TaoGong Temple

TaoGong Temple

Taogong temple is located in Baili street, Changsha County. It is said that Tao Dan, the grandson of Tao Kan (259-334) in the Jin Dynasty, was good at Taoism since he was a child and sought health preservation. He and his nephew Tao Xuan were mummies. The temple was built on the peak of Linxiang mountain for sacrifice. It was built and repaired by the royal family and the government.

geographical position

Taogong temple is located in Yuli street, Changsha County, near Liuyang River and Linxiang mountain, surrounded by towering ancient trees and beautiful scenery. It is a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit.

According to legend, the 13th of the first month and the 17th of August are the birthdays of uncle and nephew Tao Gong every year. So every two birthdays, Taogong temple will hold a temple fair.

Now the temple fair of Taogong temple in Houli street has come out of the tradition and integrated more health culture.

Since 1997, the people's Government of Changsha County has designated the "temple fair of Tao Gong's birthday" as the "temple fair of Tao Gong's temple culture" and guided it to become a mass festival for spreading advanced technology and culture.

Main landscape

The ancient temple consists of the main hall, the gate, the theater and the stone steps. The middle gate of the Mountain Gate

There is a plaque of "Linxiang mountain" on the forehead of the gate.

On both sides of the mountain gate, Lianyun said: "Prime Minister of the mountain, land God". This couplet says: in the Southern Dynasty, Tao Hongjing became an official of Qi Dynasty at the beginning, then entered Liang Dynasty, lived in seclusion in Maoshan, and was unable to get out after many rituals.

During the reign of Emperor Wu, whenever there was a major event in the country, he was often consulted, and was called "prime minister in the mountains" at that time.

In Jin Dynasty, Tao Yuanming was called "land immortal" because he forgot his gains and losses. In addition, the left and right mountain gates are respectively inlaid with "Zifu" and "Danqiu" gate forehead, and inlaid with couplets of "immortality, immortality is the name" and "Temple of the Six Dynasties, a thousand year old mountain".

Temple buildings, whether ridge, claw angle, wall, beam, eaves, skirting, railings, caisson, bucket arch, doors and windows, are properly decorated with various artistic techniques, such as sculpture, carving, painting and so on. It is magnificent, antique, uncanny workmanship, and fully demonstrates the high-grade skills of ancient Chinese architectural craftsmen.

Xilou, formerly known as "Daguan", was later renamed as "Gulou", which was written by Weng Tonghe, the teacher of Emperor Guangxu. This couplet at taikou is written by Mr. Yan Jialong, a famous calligrapher in our province.

Composition and structure

Taogong temple is composed of five parts: Mountain Gate, theater, stone steps, main hall and side hall. It covers an area of 11 mu with a construction area of 1852 square meters.

The gate is a brick archway with five rooms, seven columns, three doors and three openings. It is tall and gorgeous. The main ridge is decorated with a glazed flag dragon top. On both sides are lined with eight glazed immortals. Each of them has a vivid look. The two fish stalls end up with layers of plastic under the eaves. On the top of the door and wall, the inscription "Linxiang mountain" is engraved on white jade.

In the middle of the forehead, surrounded by five dragons, it forms the traditional "Five Dragons stick saint" pattern. The Zhongmen couplet uses the allusions of Tao Hongjing in the Southern Dynasty and Tao Yuanming in the Jin Dynasty to cut the surname of Tao. Lian Yun: Prime Minister of the mountain; land God. Left gate forehead "Danqiu", door couplet: Six Dynasties temple; ancient mountain.

The two sides of the Mountain Gate extend into a wall at right angles. On the left side of the gate is "Kangqu". The couplet of the gate is: Yalin DiCui, Shiling Liudan. On the right side of the gate is the "dao'an", and the couplet is: bamboo forest, spring mist, long water, deep waves.

The gate wall is followed by the gate house, with a stage in the middle. The gate can enter the inner court from below. On the left and right side of the stage is a patio, and on the outside are two open houses with single eaves and rigid gable doors.

The theater tower is 14.6 meters high, resting on the top of the mountain, with far-reaching eaves, high wing angles, flying dragons dancing under the wings, wind blocking angles, breeze blowing, and wind chimes jingling under the neck.

The roof adopts the combination of Xieshan and hard mountain, echoes with the "catapult wall" on both sides and the "gable wall" on the external wall, and fully shows the originality of the construction technology.

In the middle of the main ridge of the theater building is a five color gourd treasure item, and the kisses at both ends are iron swords in red script. The main ridge is made of "Panlong" in the north, and "shixiqiu" in the south. The roof is made of yellow glazed tiles in the North, and small green tiles in the south. Under the eaves, Ruyi Dougong overlaps layer by layer.

The arch ends are decorated with dragons and phoenixes. The exquisite wood carvings on the theater floor are more ingenious. There are exquisite carvings on the forehead, eaves, railings and partition fans everywhere, which become a collection of folk wood carvings.

A total of 58 scripts are carved in the whole theater, and the central partition fan is engraved with "eight scenes of linhushan". The eight sceneries are: Shiling fairyland, sunset of e lake, double crossing of Lijiang River, solitary boat of Maogang, stalagmite of supporting cloud, peach blossom of Jiaan and late jump of Donggang. There are few bells in ancient temples.

Enter the gate, through the theater, there is a palace Ping. Through the Dianping, is the stone steps built according to the mountain, along the 48 embroidered granite stone steps, for the platform.

On the stage is a three Bay hard mountain hall with single eaves. The outer eaves are decorated with stone columns, and the inner eaves are decorated with rolling awnings and empty flower partitions.

