Kaiyuan Temple

Kaiyuan Temple is located in Kaiyuan Road, Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province. It was built in the 26th year of Kaiyuan (738) of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. It was called "Kaiyuan Wanshou Temple" in the Yuan Dynasty. It became "Kaiyuan Zhenguo Temple" in the Ming Dynasty. After the Qing Dynasty, "Kaiyuan Zhenguo Temple" and "Kaiyuan Temple" were called together. Since its establishment, the temple has been maintained in all dynasties. Now the temple covers an area of 20000 square meters, the whole temple retains the layout of the Tang Dynasty, and condenses the architectural art of song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. During the "Cultural Revolution", Kaiyuan Temple was seriously damaged. In 1982, overseas Chinese, Hong Kong and Macao compatriots donated money to carry out comprehensive maintenance, making Kaiyuan Temple return to its former style.

Kaiyuan Temple

Kaiyuan Temple is located in the West Street of Licheng District, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. It is an important cultural relic along the southeast coast of China and the largest Buddhist temple in Fujian Province. The temple was founded in 686, the second year of chuigong in the early Tang Dynasty. It was originally named Lianhua Daochang, and was renamed Kaiyuan Temple in 738. The main existing temples were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They are 260 meters long from north to South and 300 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 78000 square meters.

In 1982, Kaiyuan Temple was listed as the second batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Historical evolution

Kaiyuan Temple was first built in 686, the second year of chuigong in Tang Dynasty. It is said that Huang Shougong, a rich man in Quanzhou, dreamed that mulberry trees grew lotus flowers, so he built the temple in sangyuan garden, which was originally named "Lotus Temple".

The first year of Changshou (692) was changed to "Xingjiao Temple", and the first year of Shenlong (705) was changed to "Longxing Temple".

In the 26th year of Kaiyuan (738), Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered every state to build a temple, which was renamed Kaiyuan Temple.

In the fourth year of qianning (897), Wang Shenying was rebuilt.

Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed in the 25th year (1155) and rebuilt.

In the Yuan Dynasty, it was named "Wanshou Temple of Da Kaiyuan".

It was destroyed in 1357.

In 1389, Seng Huiyuan was rebuilt.

Yongle six years (1408) expansion.

It was rebuilt in 1594, and rebuilt in 1637.

In the early years of the Republic of China (1911), zhuandao monk was appointed as the leader of Kaiyuan Temple and the president of ci'er temple, Zhuanwu monk was appointed as the supervisor of Kaiyuan Temple, and master Yuan Ying was appointed as the governor of Kaiyuan Temple.

In 1960, the worship Pavilion and the main hall were rebuilt,.

In 1973, the government allocated funds to rebuild the East and West corridors.

After 1989, he received donations from overseas Chinese and successively rebuilt the main hall, Shanmen and zhunti Buddhist temple.

In 1962, the people's Government of Fujian Province announced Kaiyuan Temple as a key cultural relics protection unit at the provincial level.

In 1982, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Architectural pattern

The central axis of Kaiyuan Temple from south to north is ziyunping, Shanmen (Tianwang Hall), baiting, Daxiong hall, Ganlu altar and cangjing Pavilion. On the east wing, there are tanyue temple, Quanzhou Buddhist Museum (Hongyi master's Memorial) and zhunti temple; on the west wing, there are an Yangyuan, Gongde hall and Shuilu temple; on the East and west sides of the worship Pavilion in front of the main hall, there are two stone towers, Zhenguo tower and Renshou tower, commonly known as the East-West tower.

The ancient banyan on both sides of the worship hall are towering, and the sculpture technique of the main hall is superb, especially the 24 flying acrobats between the Liang troughs, which are rare in ancient Chinese architecture. There are 72 blue stone reliefs of the Sphinx on the platform of xumizuo in front of the hall, and two ancient Brahmanic blue stone pillars on the back porch of the hall. They were both moved from the destroyed ancient Hindu temple of the Yuan Dynasty when the hall was built in the Ming Dynasty. The hall is supported by nearly 100 huge stone pillars of Begonia style, commonly known as "hundred pillars hall". The five square Buddha statues worshipped in the hall are solemn in Dharma, which is a rare esoteric system in the Han Dynasty. The Ganlu altar behind the main hall is one of the three existing altars in China. Around the altar, there are columns, brackets and 24 wooden sculptures flying in the workshop.

Main buildings

Tianwang Hall

The gate of Kaiyuan Temple and Tianwang hall are integrated into one. The existing building was built in 1925. The stone pillars in the hall are shuttle pillars, on which a wooden couplet is hung, "this place was called the kingdom of Buddhism in ancient times, and the streets are full of saints.". The couplet was written by Zhu Xi, a great Confucianist in the Southern Song Dynasty, and by master Hongyi, a modern eminent monk. Sitting on both sides of the Tianwang hall are the Vajra and the Vatican king, which are arranged according to the rules of Buddhism Tantrism. They are angry and dignified, which is quite different from the four vajras in ordinary temples. Some people jokingly call them "two generals of hem ha".

Sutra Pavilion

The Sutra pavilion was originally a Dharma hall built by Seng Lu Liu Jianyi in the 22nd year of the Yuan Dynasty (1285). In the yuan and Ming Dynasties, it had been rebuilt many times. In 1925, monk Yuanying rebuilt it into a two-story pavilion with concrete and wood like structure. The downstairs is the place where monks chant scriptures and worship Buddhism, and the upper level collects more than 3700 volumes of various versions of scriptures.

