Huiji Temple Heritage Park

Huiji Temple

synonym

Huiji Temple site park generally refers to Huiji Temple (Huiji temple, Pukou District, Nanjing)

Huiji temple is located in Tangquan street, Pukou District, Nanjing City, also known as the ancient Huiji temple. It was built in the Southern Dynasties and was initially named Tangquan temple. In the Southern Dynasties, Liu yuwancheng, the emperor of Wu, came to visit. In the Southern Dynasties, Xiao Tong, the prince of Zhaoming, studied here. It was destroyed in the war in Xianfeng Period of Qing Dynasty, and some of it was rebuilt in Guangxu period.

The three rare ancient ginkgo trees in the temple are more than 1500 years old, which have been listed as "the scenery of Chinese classical gardens" and are cultural relics protection units in Jiangsu Province. In the Southern Dynasty, Xiao Tong, the prince of Xiao Liang Zhaoming, studied here and planted it by himself. It is called "thousand years of milk falling", "supporting the sky and covering the earth", "lightning reviving". It is still flourishing, pollinating and fruiting, and it has no painstaking efforts. It is known as the "holy fruit of Buddhism".

In 2014, the reconstruction plan of Huiji temple was launched. The reconstruction project adopts the Tang style architectural style in the main design, and covers an area of 150 mu from 30 mu. The overall reconstruction project will be completed in three phases. The first phase will construct the main buildings such as an Yangyuan, Zhaitang, Daxiong hall, Puxian hall, the second phase will construct the meditation center, jingshenfang, Abbot's courtyard, bell and Drum Tower, and the third phase will construct the buildings such as Tianwang Hall, Manjusri courtyard, guest building, Scripture building, etc. After the overall reconstruction of Huiji temple is completed, looking from the old mountain in the future, you can see that the scattered eaves, magnificent and varied outline and green trees set off each other. The ancient temples in the south of the Yangtze River will reappear, and Huiji temple will become a rare ancient architectural complex of Tang Dynasty style in China.

Historical evolution

Huiji temple, formerly known as Tangquan temple, was visited by Liu Yuwan, emperor of Wu, in the Southern Dynasties of Liu and Song dynasties. Xiao Tong, the prince of Zhaoming, also studied here when he was in Xiaoliang Dynasty. There was a hot spring nearby where the prince of Zhaoming washed his feet. Later generations called it Taizi Tang.

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, Tangquan temple was renamed Huiji temple. During the reign of Xining, Zhaoqing, a Taoist from Zhangnan, came here to live in seclusion. Soon after, his friends sun Shenlao, Qin Shaoyou and Shi Shenliao came to visit together. For this reason, Qin Shaoyou wrote the eternal story of visiting Tangquan.

At the beginning of Youchu in the first year of the Northern Song Dynasty, the eminent monk Zhongjing rebuilt Huiji courtyard into Huiji temple.

During the Hongwu Period of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was lucky to visit Tangquan town. Because he avoided the word "Tang", he renamed Tangquan town Xiangquan Town, and Huiji temple was renamed Xiangquan temple.

During the reign of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty, Mao Lin and Su Zhaokui founded a "Yinghua academy" in Huiji temple. Since then, with the sound of the bells in Huiji temple, there have been many cadences of ziyue's poetry besides the silent prayers of the faithful men and women. It is rare in China that temples and academies are so closely integrated.

During the Xianfeng Period of the Qing Dynasty, this millennium old temple was destroyed in the war of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In 2014, the reconstruction plan of Huiji temple was launched. The reconstruction project adopts Tang style architectural style in the main design, covering an area of 380 Mu from 39 mu, nearly ten times the scale. The overall reconstruction project will be completed in three phases. The first phase will construct the main buildings such as an Yangyuan, Zhaitang, Daxiong hall, Puxian hall, the second phase will construct the meditation center, jingshenfang, Abbot's courtyard, bell and Drum Tower, and the third phase will construct the buildings such as Tianwang Hall, Manjusri courtyard, guest building, Scripture building, etc. After the overall reconstruction of Huiji temple is completed, looking from the old mountain in the future, you can see that the scattered eaves, magnificent and varied outline and green trees set off each other. The ancient temples in the south of the Yangtze River will reappear, and Huiji temple will become a rare ancient architectural complex of Tang Dynasty style in China.

Ancient ginkgo tree

There are three thousand year old ginkgo trees in Huiji temple. Three ancient ginkgo trees have been listed as "the scenery of Chinese classical gardens" and are cultural relics protection units in Jiangsu Province. One is called "Millennium milk drop", which is more than 20 meters high and has a chest circumference of more than 7 meters. It takes seven people to encircle. There are seven air roots. The largest air root is more than 2 meters long. The largest air root is 30 cm in diameter and 90 cm in circumference. It is like a giant breast hanging in the air. The mystery of the audience arises spontaneously. The second name is "supporting the sky and covering the ground", which means that the tree is not only 24 meters high, but also has a large crown, covering more than half an acre of the ground, which can accommodate thousands of people in summer. The third tree is called "lightning recovery". Half of the tree was burned by lightning in Xianfeng years, and miraculously recovered a few years later, so it got its name.

