Huachi Shuangta Temple

Huachi Shuangta Temple

Shuangtasi site and stone statue tower are located on the platform at the intersection of shuangtagou and baozichuan River in Zhangcha village, Linzhen Township, Huachi County, Gansu Province. The temple and two stone statue towers were first built in 1156-1189. They were built by the abbots of the temple, such as PUEN, Dejing and Baoyi Xiaowei, and Li Shixiong, the leader of Huachi village. At that time, they were called "Stone Pagoda Temple" and later renamed "xingjiaoyuan" in Da'an years. The beautiful shape, rigorous structure and exquisite carving of the twin towers fully demonstrate the exquisite craftsmanship and perfect artistic modeling of the ancient craftsmen, and condense the wisdom and artistic crystallization of the ancient working people, with high historical, scientific and artistic value.

brief introduction

The temple was abandoned during the Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. The existing temple sites mainly include the remnant walls and foundations of "Sansheng hall", "Sanmen hall", "Jialan hall", "Shuangyin Pavilion" and "bell tower" as well as two statue towers. The statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva, disciple, donor, jiletian and other statues, as well as Nirvana and other stories of Nativity are all carved in the statue tower. There are more than 3600 statues in the whole tower. There are few statues in the second tower, 615 in the whole tower, with a height of 11.98 meters and 13 floors. The beautiful shape, rigorous structure and exquisite carving of the twin towers fully demonstrate the exquisite craftsmanship and perfect artistic modeling of ancient Chinese craftsmen, and condense the wisdom and artistic crystallization of ancient working people, which has high historical, scientific and artistic value. From May to July, 2000, the temple site was excavated. More than 370 pieces of cultural relics, including stone steles, Scripture buildings, pottery and stone building components, and 267 specimens were unearthed. In particular, many precious inscriptions recorded the name of the temple, the date of its founding, and the person preparing for its founding. In February 1963 and September 1981, it was approved by the provincial people's government and announced as a provincial cultural relics protection unit. Shuangta temple, a famous temple in Shanxi Province, is located in the southeast of Taiyuan City, about four kilometers away from the city center. Here, green trees, red walls, pagodas, Vatican hall, niches and pavilions, steles, flowers, pines and cypresses, solemn and quiet, antique.

The architectural orientation of Shuangta temple is contrary to the traditional practice of facing south from North in our country for thousands of years. It is built on the basis of the terrain. It is superior and faces north from south. It can be said that it has Taihang Mountains on its back and Fenshui on its face. With the ancient tower, you can have a panoramic view of the ancient city of Taiyuan and the fertile fields of Jinzhong Basin.

The original name of Shuangta temple is Yongzuo temple. It is only because the two "towering and magnificent" ancient pagodas in the temple, towering into the clouds, attract people's attention, that they are called "double Pagoda Temple" by the world. As time goes by, the real name of the temple is gradually ignored, but the common name is well known. The word "Yongzuo" of "Yongzuo Temple" comes from the sentence of "a gentleman has been living for thousands of years, and water is a symbol of" water is a symbol of xizuoyin "in the book of songs. "Erya shigu" said: "forever, long also; forever, far also." "Shuowen Jiezi" said: "Zuo, Zhuan also; Zuo, Fu also." Yuefu, the book of Jin, says: "Yongzuo is still far away." It can be seen that the word "Yongzuo" seems to have the meaning of "eternal transmission, endless". This is the origin and meaning of the temple name.

history

Shuangta temple was first built in the middle of Wanli period in Ming Dynasty, about between the 25th and 30th year of Wanli period (1597-1602), more than 380 years ago. When it was founded, it was not the temple that we see today, nor did it reach its present scale. At that time, only one Wenfeng tower was built to supplement the lack of "Cultural Movement" in Taiyuan, named "Xuanwen tower", which is now the old tower in the southeast corner. As for the simple temples built close to the pagoda, they have disappeared. At that time, the name of the temple was not Yongzuo temple, but Yongming temple. The reasons for the construction of "Yongming Temple" and "Xuanwen pagoda" have been clearly recorded in the Wanli edition of Shanxi Tongzhi and Wanli edition of Taiyuan Fu Zhi.

Xuanwen pagoda and Yongming temple came out not long ago. In the 35th year of Wanli (1607 AD), Zhu Minchun, King Mu of Jin Dynasty, the 11th generation king of Jin Fan, felt that the scale of Yongming temple and Xuanwen pagoda was not suitable for the status of Taiyuan, the provincial capital. He wrote to Xiantong Temple of Wutai Mountain and invited the temple to preside over. At that time, monk fudeng, a famous architect in the country, came to Taiyuan to preside over the expansion of "da ta Temple" ”It's a great project. Monk fudeng is a famous monk in the middle of Ming Dynasty. Emperor Wanli's biological mother, the Buddhist empress dowager Xuanwen, worshipped him as a teacher and converted to his family. After receiving the invitation from King Mu of Jin Dynasty, fuden came to Taiyuan. When he saw that the Xuanwen pagoda of Yongming Temple tilted slightly to the northwest, he suggested to the king of Jin that a new pagoda should be built to the left of the old pagoda while expanding the temple. The king of Jin adopted fuden's suggestion and with the help of Empress Dowager Cisheng, spent four years, namely, from the spring of the 36th year of Wanli to the September of the 40th year (1608-1612 A.D.), to build three main halls of the temple, namely, the main building of the existing Yongzuo Temple: Daxiong hall, Sansheng Pavilion, Liangxiang abbot and lianglangpeidian, as well as the new tower in the northwest of the old tower“ It is a grand view of "towering Pavilions".

