Longxing Temple

Longxing Temple

Longxing Temple: located at the foot of Huxi mountain in the northwest corner of Yuanling County, it is the oldest existing Academy in the world. The architectural decoration art of Longxing lecture Temple group is extremely rich and colorful, especially the hollow stone lotus seat for lecturing scriptures in the main hall, which is exquisite and exquisite. The architecture belongs to the period from Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, which is rare in China.

In December 2016, it was approved as a national 3A tourist attraction.

In February 2020, to pay homage to the medical workers, Longxing lecture Temple scenic spot will provide preferential and free tourism services to medical workers in the whole country (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) from the date of resumption of operation to December 31, 2020.

The temple has a lecture hall

In ancient times, a lecture hall was set up to teach knowledge. Each lecture hall had a hall and a tree room, which was equivalent to the classroom of a school. According to the records of the Ming emperor in the book of the later Han Dynasty, "fortunately Confucius' house, the ancestral temple, Zhongni and his seventy-two disciples, personally held the imperial lecture hall, and ordered the emperor and the prince to speak the Scriptures." later, the place where Buddhism preached the Scriptures was also called the lecture hall. According to Yang xuanzhi of the Northern Wei Dynasty, "the former hall is the Buddha Hall, and the latter hall is the lecture hall." In the temple lecture hall, monks mainly explain Buddhist classics to Buddhist disciples or believers.

Longxingshuo temple in Yuanling was built by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin in the second year of his accession to the throne to teach Buddhism. The reason why the temple is named after Longxing is that it refers to the rise of the emperor's career. "Preface to the book of history" contains: "in the Han Dynasty, Longxing opened schools. In the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the dragon was flying in the sky, and the sage was in the position of the son of heaven, so it was called Longxing." Thus, it can be seen that Emperor Taizong's edict to build Jiangnan temple and give it the name of Longxing has profound political significance. He hopes that through the spread of Buddhism, he can influence the Southwest Barbarians who "judge and obey impermanence" and realize the enlightenment and stability of one side, so as to stabilize the rule of the imperial court over Jiangnan, make the country better concentrate on suppressing the frontier nationalities and anti Tang forces, and ensure the rapid prosperity of the imperial industry of the Tang Dynasty I'm sorry. It's a wise move.

As a result, longxingshuo temple was the earliest Buddhist Academy built in the Tang Dynasty. Later, it was not until 718 that Lizheng Academy was established. In 725, it was renamed Jixian academy, 90 years later than longxingshuo temple. Take Yuelu Academy, which is one of the four famous academies in Song Dynasty, for example. It was founded in 973, 345 years later than Longxing Temple. Before that, there was no college whose architectural age was obviously earlier than Yuelu Academy in the world.

Historical evolution

There are a lot of dignitaries and scholars in the past dynasties.

Dong Qichang, the Minister of rites of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, went to Yunnan to inspect. When he passed Yuanling, he suffered from eye disease and was cured by the monks in the temple. He soon recovered, so he wrote a plaque of "the kingdom of Buddha in front of him" for Longxing Temple and hung it on the front of the hall.

Wang Shouren, a college student, was banished from Longchang and passed through Yuanling. He specially accepted the invitation of Chenzhou students to teach "to conscience" in the temple for a month, and left a poem in the temple: "once you pass huxitou, where can you ask huixiu. The cloud rises, the peak sinks, the pavilion shadows, the forest is sparse, the land is low, the river flows. Fireworks day warm still contain rain, gulls and herons spring leisure complacent state. When you travel with good scenery, you can enjoy different things. Poems are still reserved for old friends. " In October 1937, master miaokong, the abbot of the temple, asked a famous teacher of Nanyue to give lectures in the temple, which caused a sensation in Yuanling. After the lecture, four organizations were established, including Yuanling Buddhist Association, Yuanling Buddhist hermit forest, Yuanling Buddhist four doctrines Research Institute and Yuanling Buddhist Yangming primary school. The place where Wang Yangming lectured was later built by his students and later changed to Huxi Academy.

Protection maintenance

After maintenance, Longxing lecture temple has a construction area of 1800 square meters.

Daxiong hall is the main building in the temple, with double eaves and mountain roof. The lower eaves are made of hard mountain. Inside the hall, there are eight nanmu pillars with a diameter of more than 80 cm, which are made of tan. Between the pole and the base stone, there are drum shaped wooden techniques, and the stone base is lotus shaped, which is the architectural remains of the Tang Dynasty. In front of the hall is a plaque of "the kingdom of Buddha in front of you", which was collected by Dong Qichang, Minister of rites of Ding Chou in Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty.

Wang Yangming of the Ming Dynasty once gave a lecture here, leaving a song of "Longxing Temple in Huxi, Chenzhou": "once you pass the head of Huxi, where is the monk's room to ask huixiu? There is a shadow in the pavilion between the clouds and the peaks, and there is a river under the forest. The fireworks are still warm with rain, and the gulls and herons are free from Manchuria in spring. They enjoy different scenery and poems for old friends. " On the right side of the temple, there is an ancient stage of the king of Guizhou palace, with cornices and angles. The building is exquisite, and it is connected with the ancient buildings of Longxing Temple.

