Guwaguan Temple

Waguan temple is an important temple in the history of Chinese Buddhism with profound culture and rich cultural relics.

Waguan Temple

synonym

Guwaguan Temple generally refers to Waguan temple

Waguan temple, also known as guwaguan temple, is located in the south of Jiqing Road, Qinhuai District, Nanjing city. It was built in 364 A.D. in the second year of Xingning in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and has a history of 1700 years. It ranks among the five mountains and ten temples in China. It is an important temple in the history of Chinese Buddhism.

The site of Waguan Temple used to be the place where the government managed the pottery industry, so the temple was named "Waguan". In the Southern Dynasties, liangdaijiu temple built Waguan Pavilion, 240 feet (about 60 meters) high and towering into the clouds. In front of the great river ring, it was a wonderful place for Jiankang, the capital of the country, to climb high and look far away. There was a poem saying that "when the clouds dispersed, it would condense for thousands of miles, and the sun slanted often occupied half of the city's shade". You can imagine the situation at that time. During the Six Dynasties, Waguan temple was expanded several times and became a famous temple in the south of the Yangtze River. In the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, Waguan temple had thousands of monks.

Waguan temple is the oldest temple in Nanjing besides Jianchu temple. It became famous for Gu Kaizhi's painting of Vimalakirti, leaving the idiom of finishing touch; because of the exotic birds flying here, it became the Phoenix Terrace later; because it was the ancestral court of Tiantai Sect, the place of master Zhiyi's practice, and Japanese and Korean people came across the sea to visit. Wang Shizhen, a famous writer in the early Qing Dynasty, wrote the story of visiting Waguan temple.

Historical evolution

In the second year of Xingning (364) of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, because of Huili's request, he ordered to donate the old land of Hanoi Taoguan to build the temple and dig the ground to get the ancient tile coffin, so it is called Waguan temple. Master Huili opened the mountain. Soon master Huili built another tower. When Zhu Fati was stationed in Wuxi, he opened up halls and built heavy gates. When fengle lectured Fangguang Jing, Emperor Jianwen of Jin Dynasty attended the lecture in person, and the princes and princes gathered together, so the temple became famous. Zhu Sengfu, Zhu Daoyi, Zhi Dunlin and others also came to the tin to hold the lecture. "Biography of eminent monk Liang" contains: "Shi Huili, who is unknown. Jin Yonghe came to visit the capital, often begged for vegetables, practiced asceticism and prayed for blessings. To Jin Xingning, Qiqi pottery for tile official Temple. The temple tower is built on the site

During the reign of Xian'an (371-372), master fatai spoke the Buddhist Sutra of letting out light in Waguan temple. The court and the public were moved and the temple was expanded. In 396, the temple was destroyed by fire. Emperor Jianwen ordered the restoration.

Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty suffered a fire in July of the 21st year of the Taiyuan period (396). The emperor ordered the restoration, and placed five Buddha statues made by Dai an Dao, the vimo statues painted by Gu Changkang and the jade statues offered by Shizi state.

In the first year of Yuanxi (419), Emperor Gong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty made a statue of Zhang Liushi in the temple. After Liu Song Dynasty, Huiguo, Huiyu, Huizhong, Seng Dao, qiunabama, Baoyi and so on came to live in the same place. Either to apply the theory of Yang Jing, or to translate the Buddhist scriptures. To the Liang Dynasty, tile official pavilion was built. Sanggong, Daozu, daozong and others once stayed in Xiben temple.

In the 16th year of Yuanjia (439) of the Southern Song Dynasty, there were three pairs of strange birds flying to the Waguan temple. The court thought that it was the auspicious Prime Minister of Phoenix habitat, and set up Fenghuang terrace, which was called Fengtai mountain. In other words, Taiwan is the mountain.

In the first year of Chen Guangda (567) of the Southern Dynasty, Tiantai Zhiyi (Master of the wise) lived here and talked about the theory of great wisdom and the second chan gate, which was deeply respected by the government and the public. There are countless scholars who have taken the responsibility of monks and customs. The temple is prosperous.

In 937, it was renamed Shengyuan temple.

In the year of Shengyuan (938-942) in the Southern Tang Dynasty, Waguan temple was renamed Shengyuan temple, and the pavilion was also called Shengyuan Pavilion.

During the period of Baoning (970-979) in the Northern Song Dynasty, the temple pavilion was destroyed by the Southern War of song division. In 980, it was rebuilt as Chongsheng jietan courtyard and Lushena Buddha Pavilion.

It was renamed Chongsheng temple during the Taiping reign of the Song Dynasty (976-983). In the early Ming Dynasty, the temple foundation was completely abandoned. One part was changed into the family garden of Xu Wei Gong, and the other part was changed into the guard storehouse of Xiaoqi.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the temple was abandoned. Half of the site of the temple went into the xiaoqiweicang, and the other half belonged to the gongzu garden of Xuwei state. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty (1522-1566), Xu Gong built Jiqing nunnery on the side of the garden, which was called Waguan temple. In the 19th year of Wanli (1591), sengyuan and Zhu tanyue negotiated to raise funds and set up conggui nunnery on the right side of Fenghuang terrace. They redeemed the platform, rebuilt the temple, and built the Vatican temple, which is called shangwaguan temple. It was renamed Jiqing temple as xiawaguan temple. The ancestral temple is called the former site of gwagon, so it is called xiawaguan temple on the ground and shangwaguan temple on the mountain. Jiao Hong (1540-1620), a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, changed shangwaguan temple into Fengyou temple, which is still called shangwaguan Temple by the people of ranli. Today, shangwaguan temple has been renamed Fengyou temple, and only part of Jialan remains.

