Zhenhai Temple

Zhenhai Temple is a yellow Lama's temple. This is the Taoist temple of Zhangjia living Buddha. He once made an appointment with Qianlong to worship Wutai Mountain, and finally died here. Qianlong built a tower with 7000 taels of gold to house the spirit bones of the national teacher. On both sides of the hall are Lama's clothes and hats. The last living Buddha has great power in Wutai Mountain, because Zhenhai Temple is his executive office, so the scale of Zhenhai Temple is becoming larger and larger.

Zhenhai Temple

Zhenhai Temple is located in the west side of Qingshui River in the south of Taihuai Town, Wutai County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province, 5 kilometers away from Taihuai town. Zhenhai Temple is built on the steep stone mountain mouth, close to the front of the courtyard. There are flag poles in the tree, stone lions squatting, Mountain Gate, Tianwang hall and the second floor of Bell and drum.

Zhenhai Temple, built in the Ming Dynasty, was named after the Zhenhai pagoda built on the submarine spring beside the temple. From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, it was the residence of Zhangjia living Buddha. Now it is a Gelug Temple of Tibetan Buddhism.

Brief introduction to temples

Zhenhai Temple is located in the geomantic treasure land of "two dragons playing with pearls". The peaks on the left and right sides are like two flying dragons falling down the river valley, hunched over and surrounded by them. The temple is built on a stone mountain mouth surrounded by two mountains, just like a pearl of two dragons playing. There are old and straight big pine trees in the gap of the mountain. Walking along the path among the pine trees, and listening to the rustling pine wind, you will feel quiet and lonely.

When you enter the temple, you can see that the mountain peak on the south side is covered with dense fir and poplar trees, and on the top of the mountain on the north side, the ancient pine trees of a thousand years come out of the rocks. This is a scenic spot of Wutai Mountain. The ancient pine with thick shade and green shade sets off the mountain temple, which is rare in Wutai temple area.

Imperial inscriptions

In the first month of the 50th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the temple, the stele was made by the emperor. It says: "the people in Zhenhai Temple are the secluded clumps at the intersection, the victory of Taihuai, the lofty base and the precipitous temple, the hall of Buddhist Chanting, the spiritual area of Aojing and the place of Dharma driving."

Layout structure

Zhenhai Temple is built on the steep shishanzui, 1600 meters above sea level. Taking advantage of the advantages of the mountains, the temples are well arranged, and form a rising pattern step by step from the hillside to the top of the mountain. There are flagpoles and stone lions in front of the temple, and there are 100 halls and buildings in the temple. Zhenhai Temple covers an area of 16000 square meters, with 100 halls and buildings.

The main building of the temple is a triple hall. There are four heavenly kings on the two walls of the heavenly king hall, with Maitreya Buddha in the middle; there are three sitting Buddhas in the middle, with "aura" on the back and a gold body; there are three sitting statues of Manjusri Bodhisattva sitting lion in the middle of the back hall, and three gold body sitting statues in the front. Through the small gate on the west side of the central hall, there is a courtyard with the tomb tower of the 15th Zhangjia living Buddha built in the 51st year of Qianlong. On the platform which is 7.9 meters long, 7 meters wide and 1.3 meters high, there is a stone tower which is more than 9 meters high and looks like a algae bottle.

The octagonal tower base, each corner of the plastic Hercules, eight sides of the base carved figures, and color. There are three seated Buddhas and eight standing statues in the center of the tower. Above the round belly, there are layers of retracted spires. The shape of the tower is unique and the carving is fine and gorgeous.

The scale

The temple covers an area of 1620 square meters and is divided into upper and lower chambers. The upper chamber is the hall of the flesh relic of the 15th and 16th Zhangjia living Buddha, and the lower chamber is the main building of the temple, including the temple of heavenly king, the hall of Mahatma, the hall of Guanyin, the hall of Guan Gong, the hall of praying for blessings, and the pagoda, all of which were built in the Qing Dynasty. In the courtyard, there is the relic pagoda of the third Zhangjia living Buddha, rabedoji. It was built in 1786 and has high artistic value.

Main attractions

At present, there are only four main halls, namely, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall and Guanzhong hall

Among them, Guanyin hall is also known as Manjusri hall. There are five Bodhisattvas worshipped in the hall, with 18 Arhats on both sides. There is a small courtyard behind the temple, in which there is the tomb tower of the 15th Zhangjia living Buddha built in the 51st year of Qianlong. The tomb tower is carved with fine figures on eight sides. Zhang Jia's living Buddha is a position inherited by the Yellow Emperor in the past dynasties. Its status is second only to Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. Emperor Kangxi respected Zhangjia living Buddha as "great national master" and let him control the fifty banners of Inner Mongolia.

The 19th Zhangjia living Buddha, that is, the last living Buddha, was appointed by Yuan Shikai as the leader of Huangjiao in Beijing, Xining and Wutai Mountains, and later served as a representative of the National Congress. This last living Buddha has great power in Wutai Mountain, because Zhenhai Temple is his executive office, so the scale of Zhenhai Temple is becoming larger and larger.

Buddhist tradition

Built in the Qing Dynasty, it contains the inscription made by Emperor Kangxi in 1711. The ramp in front of the temple is rugged. The existing Mountain Gate, bell and Drum Tower, Tianwang hall, Great Buddha Hall, missionary hall, left and right side halls, etc. all the Buddha statues in each hall are Qing sculptures. On the south side of the temple is Yongle courtyard, the residence of living Buddha Zhangjia of the Qing Dynasty. The stone carving of the 15th Zhangjia Pagoda in the courtyard was built in 1786, which is said to be Jinding jade burial.