Wu Xi man di

The stele square of Emperor Taizong's personal edict "building longxingshuo Temple" still stands on the mountain gate. It is said that Emperor Taizong's edict to build longxingshuo temple is to learn from the historical lessons since Qin and Han Dynasties, innovate politics, replace "military rule" with "benevolent rule", and promote Buddhism throughout the country, so as to maintain the unity of the country. To the west of Yuanling is Wuxi wild land. In order to educate the local people, this lecture temple was built.

The so-called lecture temple is to carry forward Buddhism and teach civilization. Longxingshuo temple is a wooden structure group without nails and rivets. There are 14 main buildings, which reflect the architectural structure of Tang Dynasty. Later, due to many renovations in previous dynasties, many relics of song and Ming Dynasties were left.

Longxing lecture temple was built 97 years earlier than Nanyue temple and 348 years earlier than Yuelu Academy, a famous Millennium University. It was on a large scale. However, due to the stability of Wuxi and the decline of Yuanling, Longxing lecture Temple began to decline.

geographical position

Longxing Temple, located at the foot of Huxi mountain in the west of the county, was built in the second year of Zhenguan (628). In the third year of mingjingtai and the 40th year of Jiajing, in the 23rd year of Wanli, the county people first withheld the money for repair. It was rebuilt in the 26th year of Kangxi, the 15th year of Qianlong and the 23rd year of Qing Dynasty.

In the 29th year of Daoguang, the main hall, Mountain Gate and veranda were repaired. In the first year of Xianfeng, zhantan Pavilion and Mituo Pavilion were rebuilt. In the 11th year of Tongzhi, the two mountain gates were restored and the East and West Wing houses were added. Guangxu restoration of Guanyin Pavilion, zhantan Pavilion, MIBI Pavilion. During the period of the Republic of China, the temple was garrisoned for a long time, and the temple was destroyed and severely punished. After the founding of new China, it was protected.

In 1959, the people's Government of Hunan Province announced that it was a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit and allocated funds for maintenance. By 1978, 52000 yuan had been allocated for the maintenance of the main hall, the Guanyin Pavilion, the zhantan Pavilion and the Mituo Pavilion, so that the three pavilions that were about to collapse could be preserved.

In 1981, 20000 yuan was allocated to repair the first, second Mountain Gate and East Wing houses. In June 1986, the National Bureau of cultural relics and the Institute of cultural relics protection sent personnel to determine the carbon 14 of the wooden column specimens in the main hall. The age of the specimens was 745 years ago (+ 60 years), and the age of tree ring correction was 720 years ago (+ 65 years).

Composition of scenic spots

Longxingshuo temple is composed of toushanmen, Guodian, ershanmen, main hall, houdian, dongxipeidian, Tange, Mituo hall, Guanyin Pavilion, etc. the main building is Daxiong hall. Although the hall was repaired many times in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, its main wooden frame, columns, beams, Fang and so on are all relics of the Tang Dynasty. On the front of the hall, there is a large plaque engraved with the four characters "Buddha kingdom in front of you", which is written by Dong Qichang, Minister of rites of the Ming Dynasty. It is said that Dong Qichang suffered from eye disease when he passed Yuanling during his inspection tour to Yunnan. He was cured by the monks in the temple and soon recovered. So he wrote this plaque for the temple. Dong Qichang was not only a senior official in the imperial court, but also a great calligrapher at that time. His ink has been preserved so far that many visitors, especially calligraphy lovers, forget to return.

The architectural decoration art of Longxing lecture Temple group is extremely rich and colorful. All the Huaxin skirts with wooden window lattice are carved and painted. The composition is full, the lines are smooth, and there are many patterns. Especially the hollow stone lotus seat in the main hall is exquisite. It is said that it was made in the Ming Dynasty and is rare in China.

Tourism information

admission ticket

Grade: AA

Ticket price: 50 yuan

Opening hours: 08:00 ~ 18:00

Address: at the foot of Huxi mountain in the northwest corner of Yuanling County, Huaihua City, Hunan Province

Free policy

In February 2020, to pay homage to the medical workers, Longxing lecture Temple scenic spot will provide preferential and free tourism services to medical workers in the whole country (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) from the date of resumption of operation to December 31, 2020. Medical and nursing staff in the whole country shall present valid certificates (doctor's or nurse's practice certificate and work certificate). Medical and nursing workers without certificates shall be provided with valid written certificates and ID cards by their hospitals, and enjoy their own free admission treatment.

Address: Yuanling County, Huaihua City

Longitude: 110.39293670654

Latitude: 28.449768066406

Ticket information: market price: 50.0 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Long Xing Jiang Si