Cisheng Temple

Cisheng Temple

Cisheng temple was first built in Zhenguan period of Tang Dynasty. It was destroyed by war in Tang and Song Dynasties and rebuilt in Yuan Dynasty. Covering an area of 7000 square meters, there are three existing buildings, namely, Shanmen, Tianwang hall and Daxiong hall.

On June 25, 2001, as an ancient building of the Yuan Dynasty, Cisheng temple was announced as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

historical origin

Dawu village, Fantian Town, 22 kilometers west of Wenxian County, Henan Province, is the junction of Wenxian County, Mengxian county and Qinyang county. It should be said that this is a very remote village. The road leading to Dawu village is surrounded by boundless green gauze tents on both sides. The green corn cobs grow firmly between the "waist" of corn stalks, and the dark red sorghum ears sway lightly with the wind. The asphalt road was built more than 30 years ago. The road is full of potholes, big pits and small pits.

This is the most common village in Jiaozuo's fertile alluvial plain of Huanghe and Qinshui. But there is a thousand year old temple in this small village - Cisheng temple. Walking into this ancient building, people suddenly walk into the past life of Dawu village, and they can't help but sigh about the profound historical and cultural accumulation of Henan.

It has been rebuilt many times

Cisheng temple is an ancient architectural complex that was founded in the Five Dynasties and rebuilt many times in the past dynasties. The existing buildings in the temple include Shanmen, Tianwang hall and Daxiong hall. The later Yanshou hall and Pilu hall no longer exist.

Prosperous "hidden" village in Yuan Dynasty

In the eyes of laymen, Cisheng temple is really a humble temple. The temple is neither surrounded by green mountains and green water, nor in a prosperous city.

Although some people call Cisheng Temple "facing the Yellow River in the front and Taihang in the back, it faces the ancient famous pass Hulao pass across the river.". In the distance, you can see Mang Mountain vividly. The scenery is beautiful and picturesque, and it's very quiet. "But when you look at Cisheng temple in Dawu village, Fantian Town, Wenxian County, it's just an ordinary village on the plain. Dozens of miles away from the Yellow River, you can't see Taihang Mountain.

Cultural relics protection

The reason why Cisheng temple is not impressive is that there are only three buildings in this ancient temple, and one of them was rebuilt more than ten years ago. But there must be something unusual about this ancient temple. So many famous temples in the world are only key cultural relics protection units at the provincial level, while Cisheng temple in this small village is a key cultural relics protection unit at the national level.

According to Xie Gongshe, director of the Cultural Management Office of Cisheng temple, Cisheng temple has become a "national treasure" because it has three "treasures": two Buddhist temples of the Yuan Dynasty and a stone Scripture building of the later Jin Dynasty. The two existing ancient buildings in Cisheng temple were built in strict accordance with the construction rules of official buildings in Yuan Dynasty. It can be said that this is one of the few relics of the prosperous Yuan Dynasty that makes the Italian Marco Polo sigh. It solidifies the superb architectural art of the Yuan Dynasty.

The gate of the temple, formerly known as the diamond hall, is three rooms wide, five rafters deep, with single eaves hanging on the top of the mountain and covered with grey tiles. The main ridge and vertical ridge are made of yellow green glaze. The shape and structure of the mountain gate are imitated by later generations according to the yuan system, which is simple and generous.

architectural style

Tianwang hall, also known as "Wuliang hall", is a Yuan Dynasty building with many traces of Ming Dynasty renovation. Tianwang hall is three rooms wide, four rafters deep, with single eaves hanging on the mountain, covered with green glazed tiles, many of which are still building components of the Yuan Dynasty. On the west wall of the hall, there is a mural of the "Four Heavenly Kings" painted in the Yuan Dynasty. The colorful figure paintings are well preserved. The four heavenly kings are about two meters high, each armed with different weapons. The lines are rough and bold, and the muscles are swollen and strong. Their clothes are rolling in the wind, their eyes are bright and vivid, and they seem to come out of the wall vividly. According to experts' evaluation, his painting techniques have reached the level of proficiency, which is a rare mural treasure of the Yuan Dynasty and a valuable material for studying the painting art of the Yuan Dynasty. The reason why it is called "no beam hall" is that this building does not use the main beam. It skillfully uses the Dou Gong, Fang and tenon riveting to connect, which transfers the weight of the roof to the central column. It is extremely stable, reflecting the superb architectural art. It is a typical building in the central plains that makes full use of the mechanical principles. In the ancient architecture textbooks of many universities, this building is introduced as an example.

The surface is wide and the depth is deep

The main hall is three rooms wide and three rooms deep, with a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain and covered with green glazed tiles. The structure is exquisite, and the four wing angles are upward and backward, just like the wings of Mirs, with solemn and beautiful shape. In the front wall and the East and west wall of the hall, there are still color murals of figures, pavilions, city outlines, landscapes, trees and flowers, which show the folk painting style of the Yuan Dynasty. Among the arched eye walls of the inner eaves, there are colored paintings of sitting Buddha, sitting in the clouds, followed by Xiang light and backlight, which may be painted during the renovation of the Ming Dynasty. Du Xianzhou, Qi Yingtao and other well-known ancient architecture experts praised it when they came to see it. They thought it was "the most pure Yuan Dynasty architecture" in the Central Plains. There is a plaque in the shape of "wind" above the front door of the main hall, which is written with the four words of "the hall of the great male". It has a strong writing force and is inscribed "the fifth year of the reign of the Great Yuan Dynasty (1304)". It is considered to be the earliest of the existing temple plaques in the Central Plains.

