Pingshan Temple

Pingshan Temple

Located in the north of pingshankou in the middle of Jiuli mountain, Gulou District, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, it is one of the eight famous temples in Xuzhou history and a municipal cultural relics protection unit.

Historical evolution

Pingshan temple was built in 629 (the third year of Zhenguan in Tang Dynasty). At that time, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, ordered the construction of temples in various battlefields to "record achievements" and "pay homage to the dead". As a result, Pingshan temple and Gongde Pagoda in Xuzhou were built, and imperial edicts were given to the temples. At that time, it was called "simian Buddhist temple", which was rebuilt and named "Pingshan Temple" in 1343. It was overhauled in 1791. In 1923 (the 12th year of the Republic of China), Zhang Si, the tenth generation supervisor of Chan Lin hall, was rebuilt. There were 99 rooms in the temple, including monks Dade, Dayu, Changhui, bengu, etc. On May 19, 1938, when Xuzhou was occupied by the Japanese, the Japanese troops entered Pingshan temple, and the temple was seriously damaged, leaving only the gate hall, the spare room and other debris. In 2005, with the support of Xuzhou public Religious Bureau and Xuzhou Buddhist Association, Pingshan temple was restored as a Buddhist religious site. In 2006, the Jiuli district government of Xuzhou city invested more than 200000 yuan to rebuild Pingshan temple, renovated 22 houses, added walls, leveled floors and passageways, and officially opened to the public in October 2006.

Construction regulation

There are three big characters "Pingshan Temple" above the gate of Pingshan temple, and the words "reconstruction of Zhangsi, the tenth generation prison of Chanlin hall" are engraved on both sides. There are two ancient stones on the doorpost above the gate, which are carved with "four unlike" animals, such as horsetail, ox body and lion head. The ink color pictures on the two walls of the gate hall are faintly visible, with a strong sense of three-dimensional, like relief, but the surface is smooth at the touch of the tentacle, and it is hand drawn, which can be said to be superb. From the mural on the north wall, we can see that white clouds are looming between the rolling mountains. Two ancient costume figures painted in thick color are holding lotus. One is kneeling under a pine tree, smiling and pointing to the distance, while the other is standing in the pine forest. On both sides of the back wall, the ancient seal script and regular script script of "solemn world" and "Zhenru resort" are carved respectively. Because the murals have not been completely cleaned up, there are still some patterns that have not appeared. The pattern on the south wall is illegible due to weathering. It is not difficult to see some shadows of Jiuli mountain from these murals.

Human history

Pingshan temple is a very quiet millennium old temple. In ancient times, it was a big temple in Xuzhou. Shuangfeng temple under Hushan mountain and baiyun temple above Tuanshan mountain are all the sub temples of Pingshan temple. In the Qing Dynasty, it was the upper courtyard of Xinghua temple in Yunlong mountain, which was more famous than Xinghua temple. The original buildings in the temple are very grand. After thousands of years of wind and rain erosion, most of them were damaged before repair in 2005. However, it is still impossible to hide the grand scale of the temple, which can be seen from the architectural framework of the temple. The temple is located in a very advantageous geographical location, where incense has been flourishing since ancient times. In ancient times, Pingshan temple fair was the eighth day of the fourth lunar month (Sakyamuni Buddha's Christmas day), which was unprecedented in history. It was resumed in 2007. The temple fair lasts from the seventh day to the ninth day of the fourth lunar month every year.

Address: Pingshan Road, Jiuli District, Xuzhou

Longitude: 117.15254211426

Latitude: 34.290145874023

Ticket information: free.

Chinese PinYin : Ping Shan Si