In the Five Dynasties, Wang Shenzhi, the king of Kaimin, was on the throne and dominating Fujian. It was purely by chance. Therefore, when he became the king of Fujian, he became attached to Buddhism, developed great confidence, made great vows, converted to heart and accepted it, in order to achieve psychological balance. He successively gave up millions of money to build the main hall and other buildings, and collected 10000 taels of gold and silver, which were refined into clay. He asked master Yiying of Kaiyuan Temple to write two gold and silver "Dazangjing", which is still preserved on the second floor. In addition, there are the fahua Sutra written by master ruzhao in Yuan Dynasty and the Beiye Sutra in Tamil language. They are precious Buddhist classics in China. In addition, there are cultural relics from the prosperous Tang Dynasty to the Republic of China. Among them, there are 32 statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva, arhat, king of heaven and general of God in jade, copper, porcelain and wood. The calligraphy and wooden couplets of Zhang ruitu, a great calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty, and master Hongyi, a modern monk, are also collected here. In the hall on the first floor, there are 12 square clocks since the Southern Song Dynasty. Among them, the most valuable one is the iron bell "owned by the public in the suburb of Lukang" in the 17th year of Daoguang reign of Qing Dynasty (1837). On the bell, there are inscriptions of 46 business names in the suburb of Lukang who trade with Quanzhou. It is the material for studying the economic history of Taiwan and Quanzhou.

main hall

Daxiong hall, also known as Ziyun hall, is the main building of Kaiyuan Temple. It was first built in 686, the second year of chuigong in Tang Dynasty. After several disasters and reconstruction in Tang, Southern Song, yuan and Ming Dynasties, the existing building is a relic of 1637, the tenth year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty. The hall has nine rooms in width and six rooms in depth, with a construction area of 1338 square meters, double eaves and top of the mountain, and a height of 20 meters. Under the double eaves of the front eaves, there is a horizontal plaque with the four characters of "sanglianfajie". In the hall, there are 86 large stone columns, supporting the beam type wooden frame, known as "hundred column hall". There are 76 Dougong in the hall, which are distributed around the circle and in the front trough. Among them, there are two Dougong in the Ming, the second and the top, and only one in the end. On the Dougong, there are 24 pieces of "Feitian Yueji", a collection of Buddhist miaoyingniao, Christian angel and Chinese Feitian.

In the middle of the main hall is the statue of the Buddha, piluzana Buddha, which is the highest deity of Tantric Buddhism. On both sides are the four great Buddhas plasticized during the building of the main hall of Shenying, the king of the Five Dynasties. They are the eastern Xiangji world, the southern Huanxi world, the Baosheng Buddha, the Western blissful world, the Amitabha Buddha, and the northern lotus world, which are also called the five wise Tathagata. The five Buddhas are shining with gold, with clear grain, kind and kind spirit, solemn Dharma, and exquisite craftsmanship. There are Manjusri, Puxian, Ananda, Kaya, Guanyin, Shizhi, Weituo, Guanyu, Vatican, Dishi and other heaven Bodhisattvas and Dharma protectors. In the middle of the back of the hall are the first holy Guanyin of the six Guanyin of the tantric school, as well as the eighteen Arhats with different expressions on the two wings.

Mannose altar

The mannose altar behind the main hall is built on the second step of the central axis. Ganlu altar was built in the Song Dynasty and rebuilt in the late Ming Dynasty. It covers an area of 645 square meters with double eaves and octagonal spires surrounded by corridors. There are five levels in the altar, and the highest level is dedicated to the wooden statue of Lushena Buddha in Ming Dynasty. Ganlu altar in Kaiyuan Temple, Jietai Temple in Beijing and Zhaoqing temple in Hangzhou are known as the three major taboos in China.

It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, dew often fell here. A monk named Xing Zhao dug a well here. In the third year of Tianxi (1019) of the Northern Song Dynasty, the altar was built on the well, so it was called Ganlu altar. In 1108, the second year of Jianyan in the Southern Song Dynasty, monk Dun thought that the altar did not conform to the standard, so he rebuilt it into five levels according to Nanshan tujing, during which there were strict restrictions on height and width. Later, it was rebuilt many times in Yuan and Ming Dynasty. The existing building is a four eaves octagonal structure rebuilt in 1666. The caisson in the middle of the top of the altar is made of Ruyi Dougong. The caisson is divided into five levels, overlapped and folded. It is like a spider's web, like a tapestry, with complex and delicate structure. Around the altar, there are 24 "flying musicians" in the columns, brackets and pavilions. They are decorated with Colorful streamers, holding pipa, Erxian, Dongxiao and castanet. They sing and dance in a graceful way.

The top layer of the altar is dedicated to the wooden statue of Lushena Buddha in the Ming Dynasty. There are 1000 lotus petals on the lotus pedestal, and each lotus leaf is carved with a 6 cm Buddha statue. There are four Bodhisattvas, namely, Vajra hook, Vajra rope, Vajra bell and Vajra lock, and 24 Bodhisattvas, including Sakyamuni, Amitabha, Hanshan, Shide, thousand handed Avalokitesvara and Weituo Tianjiang. Among them, the eight King Kong statues are the best.

Chinese PinYin : Kai Yuan Si