The existing architecture of Cisheng temple is from the Yuan Dynasty, but it was actually built in a more distant time. The temple was destroyed by a war in the late Song Dynasty, but it was rebuilt in the Yuan Dynasty. So when can the history of this ancient temple be traced back? The existing inscriptions in Cisheng Temple provide clues for people.

History of Five Dynasties on shijingchuang

The ancient steles in front of the main hall of Cisheng temple are listed. There are some fuzzy handwriting on the mottled steles, showing the traces of time. If you look carefully, you can see the records of rebuilding the main hall of Cisheng temple in the fourth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, and the records of rebuilding the stele of Pilu hall in the sixth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty.

According to the stone tablet of the Ming Dynasty, "Cisheng temple, the ancient temple site of Wenzhi, originated in the Five Dynasties, and flourished in the song, yuan and other dynasties. The palace is dense, and its Mahatma collection is particularly unique. "According to the inscription of rebuilding the hall of Yanshou and Pilu hall in the 19th year of Qianlong of Qing Dynasty," in Dawu village, four miles west of the city (Wenxian county), the temple is famous for its large scale, deep and wide hall, King Kong the day before yesterday, the hall of zhongdaxiong, and Pilu the last is the hall of Yanshou. In the second year of Tianfu of Jin Dynasty, it was founded by imperial edict. Later, King Zheng built it in Hongzhi, and King Lujiang built it in Wanli. This inscription tells us that the ancient Cisheng temple is much bigger and has more buildings than it is now.

Sculpture art

On the right side of the main hall, there are stones of different sizes, shapes and exquisite carvings piled into a special shape. Five or six meters high, the pagoda is not a pagoda. This is the stone building of "Buddha's top Zunsheng Dharma Sutra" in the second year of Tianfu (937) of the Late Jin Dynasty. Jingchuang is a kind of ancient religious stone carvings, which is an art building with publicity and commemoration. In the form of Indian buildings, various relief carvings are carved on the jade wall commemorating the Buddha, and some of them erect a stone on the left and right in front of the tower, just like a rectangular Chinese monument. Most of the Chinese Scripture buildings are made of stone. The large ones are several feet high, while the small ones are several feet high. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the style of building buildings was very popular. There were buildings inscribed to build merits and virtues, and tombs built to commemorate eminent monks, also known as "eight steles", "eight Buddha heads", "treasure buildings" and "flower buildings". The 5.4-meter-high building in Cisheng temple has 17 Stories (17 stones). The upper part is the flame, jewel and castle of stone carving, the middle part is the eight pillars with scriptures, and the lower part is Fuyun, xumizuo, jilefeitian, etc. The stone carvings, with vivid images, exquisite carving, smooth knife technique and gorgeous and vivid posture, are recognized as treasures in the Sutra buildings and have high artistic value.

The most difficult thing is that more than ten stones of different sizes and thicknesses are built in a crisscross way, which is very stable. This scripture building is not built. There is no adhesion between the stones, so they are stacked together, and the uneven places are padded with iron sheets. According to the written records, the Shijing building was built on August 28, the second year of Tianfu (937 AD) in the later Jin Dynasty. It was "added" by the abbot Seng Baolin and the City Master Wu Bao. It has been nearly a thousand years. During this period, there was an earthquake of magnitude 8. It is difficult to know all the other natural and man-made disasters. There are no other buildings of the Five Dynasties in Cisheng temple. Only this Shijing building is intact It stands steadily in the temple.

It is generally believed that Cisheng temple was founded in the second year of Tianfu in the later Jin Dynasty. However, some people think that since the shijingchuang was "renovated", it means that the temple may have existed for a long time and was actually built in the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty. However, there is no direct basis for this argument.

Related allusions

The founder of the later Jin Dynasty was Shi Jingtang, who betrayed the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun and became infamous for thousands of years. This is a short-lived dynasty that only existed for ten years. There are very few traces left in Chinese history, so this stone Scripture building is considered to be more valuable.

·Shi Jingtang founded this temple?!

According to the inscriptions of the Qing Dynasty, Cisheng temple was "established in the second year of Tianfu in the Late Jin Dynasty". If so, this millennium old temple was actually established under the order of the infamous Shi Jingtang.

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms is one of the darkest and most turbulent periods in Chinese history, and Shi Jingtang is the dirtiest and most shameful person in that period. The emperors of the Five Dynasties basically seized the throne by force. Although they caused great social shock, they were still warlords, which was not shameful. Shi Jingtang was an exception. In order to sit on the throne of the emperor, he worshipped Yelu Deguang, the Khitan Lord, who was 11 years younger than him, as his "father" in exchange for one

Chinese PinYin : Ci Sheng Si