The main hall is the front and back hall, the ground is all paved with granite strips, the front section is dedicated to the immortal Tao Gong, and the back hall is the Guanyin hall. Inside the hall is a grand view of Taoist couplets, rich in philosophy.

There are many plaques in Taogong temple, most of which are inscribed by famous scholars. The plaque of "Dehua Wujiang" in the center of the outer eaves of the hall was inscribed by Zhu Xi in the fifth year of Qiandao (1169) of the Song Dynasty.

The plaque on the left is inscribed by Zhao hengti, then governor of Hunan Province, in 1922; the plaque on the right is inscribed by Wan Gongzhen, then governor of Hunan Province, in 1847. In the middle of the inner eaves of the main hall is a large plaque of "Imperial Sacrificial Ceremony", which records the imperial edict of "Zhaoxian" and "Lingying" granted by the Ministry of rites in October of the 11th year of Tongzhi.

In the front section, there are two rows of plaques. In the middle of the front row is "Min Lai en Fu" written by Emperor Tongzhi in 1872. On the right side is "San Xiang Lin Yu" written by Wu Dazheng, governor of Hunan Province in 1895. On the left side is "Wei man San Nong" written by he Shu, governor of Hunan Province in 1872. These plaques, together with the sculptures, sculptures and murals in the temple, were destroyed in the ten years of the cultural revolution.

Historical records

Taogong temple was built in the early years of Tianjian (502-519 A.D.). It is known as "the temple of the Six Dynasties, a famous mountain for thousands of years". According to historical records, Tao Dan, the grandson of Tao Kan, a revered Jin Taiwei, married his nephew and lived in Xiangshan mountain. Later, his nephew and uncle lived here together. The scholars and the people worshipped his name and virtue, so they set up this temple to worship him.

According to the records of Changsha county annals, Taogong temple was built in 504, the third year of Liang Tianjian in the northern and Southern Dynasties, with a history of about 1500 years. After several times of expansion and restoration, the Taogong temple now covers an area of more than 5300 square meters, with a construction area of about 2000 square meters. It is mainly composed of six parts: the gate, the theater, the stone steps, the main hall and the side hall.

The Taogong temple was built in the reign of emperor Tianjian of Liang Dynasty (502-519) to worship Tao Dan, the grandson of Tao Kan, a Jin Taiwei, and Tao Xuan, his nephew. According to the book of Jin, Tao Dan, a quiet character, and his nephew devoted themselves to self-cultivation. Jielu is near Xiangshan, where it is said that he "emerged and became an immortal". Later generations "built ancestral temples" and "jiebu immortal body", that is, worshipped their "body" (mummy) here. According to the annals of Changsha County written by Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty, "the two immortal temples of Taogong are located in Langli City, Liujia, daodu city of the Ming Dynasty..." It is said that the temple was built in Tianjian of Liang Dynasty for more than a thousand years. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, many surnames donated money to rebuild Pray for drought and flood. In the second year of Xianfeng, in order to protect the dangerous city, the uncle and nephew of Zhenren and the Zhenren of Ligong in the same county were awarded the title. In March of the 11th year, the Ministry of rites discussed the performance and approved it to be included in the sacrificial ceremony. "

In 1988, the municipal government began to allocate funds for the restoration of the stage and the mountain gate. In 1990, religious activities resumed. In 1994, large-scale restoration projects were launched. The plaques were supplemented according to historical data. In 1996, the people's Government of Hunan Province listed Taogong temple as a key cultural relic protection unit in Hunan Province. The twice-a-year Temple Fair has also resumed

Folk activities

On the 13th and 17th of the first month of the lunar calendar, a grand temple fair is held every two Bodhisattvas' birthdays. Each temple fair lasts about two days. Thousands of pilgrims came to the temple fair and worship, including pilgrims from Sichuan, Hubei, Henan, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi. They were extremely devout to Tao Gong Bodhisattva and worshipped him in the form of "pilgrimage to meat incense" (hanging the small censer under the skin of their elbow with thread). At every temple fair, there are many good operas on the ancient opera floor, and famous opera actors in Changsha perform all day and all night. During the first three days of the opera, the rich people competed to throw money on the stage, while the poor people cheered for it. In miaoping, dragon dance, lion dance, arhat dance, bamboo lantern and so on competed to play, and the temple fair became a gathering place for all kinds of Arts. During the temple fair, merchants gathered and the business of buying, selling and exchanging commodities was very prosperous. For a time, firecrackers (the temple fair in the first month is not fragrant), pilgrims or guests flow like a tide, lively. Because of the need of temple fair, people built Lu into a city, which first formed "Sanxian Street", and then gradually formed today's Houli street. As a result, there is a folk saying: "if you don't work in the field on the pear street, you can eat for one year in your two birthdays."

When people gradually feel that the "flavor of new year" is getting weaker and weaker, it's a pleasure to catch up with temple fairs for a long time. Outside the east gate, there is a temple fair full of traditional meaning in the ancient town of kuanli. On the 13th day of the first month, the atmosphere of the new year is still curling. As a result, people flocked to Jiuxiang and bazhai, outside the city, to catch temple fairs, seek peace, taste delicious food, and go shopping. Firecrackers roared, crowds roared, incense swirled, lions and Dragons soared, happily feeling the cultural charm contained in the tradition. Offering sacrifices to the Lord is the foundation of the temple fair, and the birthday of the Lord is the time of the fair. There are two worshippers in the TaoGong Temple: Tao Dan, the famous descendant of Tao Kan, and his nephew Tao Xuan. It is said that the second Duke of Lu was hermit here and finally emerged. Posterity

Chinese PinYin : Tao Gong Miao