Jiulong Temple

Jiulong Temple

Jiulong temple, also known as Xuanwu temple or Zhenwu temple, is located among the nine peaks at the foot of Zijin Mountain in the northwest of sanlixu, Hejin City, Shanxi Province. It is like a dragon, so it is commonly known as Jiulong temple, Zhenwu temple, zushi temple, etc. Jiulong temple has a long history. It faces south from the north. Two glazed dragons in front of the temple circle on the wall of Lingguan building. The total area of Jiulong temple is about 3400 square meters and the building area is 2500 square meters. There are 34 pavilions, pavilions, terraces and corridors. Tiger Hill in the East, Longmen in the west, Fenshui in the South and Zijin in the north. Therefore, there are eight beautiful legends about the eight sceneries of Lindao, which are "Xihe Huafang", "Gu Yun Songyue", "Yanta Lingkong", "Yidou Jinluan", "Taihua Qingfeng", "Fenshui Qiubo", "Xiaoqiao feifeng" and "Yuanlin Diecui". In the early 1980s, the Jiulong temple was rebuilt in Hejin County, which restored the magnificent momentum described in ancient times: "baichigangtou is majestic, surrounded by mountains and water, painting is difficult to work, with purple mountains in the north and Yellow River in the West

Temple introduction

Nine dragon heads. It looks at hugang in the East, Longmen in the west, Fenshui in the south, Zijin in the north, and dangkong on three sides. It is a Taoist temple far away from the old city.

Zhenwu temple is a high and precipitous place with three empty faces and an island like shape. Because Gangtou is covered with green pines and cypresses, and the purple is quiet, it was called "Wolin Gang" long before Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. In the 11th year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, Wang Zhaoli and others of Chongwen society named "Lindao" when they founded Chongwen Pavilion and Chunyang cave.

As early as before the song and Yuan Dynasties, there were temples of different sizes on nine mountain tops at the foot of Zijin Mountain, namely, Yuwang temple, Leigong temple, Baxian temple, Yaowang temple, Zhenwu temple, Shanshen temple, Dijun temple, Sanhuang temple, Tianshen temple, etc. With the change of time, most of the temples collapsed and destroyed, but Zhenwu temple, the largest building group among the nine peaks, survived. As the temple site was spacious, later generations moved the damaged temple to the top of Zhenwu temple. Since then, Zhenwu temple has been popularly known as Jiulong temple. Through continuous relocation and construction, Zhenwu temple has gradually formed a large-scale Taoist architectural complex.

According to textual research, Zhenwu temple was founded in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty (1357-1368 AD). During the Jiajing, Wanli, Kangxi, Qianlong, Xianfeng and Daoguang periods of the Ming Dynasty, it was added or rebuilt to varying degrees. According to the records of rebuilding Jiulong temple in 1176 (the 16th year of Jin Dading), the temple was first built in the early Song Dynasty. It was built on the old foundation of Xuanwu building in the ruins of Jinyang old city, and then moved to the Dujia land in the middle of the city. The existing temples are built in the style of Qing Dynasty and are the key cultural relics protection units in Taiyuan.

Zhenwu temple has a total area of about 3400 square meters and a construction area of about 2500 square meters. There are 34 halls, towers, pavilions, terraces, terraces, plank roads, gallery houses and memorial archways. All the buildings go up and down according to the mountain situation, and the hall slope plank road is low and high according to the terrain. Its potential is abrupt, high and low. Tiger Hill in the East, Longmen in the west, Fenshui in the South and Zijin in the north. Therefore, there are the beautiful legends of "the West River boat", "the lonely cloud sending the moon", "the wild goose pagoda flying in the sky", "leaning against the golden Luan", "Taihua Qingfeng", "the autumn wave of Fenshui", "the flying phoenix on the small bridge" and "the emerald scenery of Yuanlin island".

After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the then county Party committee and county government set up the Preparatory Committee for the rush repair of Jiulong temple in June 1981, and launched a fund-raising initiative to all sessions of the society and the broad masses of the people, which was strongly supported by Dong Qiwu, then vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference There are four big characters in Zhuang, San and Jin Dynasties.

There is a horizontal plaque of "Jiulong Temple" hanging on the main gate of the mountain gate near the street; there are brick carvings of "Xianlu" and "Mingzhu" on the two side gates; there are platforms between the main gate and the side gates, on which there are iron lions, male in the North and female in the south. They were lost in the early period of the "Cultural Revolution", and are now cast according to the original pattern. Music tower, bell tower and drum tower were built on the main gate and two side doors respectively. Facing the main hall in the west, the yuelou floor is made of stone with a height of about 2 meters. On the top of the floor, there is a hanging mountain style, which is connected with the front and back rolling shed roofs. On the front eaves and both sides, there are carved decorations such as Dou Gong, ang Zui, dragon and Phoenix. The main hall on the front of the temple is a round mountain top, with 5 rooms in width and 4 rooms in depth. There are 14 columns in the three corridors. In the hall, there are wood carvings, painted shrines, gold statues of the Virgin mother of Kowloon and two standing maids. On both sides of the hall walls, there are portraits of dragon subduing and tiger subduing Arhats. There are side halls on both sides of the main hall, which are dedicated to the descendants of the virgin and the virgin. In the north and south sides of the temple, there are ear hall, corridor room, earth temple, well temple and two small courtyards; in the temple, there are sacrificial platform, two ancient locust trees and two ancient wells. One of the two ancient wells is a small well, which is said to be a "medicine well". According to the old records, "in the eighth year of the reign of emperor jinhuangtong (1148), the stele says:" if a person has a disease, he will be cured by drinking, and he will be cured by washing. " The whole building is well arranged, the layout is rigorous, simple and magnificent.

