Mencius Temple

Mencius Temple

Mencius temple, also known as Yasheng temple, is located at No. 44, yashengfu street, Zoucheng City, Jining City, Shandong Province. It is a place for offering sacrifices to Mencius, a thinker in the Warring States period.

It was first built in the fourth year of Jingyou (1037).

Mencius temple was originally built in the northeast of Zouxian City, 13 kilometers away from the city of Siji in the south of Shanxi, in front of mengke mausoleum. During the Yuanfeng period of the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the long distance from the city and the inconvenience of worshiping and offering sacrifices, the Meng temple was built in the east of Zou County. Until the third year of Xuanhe (1121) of the Northern Song Dynasty, Meng temple was rebuilt at the present site. The existing Meng temple has been rebuilt many times in Jin, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a total of 38 times. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the buildings rebuilt after the earthquake were handed down.

The temple is rectangular, with a courtyard of five entrances. It is 458.5 meters long from north to South and 95 meters wide from east to west. It covers an area of 43600 square meters (about 65.4 mu). The building complex is divided into East, middle and West roads. The main building is Yasheng hall, with north-south as the central axis and left-right symmetrical arrangement.

In the courtyard, there are 64 halls such as Yasheng hall, Qisheng hall, Mengmu hall, Zhiyan hall, and more than 350 stone tablets.

In 1988, Meng temple was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council.

Historical evolution

Mencius temple was built in 1037, the fourth year of the Northern Song Dynasty. Confucius, the 45th generation grandson of Confucius, visited the tomb of Mencius at the foot of Siji mountain in the northeast of the city, and then built a Mencius Temple beside the tomb.

During the Yuanfeng period of the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the long distance from the city and the inconvenience of worshiping and offering sacrifices, the Meng temple was built in the east of Zou County. Mengmiao temple in Dongguo, because "the temple is close to the water and is badly damaged, it is not forty years since the five classics were built.".

In the third year of Xuanhe (1121) of the Northern Song Dynasty, Xu Fu and the villagers contributed to move the Meng temple to its present site.

After the Jin, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties expansion and maintenance, to Kangxi 54 years (1715) construction handed down.

architectural composition

The temple is 458.5 meters long from north to South and 95 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 43600 square meters, or 65.4 mu.

Mencius temple is a courtyard building with five entrances, with the main building "yashengdian" as the center, North and South as a central axis, and symmetrical arrangement on the left and right.

The South Gate of Meng temple is called "Lingxing gate". Inside the gate, there are one square on the left and one square on the left. On the left, it is named "jixiangsheng" and on the right, "kaikaixue". In the middle of the north wall of the first courtyard is the stone square of Yasheng temple. The second brick corridor into the courtyard is full of ancient pines and cypresses on both sides, and to the north is "Taishan meteorological gate".

After entering this gate, it is the third courtyard. There are doors on the left and right of the courtyard leading to the outside of the temple. The left is called "zhiyanmen" and the right is called "yangqimen", which used to be the main passage out of the Meng temple. On the south side of yangqimen is yashengmufang; on the south side of yangqimen is Sanying. In the south of zhiyanmen, there are three couplets called "provincial animal station".

On the north wall of the courtyard, three doors stand side by side. The central gate is Chengsheng gate, with Kangxi imperial stele Pavilion on the left, Qixian gate on the left and salute gate on the right.

The fourth courtyard in chengshengmen is divided into three roads: East, West and middle. The middle road is the main building of the Meng temple, "Yasheng hall", followed by the "bedroom hall". There are "East veranda" and "West veranda" on both sides of the front, and "tianzhenjing" and "Qianlong imperial stele Pavilion" in the courtyard. Inside the Qixian gate on the east road is the Qisheng hall, followed by the Mengmu hall. From "Qixian gate" to "Qisheng hall", there are a large number of ancient inscriptions on both sides of Yong Road, which are called "Mengmiao stele forest". Inside the "salute gate" on the west road is a small courtyard, in the east wall is a small gate leading to the "yashengdian" courtyard on the Middle Road, and in the north wall is a small gate called "fast gate". The walls around the courtyard are inlaid with dozens of small steles, such as famous people's chanting to Mencius temple. There are three couplets of Zhiyan hall in the fasting gate. In front of the hall are two towering ginkgo trees planted in Yuan Dynasty.

There are small doors on both sides of the terrace in front of the "Temple of Asia". In the East, it is called "ritual gate", which leads to the "qishengdian" courtyard on the East Road; in the west, it is called "Yilu", which leads to the "Yizhu Temple" in the backyard of "Zhiyan hall" on the west road. There is also a small gate on the west side of the "bedroom hall", which leads to the last courtyard "Silk burning pool" on the west road. Meng temple has 64 halls, 2 stele pavilions, 4 wooden gate square and 1 stone square.

Main buildings

Lattice star gate

Lingxingmenfang means that Mencius is a literary star in the sky. It also means respecting Mencius as if respecting heaven. There are four pillars and three holes in the gate square, with grey tiles hanging on the mountain, a statue of the king of heaven decorated on the ridge, and nine steps and four warps in the bucket arch. It was first built in the Ming Dynasty. It was rebuilt during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty and rebuilt in 1978. The regular script "lingxingmen" on the forehead of the square was written by Ding Baozhen, governor of Shandong Province in 1873.

