Donghe temple bell tower

Donghe temple bell tower

The bell tower of Donghe temple is located in Taibei, Taiwan. It was founded in 1930. The structure of the clock tower is reinforced concrete building, the roof form is single eaves Xieshan style, and Japanese style black tiles are used, and ghost tiles are set at the ridge head. On the first floor, there are one large, two small and three door openings, with arch shape and stairs for ascending. The first floor is made of coarse stone blocks, which belongs to the popular architectural style from Taoshan period to Edo period in Japan. After renovation, the second floor was painted as a white exterior wall, with a copper bell hanging inside, a corridor outside, and a flat seat railings on the edge of the corridor.

Introduction to the clock tower

The bell tower, built in 1930, looks like a gate. It was built in front of the main hall of Donghe temple, and its function is the reception hall of the temple. When the youth recreation center was built later, it was originally planned to demolish the clock tower. With the efforts of the cultural community, the clock tower was preserved and became a municipal historic site. It is now the south entrance of the temple.

There are stone palace lamps around the bell tower, and the grass, stone footpath and stone wall are paved to match the overall shape of the building. The billboard of the former Taibei middle school was replaced with materials related to the clock tower; the vent of the youth recreation center was packaged with a stone carved with "Donghe Temple". Let the clock tower appear solemn and quiet.

Introduction to Zen Temple

Donghe Temple belongs to caodongzong, originally known as "caodongzong Daben shanbie courtyard". It is located in the south of Danyang street, adjacent to Taibei middle school in the East and youth education and entertainment center in the south. The site of Zen temple in those years covers today's Zen temple, the former Taibei middle school, youth education and entertainment center, bell tower and open-air coffee square.

"Donghe Temple" is a traditional Siheyuan building. Because jiuchongge is extremely luxuriant outside the temple wall, if it is not for the instructions of the two stone lions at the gate, it will take a lot of effort to find it. According to the literature, it says: "Donghe temple is located in a section of Ren'ai road in Taipei city. In the fourth year of the Republic of China, it was founded by monk Xiaoyuan and Zen master Dashi (Japanese monk) In November of the same year, the foundation was broken, and construction began the following year. In the first two years of the Republic of China, the projects of Guanyin temple, Zuwang and kitchen were completed first It can be seen that Guanyin temple is the first hall to be completed, and it has a history of 80 years. Although Donghe temple has been built for less than a hundred years, its carving, painting and architecture are of first-class level. On the door of the left and right cloisters are written "talking about scriptures" and "saying", and the three-dimensional carving of tiger and dragon is ready to come out. Walking to the right corridor, you can see a new ancestral hall, which is dedicated to the statue of the old monk Xinyuan. The plaque issued by the Chinese Buddhist Association reads: "virtue and fragrance", and the small characters say: "the centenary of the old monk Xinyuan commemorates the passing of precepts".

Sanbao Buddha is the main worship of Guanyin Chan hall. In the hall where the space is not spacious enough, there are quite a few branches. However, due to the exquisite and meticulous relationship, it makes people feel as if they are in the guest hall of the ancient house, with a faint feeling of thinking about the ancient. The poems on both sides of the temple said: "the balance of the divine power of a temple has the guarantee of being a great monk, but it shows that it is brave and strong in heaven, destroys evil forces, and is being willed by Dharma protector and important monk in Dajue.". From time to time, children's noise came from the back of the hall. It is known that this is Donghe kindergarten, which is attached to Donghe temple. For a long time, the ever burning lamp in the bone pagoda turned yellow. In the middle of the niche, the pharmacist Buddha was worshipped. On the left side, the great monk Yingshan Shaojin, the great master of Changji, and on the right side, the great monk Yongping Daoyuan, the great master of mercury Yang. I think only with the help of the super recommendation of the Buddhist power can the spirits of the dead in exile feel a little relieved. In this small world, Guanyin Bodhisattva is worshipped, and the plaque of "Buddha's light" is somewhat clumsy. The Dharma images and spiritual tablets of the masters of the past dynasties are placed on the right side of the small Buddha Hall, and the tablets on the left side are placed in the temple by Shanxin.

Finally, I asked master if it was more than 4000 Ping. How could I see that there were only a few hundred Ping?

"In the thirties of the Republic of China, when the government moved to Taiwan, some of the temples were occupied by them." The master said faintly.

"Isn't the Japanese Temple (bell tower) part of the Donghe temple?" I asked.

"That Japanese Temple used to be connected with this temple, but now all of them are full of people, and only a small part of them is left with some ashes."

Shifu seems reluctant to talk more about the "Japanese Temple". She has lived in Donghe temple for more than 40 years and witnessed the rise and fall of Donghe temple with her own eyes.

Founded in 1913, Zen temple is one of the few Buddhist temples in Taiwan with Japanese Zen style. In 1920, the temple was rebuilt until it was completed in 1923. At that time, most Japanese Buddhist temples were built in Japanese style, and the temple itself was no exception. At that time, the temple was only for Japanese people to visit. Because of the need to attract local believers, the Buddhist monk from Taiwan built a rare Fujian style Buddhist temple, Guanyin temple, on the right side of the main hall. In 1930, it was rebuilt.

In 1916, a Buddhist school was set up in the temple to provide children of monks and believers. The school was named "private Taiwan Buddhist middle school forest". In 1922, it was renamed as "private caodongzong Taiwan middle school forest" and "private linjizong Zhennan middle school forest"; in 1922, it was merged as "private National College"; in 1935, it was renamed as private Taipei middle school and changed from a Buddhist school to a general school. After the end of the Japanese occupation period, it was renamed as today's "Taibei middle school".

After 1945, after the end of the Japanese occupation period, the Zen temple was transferred to the government of the Republic of China. In the 1950s, some of the buildings in the temple, including the main hall, were occupied by the army and the people for a long time. They were damaged and surrounded by illegal buildings. They had to walk through several alleys before they could enter the smaller temple.

In 2000, the Taipei Municipal Government reorganized Danyang street, opened it up and demolished some illegal buildings. Apart from the bell tower, the only remaining hall is the former Guanyin temple, which is today's temple. Today's youth education and recreation center was originally used for the temple. After the city government recovered the land, it was converted to its present appearance. Now the temple is located in the east to the west, facing the former Taibei middle school urban area, and later private Donghe kindergarten. Now there are two entrances to Miaocheng.

At present, the bell tower is the south entrance of the Zen temple. After passing through the bell tower, along the path between the youth education center and the urban area of the former Taibei middle school, it is the Zen temple. After the overall design of the building was carried out by Yuanshuo Lighting Design Consulting Co., Ltd., it was put into operation on November 7, 2002.

The north entrance is located next to Danyang street, but the entrance is not obvious. Therefore, in addition to using lighting footpath to connect Danyang street and Miaocheng, changing the north entrance, the path between the South and the bell tower also uses appropriate lighting to establish the connection with the bell tower. And the use of lighting, strengthen the roof, walls and other architectural features, and improve indoor lighting, the overall impression of the temple, plus a lot of points.

On July 21, 2006, after decades of Antique Restoration, the bronze bell officially sounded again.

Address: no.21-33, Section 1, Ren'ai Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei

Longitude: 121.5203692

Latitude: 25.0394517

Chinese PinYin : Dong He Chan Si Zhong Lou