Now, with the care and support of Hejin municipal Party committee and government, Zhenwu temple is undergoing constant maintenance, painting and reinforcement. This scenic spot in Hedong is welcoming all the guests with boundless enthusiasm!

Temple History

The temple was founded at an unknown time. According to the existing data, the yuan and Ming Dynasties worshipped the Zhenwu God in the Arctic. The construction of Zhenwu temple was unprecedented at that time, so it is suspected that it was built at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty at the latest. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and the Kangxi, Daoguang, Xianfeng and Tongzhi periods of the Qing Dynasty, they were rebuilt or added. In 1981, Hejin City carried out rescue maintenance to make the temple look brand new. Jiufengruolong, commonly known as jiulongtou, is also known as "WoLonggang" long before Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty because of its green pines and cypresses in the mountains. In 1861, when Wang Zhaoli and others of chongwenshe founded chongwenge and chunyangdong, they named it "Lindao". On Houlin island of Jiulong temple, it occupies more than 12000 square meters. In front of the temple, there are more than 160 steps at the foot of the temple. After climbing up the steep slope, you can enter the mountain gate, pass through the stage, pass through the East and West corridors of the temple, and then climb more than 20 steps to Xiangting (rebuilt during the reign of Emperor Qianlong). On the front, there is a gold plaque with a banner reading "majestic Heihe River". After the incense Pavilion is Xian hall, which faces north to the south, three rooms wide, two rooms deep, and one room east and one room West. More corridor will enter the main hall, which is surrounded by the original clay 8, Zhenwu bodyguard. From the main hall to the back palace is the Zhenwu God Pavilion. From Xiandian to the northwest, there are luzu Chunyang cave, Xianting, Yaowang temple, Chongwen Pavilion, corridor and winding column. It passes through the Jade Emperor's pavilion, the great emperor of Ziwei, the three palaces, the three emperor's cave and the Laojun's hall. It goes through the plank road of the South Gate of heaven and reaches the peak of Chaotian Palace (destroyed). Jiulong temple, with its abrupt living situation, is difficult to compare with the general site selection of ancient buildings.

When it comes to the origin of Jiulong temple, opinions vary. According to the county annals, Hejin was called Pishi County in the Qin Dynasty. The county government was in the southeast of today's Taiyang village, facing Longmen (Yumenkou) in the north. Mr. Feng Shui said that the dragon is the symbol of the emperor, and the dragon's gate is the gate of the emperor. The county gate can't be directly opposite to the emperor's gate. Therefore, the north gate of Pishi county is not allowed to be opened. Once the north gate is opened, there will be a man-made rebellion or a real dragon prince.

Since then, Longmen County and Hejin county have no north gate, only two gates can be opened in the east wall, and the county still has four gates. In 446 of the seventh year of Taiping Zhenjun in the Northern Wei Dynasty, because Pishi county was flooded by sand and water, it moved eastward for 1.5 kilometers and changed Pishi county to Longmen County. Later, in order to control evil, temples were successively built in Jiulong Mountain, such as Yuwang temple, Leigong temple, Yaowang temple, Shanshan temple, Dijun temple, Sanhuang temple, Tianshen temple, etc. In 690, Empress Wu Zetian of Tang Dynasty changed her state name to Zhou and became empress. That autumn, she went back to Wenshui County of Bingzhou (Taiyuan) to worship her ancestors. She started from Chang'an, passed by Hancheng, passed Yumenkou, and had a rest in Longmen County. At night, she found that the north of Longmen County was full of sunshine. She did not understand the reason. The magistrate replied, "these are the small temples in the north of the city. The extraordinary light at night is God's greeting and auspicious omen." Wu Zetian was very happy to hear that. She believed in Buddhism, so she renamed the Middle Temple Longque temple and ordered the State Treasury to allocate money to expand the temple.

In 1120, the second year of Xuanhe in Northern Song Dynasty, Wusong, a hero of Liangshanpo, and Shiqian burned Longque temple. The magistrate of Longmen County reported to the imperial court. Song Huizong, who believed in Taoism and called himself "the emperor of Taoism", learned that Longque temple was related to Liangshanpo, and was afraid that Longmen would be the real dragon emperor. He changed Longque County into Hejin County, and Longque temple into Zhenwu Temple (Xuanwu Temple) to worship Xuanwu, the God of the north The Jin people invaded the south. Xuanwu is one of the four northern gods in ancient Chinese mythology, which was later believed by Taoism. It is said that he used to be the prince of King gujingle. He was born fierce. He came to visit the East China Sea. He met the God who gave him this sword and went to Wudang Mountain in Hubei Province to practice. After 42 years of cultivation, he became the emperor of Xuanwu.

During the reign of Dazhong Xiangfu in the Northern Song Dynasty (1008-1016), Xuanwu was changed to Zhenwu because of taboo. At the time of emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, he was honored as "Zhentian Wuling Yingsheng emperor", referred to as "Zhenwu emperor", known as "Zhenwu emperor". Because emperor Zhenwu's birthday is on March 3 of the lunar calendar, and the day when he became an immortal is on September 9 of the lunar calendar, "every year, a grand temple fair is held in Zhenwu temple on March 3 and September 9, and people around Hejin go to Jiulong temple to burn incense in memory of Zhenwu. Later, in the first year of emperor Qing's reign of the Yuan Dynasty (1312), Hejin county was inundated by Fenshui, and then moved northward to Gaotai (now the old city). Some Taoists followed Yongle Palace to worship LV Dongbin,

Chinese PinYin : Jiu Long Miao