Yasheng temple stone square

The stone square of Yasheng temple is the second entrance gate square of Yasheng temple. It was founded in 1562 by Zhang Shiluan, the magistrate of Zou County. The stone square is 5.2 meters high. There are four pillars, three doors and eight edges. The top of the pillars is decorated with ancient bottles, clouds and similar Chinese watches. The square forehead in the middle is engraved with the words "Yasheng Temple" in regular script. The square forehead on the left and right sides is engraved with Yunlong, and the dragon on the one side is dancing in the sea. On one side is a pterosaur flying in the sky. Shifang has a typical architectural style of Ming Dynasty with its magnificent shape and fine carving.

Yashengmufang

Yashengmufang was first built in 1458. Liu Wei, magistrate of Zou County, rebuilt and expanded Mengmiao temple after careful planning. Mufang is located in the west of the wall of Mengmiao temple, across the main street of the North-South thoroughfare. It is a memorial building with wooden frame structure, 4 columns and 3 doors, Danhong green tiles, cornice angle, half arch under the eaves, 11 steps and 5 turns. In the middle of the building, the top of a hanging hill is higher than the top of two Xieshan style buildings, with clear priority. The four corners of Xieshan style square stretch out and are raised high. On the lintel in the middle of the mufang, the word "Yasheng" is written.

Taishan meteorological gate

"Yimen" is a gate tower with a Xieshan style bucket arch supporting the three gates. A vertical plaque was hung on the forehead of the gate, with the five characters "Taishan meteorological gate" written on it. Therefore, Yimen is also called Taishan meteorological gate. The word "Taishan meteorology" has its meaning from Cheng Zi's saying: "Yue Zhongni's vitality, Yan Zi's spring birth, Mencius's death in autumn, but it's time. Zhongni heaven and earth also, Yanzi and fengqingyun also, Mencius Taishan weather also This is the name of the gate.

Three in five

The third courtyard of Meng temple has one gate for each of the East and the west, which is the usual access to Meng temple. The east gate was originally named "Zhongling gate" and the west gate was originally named "Yuxiu gate". When it was rebuilt in 1739, it was renamed "Zhiyan gate" and "Yangqi gate" respectively. The two meanings are derived from the seven chapters of Mencius, which are "obscene words to understand its creation" and "I am good at cultivating my noble spirit". In the south of zhiyanmen and yangqimen, there are "sacrificial ware storehouse" and "provincial animal house" respectively. According to the record of rebuilding the monument of Mencius temple in 1623, "in February of the third year of Tianqi, three sacrificial ware storehouses and three provincial animal houses were built." These two buildings are dedicated to storing the sacrificial utensils and offerings for Mencius.

There are three parallel doors in the north wall of the courtyard, namely, Chengsheng gate in the middle, Qixian gate in the East and salute gate in the West. The word "Chengsheng" takes the meaning of Mencius' succession to Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu and Zhou. And "Qixian" means praising Mencius' parents for their contributions of "Qiyu sages".

Tianzhen well

Tianzhenjing is located in the east of the corridor under the terrace in front of the "yashengdian". It was built in 1672. There is a stone tablet standing beside the well, with three words "tianzhenjing" on the head of the tablet. The inscription records the beginning and end of the formation of the well: "reading sanshizhi, Kongzi's well is to the east of Nishan, Zengzi's well is in beijiuli mountain of Xuzhou, and Yanzi's well is in the shabby lane. There is no well to pass on the only Meng family. In the spring of the 11th year of Emperor Kangxi, when a drama was performed in front of the temple, the sound of the sun was as loud as thunder, and the audience looked around. See the depression in front of the terrace, there is a trace of the yuan, familiar, is also well. Eh! It's different! It's only our ancestors' way to connect with Nishan and shine with Yan's and Zeng's for thousands of years. Tiankaisi well and Sanjing well are equally important, so that we can see that the saint is consistent with the saint, and then we have the same desire In the 12th year, it was used to draw water for the temple. It's called "Tianzhen well". It's built with talus and surrounded with stone, and its trace is written with Zhiyi cloud. Sun Xiangsheng of the sixty fourth generation, Meng Shangjin, was a scholar. The stone fence beside the well was built in 1831.

Temple of Asia

It was first built in 1121, the third year of Xuanhe reign of Song Dynasty. The hall is a double eaves Xieshan style palace with green glazed tiles covering the roof, with 7 Ying, 17 meters high, 27.7 meters wide and 20.48 meters deep. Under the eaves, the bucket arch is raised with seven steps, and the upper eaves are raised with seven steps and three steps. There are 26 huge stone pillars used for lifting eaves in Hongzhi period of Ming Dynasty. The pillars are octagonal in shape. Under the pillars are stone drums, and under the drums are stone lotus inscriptions of Song Dynasty. The column is 3.05M high and the foundation is 0.65M high. Among them, 8 Pillars under the front porch are decorated with shallow line carving. On the south side of the four pillars on the side of the door, there are two winged pterosaurs hovering in the clouds. The other faces are engraved with peony and Western lotus. Under the eaves of the hall, the beams and arches are decorated with seals and painted with gold.

There is a vertical plaque hanging between the double eaves on the front, with the inscription "yashengdian" in regular script and gold, and five three-dimensional cloud dragons around the plaque. A horizontal plaque was hung on the middle lintel, with four gold characters of "Dao Shan Ni Shan". Inside the hall, there are eight huge specially painted wooden pillars. On the two pillars of the front door, there is a pair of giant convex engraved holding column couplets: "if you respect the king, you will be called Yao and Shun, and you will be worried about the world.". The couplets and plaques were given by Emperor Gaozong of Qing Dynasty in 1756. Inside the temple of Yasheng

Chinese PinYin : Meng Miao