Foguang Temple

Foguang Temple

Foguang temple in Wutai Mountain of Shanxi Province is a national key cultural relic protection unit. Foguang new village in Wutai County is 30 kilometers away from the county seat. Because the temple has a long history and precious Buddhist relics, it is known as "Asian Buddha light". The main hall of the temple, namely the East Hall, was built in 857 ad. In terms of construction time, it is second only to the main hall of Nanchan temple in Wutai County (782 AD) and guangrenwang temple in Ruicheng County (831 AD), which were built in the third year of Jianzhong of Tang Dynasty (782 AD), ranking the third among the existing wooden structures in China. The Tang Dynasty architecture, Tang Dynasty sculpture, Tang Dynasty Murals and Tang Dynasty inscriptions of Foguang temple are of high historical and artistic value and are known as the "four wonders".

Historical overview

Buddhist temples in Tang Dynasty and Buddhist architecture from Northern Wei Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. Located in Foguang mountain, 30 kilometers northeast of Wutai County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province. The temple is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Temple due to the construction of terrain, high and low layers, sitting east to west. The Tang Dynasty wooden hall, painted sculptures, murals, ink inscriptions, Manjusri hall, Wei Tang tombstone, Tang Shijing building, etc. are all precious cultural relics with high historical and artistic value.

In 1961, the State Council of the people's Republic of China announced it as a national key cultural relics protection unit. Foguang temple was founded in the period of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (471-499).

At the time of Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was already a famous temple in Wutai Mountain, and temple names were often found in biographies. The Wutai Mountain painting in the middle of Tang Dynasty, which can be seen in Dunhuang frescoes, occupies a prominent position.

In the fifth year of Huichang (845) of emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty, the temple was destroyed except for a few tombs.

In the 11th year of Dazhong (857), zining Gongyu, a young woman from Kyoto, and Yuancheng, an eminent monk, presided over the reconstruction. The existing East Hall and its painted sculptures and murals are the relics after the reconstruction. In the Jin Dynasty, two halls of Manjusri and Puxian were built on both sides of the front courtyard of the temple.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the top of the hall was repaired and the ridged beast was added; in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Tianwang hall, Jialan hall, xiangfenghuayu hall, Guandi hall, Wanshan hall were rebuilt; in the late Qing Dynasty, the Puxian hall was burned; in the early Republic of China, caves and North-South wing rooms were added, which became the scale of today.

Main attractions

East Hall

The East Hall is the main hall of Foguang temple, the highest in the last courtyard of the temple. This hall was built in 857 A.D. on the site of the former Maitreya Pavilion, and was presided over by Zi Ning Gong Yu Shi Zi and monk Yuan Cheng. The East Hall is seven rooms wide and four rooms deep. In the words of Mr. Liang Sicheng, this hall is a typical building of Tang Dynasty. According to the survey, the section size of the Dougong is 210x300cm, which is ten times of that of the Dougong in the late Qing Dynasty; the eaves of the hall protrude to 3.96m, which can not be found in the wooden buildings after the Song Dynasty.

At the same time, a triangular herringbone frame is used at the top of the main hall frame. The service time of this kind of beam frame structure can be listed as the first among the existing wood structure buildings in China. In the early 1980s, people found the message of Tang Dynasty people visiting Foguang Temple behind the door panel of the main hall. It can be seen that this gate should be a relic of the Tang Dynasty. It can be inferred that this door panel with a history of more than 100 years is the oldest existing wooden gate in China.

In addition, the roof of the main hall is relatively flat, and each tile is 50 cm long, 30 cm wide and more than 2 cm thick. The animals on the top of the hall are made of yellow and green glaze, with vivid shape and bright color.

The Buddhist altar in the East Hall is five rooms wide. There are 35 painted sculptures of the Tang Dynasty on the altar. Among them, there are 33 statues of Sakyamuni Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, Puxian Bodhisattva, Manjusri Bodhisattva, coerced Bodhisattva and Vajra, ranging from 1.95 meters to 5.3 meters in height. There are also two statues, one of which is from Ning Gongyu, the benefactor of Jiandian, and the other is from monk Yuancheng, the director of Jiandian. Although the two statues are smaller than the 33 statues, they are vivid in shape. In addition, there are 296 Arhats in the West and back of the hall. These Arhats, originally 500, were partially damaged by the collapsed back wall in 1954 due to rain erosion.

On the walls of the East Hall, there are more than ten square meters of Tang Dynasty Murals, all of which are Buddhist stories. Thousands of characters, along with their ornaments and clothing patterns, are exquisitely painted. The solemn Buddha, the charitable Bodhisattva, the mighty heavenly king, the colorful flying sky, the devout believers and the donors are all vividly painted. The flowing of the clothes belt and the natural and unrestrained brushing of the sleeves embody the charm of Tang paintings.

Under the four beams on the left and right of the hall, there are many inscriptions left by people of the Tang Dynasty. "Zheng, the Minister of the inspection department and the imperial historian of chihedong Festival observation and disposal", "Wang, the right army's second lieutenant, the meritorious leader", "Ning Gongyu, the female disciple sent by the Lord of Buddha Hall" and so on. The handwriting is very clear, which is a precious ink of the Tang Dynasty.

