Lingguang Temple

Lingguang Temple

Lingguang temple, located in Bada of Xishan, east of Cuiwei, Shijingshan District, Beijing, is an ancient Buddhist temple with a history of more than 1200 years.

Lingguang temple is the second temple in Badachu. It was built in the Dali Period of Tang Dynasty (766-779 A.D.) and was originally named Longquan Temple. It was expanded in Liao Dynasty and renamed Jueshan temple in Jin Dynasty. It was rebuilt in the 15th year of Chenghua in Ming Dynasty and then renamed Lingguang temple. The name of this temple is still in use today.

Temple location

Lingguang temple, located at the east foot of Cuiwei mountain in Shijingshan District, Beijing, is famous for offering Sakyamuni's Tooth Relic, and has become one of the pilgrimage centers of Chinese and foreign Buddhists. In 1983, it was designated by the State Council as a national key Buddhist temple in the Han nationality region, and is now managed by monks sent by the Chinese Buddhist Association.

Lingguang temple was founded in the Dali Period of Tang Dynasty (766-779 A.D.), initially known as Longquan Temple. In 1162 ad, it was rebuilt and renamed "Jueshan Temple". In 1071 A.D., Zheng family, the mother of prime minister Yelu Renxian, built a pagoda for worshiping Buddha's Tooth Relic. The pagoda is octagonal in shape, built with carved bricks, and of great scale.

Historical evolution

According to the "Research on the old news of the future", there is a pagoda on the eighth floor with ten floors behind the temple, commonly known as the portrait thousand Buddha pagoda. There are 16 iron nail niches around the base of the pagoda. There are well springs in the west of the tower, about five feet deep and wide. " During the reign of emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the temple was renamed after it was expanded with timber from all over the country.

Reconstruction period

In the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1900 AD), Lingguang ancient temple was destroyed by the gunfire of the Eight Allied forces.

After 23 years of reconstruction, it was able to regenerate. After the revival, Lingguang Temple faces south from the north and has a vertical layout. In the south are Dabei courtyard and jinyuchi courtyard. In the north are the Abbot's courtyard, the pagoda courtyard, the hermit's courtyard and the main hall.

Later, in the process of rebuilding Lingguang temple and clearing the base of Liao pagoda, a stone box was found in the rubble. On the box, there was an inscription: Sakyamuni's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's relic of Buddha's reli Guangsi temple is the treasure of zhensi temple. As a result, Lingguang Temple became more and more famous, and Buddhist believers came in droves.

Layout structure

The gate Hall of Lingguang Temple faces to the southeast. In the gate hall, pure copper and gold statues of Sakyamuni Buddha are offered as gifts to the monk king of Thailand. In Lingguang temple, there were five temples, but now there are only three courtyards: Dabei temple, Yuchi temple and Tayuan. In the Dabei courtyard, there are Guanyin hall in the south, Buddha worship hall in the north, and 14 rooms in the East and West.

The historic site of the temple is the big goldfish pond at the back of the hall. It is said that the goldfish pond was built in 1751, the 16th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Beside the pool, there is a "Zhaoxian pagoda" in Liao Dynasty, also known as "portrait thousand Buddha pagoda". This pagoda was destroyed by the artillery fire of the "Eight Power Allied forces". When the monks in the temple cleaned up the old tower foundation, they found a stone letter for Sakyamuni's relic.

The current Abbot

Northbound through a cloister for the original woyouxuan, jushiyuan and Abbot's courtyard. There is a Buddha's Tooth Relic tower built in 1958 in the Abbot's courtyard. In the relic tower, there is a pure gold seven pagoda dedicated to the Buddha's tooth. In 2000, the Chinese Buddhist Association built a new jade Buddha Hall and a screen wall of Prajna paramita Sutra written by Zhao Puchu, the late president of the Buddhist Association. Because there are only two relic teeth in the world, Lingguang temple has become a place where Buddhist monks all over the world worship.

Main landscape

Sarita

According to the research of Zhao Puchu, the late president of China Buddhist Association, the tooth of Lingguang temple is indeed one of the two teeth left in the world after Buddha's nirvana, so it is extremely precious.

In 1955, at the initiative of Chinese Buddhist circles and with the support of the Chinese government, the relic was welcomed to Guangji temple in Beijing. He was also escorted to Yunnan, Myanmar and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for worshiping. In 1957, according to the Buddhist tradition, the Chinese Buddhist community proposed to build a new Pagoda in Lingguang temple as a permanent place to worship the Buddha's teeth. Zhou Enlai strongly supported this initiative.

From the summer of 1958 to the spring of 1964, the new pagoda was constructed meticulously and intensively, and the new Buddha's Tooth Relic pagoda finally stood in Lingguang temple.

Buddhist pagodas in the temple

Today's Lingguang Temple Buddha Tooth Relic tower is magnificent and straight, up to 51 meters high, octagonal, for the 13 layer dense eaves tower format, white jade worship platform 2.7 meters above the ground. Inside the tower is a seven storey hall. The pagoda in the hall is dedicated to the Buddha's Tooth Relic. There is a stone ladder outside to the Buddha's Tooth Relic Hall.