In the upper part of the pagoda, there are four Buddha statues. There are corridors around the pagoda, and ten Ming kings and twelve Yuanjue Bodhisattvas are painted. After the 15th century, Zhang Jiajun of all dynasties came here to stay. Mongolian and Tibetan worshippers paid homage to the living Buddha. It is located on the west side of Qingshui River in the south of Taihuai Town, ten miles away from Taihuai Town, with an altitude of 1600 meters. Zhangjia living Buddha is a Buddha position inherited from the Yellow religion in the past dynasties. Since Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, it has been respected as a national teacher by the emperors of the past dynasties.

The 15th Zhangjia living Buddha, named raobudarji, lives in Songzhu temple in Beijing. Every summer, he comes to Mount Wutai to spend the summer. He saw the beautiful scenery of Zhenhai Temple and used to live here when he came to the mountain. Later, he changed the exterior Temple of Zhenhai Temple into Huang Temple. Zhang jiarao died in Beijing during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Later, his spirit and bones were transported to Zhenhai Temple, where the tomb tower was built. In the later generations, Zhang Jia always lived in Zhenhai Temple.

The 19th Zhangjia living Buddha, or the last living Buddha, was appointed by Yuan Shikai to be the leader of the Yellow Sect in Beijing, Xining and Wutai Mountains. It is said that there was a sea eye at the bottom of the mountain opposite Zhenhai Temple. Maybe some time, the sea water gushed out, destroyed the fields and flooded the village.

Manjusri Bodhisattva brought benefits to the people, so he placed a pagoda above the sea eye to suppress the flooding of the sea. Later, a temple was built here, called Zhenhai Temple. The tower is called Zhenhai tower. There is a beautiful fairy tale here. Once upon a time, at the foot of the "Erlong Xizhu" mountain, there lived a family named Zhang. The man in charge of the family died early, leaving his mother and daughter. Mother Zhang was afraid that her only daughter Xiaomei would live long every day, so she went to the top of Mount Wutai Bodhisattva to make a wish and ask Manjusri for more blessing. The mother and daughter depend on each other to earn a living by picking mushrooms. When Xiao Mei was 18 years old, she was as beautiful as a flower. When she goes to the mountain to pick mushrooms, the flowers are too ashamed to look up; when she sings in the mountain, the larks are too ashamed to speak; when she goes to the spring to wash her face, her reflection is reflected in the spring, and the spring is so happy. But the spring at the foot of the mountain is connected with the East China Sea. Xiao Mei often goes to the spring to wash her face, but she gets into trouble.

Related allusions

On this day, Xiaomei came down the mountain singing with a basket of mushrooms and went to the spring to have a face lift. Suddenly, a flood came out of the spring, forming a vicious wave. Xiaomei is so frightened that she is about to run away with her basket. A strong wind blows and the water is turbulent. Xiaomei is involved in the water and disappears in the twinkling of an eye. The spring is back to its original shape. Aunt Zhang cooked the meal and waited for Xiao Mei to come back.

But you can't wait to come back, you can't wait to come back. Look at the sunset, you still can't see Xiaomei. Aunt Zhang hurried to ask the villagers to go out and look for them. They tossed around in the middle of the night with lanterns and torches, and finally found two things by the spring: a basket full of mushrooms and a wet slipper. Besides, Xiaomei was washed away by the evil waves, and she drifted for a long time. When she opened her eyes, she came to a gorgeous building. Looking out of the window, the pair of fish and shrimp swim to and fro, coral trees red as fire.

When Xiaomei was surprised, the door opened and two maids came in, one carrying a dressing box and the other holding a splendid dress, asking her to dress up. Xiaomei asked, where is this? The maid holding the dressing box answered: This is Donghai dragon palace! Just because you often wash your face by the spring and reflect your beautiful face into our dragon palace. My young master is the ninth Prince of the old dragon king. He is fascinated by your beauty. He rolled up the sea waves and brought you here so that you can be with him Xiaomei cried out: "send me back quickly! Send me back quickly At this time, the ninth Prince of the Dragon King came in. He was a dragon head, dressed in scales, staring at his round eyes, and said, "I've got you here so that we can make a good marriage. Let's get dressed quickly." Xiaomei shook her head and said, "you are the prince of the Dragon King. I'm a poor folk girl. How dare I climb up? Send me home, I will serve my mother As soon as the ninth Prince heard this, he immediately changed his face and said, "if you don't follow me, you can't get out of the dragon palace!" Xiaomei is a very clever girl. She thinks: let oneself marry with this terrible Dragon King nine princes, is to say nothing, need to use a stratagem to get away. As soon as she turned her eyes and thought about it, she said to the ninth prince, "I'm a Buddhist. If you want to marry me, you should send me home for fasting, and then come to my house to marry you in three days. Otherwise, I will never follow! " As soon as the ninth prince was able to fulfill his wish, he happily promised that he would send yecha to carry Xiaomei across the East China Sea and out of the sea. As soon as Xiaomei closed her eyes, she heard the sound of the waves beside her ears. After a while, geden stopped and opened her eyes. She went back to the spring where she often washed her face. The sky is blue, the sun is red, the mountain flowers are still beautiful, and the spring is still clear. Xiaomei seems to have a nightmare. A gust of wind came, and she woke up and ran home in a hurry. As soon as Aunt Zhang saw Xiaomei coming back, she was overjoyed. She hugged her daughter and cried. Xiao Mei cried to her mother

Chinese PinYin : Zhen Hai Si