Bingling Temple

Bingling Temple

Bingling temple, located in xiaojishi mountain, 35 kilometers southwest of Yongjing County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, is a national key cultural relics protection unit.

geographical position

Take a 75 km bus from Lanzhou to the dam of Liujiaxia hydropower station, and then transfer to a yacht. After 54 km of plateau Pinghu, turn west into Xiakou and cross the sister peak. Bingling temple is located in xiaojishi mountain, 35 kilometers southwest of Yongjing County, Gansu Province, and more than 100 kilometers away from Lanzhou. The main scenic spots around are Liujiaxia hydropower station, sister peak, etc.

Architectural history

Bingling temple has a long history. Since ancient times, it has been a holy land of Buddhism, religion and philosophy. Now, with a history of more than 1600 years, the Western Qin Dynasty was established in 393-431 (47 years). Bingling temple is the voice of "100000 Buddha state" in Tibetan.

Bingling temple was first called "Tang Shu cave", which means "ghost cave" in Qiang language. Later, it was called Longxing Temple and Lingyan temple. After the year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, it took the transliteration of "100000 Buddhas" in Tibetan and the name of "Bingling Temple" or "Bingling Temple". Bingling temple was called Longxing Temple in Tang Dynasty and Lingyan temple in Song Dynasty. It was first built in 16 states.

The Tibetan language of Bingling is "benlang", which means "100000 Buddhas". As far back as the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Qifu family of Xianbei nationality established the Western Qin regime in liuhan (385-431 AD), which ruled for 47 years. Bingling Temple grottoes, built in 420 A.D. in the first year of Jianhong of the Western Qin Dynasty, has a history of more than 1600 years since the time of the Sixteen Kingdoms, and has gone through the dynasties of the Northern Wei, the Northern Zhou, the Sui, the Tang, the song, the yuan, the Ming, the Qing and the Republic of China. During the period of Linxia, the capital of the Western Qin Dynasty, the king personally visited the grottoes and wrote inscriptions. The authentic works still exist on the cliff.

From 420 A.D. to Song Dynasty, grottoes had a great influence on Han Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, Huayan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism.

In the Sui Dynasty, it was a prosperous place for merchant ships to berth, and also a necessary place for the ancient "Silk Road" to go south to Tubo.

At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the Yellow Sect (Gelu sect) of Tibetan Buddhism was introduced into Bingling temple. On the basis of inheriting the folk art of the previous generation, Bingling Temple Grottoes absorbed and integrated foreign Buddhist art, and created vivid sculpture image and painting art with new posture and simple technique.

building structure

Bingling temple is divided into upper temple, lower temple and Donggou. There are 212 caves and niches, 694 stone statues and 1500 square meters of murals. The most important feature is that stone carving is the main feature, and the stone carving of Central Plains culture occupies an important position.

The caves are divided into three parts: upper temple, Donggou and lower temple. They are distributed on the red sandstone on both sides of dasigou. The caves are stacked in layers, and the plank road twists and turns.

There are 183 existing caves and niches, which are divided into stone statues, stone body clay sculptures and clay sculptures, with murals of about 900 square meters. Among them, cave 169 is the largest one excavated in a natural cave. There are 25 relief stone towers.

There are 776 statues in Bingling Temple grottoes, including 694 stone statues and 82 clay statues. The main figures are Sakyamuni, Guanyin Bodhisattva, wuliangshou Buddha, Maitreya Buddha and various Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.

On the cliff of the grottoes, there is a carved statue of a giant Buddha; beside the cliff stands sister peak. Surrounded by Yuanyang cave, Yaoshui spring and other scenic spots, beautiful scenery, dangerous peaks and strange stones. You can go directly to the grotto wharf by yacht. Historical changes, Bingling Temple repeatedly destroyed by war, plank road destroyed.

The most typical Grottoes in Bingling temple are stone statues, relief pagodas and frescoes of Tantric school. Together with Mogao Grottoes and Maijishan grottoes, they are known as the three major Grottoes in Gansu Province. In the earliest cave 169 of the Western Qin Dynasty, there are wuliangshou Buddha, GuanShiYin Bodhisattva, dashizhi Bodhisattva and Dali Buddha in the middle of the north wall. Located on the pedestal of Yanglian, it is wuliangshou Buddha, 7.5 meters high.

The most distinctive feature of the Northern Wei Dynasty statues is the 25 niche stone statue of Sakya Duobao, with a smile on the face and a hand raised to talk, which is solemn and natural, and reproduces the elegant demeanor of the Southern Dynasty advocating the pure talk and metaphysics. The temple below the Bingling Temple Grottoes is the most spectacular. During the period when the capital of the Western Qin Dynasty was built in Linxia, the king personally visited the grottoes and wrote inscriptions. The authentic works still exist on the cliff.

Protection status

Bingling temple is famous for its stone carvings. Bingling temple is a famous grotto temple in China. It is known as one of the four largest Grottoes in China. Its artistic value is second only to Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. With the decline of the ancient "Silk Road", Bingling Temple gradually lost its luster.