During the reign of Xianfeng (1851-1861) of the Qing Dynasty, the upper and lower Waguan temples were destroyed by the fire of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, leaving only a few dilapidated houses. During the years of Tongzhi and Guangxu (1862-1908), it was repaired. During this period, Miaowu nunnery was built on the base of shangwaguan temple.

In 1951, a private primary school was set up in xiawaguan temple, which was demolished during the great leap forward in 1958.

In 1959, miaowu'an had 18 original houses, which were managed by Nanjing Housing Administration Bureau and rented to Nanjing insulation material factory.

In 1964, shangwaguan temple was converted into a school building by the 43rd Middle School of Nanjing.

In 2000, Nanjing Housing Management Bureau returned the property right and land use right to Nanjing Buddhist Association.

In July 2003, the insulating material factory vacated all the real estate and was managed by master Jingquan, abbot of Zhenci, who was invited by Nanjing Buddhist Association. The Waguan temple was restored and opened to the outside world.

Historical status

Waguan temple is an important temple in the history of Chinese Buddhism with profound culture and rich cultural relics. There are many eminent monks in Waguan temple. Zhiyi (538-597), the founder of Tiantai Sect in the Sui Dynasty, also known as master wise, lived in zhuoxiwaguan temple in the first year of Chen Guangda (567) until the seventh year of Taijian (575) and lived in Tiantai Mountain for eight years. He promoted Zen Buddhism in Waguan temple, preached "Fa Hua Jing", "Xiao Zhi Guan", "Da Zhi Du Lun" and so on, which laid a theoretical foundation for the establishment of Tiantai Sect. As the late president Zhao Puchu said: "the wise master of TIANTAIZONG preached his scholarship in Nanjing." So later generations respected Waguan temple as the ancestral court of Tiantai Sect. At the beginning of the ninth century, the Japanese monk zuicheng (767-822) entered the Tang Dynasty to seek the Tiantai doctrine of law. After returning to Japan, he founded the Tiantai Sect in Japan with birui mountain as the Daben mountain. In the 13th century, the Japanese monk rilian (1222-1282) studied the religious meaning of Tiantai and founded the Japanese rilian sect in accordance with the Dharma Sutra. There are many divisions in this sect, such as rilian orthodox sect, Chuangjia society, Lingyou Association, Lizheng Jiaocheng Association, etc. At the end of the 11th century, Yitian (1009-1101), a Korean monk, went to the Song Dynasty to study the Tiantai doctrine and introduced Tiantai Sect into Korea. Up to now, TIANTAIZONG is still very popular in Japan and Korea. Waguan temple is well-known in Japanese and Korean Buddhist circles and has a wide influence. Over the past 20 years, some of his people have come to Nanjing to find their roots and ancestors and inquire about the reconstruction of Waguan temple.

Waguan temple in the Jin Dynasty is known as the collection of "three wonders": one is the four foot two inch high Jade Buddha statue given by the lion state (today's Sri Lanka), which is recorded in the history book "Liang Shu", which is the best witness of friendly exchanges between China and Southeast Asian countries as early as 1600 years ago. The second is the bronze statue of Zhang Liu and the Buddha statue created by the sculptors Dai Kui (about 326-396) and Dai Yong (378-441). After Jiadan method was introduced into Japan by master Jianzhen, the statue of Jianzhen monk, the national treasure of Japan's Tang zhaoti temple, was made by Jiadan method. The third is the mural of Vimalakirti Shiji painted by Gu Kaizhi (345-406). The Buddha statues of Dai Kui and his son and the murals of Gu Kaizhi are all outstanding creations recorded in the history of Chinese art.

Waguan temple and fenghuangtai are the places of Nanjing culture, and the scenery of the Six Dynasties is everywhere. Li Bai, Du Fu, Lu You, Liu Kezhuang, Zhou Bangyan and Wang Shizhen all left immortal chapters. In particular, Li Bai's famous sentences such as "Phoenix on the phoenix stage, Phoenix flowing on the empty river of Taiwan" and Du Fu's "tiger head, Golden Millet shadow, miraculous alone unforgettable" have become the best songs of all ages.

Temple scale

The vast scope of guwaguan temple has not been studied. However, in the Ming Dynasty, the site of shangwaguan temple was 40 mu, and that of Xiasi temple was 10 mu. According to the record of Waguan temple on Fenghuang terrace written by Lang Ge yinliang, the author of Jinling fanchazhi and the ancestral temple Department of Southern Ming Dynasty, the former site of Waguan temple is the official site of Shitao in Jin Dynasty. On the right side of Fenghuang station, it is close to the city according to the mountain. " It is pointed out that shangwaguan temple is the former site of Waguan. According to the records of Fenglu, "shangwaguan temple was seen when I was a child, but now it's just broken houses and rafters. The pavilion of fuhuayan has been abandoned, and there is still a mirage in the 2000 year old Zen forest, while Picchu Youpo wants another reason, such as Miaowu temple." It also shows the relationship between Miaowu temple and Waguan temple. Another proof is that Wang Xushi excavated a pair of stone candle holders in Miaowu temple, which are simple and exquisite. It is proved to be the objects of Shengyuan Pavilion in the Southern Tang Dynasty. The stone candle holders are now collected in Nanjing Museum. It can be seen that Miaowu temple was built at the base of shangwaguan temple. The reconstruction of Waguan temple on the basis of the original Miaowu temple also meets the requirements of reconstruction in the former site.

Secondly, the shangwaguan Temple rebuilt in the late Qing Dynasty was converted into the school building of No. 43 middle school. The property right of the original Miaowu nunnery, which is opposite to the gate of No.43 middle school and separated by an alley, has been owned by Nanjing Buddhist Association, which has the conditions for reconstruction. Based on the original Miaowu nunnery No.12, Hualu Beigang

Chinese PinYin : Gu Wa Guan Si