Julong Temple

Julong Temple

Julong temple is located on the top of Shoushan mountain, 1.5km away from Fengxi Township, Mingxi County, with an altitude of 760m. It was first built in 721, the ninth year of Kaiyuan in Tang Dynasty, and is commonly known as wacuiping.

Julong temple has been repaired in all dynasties. It was rebuilt in 1463 and renamed "Julong Temple" in Qing Dynasty.

Brief introduction to temples

Julong temple is located on the top of Shoushan mountain, 1.5km away from Fengxi Township, Mingxi County, with an altitude of 760m. It was first built in 721, the ninth year of Kaiyuan in Tang Dynasty, and is commonly known as wacuiping. All the past dynasties have repaired Houyi. It was rebuilt in 1463 and renamed "Julong Temple" in Qing Dynasty.

Scenic Spots and Historical Sites

Julong temple, with magnificent scenery, magnificent temples, bamboo groves and pleasant climate, is the only place of interest in the township, ranking the first in the county. It is one of the "four famous temples" in Fujian Province. It is listed as the second temple in Fujian Province, and Xiangping is known as the holy land of Buddhism. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was also the praise of "200 monks, first floor scriptures". The eminent monks gathered here to set up an altar to discuss religion, and many of them were cynical and went into the empty door here. Believers are at home and abroad. Master Guangshun, who is now the vice president of the American Buddhist Association, once served as the Secretary of the central Buddhist Association, is now the famous and beneficial consultant of "Four Seas Publishing House" in New York, Guangdong, and is the host of Zhengguo temple in Shantou, Guangdong. Master yuanche and master Shenghui all became monks here when they were young. The temple consists of Guanyin hall, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, Xiadian, Abbot's building, sutra collection building, Guanshan building, monk's room, Shanwan, kitchen, etc., which are more than 120 rooms in size, forming a building group of more than 1600 square meters. At its peak, it had 180 monks. It was once the largest temple in the four upper prefectures of Fujian Province. It is not only a place for Buddhist disciples, but also a place for celebrities and poets to visit.

Related allusions

In 1933, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai and Peng Dehuai led the Red Army to visit Fengxi on Jianning road. During the cultural revolution, it was looted. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with the implementation of religious policies, with the strong support of monk yuanche and the enthusiastic support of local people, it restored its original appearance and became a major Buddhist activity area in the northwest of Mingxi. It was approved by the United Front Work Department of Sanming municipal Party committee as the first batch of open temples and cultural relics protection units in Mingxi. It is not only the holy land of Buddhism, but also a good place to avoid Buddhism. It has become an attractive tourist attraction.

Buddhist status

Julong temple is located on Julong peak of majestic mountains extending to the southeast of Wuyi Mountains. It is an important scenic spot in Fengxi township of Mingxi County. According to historical records, it was built in the ninth year of Kaiyuan (721 AD) of Tang Dynasty and has a history of 1289 years. It is one of the four ancient temples of caodong sect of Buddhism in Fujian. It has been repaired in all dynasties. It was rebuilt in 1463, and renamed "Julong Temple" in Qing Dynasty. It is listed as the second temple in Fujian Province.

In the seventh year of Shun's reign tomorrow, there are more than 120 hard hilltop brick and wood structure buildings, such as Guanyin hall, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, Abbot's building, sutra collection building, moon collection building, monk's house and Zhaitang, with a construction area of more than 1600 square meters. At that time, it enjoyed the praise of "200 monks, first floor scriptures", and enjoyed a high reputation in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi provinces, Ninghua, Jianning, Taining and other neighboring counties. Eminent monks gathered here to set up altar to discuss religion, and believers all over the world.

There have been many abbots of Gushan in history. He was the honorary consultant of "Four Seas Publishing House" in New York, the director of Zhengguo temple in Shantou, Guangdong, and the famous abbot of Yongquan temple in Gushan, Fuzhou.

Reconstruction and expansion

During the cultural revolution, the temple was destroyed into ruins and disappeared. After the implementation of the religious policy of reform and opening up in the 1980s, in order to build Julong temple into a place for summer tourism, vacation and revolutionary traditional education, it successively spent more than 2 million yuan for reconstruction, which basically restored the original appearance of the temple and made it the first batch of temples open to the outside world approved by the United Front Work Department of Sanming municipal Party committee.

We can see that there are more than 50 reconstructed Julong temple. The pillars of the temple are 30 cm to 40 cm Chinese fir, painted with red paint, carved beams and painted buildings, high pecking eaves teeth, and double dragons playing with pearls on the roof. Later, a new "Mountain Gate", abbot building, reception hall, accommodation building, gratitude Pavilion, stone tablet of Mao Zedong's poetry and Buddhist holy land tablet were built, and a simple road from Fengxi to Julong temple was opened. Now there is an endless stream of pilgrims and tourists. According to reports, in September 1985, Professor Zhao Puchu, chairman of the Buddhist Association of China, personally wrote the four words "Daxiong hall", which added luster to the temple.

