Yongquan Temple

Yongquan Temple

Yongquan temple is one of the most important temples in China. The temple is built on the hillside of Gushan Mountain, 455 meters above sea level, covering an area of about 1.7 hectares. The front of the temple is Xianglu peak, and the back is Baiyun peak. There is a peculiar architectural pattern of "no temple in the mountain, no mountain in the temple". Yongquan Temple was built in 783 and was originally named Huayan Temple. It is said that the place was originally a deep pool with poisonous dragons, which did harm to the residents. In the fourth year of Tang Jianzhong (783), Peizhou asked master Lingqiao to subdue him. His master recited the Huayan Sutra by the Bank of the pool, and the Dragon left. People felt deeply about the virtue of the master. They built a temple on the site of the pool to welcome the master and live in tin. The emperor granted a plaque of "Huayan", which is called Huayan Temple. Huayan Temple was destroyed when Emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty destroyed Buddhism. In 908, Wang Shenzhi, the king of Fujian, built a new temple called "Guoshi hall".

Yongquan temple was renamed Yongquan temple in 915. In the Song Dynasty, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty granted Yongquan temple. In 1407, it was renamed Yongquan temple. In Ming Dynasty, it was destroyed twice by fire, repaired and expanded one after another, forming today's scale. In 1699, Emperor Kangxi granted the inscription of Yongquan temple, which is still high above the gate of Tianwang temple.

The origin of history

In 908, the second year of Kaiping in the late Liang Dynasty, Wang Shenzhi, the king of Fujian, invited Yan, the national master, to preside over the construction of a new temple. After the temple was completed, it was named "national master hall". Because there was luohanquan in front of Tianwang hall, it was renamed Yongquan Buddhist temple of Baiyun peak in Gushan in the fifth year of Qianhua (915). Wang Shenzhi invited master Shenyan to Abbot Yongquan temple, presided over the expansion of the temple, gathered thousands of disciples, and called it prosperous for a time. In the Song Dynasty, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty granted Yongquan temple. In 1407, it was renamed Yongquan temple. Yongle six years (1408) and Jiajing twenty-one years (1542), the temple was destroyed by fire twice, the temple remains few. In the 47th year of Wanli (1619), tianqijian was restored one after another, and then expanded several times, forming today's scale.

At the beginning of the reign of emperor Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, monk Yuanxian presided over the restoration. In 1699, the clay and gold plaque of Yongquan temple, which was awarded by Emperor Kangxi, is still hanging above the gate of Tianwang hall

. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, Yongquan temple was designated as a national key Temple by the State Council in 1983, and was handed over to Buddhist organizations for management and use.

Layout structure

Yongquan temple was destroyed by fire twice in 1408 and 1542, respectively. It was rebuilt in 1634, and rebuilt in 1983. Yongquan Temple basically maintains the layout of Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. The whole temple has 25 halls, including Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, FA hall, Abbot's room, ancestral hall, sutra Pavilion, Zen hall, Buddha chanting hall, storehouse, guest hall, Zhaitang, etc. in addition, there are bell tower, drum tower, Xuejie hall, law school, Dongji building, Mingyue building, fangshengchi, Huilong Pavilion, suihan building, etc. The whole temple takes the main hall as the center, and rises layer by layer along the hillside terrain, forming an orderly temple complex. The thousand year old temple covers an area of 25 mu

It is known as the "crown of Min Temple". Approaching the gate of Yongquan temple, the first thing you can see is a pair of "Thousand Buddha pagodas" standing on both sides of the gate.

Thousand Buddha pagoda

In the East, there is a pagoda of "seizing thousands of Buddhas" (meaning of "seizing thousands of Buddhas" in the past) and in the west, there is a pagoda of "seizing thousands of Buddhas" (meaning of "seizing thousands of Buddhas" in modern times). The tower is about 7 meters high and has nine octagonal storeys. It is made of clay fired in layers and stacked. The body of the tower is brown. On the eaves of the pagoda are 72 monks and generals, and 72 pottery bells. Lotus petal, lion dance, dwarf, manufacture time and craftsman's name are engraved on the tower base. There are 1038 Buddha statues on the tower. The tower is tall and exquisite, which is rare in China. The two thousand Buddha pagodas were built in 1082, the fifth year of Yuanfeng of Song Dynasty. They are the material evidence for the study of architecture and pottery art of Song Dynasty.

From the temple gate along the stone steps, into the palace of heavenly kings. There is a couplet at the gate of the hall: "in front of the furnace peak, why should we wave across the river; in front of the furnace peak, please look at the stubborn stone nodding." There is a Buddha statue of Maitreya with a large stomach. On both sides of the statue is a couplet written by the literati of the Ming Dynasty: "every day I carry an empty cloth bag with little rice and no money, but I have a big stomach and a wide stomach. I don't know what to offer when tanyue is confident. Every year I sit at the Cold Mountain Gate and wait for Li. I always see him happy. Please ask the Buddha why he is so proud." the hall of the king of heaven is the courtyard with the inscription "stone drum" on the top There are four big characters in Mingshan, the middle of which is horizontal bridge and wave. On the left and right, there is a confrontation between the two towers.

