Cao'an Temple

Cao'an Temple

Cao'an temple is the only remains of Mani light Buddha and Manichaeism temple in China, and also the only existing Manichaeism Temple site in the world. It is listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit and is located at the south foot of Huabiao mountain in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province. Cao'an began in the Shaoxing period of the Song Dynasty and was named after Cao Zhu. In the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty (1339 AD), it was changed into a stone structure Xieshan style building. The caohan is a valuable material basis for the study of the history of shizongjiao, the uprising of peasants and the ancient maritime communication between China and Persia.

Brief introduction of caohan

In Sunei community, Luoshan street, Jinjiang City, there is a Wanshan mountain, also known as wanshishan and Huabiao mountain. The Cao'an temple at the southern foot of the mountain is the only complete Manichaeism site in China. He Qiaoyuan, a native of Jinjiang in Ming Dynasty, wrote in Min Shu Fang Yu Zhi: "the two peaks of Huabiao mountain stand like Huabiao, and there is a Cao'an at the foot of the back of the mountain. In Yuan Dynasty, it was also used to worship mani Buddha." Because the house was built with grass in ancient times, it was called Cao'an.

Cao'an is built on the cliff. It is a stone structure with single eaves. It has four rafters, three bays on the surface, 1.67 meters in width and 3.04 meters in depth. Under the eaves, the roof is supported by a single row of bar arches, which is simple and simple.

Mani Buddha

According to Jinjiang county annals, "Huabiao mountain is located in Wudu, 40 miles south of the city. The double peak angle stands like Huabiao. There is a Cao'an at the foot of the mountain. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was built to worship mani Buddha." A round shallow niche with a diameter of 1.68 meters is carved on the hill in the nunnery. Inside the niche, a mani light Buddha is carved. Sitting on the lotus altar, the statue is 1.52 meters long, 0.83 meters wide, 0.32 meters long and 0.25 meters wide. The wonderful thing is that the face of the Buddha is light cyan, the hands are pink, and the costumes are gray white. It is constructed by using different natural three colors in the rock. The head of Mani Buddha is special, showing the color of diabase (qingdou stone), the back is decorated with milli light, showing granite stone, emitting shawl, with round face, curved eyebrows, slightly thin lips, deep two lines of mouth corner, and round jaw. Wearing a wide sleeve monk's robe, with a knot on the chest and no buckle, the knot is in the shape of a butterfly with a round ornament, and it hangs down on the feet on both sides. The hands are overlapped, the palm is up, and it is placed on the knee. It looks solemn and charitable. The pleats are simple and smooth, and the symmetrical patterns show the style of the times. This is the only stone Buddha statue of Manichaeism in the world, which is listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in China. The statue was chosen as the emblem by the International Conference on Manichaeism held in Sweden in August 1987.

In the upper left corner of the niche, a passage was inscribed: "Chen Zhenze, a believer in Xiedian, set up a temple and was happy to give up the statue of his master, praying for those who had been born early in the Buddha's land. In the fifth year of the Zhiyuan period, the diary of Xu Yue was published. Five elements regular script, 34 characters, word diameter 2.5x2.5cm.

In the upper right corner, there is a relatively rough inscription: "in Luoshan, Xinghua Road, Yao xingzu, Fengshe stone room is finished. I would like to recommend the thirty third banquet of Yao Rujian, the Zhengqing of the first emperor, the 59th taru of the Kuo family, Huang Shanniang, the stepmother, and Yao Yuejian, the elder brother of the first emperor

These characters are of high value. They are the only written evidence of the age of Mani Buddha and temple in the world. They are also the first-hand historical materials for the study of Quanzhou Mingjiao.

Textual research on Cao'an

A complete black glazed bowl and more than 60 pieces of porcelain fragments of the Yuan Dynasty were unearthed 20 meters in front of the site. This complete black glazed bowl has a diameter of 18.5cm and a height of 6.5cm. The bottom of the bowl was engraved with the words "Ming church" when it was fired, with a diameter of about 6.5cm. Other porcelain fragments were also engraved with the words "Ming", "Jiao" and "Hui". This is an important discovery of the activities of Quanzhou Ming church at that time. In the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, this kind of black glazed bowl was fired in Jinjiang magnetic stove. The same type of bowl was found in the suburbs of Quanzhou City. It shows that the written records of the Manichaeism site in Luoshan Caoan are consistent with the black glazed porcelain bowl of the Ming church. The Manichaeism activities in Quanzhou were relatively open in the Yuan Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the great ancestor of Ming Dynasty, seized power by relying on the Ming religion, and adopted the Ming religion's "Ming" as the name of the state. However, he was worried that the Ming religion would threaten his rule, that is to say, "he also suspected that his religion would force the name of the state, Yin his disciples and destroy his palace.". So in the early Ming Dynasty, the flourishing Ming religion turned to secret activities and integrated into the folk worship of Taoism and Buddhism. However, the doctrine of Manichaeism (called "four in one") was still engraved on the cliff more than 20 meters to the right of the front of the nunnery in the orthodox year of the Ming Dynasty: Preaching pure and bright, vigorously promoting wisdom. Supreme truth, Mani light Buddha.

Historical materials of Cao'an

According to historical records, Manichaeism was formerly known as "Mingjiao" in China. Manichaeism was founded by Persian mani in the third century A.D. it was a mixture of Buddhism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism. It worshipped light, advocated purity, and opposed darkness and oppression. It was introduced into China in 694 ad.