In addition to the existing three main halls in the backyard, there are also Tianwang hall, backyard gate, front hall and Mountain Gate hall. However, due to his old age and weakness, he was unable to complete his plan. In the autumn and September of that year (the 40th year of Wanli), after completing the new tower, he returned to Mount Wutai with illness and soon passed away in Xiantong Temple of Taihuai town. The unfinished pagoda temple was renamed Yongzuo temple, and the two pagodas were named Xuanwen pagoda. In the 15th year of Shunzhi (1658 AD), the local officials of Yangqu County once repaired the Shuangta temple, and built a new hall between the two pagodas. According to relevant information, the temple gate was planned to be built this time, but it was not built for some reason. In 1682 A.D., Dai Mengxiong, the magistrate of Yangqu County, also prepared bricks and tiles for the construction of Shuangta temple. Coincidentally, this year, he was promoted to the magistrate of Hanyang and failed to achieve his wish. It was not until the 30th year of Kangxi (1691 A.D.) that Liu Jiang, the magistrate of Yangqu County, summoned craftsmen to build the temple wall from the east to the west, and built a simple and crude Mountain Gate. In this way, the temple, which had been open and open for more than 80 years, was blocked. Because of his long cherished wish to build a wall and a mountain gate, Liu Jiang asked Dai Mengxiong to mention the gate of "only a beautiful country" after the completion of the project. The second gate of Yongzuo Temple today is the mountain gate built at that time.

Since the Republic of China, Yongzuo temple has been in disrepair for a long time, especially the main hall and Sansheng Pavilion, which have been eroded by wind and rain, and almost toppled. In 1927, Yang Ziduan and others took an active part in collecting donations and repairing the pagoda temple. On the basis of repairing the old pagoda temple, they broke the ground to build six single slope style North houses opposite the main hall and at the north end of the East and west auxiliary hall. A new courtyard gate was set up at the location of the original Tianwang hall, forming a traditional courtyard layout. Today's three gates of Yongzuo temple, namely, the gate of Yongzuo Zen forest, are the products of that time.

On the eve of liberation, Shuangta Temple became a military fortress for warlord Yan Xishan to defend Taiyuan and resist tenaciously. The tall twin towers have become gloomy blockhouses, ancient temples and barracks for troops. The famous ancient temple has entered the darkest era in its history, full of war and devastation. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, the ancient pagoda temple is full of youth. In the 40 years since the founding of the people's Republic of China, the party and the government have repeatedly allocated funds to maintain the Shuangta temple. Especially after the "Cultural Revolution", the provincial and municipal governments have paid more attention to the management of cultural relics and the development of tourism. In the ten years after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Yongzuo temple's wounds were quickly healed, and the Xuanwen West Tower, which was badly damaged in the "Taiyuan campaign", was restored with huge investment. A new stele corridor with two sets of precious stone tablets "Baoxian hall collection of ancient sutras" and "ancient Baoxian hall sutras" was built, and stone carvings and stones scattered throughout the city in different historical periods were collected and gathered The temple gate and the East and West chambers of the front courtyard, which are similar to those of Yongzuo temple built in Ming Dynasty, are imitated, and thousands of rare peony varieties from Heze, Shandong Province are newly planted. The ancient temple, which has a history of nearly 400 years, has swept away the past decline and taken on a new look. After Taiyuan became a friendly city with Jilu city in Japan, the Japanese friends of Jilu city have imitated and built the double tower Shuizuo temple in Jilu city. In March 1989, on the 200th anniversary of the founding of Jilu City, the ribbon was officially cut to receive tourists.

Today, the newly built Yongzuo temple with twin towers is welcoming Chinese and foreign tourists from all over the world with a brand-new and enthusiastic attitude.

Peony in Ming Dynasty

Taiyuan's peony is unknown. It is difficult to compare with Luoyang, Pengxian, Haoxian, Huaiyang and Heze in terms of planting history, quantity and variety. However, Taiyuan also has a history of planting peonies, and now there are peonies planted in the middle of the Ming Dynasty in full bloom in the world, after 350 or 60 years of spring and autumn, known as the "Ming Dynasty peony". This seems to be different from several places where peony flowers are in full bloom, which makes it hard to see the dust, and it is worth mentioning.

In recent years, on the basis of "Ming Dynasty peony", shuangtasi literature management office has introduced and cultivated nearly 1000 peonies. In terms of varieties, there are more than 30 varieties. In terms of color, they are red, pink, yellow, white, purple, green and ink

Chinese PinYin : Hua Chi Shuang Ta Si