Princess Temple

Princess temple is located in gongzhucun, Xingyuan Township, Fanshi County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province. It is a key cultural relic protection unit at the department level. It was built in the Northern Wei Dynasty for Princess Chengxin to escape the hardships of the red world and become a monk. The existing halls are built in Ming Dynasty. The building of the temple is complete and large-scale. The murals in the temple are exquisite and lifelike, and have high artistic value. Together with the murals of Yongle Palace, they are called "the north and South twin pearls". [1]

Princess temple was originally founded by the fourth Princess of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. According to the records of Qingliang mountain, Princess Temple belongs to the temple outside the North platform of Wutai Mountain. Later, the princess temple was destroyed by fire. A nun of the Tang Dynasty came here and dug a Chibi under the site to present it to Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian ordered that the princess temple be rebuilt here. Today, there is a small temple beside Princess temple called Fuma temple. According to folklore, it is the place where the husband of Princess Chengxin became a monk. Princess temple covers an area of 4000 square meters, with three courtyards along the central axis. Its structure is similar to the existing Foguang temple in the Tang Dynasty. In terms of overall specifications or details, such as painted pottery Buddha statues, murals and plaques, although it is not as magnificent as Foguang temple, we can still experience the characteristics of imitating the Tang Dynasty. On August 18, 1986, it was announced as a provincial key protection unit by the people's Government of Shanxi Province, and on May 25, 2006, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Princess Temple

Princess temple, located in Xingyuan Township, 15 kilometers southeast of Fanshi County, is a temple outside the North platform of Wutai Mountain, covering an area of 4000 square meters. There are three courtyards along the central axis. The most valuable ones in the temple are Guodian and Daxiong hall. It has been approved by the State Council to be listed in the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

brief introduction

Princess temple is located in gongzhucun, Xingyuan Township, Fanshi County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province. It is a key cultural relic protection unit at the department level. It was built in the Northern Wei Dynasty for Princess Chengxin to escape the hardships of the red world and become a monk. The existing halls are built in Ming Dynasty. The building of the temple is complete and large-scale. The murals in the temple are exquisite and lifelike, and have high artistic value. Together with the murals of Yongle Palace, they are called "the north and South twin pearls".

Princess temple was originally founded by the fourth Princess of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. According to the records of Qingliang mountain, Princess Temple belongs to the temple outside the North platform of Wutai Mountain. Later, the princess temple was destroyed by fire. A nun of the Tang Dynasty came here and dug a Chibi under the site to present it to Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian ordered that the princess temple be rebuilt here. Today, there is a small temple beside Princess temple called Fuma temple. According to folklore, it is the place where the husband of Princess Chengxin became a monk. Princess temple covers an area of 4000 square meters, with three courtyards along the central axis. Its structure is similar to the existing Foguang temple in the Tang Dynasty. In terms of overall specifications or details, such as painted pottery Buddha statues, murals and plaques, although it is not as magnificent as Foguang temple, we can still experience the characteristics of imitating the Tang Dynasty. On August 18, 1986, it was announced as a provincial key protection unit by the people's Government of Shanxi Province, and on May 25, 2006, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

history

Princess temple was founded in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The temple is located in Shansi Village (5km south of the current site). The temple is close to the deep stream and the road is dangerous. There are few remains in the Song Dynasty, but few in the Ming Dynasty. When the Ming Dynasty was rebuilt, it was relocated to kongru village, which is now Princess village. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, it was repaired. The central axis of the temple is the gate, the hall, the main hall and the back hall. Daxiong hall is a relic of the Ming Dynasty. It is three rooms wide and three rooms deep. It has a single eaves and six rafter houses. It is built on a 35cm high platform. There are more than 90 square meters of murals of the Ming Dynasty and five sculptures in the hall. There are Sakyamuni Buddha in the center of the altar, Bodhisattvas in the back, Manjusri and Puxian painted sculptures on the left and right, which are all excellent works of the Ming Dynasty. Another Ming Dynasty building is Guodian, which has a three room wide surface, a single eaves hanging on the top of the mountain and five rafter houses. In addition to more than 200 square meters of Ming Dynasty Murals, there are also more than 30 painted sculptures, such as the eighteen Arhats. More than 20 other buildings, such as East and West Wing rooms and Zen houses, were built in the Qing Dynasty.

layout

The most valuable ones in the temple are Guo Dian and Da Xiong Dian. In the center of the hall, there is a sitting statue of Sakyamuni. On the left and right are the great Vatican king and the emperor Sakyamuni. On the back is the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Around the hall are statues of Manjusri, Puxian Bodhisattva and eighteen Arhats. Above the statues are suspended sculptures, with landscape figures, pavilions and pavilions, vivid in shape and bright in color. The hall was rebuilt in 1506.

Daxiong hall was rebuilt in 1503, the 16th year of Hongzhi reign of Ming Dynasty. There is a Buddhist altar inside. On the altar, there are Sakyamuni, pharmacist and Amitabha Buddha. In front of Sakyamuni's statue, there are two venerable Buddhas, kasyah and Ananda. The sculpture is exquisite. The four walls of the hall are magnificent murals, with Lushena Buddha and Maitreya Buddha as the center. More than 300 people stand facing the Buddha, one meter in size and 60 cm in size. The content is rich and the painting art is very good.