At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that his religious name forced him to be a national name, so he expelled believers and destroyed temples. Manichaeism was gradually integrated with other religions. The Manichaeism temple in Quanzhou Cao'an has become the only precious historical site.

In the early 1980s, porcelain bowls of the Ming Church in the Song Dynasty were unearthed here, which proved that Manichaeism in Quanzhou was very active in the Song Dynasty. According to archaeological findings, Manichaeism in Song Dynasty has been active here. It was forbidden in the Ming Dynasty, and the villagers here still worship Buddhism, which is well preserved.

In August 1987, Lund University of Sweden held the first international seminar on mani teaching. The statue of Mani Buddha in caoam was used as the commemorative mascot of the seminar.

In February 1991, the UNESCO "maritime Silk Road" comprehensive investigation team visited Caoan and considered it to be the "biggest discovery" of this investigation. This provides strong evidence for Quanzhou to declare the starting point of "maritime Silk Road".

In 1996, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the state.

In 1998, the Japanese "maritime Silk Road" delegation also visited the caohan. Experts and scholars believe that mani Buddha is the only best preserved Manichaeism relic in the world.

In August 2011, the municipal government invested a large amount of money in the construction of the Cao'an Manichaeism Heritage Park. The future Cao'an Park, including the religious tourist area of the Cao'an, the cultural tourist area of the Academy, the cultural mountain area of the ancient village, and the rural life and leisure area, is committed to planning the scenic area of the Cao'an as a famous scenic area for leisure and tourism, and building the Cao'an as a "3A level" tourist attraction, And build it into a "patriotic education base" and become a "shining business card" of Jinjiang City.

Cao'an site

The downhill in front of Caoan temple is Longquan Academy of Ming Dynasty. Now dahuayan, a Buddhist temple, has been built on the former site. There are two ancient cypresses in front of the temple.

A Manichaeism mantra is engraved on the cliff of the Congyan high place on the west side of the original Cao'an Temple: "preach pure and bright, make great efforts to wisdom, supreme and true, Mani light Buddha". Unfortunately, due to the opening of the mountain to get stones, it no longer exists and was destroyed during the "Cultural Revolution".

"In the eternal peak, the moon and the sound of springs are eternal fun; in the eight square pool, the sky and clouds are in the spring of four seasons" (couplet of Caoan Temple). In the northwest of caohan, there are wanshifeng, longquanyan, Yuquan and YUNTI, and in the south, there are seclusion bridges, bafengchi, liujiaojing, Qiting and other scenic spots, which have been obliterated because of their long history. Master Hongyi once lived in yikong building of Cao'an for more than three months, wrote "steles of Chongxing Cao'an" and wrote couplets: "the stone wall is bright, and it is said that it is the shadow of Wen Buddha; according to the records of Shicheng, it is famous for reading here." "If you can't get rid of the grass, you'll feel that business is full in front of you. If the door of the nunnery is often closed, you'll never forget that there are many miserable people in the world."

On the back mountain of Cao'an temple, there are cliff stone carvings such as "wanshifeng", "Yuquan" and "YUNTI Baiji".

In front of the Cao'an temple, there are "hermit bridge", "eight Phoenix pool" and "thousand year old cypress" everywhere; behind the Cao'an temple, there are "ten thousand stone peak", "dragon spring rock" and "jade spring".

Allusions of Cao'an

During the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty (1573-1620 AD), two famous poets visited the Caoan and wrote poems here.

The first is Huang Kehui's "the character of ten thousand stone peak's Cao'an De Jia": "to find Taiyi's family in a long distance together, e'e's ten thousand stones reflect guxia. Sitting on the west side of the sky, the sun is half slanting. No one floats green tiles in the wind Pavilion, and there are water soaked moss flowers in the cloud. In which year, he was stationed in Suzhou, Hangzhou and crane, and turned to sand in quiet and idle houses.

Huang Kehui (1524-1590), named Wuye, is a warrior in Hui'an. He is good at poetry, calligraphy and painting. He is the author of Wuye poetry anthology.

One is Huang Fengxiang's autumn visit to Cao'an: "Lin palace falls and ascends in autumn, and the trees fall and the mountain air is clear. The fine grass has been buried in the Xianxia Road for a long time, and the twilight has been used as a lamp for the Buddhist altar for a while. Bamboo spring vein adjacent to Danzao, along the root of Liyun vine. Don't ask me if you are floating on the decaying wall. If you stay on the couch, you will die. "

Huang Fengxiang (1538-1614), No. Yiting, Zhian. Quanzhou city people, famous officials. Both of the two poets regard the Cao'an as a Taoist temple, so there are some words of "Taiyi immortal" and "Danzao" in their poems.

According to the records of master Hongyi in the list of Quanzhou people, at the beginning of Jiajing (1522-1566), there were 18 scholars in Quanzhou who studied in the "Longquan academy" of Caoan. The image of Buddha is often seen here, which is said to be the development of Manjusri Bodhisattva. Therefore, on both sides of the statue of Mani Guangfo, master Hongyi's hand written wooden couplet "Shibi Guangming is said to be the development of wenfo" and "Shicheng" is recorded here as a famous scholar. There was also a Buddhist temple in front of the temple, which had been abandoned and rebuilt in recent years. Flowers and trees, fruit trees, the scenery is very beautiful and pure, for some unique scenery.

Address: foot of Huabiao mountain, Jinjiang, Quanzhou

Longitude: 118.533168

Latitude: 24.770579

Tel: 0595-88124388

Ticket information

Chinese PinYin : Cao An Si