Tianzhou ancient pagoda

Tianzhou ancient pagoda

Tianzhou ancient pagoda is located in the willow trees 1 km to the east of Yaofu Town, Pingluo County, Shizuishan City, Ningxia Province, 20 km away from Pingluo County. It is commonly known as Yaofu pagoda. It is a hexagonal, eight story Pavilion style brick pagoda, 38 meters high, with a hexagonal top and a 7.5 meter diameter bottom. It was first built in the Western Xia Dynasty.

Related history

According to historical records, the ancient Indian Buddhist architecture, the pagoda, was introduced into China during the Eastern Han Dynasty. It gradually formed the Chinese Pavilion style pagoda by combining with the Chinese native pavilions, and later evolved into the dense eaves style pagoda. From the Sui and Tang Dynasties, tower as a unified translation has been used until now. Ningxia is one of the areas with the largest number of existing pagodas in China. There are almost all ancient pagodas with different styles in the whole autonomous region.

Pingluo -- the land of Pinglu

According to the records of Pingluo County annals, during the Western Zhou, Eastern Zhou, spring and autumn and Warring States periods, there were rich water and grass in the nomadic fields of jurongdi tribe. Qin and early Western Han Dynasty belong to Fuping County. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up Lian County in Nuanquan village of xiamiao township. In the Eastern Han Dynasty and the two Jin Dynasties, the county was controlled by the Xiongnu, Xianbei and other minorities. During the southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty, it was a spiritual Wujun. In Tang Dynasty, the governor of Lingzhou was under the jurisdiction of Shuofang Jiedushi. In 713, Dingyuan city was established in Yaofu town. Tang Jingfu was promoted to police state in the second year (893). In the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty, it belonged to Zhongxing prefecture (now Yinchuan City). Yuan and Ming Dynasties were under the jurisdiction of Ningxia government and Ningxia Wei. In the reign of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1551), there was a garrison of thousands of households. In the early Qing Dynasty, following the system of Wei Suo in the Ming Dynasty, Pingluo County was established in the second year of Yongzheng, which belongs to Ningxia Prefecture of Gansu Province.

The establishment of Pingluo County began in 1724. According to the staff of the Cultural Bureau of Pingluo County, Pingluo County has been in the war of border areas for a long time in history, and there are many records about the rebellion of border people and the rebellion of the imperial court in the historical materials. In ancient times, Pingluo was the sound of Pinglu.

Tianzhou ancient pagoda

According to historical records, Buddhism spread to Ningxia around the period of Wei, Jin, southern and Northern Dynasties. After that, temples and pagodas were built in Ningxia in various dynasties. In the Xixia period, the largest number of pagodas were built in Ningxia, but only a few of them have been preserved so far. The existing ancient pagodas in Ningxia are divided into pavilions, dense eaves and Lama pagodas in terms of types; single pagoda, double pagoda and group pagodas in terms of combination of pagodas; square pagoda, circular pagoda, hexagonal pagoda and octagonal Pagoda in terms of shape and plane of pagodas. There are not only various types but also different shapes.

Tianzhou tower, commonly known as Yaofu tower, stands 1 km east of Yaofu Town, 20 km away from Pingluo County. It is towering, straight, simple and elegant, with a long history and rich cultural connotation. It has become an important tourist attraction in Yinbei area. The lintel of Tianzhou tower is entitled "ancient Tianzhou tower". Tianzhou tower is a hexagonal brick tower with eight stories. It is built on a platform with a height of 4 meters, a length of 70 meters from north to south, and a width of 40 meters from east to west. It is about 38 meters high. The top of the tower is in the shape of a six sided bucket, and the diameter of the bottom of the tower is 7.5 meters.

The unique feature of Tianzhou ancient pagoda is that there are couplets on the walls of the north and South gates on the lower floor. The couplet on the south gate is: a pillar supporting the east of the sky, the Yellow River, the Ming xianrui, the Gubiao Badi, the west of the screen, the orchid and the Yuexiu competing for glory.

The couplet of the north gate is as follows: Lingxiao stands in the sky, majestic Zhi stands in the sky, peeps at the road, rushes to the Han Dynasty, and looks down at the maze.

The two couplets are neat, majestic, concise and accurate, depicting the momentum of Tianzhou tower rising from the ground and holding the sky, and the artistic conception of the Yellow River in the East and Helan in the West. Coupled with the powerful calligraphy, it is unforgettable.

Go back to history

According to Pingluo County annals and other historical records, Tianzhou pagoda may have been built in the Xixia period.

Tianzhou tower is called Tianzhou tower because it is located in ancient Tianzhou. After more than a thousand years of history, Tianzhou tower can be described as reading the vicissitudes of life. The name of Tianzhou tower must be related to the name of "Tianzhou".

According to the Tang Dynasty Li Jifu's "Yuanhe County atlas", there is Dingyuan city in Lingzhou. It is 200 Li northeast of Lingzhou. In the second year of Xiantian, the west city of Guo Yuanzhen was far away, and Anfeng was isolated. Therefore, it was set up as a recruiting town According to the sixth year of Yuanhe in Xianzong of Tang Dynasty (811 AD), "Guo Yuanzhen was stationed 200 Li northwest of Lingwu. There was an abandoned Dingzhou living abroad, watering the land with flowing water, which is commonly known as Tianzhou."

According to Ming Yi Tong Zhi, "Tianzhou city is 60 Li north of Weicheng (today's Yinchuan), which was originally Dingyuan city in Tang Dynasty; Yuanhao was changed to Dingzhou.".