Bronze bell in the temple

There is a huge bell on the tower, which was cast in the 35th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1696). It is made of copper, gold, silver and tin. It weighs about two tons. The bells are loud and melodious. The body of the bell is engraved with the full text of Vajra Prajna Sutra, a total of 6372 words.

main hall

On both sides of the corridor are the Min king temple and the Jialan hall, with the main hall in the middle. The main hall was first built in 908, the second year of Kaiping in the Five Dynasties, and rebuilt in the Song Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty was destroyed by fire. The existing building was rebuilt in 1882. There are three Buddha statues in the hall, with 18 Arhats on both sides. In front of the offering table, there is a large bronze censer, with a bronze statue of a boy standing on each side. At the back of the hall, there are "three holy statues" made of iron during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. The surface is covered with gold. It weighs about 2300 Jin and is bright with gold.

On the ceiling of the hall are 242 patterns drawn in the eighth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1882), including 129 Chan dragon pictures, 86 red crowned cranes, 27 elephant, unicorn, white horse, monkey and so on. They are bright in color and reflect with sheep colored lamps, making the hall resplendent and solemn. After the main hall is the Dharma hall.

The lower part of the east side is the Sutra library.

Main building

Yongquan temple, covering an area of about 1.7 hectares, still maintains the architectural style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The temple is close to the mountain and the valley, with a series of porches and 25 halls surrounded by the main hall. The giant pillars of the main hall stand up and the eaves are flying in the air.

The treasure of zhensi temple is that the Buddha shiyingmuni III in the hall does not wear Sanskrit clothes, but only wears Han clothes and sits upright in it; the eighteen Arhats on both sides have different expressions and "the Dharma is solemn". At the back of the main hall, there are about 1.15 tons of "three saints". There is a long table made of mulberry wood in front of the statue. It is said that it has been robbed many times and is still in good condition. It is called the treasure of zhensi temple. Inside and outside the hall, there are many beautiful sentences of rubber couplets, such as: "there are many white clouds on the seat, when the wind is bathing, the Dragon lies behind; in the eyes of the sea is small, the seven Kuns go to the East, and the five tigers come to the South." All of them are vivid portraits of the history and environment of the ancient temple.

The ceiling of Daxiong hall and yuantongbao hall are brightly painted. Among them, there are 129 dragon patterns, 86 Red Crowned Crane patterns and 27 unicorn, white horse, elephant and ape patterns painted in 1882. Yuantong hall has 75 painted stories in 1882. In addition, there are two giant plaques "Baoluo dignity" presented by Qing Bao, the Taiwan magistrate of the Qing Dynasty, and Qing Lin, the general of Fuzhou. In the hall, there are also dozens of Ming Dynasty brocade version of "Dafang Guangfo Huayan Sutra" and Ming and Qing Dynasty Buddha statues and vases. There are ancient bells and drums hanging on the bell and drum towers on both sides of the main hall. The 2-ton Vajra Prajna bell has 6372 words of Vajra Sutra. It has been more than 300 years.

Tieshu in the hospital

In the west of Yuantong hall, there is Shengjian hall, commonly known as "Abbot" room. There are two females and one male in the courtyard. When it blooms, it is as yellow as a ball of wool. It is said that Tieshu was planted by Wang Shenzhi, the king of Fujian Province, and the first abbot, shenguoshi.

The Sutra collection building was built in 1659. It contains more than 20000 Buddhist scriptures, including nanzang of Ming Dynasty, Beizang of Ming Dynasty and Sanskrit of Qing Dynasty, which were granted by Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty to Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. Hanfenlou of modern times photocopied rare editions of Japanese sequel and zazang, and more than 600 Beiye scriptures of Buddha Daoying painted in color during Kangxi of Qing Dynasty. Among the collected Buddhist scriptures, the yuan edition of yanyoucang is the most precious. Yanyoucang is the Dazangjing, which was published in the second year of Yanyou (1315) in Jianyang county.

Buddhist works

There are 762 volumes in Yongquan temple, though not all of them, with beautiful characters and exquisite engraving. Yan you Zang is very rare in China. The most remarkable work is master Daopei, the abbot of Yongquan temple in the Qing Dynasty, the collection of Huayan Sutras of Dafang Guangfo, which contains 120 volumes, 48 volumes and 2425 carved boards. This is a representative Buddhist work of Kangxi period, which is very precious. In 1925, master Hongyi printed dozens of copies and presented them to Japanese temples.

There are 13375 pieces of Buddhist scriptures and sculptures, which are well-known at home and abroad. In the past, it was printed by Fuzhou Buddhist publishing house and circulated in China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries. In 1929, when Japanese Buddhist scholar Dr. changpan Dading came to inspect the Buddhist historical sites, he called Yongquan Temple "the first Buddhist cave in China", and made an investigation on the sutras and editions here for more than a month.

Cultural relics inscription

Yongquan temple also preserves ceramic artifacts from the Tang Dynasty, calligraphy and paintings, Buddha statues and ritual artifacts from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, ceramic statues of Guanyin Buddha and white jade Buddha from the Song Dynasty, bronze bells from Thailand, and beiyejing from Myanmar and India. There are also four huge iron and steel pots in Xiangji kitchen, which has a history of more than 900 years. The largest one is 1.67 meters in diameter and 0.8 meters in depth. It can cook 500 Jin of rice at a time for thousands of people.

GUSHAN Yongquan temple has a lot of famous people's sentences

Chinese PinYin : Yong Quan Si