Longhua Temple

Longhua Temple

Longhua temple is located in Longhua street in the southern suburb of Shanghai,

It is the oldest and largest ancient temple in Shanghai.

The name of Longhua temple comes from the allusion that Maitreya became a Buddha under the Longhua tree. It is said that the Longhua temple was built by Sun Quan for his mother in the period of the Three Kingdoms. It has been more than 1700 years since then. However, according to the literature, the Longhua temple was built in 977 A.D., the second year of Taiping rejuvenation of the country in the Northern Song Dynasty. In 1066, the name of Longhua temple was changed to "kongxiang Temple". Now there are still some steles and stones left in the temple. In the Yongle period of Ming Dynasty (1403-1424 AD), the original name of "Longhua Temple" was restored. In the second year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1574), it was given the name of "Da Xing Guo Wan Shou CI Hua Temple", and the name of the temple is still Longhua temple.

In 1953, the Shanghai Buddhist Association copied the Buddha statues in various halls, rebuilt the temples, and built a new Sutra collection building. Taoyuan in the west of the temple was established as Xuehua Park in 1928, and later renamed Longhua park. It is now a part of Longhua martyrs' cemetery. In 1959, Longhua temple was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Shanghai.

Historical evolution

It is said that the Longhua temple was first built in the fifth year of chiwu in the Three Kingdoms (AD 242), and in the third year of chuigong in the Tang Dynasty (AD 687).

During the Qianfu period of Tang Dynasty, it was destroyed by war. In 977 A.D., Qian hongchu, king of Wu and Yue, rebuilt it. In 1066 A.D., it was renamed "kongxiang Temple". Kongxiang temple was destroyed by war at the turn of song and Yuan Dynasties. After reconstruction in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty, it was renamed "Longhua Temple". Later, it was destroyed many times by the fire of war and rebuilt from generation to generation. The temple was rebuilt in the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty according to the system of Jialan seven halls in the Song Dynasty.

In 1957 and 1979, it was renovated twice.

There are scriptures, gold seals and Buddha statues of the Tang, Five Dynasties, Ming and Qing Dynasties in the temple.

Architectural pattern

Longhua temple is built under the Jialan seven hall system of Song Dynasty. On the central axis of Longhua temple, from south to north, there are Maitreya hall, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, Sansheng hall, Abbot's room in the closed courtyard, and Sutra collection building, with a total of six halls.

The first entrance on the central axis is Maitreya hall, where a statue of Ci's Maitreya is worshipped. The second entrance is the temple of heavenly kings. There are four heavenly kings and two statues 4 meters high on each side. A statue of Maitreya with a crown of five Buddhas is worshipped in the middle. It is Maitreya's true form of practicing in the inner courtyard of heaven. In the niche behind it is Wei Tuo. The third entrance is the Mahavira hall. In the middle of the hall, the statue of piluzana is worshipped. It is a Dharma Buddha. On the left and right are Manjusri and Puxian. On both sides, along the wall are twenty heavens and sixteen Arhats. On the back is an island. There are statues of Guanyin and shancai boy. The fourth entrance is the three holy halls, the fifth entrance is the Abbot's room, in the closed courtyard, and the sixth entrance is the Sutra collection building.

There are bell and drum towers on both sides. The bell tower has a triple cornice and a bronze bell with a green dragon hanging inside. The bell sounds melodious; the drum tower has a drum with a diameter of 1.7 meters. There is Guanyin hall in the East and west side hall, with a statue of Guanyin with thousand hands inside, tall and exquisite, and Luohan hall. In the east of Sansheng hall, there are ranxiang building and peony garden. The famous painting monk Zhu Chan, who is as famous as Po Shan Zen master, lived here.

Main attractions

Shanmen

In the middle of the mountain gate, there is a plaque of "Longhua" written in the official script. On the two characters, there is an enlarged gold seal, "the seal of Longhua Temple granted by the emperor". This is one of the three treasures of Longhua. In fact, it is a jade seal. Because it is given by the emperor, it is called gold seal. On the side there are plaques of "Jiangnan ancient temple" and "human life Dou rate". Because Longhua temple is one of the oldest temples in Jiangnan, it is called "Jiangnan ancient temple". At that time, the Buddha designated Maitreya as the successor of the Buddha, and went to douliutian to practice. Longhua temple is the place where Maitreya's Daochang practices in the world, so it is called "douliutian in the world".

Tower shadow Garden

There is a round gate full of Parthenocissus in the southwest corner of Longhua temple. This is the "tower shadow garden". In the evening, when the sun is going to set, the shadow of the tower will be projected here, hence the name. In the Chengbi Pavilion, there is a boundary tablet of the temple in the Song Dynasty, which is also an example of the construction of Longhua Temple in the Song Dynasty.

Maitreya Hall

Longhua temple is different from other temples. The first entrance to the temple is Maitreya hall. Hanging on the eaves of Maitreya hall is the plaque of "Longhua Temple" written by Zhao Puchu, a Buddhist leader and an outstanding calligrapher. Two stone lions crouch on both sides of the gate. Male and female on the left and right. The male's foot on a ball means to surround the world together. Female's foot on a little lion means to extend the descendants. The base of the lion is xumizuo. These two lions are called "three kings" There are peony, Phoenix and lion on xumizuo, so it is called three king lion. The temple with three King lions has the highest standard. On the front wall of Maitreya hall, there are brick carvings of "nine lions", implying the meaning of "salvation". Entering the Maitreya hall, you will see a smiling, open chest and belly Maitreya's incarnation, the cloth bag monk.

