Fanta

P ó pagoda was originally named Xingci pagoda. It was built in Tianqing temple, one of the four Royal monasteries in the Northern Song Dynasty, also known as Tianqing Temple Pagoda. Because it was built on FanTai, it was called Fanta. In ancient times, Fanta is very high. Every spring, flowers on FanTai are blooming. People enjoy flowers in spring, burn incense, worship Buddha, drink wine and write poems. It is called "spring scenery of Fanta" and is one of the eight sceneries in Kaifeng. Later, Zhu Di, Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, worried that he had "too much Wang Qi", so he ordered to cut off four layers. This is the folk legend of "shovel king gas". Today's Fanta is 36.68 meters high, with a brick and a Buddha, just like the armor of a warrior, magnificent and brilliant.

Fanta

Fanta is located in the southeast of the ancient city of Kaifeng. It was built in the seventh year of Kaibao (974) of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was originally named Xingci pagoda. Because it was built in Tianqing temple, the royal temple of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is also called Tianqing Temple Pagoda. Because it was built on FanTai, it is commonly known as Fanta. It is the first pagoda built in Kaifeng, and also one of the oldest existing buildings in Kaifeng. It is a typical example of the transition from quadrangular pagoda to octagonal pagoda. It is a key cultural relic protection unit in China. It is under the management of Guanfan tower, Yanqing, Kaifeng.

Evolution of construction

After the Five Dynasties, Zhu Wen, the founder of the Liang Dynasty, once read martial arts on the stage, so there was a time when Gaotai was called Jiangwu stage. In 955, the temple was built on the platform. The day of its completion happened to be the birthday of Chai Rong of Zhou Shizong. In order to be Chai Rong's merit temple, the temple was named Tianqing temple. In 960 ad, Zhao Kuangyin launched the Chenqiao mutiny and drove the last emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Zhougong, out of the palace. After that, he fled to Tianqing temple and lived for a period of time.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, Tianqing temple had a great reputation. It was called the four famous temples in Kyoto together with Xiangguo Temple, Kaibao temple and Taiping Xingguo temple

According to the records of Beidao zhangcuozhi written by Wang Yu of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the Kaibao period of the Song Dynasty (968-975), when Tianqing temple was rebuilt, a brick pagoda named Xingci pagoda, also known as Tianqing pagoda, was built in the temple. Because it was located on the FanTai, it was commonly known as Fanta. The construction of Fanta was different from that of the iron tower. The iron tower was built at the expense of the Northern Song government, so it was built very quickly. Fanta was initiated by the bureaucrats at that time and was built by raising funds from the people, so it took a long time to build. There are stone inscriptions inlaid on the wall of the existing Fanta, in which are the names and dates of those who donated money and objects. Stone inscriptions show that in 978, a high tower foundation was built for Fanta. In 982, the seventh year of Taiping Xingguo, and even in 990, people continued to donate money to the tower construction project. According to the inscriptions in the pagoda, Fanta was built in the middle of Kaibao period and completed after the first year of Chunhua of Song Dynasty (990). It took more than 20 years from preparation to completion. Fanta is an equilateral hexagonal pagoda. The original tower is nine stories high, and it was the highest tower in Kaifeng at that time, which is much higher than the famous Kaifeng iron tower. So far, there is a saying in Kaifeng that the iron tower is compared with Fanta: "the iron tower is high, the iron tower is high, and the iron tower only reaches the waist of Fanta.". At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Tianqing temple was destroyed by fire, and the nine storey pagoda was partially damaged by lightning.

In the 16th year of Hongwu (1384) of Ming Dynasty, monk Sheng an built a Buddhist temple on the abandoned site of the south front building of Tianqing temple. It was named Guoxiang Temple because there was Guoxiang gate in front of the temple. In 1386, a new temple was built on the original site of Tianqing temple, but the famous Tianqing temple was still restored. At the same time, monks Sheng'an and Yuan Zhen built a temple on the abandoned site of baiyunge in the northwest of the temple, which is called baiyun temple. Guoxiang temple, Tianqing temple and baiyun temple are arranged in the north and south of FanTai. At the end of Ming Dynasty, Kaifeng was flooded by the Yellow River, three temples were flooded and monks scattered. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, monk Guishan led his disciples to Mount Wutai in Shanxi Province. When he passed Kaifeng, he lived in fantamen cave for several years. Later, relying on the power of Zhang Zide, the governor of Henan Province, he rebuilt another temple on FanTai, named Guoxiang temple. The new temple has a large scale, with the gate to the South and several halls. Inside, there are two floors of bells and drums, and behind the main hall is Fanta.

Qing Daoguang 21 years (1841), the Yellow River burst, the temple destroyed tower.

During the Anti Japanese War, Fanta was baptized by the fire of war. Now there is a Japanese bomb in the tower. In the early days of liberation, Fanta had become a "waste" that no one managed and climbed at will.

In 1982, Fanta was overhauled. According to the principle of keeping the old as it is, Fanta gained a new life. At last, only 374 Buddha bricks and 173 lace bricks were replaced in the whole tower, which retained the original pagoda as much as possible.

On September 18, 1984, Fanta underground palace was excavated.

Style layout

original appearance

Fanta in Song Dynasty was a giant Pagoda with six corners and nine stories and more than 80 meters high. There is a poem that says: "the highlands of Taiwan are far away from the sky, and the imperial capital is ten Li Chun.". Therefore, "FanTai spring" has become one of the famous eight sceneries in Bianjing. Because of the vicissitudes of time, there were only three floors left in Ming Dynasty. On top of the big tower, the six storey pagoda was reduced to a six level pagoda, which became a unique and interesting shape.