On the 60 meter high cliff, many craftsmen and artists used the natural concave and convex of the cliff to build a large number of Buddhist caves. Bingling temple is located on the red sandstone on both sides of dasigou. After landing, you can get to the trestle along the path. The statue of Buddha in cave 172 is 27 meters high, which is the tallest one of the Bingling Temple grottoes.

Although the geological structure of Jishishan where Bingling temple is located is easy to be carved, it is not resistant to weathering and humidity. The rock strata at the top of the cliff protrude out like eaves, shielding some Buddhist caves from wind, rain and scorching sun, and playing a certain role in protection. However, many of the statues of caves and niches that have gone through thousands of years are faded and weathered. Due to the local sandstone structure, many protection measures in other places are basically useless here. The clay statue of Buddha is even more incomplete limbs, often without the head.

After the founding of new China, the State Council issued a notice officially announcing Bingling temple as a national key cultural relics protection unit. The Bingling temple cultural relic storage center was set up, the flood control embankment was built, and a 15 meter single hole concrete Diaolan bridge was built in the ditch.

In addition to natural factors, man-made damage is also very serious. The cultural revolution in the 1960s, as well as the war in history, are mostly the disputes between the Hui and Han ethnic groups. Due to their different religious beliefs, the powerful often have to destroy each other's religious idols.

When the Liujiaxia reservoir began to store water in 1967, it posed a threat to the Bingling Temple grottoes. Some Grottoes can only be buried underwater for a long time. When you visit on the trestle, you often see the words engraved on the wall of the grottoes: ×× meters down here is ×× grottoes. At that time, only 9 pieces of the 8.6-meter-long big Reclining Buddha in cave 16 were removed and preserved. During the impoundment and closure of Liujiaxia hydropower station, Premier Zhou Enlai personally arranged the construction of protection works to protect the national treasure of art.

In 1999, the Cultural Protection Office of Bingling Temple vacated its original office and built a reclining Buddha Temple on one side of Bingling temple. Finally, the nine limbs of the reclining Buddha could be unified. Although the construction of the reservoir has brought irreparable losses to Bingling temple, it also plays an important role in developing the Yellow River and promoting local economic development.

Documentation

book

In his book general history of China, Fan Wenlan believes that Bingling Temple grottoes are not only good at stone sculptures, but also famous for their relief pagodas and Tantric murals as well as Mogao Grottoes and Maijishan grottoes. The murals of Bingling Temple truly reflect the social features, music, dance and decorative arts of Northwest China in the period of Sixteen States. It is of great research value to understand Buddhism.

Poetry

Bingling Temple

Author: Ma Xiaoxiao

There is no Buddha in the world. There are many worshippers

Then there is the Buddha

*

Buddha's light is a hundred thousand, high lying Bingling

Every cave was dug by the unknown

*

In the high gorge, under the Danya

Yellow River, walking slowly with a cloth clothes

Main attractions

grotto

Grottoes are Buddhist grottoes in China, which are divided into three parts: upper temple, Donggou temple and lower temple. The lower temple is the most spectacular. Located in xiaojishishan, 35 kilometers southwest of Yongjing County, Gansu Province. Bingling temple was called Tang Shuku in Wei and Jin Dynasties, Lingyan temple in Tang Dynasty and Bingling temple in Song Dynasty. Today, there are 196 caves and niches distributed in the upper temple, lower temple, Donggou, foyetai, etc.

They are distributed on cliffs 200 meters long and 60 meters high. There are 196 niches, 694 stone sculptures, 82 clay sculptures and more than 900 square meters of murals in the Bingling Temple grottoes. The largest Maitreya sitting Buddha of the Tang Dynasty is 27 meters high, and the smallest statue is 10 cm high. Among them, there are 2 caves and 1 niche in the Western Qin Dynasty, 8 caves and 25 niches in the Northern Wei Dynasty, 2 caves in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, 2 caves in the Sui Dynasty and 20 caves and 113 niches in the Tang Dynasty. The works of the Tang Dynasty had the highest artistic achievements, with more than 3000 monks at that time.

The inscriptions written in ink by FA Xian, a famous monk in the first year of Jianhong (420 A.D.) of the Western Qin Dynasty, are the earliest chronological inscriptions preserved in the Grottoes in China, which provide a symbol for dating other ancient Grottoes in China and have very important historical value.

After the Western Qin Dynasty, the Northern Wei Dynasty was a prosperous period of cave sculpture, with 9 caves and 33 niches. One is represented by cave 126, the other is represented by cave 146. Tang Dynasty is a period of unprecedented prosperity and development in China's feudal society, politics, economy, culture and other aspects. The development of Buddhism has also entered a period of the heyday of radio and TV University. Most of the caves and niches in Bingling temple were completed in Tang Dynasty. There are 135 caves and niches in Tang Dynasty, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total.

Cave 3

The large-scale Grottoes excavated in the prosperous Tang Dynasty belong to the large Grottoes with square and flat roofs. In the middle of the grottoes are connected with the stone pagodas on all sides of the mountain. This stone pagoda is unique in China, which can also be said to be rare in the world. The most prominent feature is: there are reliefs on all sides, on the left, on the right

Chinese PinYin : Bing Ling Si