The gold pagoda is made of pure gold. It is about one meter high and weighs 135 kg. On June 25, 1964, the opening ceremony was solemnly held. Buddhist delegation from Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam and then southern Vietnam, together with Chinese Buddhist circles, attended the ceremony. On November 22, 1998, the 2000 year old Buddhist Association and the 2000 year old commemorative conference of Chinese Buddhism were held in front of the relic tower of Lingguang temple, making Lingguang Temple an important temple in Chinese Buddhist circles.

The newly built pagoda does not completely restore the original appearance of Zhaoxian Pagoda in Liao Dynasty, but integrates the new elements of pagoda architecture in 1950s and 1960s, which looks more magnificent than the photos of Liao pagoda.

Architectural conception

The Heart Sutra wall is on the north side of the Buddha's Tooth Relic tower. It is built according to the mountain situation and needs to climb up the stone ladder. The wall was built in 2001. It is a new building with novel concept.

The full name of the Heart Sutra is Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra, which is regarded as the "Sutra in Sutra" by Buddhists. Buddhist monks read and study it every day. The master of Lingguang Temple engraved this Buddhist core classic on the huge stone wall for the majority of believers and tourists to read. The wall is 30 meters wide and 7 meters high. The base is granite, the wall is blue and white stone, and the top is covered with green glazed tiles. It is solemn, elegant, simple and generous.

The Heart Sutra in regular script engraved on this wall was recorded by Zhao Puchu. As we all know, Zhao Puchu is not only a leader in Buddhism, but also a famous calligrapher. The gilded characters, like flowing clouds and flowing water, are full of artistic beauty.

Arhat wall carving

Five hundred Arhats are the objects of worship in many Buddhist temples in China. Due to the difficulty in carving and painting five hundred Arhats and the huge labor force, only famous temples can be seen, such as Longhua Temple in Shanghai, Xiyuan temple in Suzhou, Guiyuan temple in Wuhan, Qiongzhu temple in Kunming, Baoguang temple in the new capital of Sichuan, Biyun temple in Beijing, etc.

Lingguang temple did not worship 500 Arhats until the arhat wall was built in early 2004. This arhat wall is 25 meters wide and 8.35 meters high. The whole body is of granite structure. The image of 500 Arhats is carved in relief. The image of arhat on the wall is very vivid, full of artistic imagination and romantic spirit. The expressions and actions of the characters are different, and they are free, natural, vivid and ready to come out.

It is said that in Luohan hall, Ji Gong was late and had no seat, so he had to lean aside. For example, in Luohan Hall of Biyun temple in Xiangshan, Beijing, Ji Gong had to stay on the beam. But on the wall of Luohan in Lingguang temple, Jigong enjoyed his immortal life happily with other Luohan.

The story of Sari

In the middle of the 5th century, Faxian, an eminent monk of the Southern Dynasty, traveled to Khotan and brought the relic back to Jiankang (Nanjing), the capital of the Southern Qi Dynasty. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the Buddha's teeth were sent to Chang'an. During the Five Dynasties, the war in the Central Plains led to the spread of Buddhist relic to Yanjing, the capital of northern Liao Dynasty. In August of the seventh year of emperor Xianyong's reign (l071), when the Zhaoxian pagoda was built, the relic of the Buddha's tooth was consecrated in the pagoda.

In 1900, when the Allied forces of the eight powers invaded Beijing, the ancient city of Beijing was severely destroyed by burning and plundering. Lingguang temple and Zhaoxian pagoda were also destroyed by the gunfire of the Eight Power Allied forces. When the monk Sheng'an led the people to clean up the mess, he sent a stone letter from the base of the pagoda. In the letter, there was an agarwood box with the inscription of "the book of good wisdom in the diary of April 23, the seventh year of Sakyamuni Buddha's Tooth Relic society". The seventh year of Tianhui (963) is the year of the northern Han Dynasty in the Five Dynasties. According to the Ming Dynasty's biography of supplementary eminent monks, Shanhui is a famous monk in the northern Han Dynasty. Therefore, this precious tooth has been in China for more than 1500 years and has been worshipped here for more than 800 years.

In the half century from the reappearance of the Buddha's Tooth Relic to 1949, due to the long-term social unrest, the Buddha's Tooth Relic has been secretly preserved and worshipped by the Buddhist community. It was not until 1949 that we were invited to the Guangji temple, the seat of the Chinese Buddhist Association, and worshipped in the seven pagodas of the sariko Pavilion for Buddhist worships at home and abroad.

Buddhist status

In 1955 and 1961, at the request of the Buddhist circles in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, the relic was escorted abroad by the Chinese Buddhist circles to receive worships from the believers of the two countries. In 1957, the Chinese Buddhist community initiated the reconstruction of a new Pagoda in the northwest of the original pagoda site in accordance with the Buddhist tradition to offer permanent sacrifice to the Buddha's Tooth Relic, which was strongly supported by the government and relevant departments. From 1958 to 1964, a majestic relic pagoda of Buddha's teeth was completed in Lingguang Temple of Xishan, and the gate hall and the East and north side halls were built, forming a Buddhist temple building centered on the pagoda of Buddha's teeth

Chinese PinYin : Ling Guang Si