Jindeng Temple

There is clear and sweet spring water in Jindeng temple, which can supplement drinking water

Jindeng Temple

Formerly known as Baoyan temple. The grottoes are dug in the natural stone pits on the top of the mountain. It took more than 60 years from the 17th year of Hongzhi (1504) to the 44th year of Jiajing (1565). The grottoes and buildings face south and lie on the cliff. There are now seven courtyards, 14 caves, 37 Buddhist niches and more than 500 cliff statues. There are 34 wooden buildings, such as Yanshou hall, Guangong hall, Zhangba Buddha Hall, etc. in the temple, more than 20 ancient steles and tablets are preserved. Jindengsi grottoes are selected as the Sixth Batch of national cultural relics and the key cultural relics protection units in Shanxi Province.

Brief introduction to temples

Jindengsi grottoes are located on the top of Linwu mountain, 65 kilometers southeast of Pingshun County, Shanxi Province, and at the junction of Linxian County, Henan Province (east of Beiquan village, Xingcheng Town, Pingshun county). All around the mountain ups and downs, hillside trees thin grass. There are three seasons in the whole year. It was first named Baoyan temple, but later because of fireflies

Light night flying into the temple, renamed today. The grottoes were first excavated in the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581). They were expanded in the Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty (1506-1620). There are 17 large and small grottoes, 281 statues and more than 1200 relief statues. The height of the statue is 3.1-0.3 meters, and the height of the relief is 20-15 cm. The largest cave is Shuilu hall, covering an area of about 125 square meters. The ground inside the cave is chiseled into a pool. The water is clear to the bottom, and it does not dry up. There is a stone bridge with the word "Tian" on the top of the pool. More than 30 stone Buddhas and 79 relief murals are carved around the Buddha platform and caisson. There are more than 20 wooden buildings in the temple, including emperor hall, bell and Drum Tower, Zhangba Buddha Hall, Yanshou hall, Juxian tower, and more than 40 steles in Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are 46 stone pagodas outside the temple.

Layout of scenic spots

The Jindeng temple is located on the steep cliff in the east of Linjie. At the top of the temple, there is a huge cliff in the sky. Under the temple, there is an abyss, which faces south to the north. From the east to the mountain, there is a pattern of one entrance and seven courtyards. Most of the existing halls have the architectural style of Ming and Qing Dynasties. Due to the precipice in the north and the deep valley in the south, seven courtyards have been built from the east to the West. Each courtyard has its own hall. The main buildings are the mountain gate, the bell and Drum Tower, the Great Buddha Hall, the Guandi hall, the juxianlou, and the dicangge. There are 14 caves on the North cliff of the mountainside, the largest and most famous of which is the Shuilu hall. Also known as Shuiluo hall, it covers an area of about 125 square meters. It has a flat top on the top and a crystal clear pool below. The spring water gushes out from the northwest stone gap and is clear to the bottom. There is a stone dike bridge with Tian character carved on the marsh. Visitors can watch along the bridge. There are Thousand Buddhas of the same size carved on the cliff. The outer eaves of the grottoes are carved from the cliff to build a palace with a door in the center. The square eaves and columns are horizontally decorated with "e Fang". The layout is well arranged and the carvings are very beautiful. There are many Ming Dynasty stone tablets in the temple, which indicates that the grottoes were excavated in Jiajing of Ming Dynasty and Wanli of Longqing. The front and back of the fan wall in the Ming Dynasty are rectangular Buddha platforms about 50 cm above the water surface, with three Buddha statues sitting side by side on the front and three gentry statues sitting upside down on the back. There are also three Buddhas sitting on the back platform. The front trough is octagonal gold column with lotus petal column base. On the top of the cave, there are exquisite niches and main shaped caisson, around which Buddha statues are carved. Four wall relief water and land painting, the upper part is also carved around the Buddha, Bodhisattva, arhat and other images, with flexible and diverse manners. In the fifth entrance, cave 12 is a small-scale cave with a relief of Manjusri Bodhisattva story. The rest of the caves are carved with Maitreya, Kalan, Thousand Buddhas, Guanyin, Luohan, Taishan gods, etc., with different expressions and styles.

It has been destroyed by mutiny for many times, and there are more than 30 existing temples. Because the temple is located in a remote area, the traffic is inconvenient, and restricted by the development level of productivity at that time, the building is relatively simple, even rough. Its construction materials are mostly excavated on the spot, and the installation is not very standardized. Compared with those buildings with carved beams and painted buildings and exquisite workmanship, it is more ancient and dignified. The construction of Jindeng Temple highlights the excavation of the grottoes. There are 25 caves of different sizes, most of which are excavated in the south, and most of them are excavated in the Jiajing and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty. The outer edge of the cave is carved on the cliff. A gate is built in the center of the hall, and the square eaves and columns are horizontally decorated with an e Fang. Jindengsi grottoes are known as the end of Chinese Grottoes art. Temple hall grottoes, cliff statues, steles, pagodas, for the provincial heritage protection units. Among them, shuiludian grottoes are the largest and the best preserved.