Main attractions

Huiji Temple site is a cultural relic protection unit at Nanjing municipal level, and a site park open to tourists has been built. The main cultural relics for people to watch in the park are foundation stones, steles and ancient trees. There are two types of foundation stones. One is the pattern of peony, grape and lotus carved on the covered basin, which shows the meaning of wealth, prosperity and peace. From the analysis of the shape of the column foundation and the method of carving branches, it should be the relics of Tangquan temple in the Southern Tang dynasty or Huiji temple in the early Song Dynasty, which was used by Huiji Temple later; the other is the plain surface column foundation of the covered basin, which is a little later, and may be the third year of Yuanyou (1088) ）It's a relic of the built Zhuanlun temple.

There are many old steles in Huiji temple. Among them, the earliest and most famous one is the stele of Tangquan temple, which is made in the Southern Tang Dynasty. The stele is made of blue stone, with a semicircular head and a dragon relief on it. The inscription on the stele's forehead is "stele of Tangquan Temple". The handwriting is strong and powerful. It is a famous handwriting. The inscription was written by Han Xizai, a famous scholar in Wenyuan of the Southern Tang Dynasty and a Bachelor of guangzhengdian. The stele was blasted into several sections during the "Cultural Revolution". Five of them have been collected by the cultural relics department. Although the inscriptions are numerous and only 10 characters are recognizable, they are rare inscriptions in the Southern Tang Dynasty. In addition, the inscriptions in the third year of Yuanyou in the Northern Song Dynasty and the reconstruction in the 16th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1643) recorded the construction of the zhuanluncang Hall of Huiji temple and the burial of Buddhist relics with silver letters The stone inscriptions on the title of Guanyin hall and Daxiong hall built in 1663, the second year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, are the physical evidence of the rise and fall of Huiji temple in the past thousand years.

In addition to the cultural relics, the most eye-catching are the three rare ancient ginkgo trees in the temple, all of which are more than 1400 years old. They are the earliest existing ancient ginkgo trees in Nanjing. According to legend, they were all planted by Prince Xiao Tong of Zhaoming during the Xiaoliang period of the Southern Dynasty when he was studying here.

The elder of the three ginkgo trees is called "Millennium drooping milk". The height of the tree is 20.2 meters, and the diameter of the tree is 7.45 meters. It requires seven adults to embrace it. There are seven drooping milk galls on the branches. The largest milk gall is 2.18 meters long, and the root diameter of the milk gall is 30 cm, and the circumference is about 90 cm. These seven milk galls are like the huge hanging on the naked and old trunk of a mother who has experienced many vicissitudes, making people bear It gives birth to infinite admiration and mystery, from which comes the name of "thousand years of drooping milk".

The tree is 24.7 meters high and 7.4 meters in diameter. It is named after its trunk, which holds the sky high and covers the sky and the ground. In summer, the thick shade covers more than half an mu of the ground, which can provide cooling for thousands of people. This tree was cut down for no reason during the cultural revolution, and its scale is not as large as before.

The tree is 23.9 meters high and 4.7 meters in diameter. The biggest difference between this tree and the first two trees is that its trunk is straight and towering, just like a pillar of the sky. It looks proud and abrupt. During the reign of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, a thunder destroyed half of the trunk of this tree, and miraculously recovered a few years later. Now the tree trunk is hollow. If you look up close to the part that was cut by thunder in that year, you can also see the scene of "a line of sky", which is amazing.

Lin Sanzhi, the late famous calligrapher and contemporary sage of grass, showed great love for the three thousand year old ginkgo trees in his hometown. He praised them with a long poem of more than 500 words, the ancient ginkgo walk, and carved a monument in the temple.

The three ginkgo trees in Huiji temple are still full of vitality after thousands of years of wind and rain, which should have something to do with the underground hot spring rich in sulfur and carbonate gas in Tangquan town. Tangquan town is known as the "hometown of hot springs". There are seven or eight hot spring eyes in the town. In addition to the abandoned Taizi soup, there are Wuliu spring, Chuantang, Zhenzhu spring, tanghuyan, lingjiaokeng, etc. the spring water can not only cure ringworm, but also be used by local residents to irrigate crops such as grass and seedlings. The Huiji temple is located in Tangquan, which is a unique place to visit and enjoy.

Current Abbot

Master Lang Ming, the current abbot of ancient Huiji temple in Nanjing, was born in 1974 in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. When I was a child, I followed my mother to worship Buddha. When I was in junior high school, I began to contact Buddhist books and have faith. High school met master Jingmin and converted to him. He was the first group of young Buddhists under the influence of the master. After graduating from high school, he began to study in Putuo Mountain Zizhu Buddhist temple. In 1994, he became a monk. In the same year, he studied in Xiamen Minnan Buddhist College. He graduated from the Buddhist College in mid-1996 and was employed as a bosom friend by Xiamen Shishi Buddhist College. In 2000, he served as a supervisor and founded Xiamen Shishi Buddhist College charity merit Association More than 5000 people. In 2002, he was invited by Tangquan town government of Pukou District, Nanjing, to be abbot of Huiji temple in Tangquan, and executive vice president of Pukou Buddhist Association. In 2008, he served as Deputy Secretary General of Nanjing Buddhist Association. In 2005, Huiji charity merit Association, the first Buddhist charity in Nanjing, was established with more than 1000 members.

The master is good at lecturing and writing, learning from Tiantai and converting to pure land. He has been invited to give lectures all over the country, participated in the lectures and exchanges held by the China Buddhist Association, and was the recommended representative of Jiangsu Province. He was also invited to give lectures on Buddhism in universities and large enterprises. In all kinds of Buddhism in the country

Chinese PinYin : Hui Ji Si Yi Zhi Gong Yuan