Fanta used to be a giant Pagoda with nine stories and 240 feet high, so it was said that the iron tower only built on the waist of Fanta. In Yuan Dynasty, two stories of Fanta were destroyed due to lightning strike, but it was still very tall. In the early Ming Dynasty, the influence of the event of "shovel Wang Qi" spread to the numerous pagodas. "The seven levels of the pagoda went to the fourth level, and the last three levels were left behind." in the early Qing Dynasty, a six level pagoda was built on the residual pagoda, and the top of the pagoda was sealed, forming a unique appearance like a chime bell.

present situation

There are only three floors under the original pagoda. The upper part of the pagoda is demolished and scraped off. It is composed of the base, the outer wall and the six level pagoda repaired in the Qing Dynasty

. It was not until the early Qing Dynasty when Guoxiang temple was rebuilt that a platform was built on the top of the three-story pagoda, and a seven level solid small pagoda was built on the platform, making the pagoda a strange shape of three-story Pagoda with small pagodas piled on it, which has been preserved to this day.

The lower three floors of Fanta is a hexagonal pavilion style pagoda. Each side of the lowest floor is 13.10 meters wide and covers an area of 501.6 square meters. From the bottom to the top, each floor shrinks step by step. The third floor has a flat top. The seven level pagoda on the flat top is about 6.5 meters high, about the height of the lower one. The height of the three level pagoda on the lower one is about 25 meters. From the lower part of the pagoda to the top of the pagoda, the total height is 31.67 meters. The inner and outer walls of the pagoda are inlaid with ceramic tiles of Buddha statues. Each brick on the surface of the pagoda is square, and it is a concave circular niche. In the niche, there are raised Buddha statues, one brick for each Buddha. The posture, clothing and expression of the Buddha statues have their own characteristics, with a total of 108 kinds and more than 7000 statues. Among them, there are statues of Buddha sitting in a single lotus seat or a girdle lotus seat: the Buddha holding all kinds of magic weapons; Manjusri riding a green lion and two Bodhisattvas of Puxian riding a white elephant; Guanyin Bodhisattva with six or twelve arms. The Buddha's expression is delicate and vivid. There are arched gates in the north and south of the tower base, which can go in and out, but they are not connected with each other. Entering from the south gate, it is a hexagonal tower chamber, which was originally used for Buddhist incense. The top of the tower is made of small bricks

There are wooden ladders up to three floors. From the north gate, you can go up to the third floor along Dengdao. If you want to get on the platform of the tower from the third floor, you have to go out of the cave door and spiral up the outer wall. This is the so-called saying of "from the inside up, from the outside up, on the top".

Historical Studies

Construction technology

The base of the complex tower is built with a very high sealing wall, which increases the tower base and enhances the anti pressure. In addition to the special shape of hexagon, one brick and one Buddha is also a famous capital in the world, which is very rare in the existing pagodas.

Inscription Art

Fanta is a treasure house of calligraphy. There are more than 200 inscriptions in the pagoda, mainly in the Song Dynasty. There are 178 pieces of Buddhist scriptures in the Song Dynasty, among which Zhao Anren, a calligrapher from Luoyang in the Song Dynasty, is the most famous. The three sutras are stored in the upper and lower floors of the tower. In the south gate, the first floor is inlaid with six sutras on the East and west walls. In the east wall is the Heart Sutra of Vajra Prajna paramita. In the west wall is the outline of the ten good deeds Sutra. In the second floor, the East and west walls of the South cave are inlaid with dafanguang huijue Duoluo Sutra. All of the above are regular script, which has the advantages of European and Liu calligraphy. The carving stone of "three classics" is decorated with lotus petal blossom pattern all around. The technique is exquisite. The lines are graceful and natural. There is no carving mark. It is just like molding. It shows the high carving skill of the Song Dynasty. In the North cave on the second floor of Fanta, there is a record of "Chen Hongjin, the special chief inspector of Pinghai in Song Dynasty, donating 500 liang of silver". There are some words in the article, such as "steal from FanTai, famous orchid, Liudong Lingxian, once left a miracle, nine story pagoda, near Chongji". Although the font is not as good as Zhao Anren, it is also strict in shape and beautiful in strokes. It is a precious material for studying the history of Fanta.

Cultural relic value

Fanta is a type of Chinese pagoda that transits from quadrangle to octagonal. It is also a precious material for studying the development and evolution of pagoda architecture.

The Song Dynasty artists endowed the Buddha with rich feelings, making people feel cordial and vivid when watching. The lines of the cassock worn by the Buddha are smooth, and the depiction of the face, hands and feet is full, meticulous and mellow. Throughout the modeling of the Buddha statues on the inner and outer walls of the pagoda, the technique can be called superb. Although the Buddha shape on the Bodhisattva's crown is very small, it is also very detailed, which fully demonstrates the superb skills of Song Dynasty artists in carving and molding. The rich and colorful Buddha statues in the pagodas are of great reference value to the study of Buddhist art in the Central Plains.

Cultural relics protection

Protection level

In November 1963, Fanta was announced as the first batch of provincial cultural relics protection units by Henan Provincial People's Committee;

Chinese PinYin : Fan Ta