Behind Maitreya is a Buddha called Amitabha. He is the leader of the Western Paradise. He holds the Golden Lotus platform in his left hand and makes a seal in his right hand to guide people to the paradise. Out of Maitreya hall, on the right hand is the bell tower, dedicated to the "great wish to the Tibetan king", in which there are the three saints of the nether world, among whom is the Tibetan king, with Daoming on the left and min Gong on the right. On the left is Guan Ping, and on the right is Zhou Cang, who carries the green dragon Yanyue sword for him. Because Guan Yu is the God of Jialan (the protector of Buddhist temple), his face here is golden, not the red faced Guan Gong that people usually see. In front of them was the Dragon King of Guangze. Because of his contribution to the land, he was granted the title of Jialan God. Later, Guan Yu became more and more famous, so the Dragon King had to give up his talent.

On the back eaves of Maitreya hall, there is a plaque of "Jizheng Daxiong". Daxiong is the honorary name of the Buddha, and later Maitreya Buddha is designated as the successor, so it is called "Jizheng Daxiong".

Tianwang Hall

Behind the Maitreya hall is the heavenly king hall. In the middle of the heavenly king hall is Maitreya, which is the statue of Maitreya Buddha in Dharma suit. Next to it are the four heavenly kings. Behind the Maitreya Buddha is Weituo, facing the main hall.

main hall

At the back of Maitreya hall, the spirit vulture on the main ridge of xiehan peak with double eaves is solemn. In the middle of the hall is the piluzana Buddha wearing Pilu hat and making Pilu seal. On the left side, he attends Manjusri Bodhisattva, on the right side, he attends Puxian Bodhisattva. On the left and right sides, there are 20 gods and 18 Arhats. On the back, there are 53 shentongzi worshiping Guanyin. This scene is the Buddha preaching Dharma in the spirit vulture palace 2500 years ago, Manjusri Puxian helping Dharma, and Manjusri helping Buddha It is a grand occasion for the twenty heaven God to protect the Dharma, the eighteen Arhats to pass the Dharma, the Avalokitesvara to hold the Dharma, and the boy to seek the Dharma. The twenty heavenly gods were all originally Brahmins, and later worshipped under the Buddha's door. There were Brahmins, Brahma, bodhi tree god who sheltered the Buddha from the wind and rain during the Buddha's hard practice, prison God who testified for the Buddha when lust came, Dragon King who spat water to extinguish the fire when the Buddha preached Dharma, and Weituo who recovered the Buddha's relic teeth during the Buddha's nirvana.

Three temples

Behind the main hall is the hall of three saints. When you step into the hall, you will meet three shining, dignified and wonderful Buddhas Amitabha, Guanyin Bodhisattva and dashizhi Bodhisattva.

Guanyin Hall

On the west side of the Sansheng hall, there are thirty-two incarnations of Guanyin Bodhisattva, thousand handed Guanyin, great merit heaven, King persini and eight ghost groups representing gods, human beings and ghosts.

Luohan Hall

Next to the Guanyin hall, there are five hundred Arhats. On the middle wall is Sakyamuni Buddha sitting under the bodhi tree to preach scriptures. Next to them are elk offering Ganoderma lucidum and macaque offering peach. On the left is his eldest disciple, Capricorn Kaya, who leads seven disciples. On the right, of course, is his successor, Tianguan Maitreya, who also leads seven disciples. On the lower reaches, 500 Arhats preach the Dharma. On both sides are the four Bodhisattvas who help the Dharma, as well as Guanyu Weituo's Dharma protector.

Longhua tower

Longhua Pagoda in Longhua temple is a Buddhist pagoda. It was built in 977, the second year of the Taiping reign of the Song Dynasty. It is a seven story octagonal Wooden Pagoda, about 41 meters high. The interior of the tower is a brick core with a square chamber inside and a wooden corridor outside. Its structure and form are the architectural style of Song Dynasty. Because the tower is octagonal, and the square room in the center of the tower is quadrilateral, the direction of each layer is changed by 45 degrees, so the position of each layer of the tower surface is also changed, so that the wall body and weight distribution are more uniform, and the appearance is uneven, all aspects are covered. At the same time, the design of brick arch, forehead arch and Mandarin Duck cross hand arch are also the characteristics of Song Dynasty architecture.

other

Behind the Sansheng hall are the Abbot's building and the Sutra collection building, in which are the three treasures of Longhua, the gilded piluzana Buddha, the gold seal of Wanli, and Qianlong's Dragon collection. There is also a relic of the great monk Mingmin. There is a peony garden in the east of sanshengdian and fangzhanglou. The peony has a history of 100 years. It was transplanted from near the tomb of Lu Zhishen in Donglin Temple of Hangzhou in Xianfeng years. Originally, the boundary steles of kongxiang temple in the Song Dynasty and four stone tigers in the Yuan Dynasty were also stored here. Now the steles and two stone tigers are moved to the tower shadow garden in front of them, and the other two are moved to Xu Guangqi's tomb.

Buddhist activities

New year's Day chime

Since 1991, every year on December 31, the new year's Eve bell crashing activity held in Longhua temple has attracted a large number of Chinese and foreign tourists. This activity has been designated as one of the national tourism projects by the National Tourism Administration.

Longhua Temple Fair

3. April

Chinese PinYin : Long Hua Si