According to the new records of Jiajing Ningxia: "Dingyuan town The Song Dynasty was the Weiyuan army, and the Western Xia Dynasty was changed into Dingzhou, and the custom was Tianzhou. "

"The Tianzhou city is 60 Li to the north of the town (indicating the general town of Ningxia, i.e. today's Yinchuan City), which was set up in the Xixia Dynasty and abandoned in Mongolia."

"Pingluo Ji Lue" records: "Dingyuan city of Tang Dynasty Tang Shuo Fangcheng, song Weiyuan army, summer changed Dingzhou, commonly known as Tianzhou

According to relevant experts, ancient Tianzhou is the common name of Dingyuan city in Tang Dynasty and Dingzhou City in Xixia Dynasty. In Tang Dynasty and Xixia, Buddhism was in vogue. Tianzhou is the name of the Tang and Xia dynasties. The name of the pagoda proves that the ancient pagoda of Tianzhou was founded in the Tang or Xixia dynasties. However, in the relevant literature and historical data of Pingluo and Ningxia, there is no credible historical data about the specific construction time of Tianzhou tower, and the research work can only wait for the later archaeological discovery

Historical legend

According to the records of Pingluo historical records, it is said that long ago, people living in Pingluo County moved to Ningxia from under the big locust tree in Shaanxi. At that time, it was said that there were three monsters in Yinbei: one was "heilonggou", now in Xinsheng village, Baofeng Town, Pingluo County; the other was "jiaolongkou", now in yanwochi village, xiyonggu Township, Huinong district; the other was "Baihu cave", also known as "Bailong Cave", a natural cave on the hillside of Helan Mountain.

These three places are haunted by goblins, who often hurt people and animals, making people unable to live. At that time, the black dragon of "heilonggou" hid in the ditch during the day, came out at night, caught people and animals when he saw them; the dragon of "jiaolongkou" did all kinds of evil. It turned into a Python and ate people and animals alive; the white tiger of "Baihu cave" blew a gale and hailstones at one time, and smashed the crops into disrepute. The common people were deprived of food and clothing. They had no way to plant the land, and they were cornered.

There is a good God in the South China Sea. After hearing that, he sympathized with the common people's sufferings. He wanted to build a Zhenyao pagoda thousands of miles away and move it to Wudang Mountain at the north end of Helan Mountain. As a Zhenyao pagoda, he subdued the three demons and relieved the common people of the disaster. Zhenyao pagoda came from the south to the north. It took 9981 days to reach Yaofu fort in Pingluo. It was five o'clock in Yaofu castle when the pagoda fell. He asked a farmer who was ploughing in the moonlight, "brother, how can I get to the North Wudang temple? How far is it? " When the plowman looked up, he saw a tall black man standing in front of him like a huge tower and greeting him. He replied, "it's far to the northwest. You're black, thick and tall. You look like a half tower." Having said that, he thought that the tower was a goblin. With enough strength, his waist was a whip. He only heard a loud "click". The whip just came to the tower, and the black tower was cut in two. A "Shua" to fly south, landed in the Wangcheng castle, this is the bottom of the tower, known as Wangcheng castle tower. The place that fell to the original place was the spire, which happened to belong to ancient Tianzhou. The pagoda was named Tianzhou ancient pagoda because of its place name, and it was also called yaofubao pagoda. The local people said that since the two towers fell, the three goblins in Yinbei no longer dare to come out and harm the people.

Development and change

In the long years of hundreds of years, Tianzhou tower has experienced more than 100 earthquakes.

In 1739, a strong earthquake occurred in Pingluo area on November 24 of the lunar calendar. Pingluo County, Baofeng county and Xinqu County near the ancient pagoda were all destroyed by the earthquake, and Tianzhou pagoda was hardly spared.

On the lintel of the South Gate of the pagoda today, there is a stone plaque with the inscription "Tianzhou ancient pagoda" and the words "monk Weixiu raised money to rebuild it in June of the 48th year of Qianlong reign", indicating that the existing Tianzhou pagoda was probably rebuilt in 1783 after the ancient pagoda was destroyed by the earthquake. During the reign of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Ma Hualong, a Jinji fort in Ningxia, fought against the Qing Dynasty. The war continued to Pingluo, and the Huangzhi temple was burned. It was not rebuilt until the 15th year of Guangxu (1889). The emperor temple where Tianzhou tower is located was rebuilt and expanded during the reign of Guangxu, and Buddhist activities in the temple revived.

From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the 1950s, it was successively composed of senior monk Shang Hanxia Cong and Abbot Shang Xuxia zaolao. In 1932, a primary school was built in Huangzhi temple. When the school was moved in 1953, the wing room of Huangzhi temple was removed.

During the cultural revolution, the Buddhist statues in temples and halls were completely demolished, leaving only the Tianzhou tower. All the facilities inside and outside the tower have been looted, and the base of the tower has been excavated only two meters wide from the bottom of the tower. The ancient tower is crumbling.

On June 15, 1975, Tianzhou tower was designated as a cultural relic protection unit in Pingluo County. In 1980, the county people's government allocated 28000 yuan. The Tianzhou tower was repaired, and a 4-meter-high, 45 meter long north-south and 35 meter wide East-West abutment was put up again. The abutment was wrapped with stone, and a more than one meter high green brick wall was built on the abutment. The tower is also covered with floors. The ancient pagoda stands perfectly in thousands of hectares of fertile land and thousands of beautiful trees, attracting many tourists.

The contemporary poet, Pingluo qinzhongyin, once wrote a poem praising it

Chinese PinYin : Tian Zhou Gu Ta