Hundreds of meters from the north of Jindeng Temple Forest is the stone pagoda forest. There are 46 large and small stupas. One of the biggest is the thousand Buddha pagoda. The thousand Buddha pagoda is made of stone. The base of the pagoda is in a hexagonal shape, 8.8 meters high. There is a stone chamber in the center, 2.25 meters inside, with stone gates. The doors and cabinets are all engraved with characters on the side, which vaguely distinguish the words "sitting lotus from the west, dragging tiger from the East". A thousand statues of Buddha with different expressions are carved on the pagoda. It is said that the pagoda is the burial place of Zen master MI, the founder of Jindeng temple. Master MI, whose name is Jing Zhen, is a native of Anyang, Henan Province. He once worshipped the famous monk Qing Guo as an apprentice. He first practiced in the famous Xuanshan temple, and then went to the Liangdang mountain nunnery in Shaanxi Province. Later, he traveled all over the country, sleeping in the tiger cave at night, taking the tiger as his companion, dragging the tiger with the bowl every day, collecting money along the way. Finally, I boarded the unique scenery of linfilter mountain. I was very happy, so I settled here and founded the golden lantern temple.

Historical evolution

Jindeng temple was first built in the Northern Qi Dynasty. It was called Baoyan temple at first. Later, Zen master MI was surprised to find that every night, two golden lanterns floated into the temple from east to west. When the temple was full of gold, so he renamed Baoya temple Jindeng. A mountain in the east of the temple is called "Qideng mountain", and a mountain not far from the west of the temple is called "luodeng mountain". It's a legend. However, living in the golden lantern temple, you can see things within a few meters every night, whether there is a moon or not. You can read, write and thread without making mistakes. This is another wonder of the golden lantern temple. Go down the small stone path next to the golden lantern temple for hundreds of meters to the south gate. On the gate post is engraved "the gate can reach the sky, looking up at the blue setting stars; the road passes through the Jue field, overlooking the low green hills." this couplet describes the scene of Nantianmen appropriately. The entrance is guarded by the eight King Kong, which is daunting. Dozens of Vajra Arhats have been lost in the wind, rain and eclipse for thousands of years, but they are still regarded as treasures. Jindeng temple has unique architecture, beautiful carving and unique style. It is indeed a treasure house of stone carving art. There are also many Ming Dynasty stone tablets in the temple, which indicates that the grottoes were excavated successively during the Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty.

Surrounding scenic spots

Linfilter mountain lies in Beiquan village, yuxiaguan Township, 65 kilometers southeast of Pingshun County, and borders Linzhou, Henan Province. The mountain is steep, towering and straight, with steep cliffs, deep forests and secluded caves. It is really a place far away from the hustle and bustle. Looking around, you can see the green dragons winding in the sea of clouds. "All the famous mountain monks in the world" is a true saying. From the foot of Linjie mountain to the top of the mountain, Buddhist temples are like forests, caves are like beehives, honggushan temple, lingjiuyin, Jingju temple, Bingling cave, Yindong, Taohua Cave There are wonderful legends and magical stories everywhere. But the most popular is the unique golden lantern temple.

Jindeng Temple Grottoes

Shuilu Hall

In the golden lantern temple, the most famous one is Shuilu Hall (also known as Shuiluo Hall). Walking into the hall, facing the lotus terrace, the majestic Sakyamuni Jiejia sits down. His wise eyes reveal the wisdom of great insight, which has the power of absorbing people's soul. Zuo Wenshu and right Puxian gods are vivid and moving. There is a "liquid pool" in the hall. The spring water flows out from the stone crevice in the northwest corner of the hall and flows into the pool. It is clear to the bottom. There is a stone dike carved on the pool, along which pilgrims can enjoy the Buddha Hall. It's strange that the statue of sanlishi in the Buddha Hall is sitting upside down. They seem to be practicing kung fu seriously. Looking around, the walls are full of relief murals. Some of the pictures show the Buddha preaching to his disciples, some of the ten heavenly kings that are not common in ordinary Buddha halls, and some of the bodhisattvas and Arhats The Shuilu palace covers an area of 125 square meters, with 79 relief murals. It is really a stone art palace.

Shuilu hall was built in the first year of Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty (1488 A.D.), sitting in the north and south, with square eaves and columns carved on the outer eaves and rectangular cave doors in the middle. There are several stone tablets in front of the hall, which are hard to recognize because of the weathering handwriting. When you enter the cave, you can see that it covers an area of more than 20 square meters, with a flat ceiling on the top, a square caisson carved on the bottom and a clear pool of water. Where is the source of water in the hall. It turned out that the clear spring water gushed from the northwest corner stone gap all the year round. There is a Tian shaped stone bridge on the pool, which connects the left and right walls, the cave door and the front and back of the fan wall. There are about 50 cm wide steps. We can visit all parts of the hall along this stone bridge. You see, in the middle is a rectangular Buddha platform about 60 cm above the water. There is a fan wall in the center of the platform. Three Buddha statues about 3 meters high are seated on the lotus throne (cross legged meditation). The Buddha body is well proportioned and has a kind look. On the back, there are three statues of scholars. Behind the fan wall, there are also three Buddhas sitting side by side. Due to the flexible layout, there are many Buddha statues in the hall. The front trough is two octagonal gold pillars, the front of the pillars is carved with dragon shaped patterns, and the other sides are carved with flowers. There are 9 niches on the upper part of the left and right walls, with 18 Arhats carved inside, with different shapes and spirits. There are 90 relief murals on the lower part of the left, right and back walls, which are beautiful and neat. They depict vivid Buddhist figures and tell beautiful Buddhist stories, just like an exquisite three-dimensional comic book. Take a quiet look and feel the profundity of Buddhism.

Other Grottoes

Walk out of Shuilu hall and pay attention to the beehive like cliff statues and small Grottoes on the cliff outside the hall,

Chinese PinYin : Jin Deng Si