Baicao Temple

Baicao Temple

Baicao temple is located on Baicao mountain in Huayan Temple Village, Xiejiagou Town, 58.5km east of Qingjian County, Shaanxi Province. It was first built in 1042, the second year of Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was rebuilt after the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and was supplemented in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

During the cultural revolution, temple fairs were destroyed. After 1980, local people spontaneously organized a Council to repair the temple. Baicao temple is a temple group of Buddhism and Taoism. There are 41 large and small temples in the temple, which are divided into three groups and eight single temples. Incense is the most popular in temple fairs on March 3 every year.

Baicao temple is located on Baicao mountain in Huayan Temple Village, jiejiagou Town, 58.5 kilometers east of Qingjian County. It is surrounded by mountains, set off by thousands of ravines and shrouded in smoke. A main peak is abrupt and straight, surrounded by cliffs, and the top of the mountain is flat. People are used to call it "the plain of Baicao Temple".

According to Daoguang Qingjian County annals, the temple was first built in 1042, the second year of Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was rebuilt after the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and was supplemented in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to legend, Baicao temple is the place where Mu Guiying broke hunzhou. There are ancient city walls and beacon towers on the mountain. Villagers nearby plant land on the mountain, and ancient weapons, coins and porcelain are unearthed. It is the largest temple and scenic spot in Qingjian. Scholars and gentry in the past dynasties have many narrative articles and singing works. In addition, there are more than 30 Temple steles. Unfortunately, most of them were lost and destroyed, with only two inscriptions and three poems left.

In the old days, there were more than 40 temples with towering pines and cypresses, shady locusts and willows; temples and pavilions, cornices and angles; the second floor of East and West bells and drums, morning and evening drums, and the sound spread for tens of miles; there were more than 40 temples with green bricks and green tiles and eaves teeth, which were magnificent and famous far and near, ranking second behind Baiyun Mountain in Jiaxian county. The original hall 20, and another Pavilion, stele Gallery, Qingjian County is the largest temple. It is more than 500 years earlier than Baiyunshan temple in Jiaxian county. Together with Dafo temple in Jiaxian County, it has become the most popular temple fair with more than 10000 people. In addition to temples, there are sacred Road, Tianmen, stele Pavilion, antitai, Cuiguang Pavilion, monk's house, meeting house and other buildings in the temple. After liberation, some important buildings were destroyed. During the cultural revolution, they were completely destroyed. All the statues in the temple were smashed, all the masonry walls and timber of the buildings were removed, all the ancient bells and steles were smashed, and even the stone strips of the sacred road were demolished. The whole temple became a ruin. After 1980, the masses spontaneously organized a Council, and began to repair the temple houses on the basis of the original temple. Niangniang Temple, Yuhuang temple, zushi temple, society and so on were successively restored. However, the scale is far less than before. Now some temples still have temples, and some are still in dilapidated shape.

Baicao temple is a combined Temple community. The main temples include 48 temples, such as the Mahatma Hall of Buddha, Yuhuang Pavilion, Zhenwu ancestral hall, Niangniang Temple, taishanglaojun temple, eighteen Arhats and twenty-eight Xingxiu temple. In the old days, there were dozens of monks and Taoists, who used to play fish drum bells and preside over Temple affairs. Huayansi village at the foot of the mountain has a few hundred meters uphill road with smooth blue stone steps and three gateways, which is called shenlu. There are three temple fairs every year, that is, the third of March in the lunar calendar (the meeting of Zushi Temple), the eighth of April (the meeting of Buddha Temple), and the twenty fifth of August (the meeting of Yuhuang Temple). During the festival, there are a lot of people in front of the stage, temples behind the crowd, pavilions and pavilions, ancient cypresses, cigarettes, worshippers offering alms, and scholars drawing lots to ask divination.

The temple of Baicao temple is divided into three main courtyards: the first courtyard, zhengfo hall; the second courtyard, Zhenwu zushi hall; the third courtyard, shisan hall. The painted sculptures have different shapes, strange ghosts and lifelike images. Their ingenious conception is a collection of painted sculptures, and forms the characteristics of the integration of Buddhism and Taoism to guide people to change evil from good.

Flower Fair of Niangniang Temple in Baicao Temple

The Niangniang Temple Fair of Baicao temple is held on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar every year. It is called the flower fair because the main ceremony is to present the Niangniang with 5-meter-high paper flowers made of more than 400 paper flowers. In the village of Guandao mountain, which is located at the foot of Baicao mountain, the hospitable villagers provided me with food and lodging to watch the whole process of the flower festival.

In the morning of the second day of junior high school, the whole village built colorful God sheds in the spacious yard, cleaned the roads, sprinkled the roads with clear water, and invited the empress (God tablet) to receive incense and flowers from Baicao temple. When the empress comes to the village, she leads the drum music and Yangko, and men, women and children kneel down on both sides of the road. After sitting on the altar in the shed, the empress burned her watch, burnt incense, offered tribute, offered wine and flowers. On this day, all the people who belong to the village will go to the village to give alms to the empress and help with the affairs.

No matter who went to the meeting outside the village, or the men and women of the village, all gathered together to watch the flowers and Yangko, eat "eight bowls" and drink Shaojiu. All night long, the suona is blowing all over the village. The Yangko is dazzling. In front of the goddess, the worshippers are a group of good men and women who pray for their children and cure their diseases.

After breakfast the next day, people led the animals to Niang Niang, and the flower welcoming team followed the order of drum band, honor guard, drum flag team, Yangko team, Wushu paper flower team, Niang Niang God's sedan chair and drum band, slowly marching towards Baicao temple like a colorful dragon. After entering the temple, there will be ceremonies such as calming the nerves, flower competition, tribute and wine sacrifice, and then the paper flowers will be burned in the courtyard of Niangniang Temple.

The colorful flowers and trees, the surging believers, the surging suona, the swirling cigarettes, the devout faith and the awe in the heart have made the traditional temple fair a grand event for entertaining the gods and the people, and the people and the gods.

Address: 58.5km east of Qingjian County

Longitude: 110.51126098633

Latitude: 37.251613616943

Tel: 0912-5472049

Chinese PinYin : Bai Cao Si