Mituo Temple

Mituo Temple

Mituo temple is located in the east of Xishi village, Ezhuang Township, Zichuan District, Zibo City, Shandong Province.

Mituo temple is divided into seven architectural courtyards: upper, lower, front and back, Banya, Yuhuangding and pagoda.

Overview of temples

Mituo temple is located in sanfoshan, east of Xishi village, Ezhuang Township, Zichuan District, Zibo City, which is separated by a river. Sanfo mountain is named because there are three stone pagodas on the top of the mountain, which are very similar to the three Buddha statues, namely Sakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha and Maitreya Buddha.

Mituo temple, an ancient architectural Temple group, was built in the Tang Dynasty. According to reports, on the west side of the bell and Drum Tower, next to the monk's house mill, there was a poplar tree with a trunk more than three meters thick. Because of its thick body and hollow trunk, there were three stone tablets inside, one of which was exposed and engraved with the words "Datang Zhenguan Mituo Temple". The legend of "tree eating tablet" on Sanfo mountain is still spreading among the people.

Layout structure

Mituo temple is divided into seven architectural courtyards: upper, lower, front and back, Banya, Yuhuangding and pagoda. There are Lingguan temple, dashanmen, Zhonggulou, Taishan temple and lushengu temple in the front courtyard, a forest of Steles in the upper courtyard, Wenchang Pavilion, Yuhuang Pavilion, Chunyang Pavilion and xianlinfu room in the lower courtyard, Buddha Hall, Guanyin Pavilion, Zhaitang courtyard and daozuo Guanyin Pavilion in the lower courtyard, Baiyi temple, dizang temple and gaolaoxianshi temple in the half cliff, dashanmen gate in the Yuhuangding, three courtyards in the inner courtyard, three courtyards in the upper courtyard, Yuhuangding hall and three palaces in the upper courtyard The hall, Zhenwu hall and Sangu room are of reasonable layout, ingenious use, Dragon carving style, cornices and pavilions, with unique style, grand momentum, simple and spectacular.

Stone gate couplets

According to the ancient culture research, the most historical value is the stone gate couplet on the door of the Jade Emperor Pavilion, the sound is: Jade furnace burning and refining longevity medicine, Zhengdao building longevity pill. The horizontal inscription is: "Yujing Jinque". This couplet has been recorded in the history of Zichuan.

Shang Lian Tan: the way of Taoist internal practice, the lower league talks about moral cultivation, which is the essence of Taoist writing. Relevant materials indicate that this couplet is the truth of Taoist alchemy, and also reflects the basic thought of Taoist internal alchemy.

Historical records

According to relevant records, this couplet is also very rare in China. There are three places of interest in China, including Laojun temple in Bozhou, Anhui, Daoguan temple in Taiqing palace in Shenyang, and Laozi temple in Zhongnanshan, Xi'an. Murals are everywhere in the temple of Mituo temple. All kinds of landscape paintings are vivid, and many kinds of figure paintings are lifelike. Among them, the paintings of twenty-four filial piety, pilgrimage to the west, landscapes, flowers and plants, birds and animals, and so on, are full of brilliance.

Reconstruction of the past dynasties

There are more than 20 stone tablets in the upper courtyard of Mituo temple, which record the records of the restoration of Mituo temple and the fundraising of the host and some believers. One of the oldest inscriptions is the record of the restoration in the reign of emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, which was later erected in November of the 32nd year of Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, recording the creation and restoration of Taihe society in Beide Township, Yidu County, Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province. The "Yuhuang dizang hall" in Mituo Buddha was built from February to December in the 34th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty. The statues of the temple were raised by Liu Detong, the leader of the local people, and the Buddhist monk Hai Songhua yuan. Haisong had an apprentice, Qiu Jiang, who presided over Mituo temple at that time.

Stone tablet in the temple

According to the records of the stone tablet erected on the day of Dinghai in the Renshen year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, it was rebuilt under the leadership of the Taoist Masters Wang Laisu and Li LaiZhu. It was rebuilt again in the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. Later, Liu Fuguang, the host, raised money several times and continued to reorganize the museum. In the fifth year of the Republic of China, it was rebuilt again. Guo Zhicheng, the master of Taoism, recruited two disciples, one named Zhu Lihe and the other named Wang Lishun. The two disciples have now passed away. At the beginning of the liberation, Guo Zhicheng took another apprentice named sun Zhongxi. After liberation, sun Zhongxi joined the PLA. Unfortunately, when hong'e road was built in 1972, some temples of Mituo temple were demolished. Only Baiyi temple, dizang hall, gaolaoxianshi temple, Yuhuang hall, Sanguan hall and Zhenwu hall survived. The murals in the temples are intact.

The stone couplets on the gate of the Jade Emperor pavilion are still vivid and clear.

Scenic Spots and Historical Sites

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the leading governments at all levels continued to repair and transform the Mituo temple. The government of Zibo City has designated Mituo temple as a "natural ecological restoration area" and planned this area as a scenic spot.

In 2000, nengchen monks, the Secretary General of Shandong Buddhist Association, raised funds from all over the country, and carried out large-scale construction of Mituo temple. A 21.7-meter seven storey pagoda was built in the back mountain of yuhuangdian. The stone tomb of nengchen monks was built at the bottom of the pagoda. The upper six floors have been decorated and open for sightseeing.

On the south side of the pagoda, some monastic squatters are built, which can accommodate more than 50 monks. The mountain road of Mituo temple, which used to be a small path, has now been built into 380 stone ladders with bluestone slabs.

In the spring of 2003, the Chinese Buddhist fax was built with heavy capital.

Map navigation

Address: Wuning County, Jiujiang City

Longitude: 115.3786

Latitude: 29.127437

Chinese PinYin : Mi Tuo Si