Manjusri Hall

On the north side of the temple gate, it was built in 1137 and rebuilt in 1351. In 1953, it was repaired again. The beam frame of the hall uses thick and long wood, and the diagonal wood is used between the two frames to form the "herringbone frame" similar to today's, which increases the span, reduces the columns, and increases the space in the hall. There are seven statues on the Buddhist altar in the hall, one of which is Manjusri riding a green lion, and the other is Bodhisattva on both sides. On the East-West wall and the north wall, there are only 245 painted Arhats. These statues and murals were repainted in the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty (1488-1505).

There is a hexagonal brick tower to the east of the East Hall of Foguang temple. The lower layer is hollow and open to the West; the upper layer is solid with false door. This is what the monks call the ancestral Zen master tower, or the ancestral master tower. Built in the Northern Wei Dynasty, it is the only building left when the Foguang temple was destroyed in the fifth year of Huichang in the Tang Dynasty. This is one of the only two ancient pagodas in the Northern Wei Dynasty, which is more precious. In Foguang temple, there are two stone buildings of Tang Dynasty. One is in front of Dongda hall, 3.24 meters high and octagonal, standing in the 11th year of Dazhong of Tang Dynasty; the other is in front of Manjusri hall, 4.9 meters high and octagonal, standing in the 4th year of Qianfu of Tang Dynasty (877 AD). Outside the temple, there is the Tang Dynasty monk tower. On the east slope behind the temple, there are Tang Dynasty Dade convenient and Shang pagoda, Wugou Jingguang pagoda; about 500 meters to the northwest of the temple, there are Tang Dynasty Huayan Zong master's Liberation monk pagoda, Jin Dynasty Gaogong and Shang pagoda. These towers, either hexagonal or square, are all made of brick. At the Wugou Jingguang pagoda, white jade statues of Buddha, heavenly king, Lishi, JIAYE, Ananda and little bodhisattva were unearthed. All of them are relics of the Tang Dynasty and are on display in the main hall.

Tang Chuang

There are two Tang Dynasty stone buildings in Foguang temple. One is in front of the East Hall. It was engraved in the 11th year of Dazhong (857), with beautiful outline and exquisite carving. The total height of the building is 3.2 meters. It has a waist binding hexagonal base, carved with lion and beast pot door and upside down lotus petals. The body of the building is engraved with the Sutra of Zunsheng on the top of the Buddha. At the end of the building is engraved with the name of "female disciple Buddha Hall Lord Ning Gongyu", which can be confirmed by the ink inscriptions in the East Hall. It is the basis of the building age of the hall. The other is in the courtyard of the mountain gate. It was built in 877, the fourth year of Qianfu reign of the Tang Dynasty, with a total height of 4.9 meters. The base of the waist is carved with lotus petals and teapot music. The body of the building is also engraved with the Sutra of Dharma, on which are carved the roof, low pillars, eaves and jewels. Compared with the two buildings, the former has better modeling technology.

Tombstone

There are 7 tombs inside and outside the temple, 1 hexagonal brick tower on the left side of the East Hall, and the famous patriarch tower. It is the master's tombs when it was founded. The tower has two floors, with a total height of more than 12 meters. Its shape is rare in China. The bottom layer is hollow, with a built-in hexagonal chamber. Lotus petals and flame shaped surface are made outside the door opening, and the tower eaves are stacked and built astringently. The upper part of the tower is made of fake ticket hole doors and broken lattice windows. The pagoda has a lotus seat, a bowl and a pearl. Its shape and structure are similar to those of the Wei Qi pagodas in Dunhuang frescoes. It is a relic of the founding of the temple. There are three tombs on the East hillside outside the temple, all of which are single-layer. One is Dade convenient and Shang tower, which is hexagonal in plane and was built in 795 of the 11th year of Zhenyuan in Tang Dynasty; the other is Zhiyuan Zen master tower with octagonal waist base and bowl shaped body, which was built in 844 of Huichang in Tang Dynasty and has been damaged; the other is Wugou Jingguang tower, which is octagonal in plane and was built in 752 of Tianbao in Tang Dynasty. Now only the base is left, and several white marble statues are found under the tower, which were made when the tower was built. There are also three tombs in Lixu, northwest of the temple. One is a square pagoda of Zen master jiejie, which was built in the fourth year of Changqing (824) of Tang Dynasty; the other two are hexagonal, with the same carving style. One has an inscription, which was built in the fifth year of jintaihe (1205). The above-mentioned pagodas are valuable relics of ancient pagodas because of their unique shape, excellent construction skills and exact age.

Historical records

According to records, Foguang temple was built in the period of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (471-499 AD).

In the Tang Dynasty, Zen master faxing built a 32 meter Maitreya Pavilion in the temple, which was famous for its numerous monks and disciples. In the fifth year of Huichang of emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty (845 AD), the Buddha was destroyed on a large scale, and only one ancestral pagoda survived. In 847 ad, Li Chen, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, succeeded to the throne, Buddhism revived, and Foguang temple was rebuilt. Later, the song, Jin, Ming and Qing dynasties all repaired the Foguang temple.

In June 1937, Liang Sicheng, a famous contemporary Chinese architect, and his wife, Lin Huiyin, went to Wutai County of Shanxi Province to inspect and survey the Foguang temple

. After 1949, the government and the people made great efforts to protect the Foguang temple. Today, the temple is surrounded by green hills outside, with towering ancient trees and majestic halls.

It is not only a holy place for Buddhist Pilgrims, but also a tourist attraction.

Foguang temple is built on the hillside. East, South and North Ring Roads

Chinese PinYin : Fo Guang Si