classics such as jushe Lun Lishi, Bodhi Deng Lun, Shi Liang Lun, Shi Liang Lun Lue Jie and Ji Liang Lun Lue Jie into Chinese has contributed a lot to the communication between Chinese and Tibetan culture and the promotion of law and life.

After a generation of Buddhist master Fazun, there comes a "temple mender" who loves the temple as a family and a "miracle doctor monk" who is compassionate, monk cangming. Monk zangming is the master of Sanyi of Huayan Temple in Datong. As early as the mid-1950s, he came to Mount Wutai. He emancipated his mind, worked hard, and loved the temple as his home. During his stay in Wutai Mountain, he successively built five temples, including Xiantong temple, dailuoding temple, Wanfo Pavilion, Guanyin cave and Puhua temple. In the case of Puhua temple, in just three years, he led monks to repair more than 130 Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, senliao and Zen houses. Therefore, it is known as "temple building fan". As the saying goes: "to be a monk for one day, to hit a clock for one day.". It is the monks' duty to meditate, chant, build and manage temples. However, the Tibetan monk kept in mind the teachings of the Buddha and had the spirit of Mahayana. He was not only dignified in Buddhism, but also happy and affectionate. At the same time, he also practiced medicine for the majority of monks with the theory of Buddhist medicine. According to Buddhism, the human body is composed of earth, water, fire and wind. The four balances make the body disease-free; the four increases and losses make the body full of diseases. Human diseases are nothing more than body diseases and heart diseases. Master Zang Ming often treats this disease by applying medicine, acupuncture, massage, bone setting, twisting pain, meditation, exercise, health preservation and natural food therapy. He is good at bonesetting, massage and twisting pain. He has treated many diseases for Daoists, dharmaists and foreign friends. Therefore, he is known as a "Buddhist doctor" with "medical skills like God", and he is also employed as an "honorary orthopedic doctor outside the hospital" by Tianjin Railway Hospital, which is far away from mountains and rivers. At the same time, he also opened a "Buddhist Hospital" in Puhua Temple. On the one hand, he cured patients and saved people, on the other hand, he taught the ancestral secret recipe of bone grafting to the layman, etc., giving full play to the compassion of Buddhism and the Bodhisattva of all living beings Spirit. Therefore, people praised him as a "miracle doctor monk", and the party and government gave him the glorious title of "labor model".

Master cangming is old, but he is still inseparable from Buddha. He cultivated a large number of Buddhist talents in order to promote Buddhism, practice Dharma constantly, pass the lantern and receive salary. In 1991, he retired to the second tier and gave the work of Puhua temple to monk Miaosheng. Miaosheng, the magic name of Baozhu, is the favorite disciple of Tibetan monk Ming. He is currently the abbot of Puhua temple. He is a young Buddhist calligrapher in Wutai Mountain. He is active in thought, strict in discipline, pure in Zen and has a certain Buddhist attainments. He is especially good at calligraphy and can write with both hands. He believes that words can convey the spirit and follow the heart

Chinese PinYin : Pu Hua Si