Wanxiang Temple

Wanxiang Temple

Wanxiang temple is located on the south slope of the north mountain of kangguanyingzi village, Songzhangzi Town, Lingyuan City. It is the largest lama temple in Lingyuan City. It is a lama temple built by Emperor Qianlong himself, which integrates Tibetan and Han architectural styles. According to records, in history, Qianlong went to Shengjing (today's Shenyang City) to worship his ancestors and stayed here through Lingyuan, and was given the name of "Wanxiang Temple".

Folklore

When Qianlong was the crown prince, he went to Shengjing with his father and stayed in Lingyuan palace for a rest. He disguised himself as a common man and went hunting in Songzhangzi mountain. Just as a leopard came to him, a girl named Kang shot the leopard with an arrow. Qianlong got out of danger, so they fell in love. A few years later, when Qianlong became emperor, he passed by this place again. He recalled the past and found out that the infatuated girl had become a nun. So he built a temple and gave it a name.

After two years of renovation from 1982 to 1983, Wanxiang temple was basically restored to its original appearance. In 1988, it was announced as a provincial cultural relic protection unit in Liaoning Province.

According to reports, during the prosperous period of the temple, there were many monks who were surrounded by incense and chanting sutras all day long. On July 13, 2008, the grand opening ceremony of Maitreya Buddha, a tourist temple fair of Wanxiang temple, attracted more than 50000 tourists on July 3.

Temple architecture

The temple is built from the bottom to the top along the north-south axis. It has Tianwang hall, yanwang hall, Daxiong hall, Luohan hall, bell tower, Drum Tower, sutra collection hall, east-west hall and so on. It is built on four terraced platforms from south to north, with five floors across the courtyard. There are more than 500 Buddhist temples (more than 100 existing). Tianwang hall is three rooms wide and one room deep, with front and back porches for the four heavenly kings. The temple is also called the "Mountain Gate" because of its mountain forest.

The three gates symbolize the three liberation gates (empty gate, no phase gate and no work gate). In front of it is a stone courtyard wall, and the ditch outside is more than 10 meters deep. Limited by the terrain, the gate of the temple is opened on the west side, which is different from other temples. On top of the three intermittent mountain style Sifang Hall (also known as Luohan Hall), is the second platform, where the Sutra hall and the left and right side halls are built.

The Sutra chanting Hall (or Sutra chanting hall, main hall) is a two-story Tibetan Han style building with 81 Zen rooms. The first floor is composed of front porch, sutra hall and Buddha Hall. The front porch is a Baoxia style, with five rooms wide and one room deep. It is decorated with colorful columns and painted beams. In the Sutra hall, the vermilion columns are arranged vertically and horizontally, the beams are arranged longitudinally, the joints between the beams and the columns are douched, the cross bow shaped big joists are used for transition, and the skylight is opened in the central inner groove. Behind the Sutra hall, there is a special hall for Buddha statues. It is three rooms wide and one room deep. In the middle of the second floor is a square three intermittent mountain style, with well decorated ceiling on the roof, painted with dragon and Sanskrit six character mantra as the theme, with corridors on both sides. In the architectural form and decoration content, the traditional style of Han and Tibetan temple architecture is integrated. The Sutra Pavilion is a five room hard Hill Pavilion on the second floor. The hall of the king of hell is a combination of the rolling shed front porch and the small hard mountain architecture.

In addition, there are three ancient pine trees in front of Dajing hall, one is black pine, one is Platycladus orientalis, and the other is spruce. The age of the trees is about 760 years, which is the oldest spruce pine in Chaoyang area.

Sutra chanting Hall (or Sutra chanting hall, Hall) is a Tibetan Han style building, with two floors. The first floor is composed of front corridor, sutra chanting hall and Buddha Hall. In terms of architectural form, decoration content and color, it integrates the traditional styles of Han and Tibetan temple architecture.

The three ancient pines in front of the Sutra hall add to the ancient and deep atmosphere of the temple. One spruce is several times older than Wanxiang temple, which can be regarded as the oldest spruce in Chaoyang area.

Address: kangguanying village, Songzhangzi Township, Lingyuan County, Chaoyang City

Longitude: 119.21276092529

Latitude: 41.077419281006

Tel: 0416-6509460

Ticket information: market price: 5.0 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Wan Xiang Si