Through the vertical flower gate on the left, you can see an ancient tree near the gate. To the north is a temple of Notre Dame (Master's Temple). There is a detailed stage opposite it. It was built in the 32nd year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. I believe it is very difficult to see it in other temples.

story

According to historical records, Princess Chengxin, the fourth daughter of emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty, became a monk in a small temple at the northern foot of Wutai Mountain. Later, the small temple was expanded and renamed Princess temple. The village near Princess temple was renamed Princess village.

Becoming a monk is an extraordinary choice. There are many reasons for becoming a monk, but to sum up, there are no more than two kinds: one is to believe in Buddhism, and the other is to encounter setbacks in life. The latter is true princess. She escaped from marriage.

That year, the princess was 18 years old. The girl who grew up on the grassland can ride a horse. He also can shoot arrows. He has Xianbei people's healthy physique, bold and unconstrained personality, and natural beauty. He has beautiful eyes and white teeth. Since Pingcheng was established as the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty, she has learned fluent Chinese. With the gradual integration with the Han people, the intelligent and studious Princess Chengxin has learned a lot from the Han culture. In contact with Han Youth, she unconsciously fell in love with Cui Xun, the grandson of Cui xuanbo, the former Minister of the Ministry of officials. Cui Xun and Princess Chengxin share the same interests and tastes, so they decided to live a lifetime. When the matchmaker proposed marriage, he was strongly opposed by Emperor Wen Cheng.

Why did emperor Wencheng oppose the marriage? Did he not like trison? No, Cui Xun is a talented man. He is very popular with Emperor Wen Cheng. So why on earth did he try to prevent this marriage? The reasons are quite complicated.

The founder of the Northern Wei Dynasty was called Tuoba Li. He conquered many tribes in the north and occupied a large area of the Central Plains. In order to consolidate his rule, he had to rely on Han talents and accept the feudal system. At this time, he accepted the Han literati, including Cui xuanbo, who was later used as the Minister of the Ministry of officials.

While carrying out feudalism, he kept the cruel and backward slavery. The complicated class structure resulted in the instability of the Northern Wei regime. After the death of Tuoba Li, Taiwu emperor unified the north and led his troops to the south, which stopped Liu Song's attack and made the north and the South balance. Although these wars consolidated the northern regime, they also greatly weakened the national strength (Mount Wutai). Therefore, after the death of emperor Taiwu, when Emperor Wencheng succeeded to the throne, there was a situation of "people's resentment boiling, the government and the opposition clear". The national contradictions tend to ease, the class contradictions gradually sharpen, the movement one after another. Emperor Wencheng brutally suppressed the peasant uprising in Moxian County, Hejian, and countless people were killed. At this time, the Cui family sent someone to propose marriage. Emperor Wencheng flatly refused the marriage.

Emperor Wencheng is not as cheerful as Tuoba. In the face of the continuous uprising and resistance of the Han peasants, he did not want to reform, eliminate political malpractices, ease class contradictions, but blindly suppressed by power, and was suspicious of the Han officials. He did not dare to reuse them, but killed them easily. He believed that the uprising of Han farmers in Wutai Mountain might have been instigated by a group of Han officials in the imperial court, but there was no evidence. Some of his methods, which are not based on facts and only on speculation, have seriously affected the process of Sinicization of Xianbei nationality. (Wutai Mountain) this is in great contrast to the enlightened rule of Emperor Xiaowen of Wei.

After Princess Chengxin ran away from home, Emperor Wencheng sent people to look for her everywhere, but there was no result. So he took Cui Xun to prison, and wanted him to tell the whereabouts of the four princesses. Although Cui Xun knew that the fourth princess was a monk, he was tortured with three words: I don't know. In the end, although Cui Xun was released home, he died of serious injury. After learning the news that Cui Xun was tortured to death, Cheng Xin tried to find her death several times, but she survived because of the help of her servant girl. The servant girl said, "the princess has been searching for impermanence with her body of thousands of gold. Mr. Cui laughs that you are weak under the yellow spring! Now that we have converted to Buddhism, we should forget the gratitude and resentment of the world, redeem ourselves for the sins of this life, and transcend the evil spirits of master Cui's hell. Only when we are equal to the paradise in the west can we achieve the right result. What do you think of the princess? " After listening to the maid's advice, the princess turned her grief into power and devoted herself to Buddhism. She only wanted to get the way as soon as possible. She flew with Mr. Cui to the carefree paradise in the West.

When Emperor Xiaowen was in power, he sent people to Mount Wutai to look for Princess Chengxin. Emperor Xiaowen is not only the Northern Wei Dynasty, but also the most promising emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In his hands, he carried out many successful reforms, which once made the economy prosperous. Since the capital of the country from Pingcheng to Luoyang, in order to better governance

Chinese PinYin : Gong Zhu Si