In January 1987, master yuanche accompanied master Guangxian, master xiudang of Fushou temple, master Haideng and other famous monks to visit their ancestors in person. He took white jade Buddha statues and precious scriptures to present them to the ancestral court. In 1999, he invested 100000 pieces of marble from Quanzhou to build a pavilion on the stele of Huilonggang to repay the "four grace" (land grace, three treasures grace, parents grace, teachers grace).

Cultural heritage

Julong temple is located in Fengxi Township, Mingxi County, Sanming City, Fujian Province, 60 kilometers away from the county. Julong temple is a thousand year old temple with a history of 1292 years and has made an important contribution to the history of Chinese Buddhism. It is one of the four ancient temples of caodong sect in Fujian Province. It is as famous as Yongquan temple in Gushan, Quanzhou Kaiyuan Temple and Guanghua temple in Putian. In the ninth year of Kaiyuan (721 A.D.) of Emperor Xuanzong (Li Longji) of Tang Dynasty, Daojun and Daoheng, the eminent monks of Tang Dynasty, came to the foot of Julong peak in Fengxi township. They saw that the mountain here was the Fengshui treasure land where Jiulong gathered. They were all called "Jiulong cave". It was a good place for gathering disciples to preach scriptures and carry forward Buddhism. The temple here was built 187 years earlier than Yongquan temple in Gushan, Fuzhou. According to Fengxi's Chen's genealogy, "Chen's 50 Lang Gong had three sons: Chang Wanjin, CI Yongding and San Zhansheng. The three brothers built siyao, chiseled Sitang and burned tile in the mountains. After burning tile, the kiln stopped. The mountain is named waziping "Zu Derong and Jin Bao built a small nunnery in Ping for the people to pray for protection. The nunnery was named waziping." Famous monks live here to practice and help the world with a hundred herbs, which is quite popular. According to Wanli's Guihua county annals and Mingxi County annals of the Republic of China, "the temple was built in the ninth year of Kaiyuan (721) of the Tang Dynasty. It has two nunneries, the upper and lower nunneries. It is the earliest and most magnificent temple in the county, with more than 40 monks." At that time, there were no counties in Ninghua, Qingliu, Mingxi, Changting, Liancheng, Yongan, Datian, Youxi and Sanming. Jiangle County and Suicheng county (including Jianning and Taining County) in the north have been demolished and merged. This area belongs to Shaowu county or Shaxian County, which has yet to be verified. In 1463, the temple was rebuilt. In the third year of Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty, the temple was rebuilt and later renamed "Julong Temple". At present, the ten believers who survived in the temple supported the restoration of the stele. All dynasties have a history of being destroyed after being repaired.

At its peak in 17-27 of the Republic of China, there were more than 300 abbots and monks. It is known as the largest temple of the four prefectures in Fujian Province. Pilgrims from Mingxi, Ninghua, Jianning, Taining and Jiangxi came to pay homage. In the 20th, 24th and 27th years of the Republic of China, there were several large-scale conversion and three altars of pure great commandment ceremonies. Each time, more than 400-1000 monks and nuns came from the county, other neighboring counties, and at home and abroad. In the 22nd year of the Republic of China, master Jianrong set up an altar to give lectures in the temple, and more than 300 monks from all over the world attended the lectures. There are many famous monks in the temple, including master yuanche (former secretary-general of China Buddhist Association), master Guangxian (former abbot of Fushou temple in New York, USA and President of American Buddhist Association), master Shenghui (former abbot of Yongquan temple in Fuzhou), etc. The current president of the American Buddhist Association and the first abbot of Ruiguang temple in bululun District of New York City, master Ruifa (commonly known as Liu Xiaorong) was also a monk in Julong temple during his youth. He received a bachelor's degree in social work program at York College of the City University of New York.

During the Anti Japanese War, the monks of the temple were scattered in other places. By the 35th year of the Republic of China, there were 116 permanent monks in the temple. In 1958, all monks went down the mountain for training. From 1959 to June 1966, there were only 40-50 monks in the temple. During the four old periods of the cultural revolution, the monks in the temple were forced to return to the secular life, the Buddhist statues and scriptures were burned down, and the temple was demolished. After 1978, the religious policy was implemented. In 1984, Shi Guangyong, the former monk of Julong Temple (later the abbot of the temple), rebuilt the temple according to its original appearance and made statues of Buddha. By 2002, more than 50 rooms, such as the main hall, the Guanyin hall, the Sutra Pavilion, the Zhaitang hall, and the squatters, have been built, with a construction area of 2295 square meters. They are often opposite to the 339 buildings, and they reflect each other. They are restored to the original appearance according to the ancient site. The temple was opened to the public in December 1985. On January 5, 1987, master Guangxian returned from the United States. Accompanied by master yuanche, he went to the temple to worship his ancestors and wrote a poem: "Julong temple on the top of Shoushan mountain, Jingteng is called yazhiping. The ancient temple reopens, the empty world is clean, and the Falei shakes the Sanskrit sound again. Cuihuai thousands of peaks, cloud floating training, Xiugong three doors, brocade screen. The ancestral tower of North America's children and grandchildren shows that all over the world we win. " In 1991, Zhao Puchu, President of the all China Buddhist Association, wrote the inscription "the Great Hall".

Chinese PinYin : Ju Long Si