Youmin Temple

Youmin temple is located in the north of Bayi Park in Nanchang City, on the East Bank of East Lake. It was built in the reign of Liang Tianjian in the Southern Dynasty. It was originally donated by GE Yudan, the teacher of Wang Weizong in Yuzhang. Youmin temple is majestic. There are many Buddha statues and Thousand Buddha VATS in the front hall. More than 90 Buddha statues are decorated outside the vats. They have different expressions and are simple and dignified. There are many Buddha statues on the vats, which are rare in China. There are huge bronze Buddha statues in the back hall, which are solemn and precious. Youmin temple is majestic. There are many Buddha statues and Thousand Buddha VATS in the front hall. More than 90 Buddha statues are decorated outside the vats. They have different expressions and are simple and dignified. There are many Buddha statues on the jar, which are rare in China. There are huge bronze Buddha statues in the back hall, which are solemn and precious. On the right side of Youmin temple, a four story bell tower stands beside Youmin temple.

Youmin Temple

Youmin temple, a famous temple in ancient China and the birthplace of Hongzhou Zen, is located at No. 181, Minde Road, Donghu District, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. The temple was built during the reign of Liang Tianjian (502-519) in the Southern Dynasty. It was originally the private residence of Ge Zui, the teacher of Wang Weizong in Yuzhang. It was donated to the temple by "zhenjiaolong". During the Dali Period of Tang Dynasty, mazudao, an eminent Zen monk, came to the temple and said that believers gathered in Hongzhou to form "Hongzhou Zen", and Youmin Temple (then called "Kaiyuan Temple") became the Buddhist Center of Jiangnan at that time. After that, many Shinto monks came to the temple to practice, and the zongfengxinfa of Youmin temple was spread to the Korean Peninsula, Japan and other places. Since then, Youmin temple has been destroyed and repaired. It has been called Chengtian temple, Nengren temple and Yongning Temple.

Youmin temple was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit in 1957. Since September 1986, it has been gradually rebuilt. By the beginning of 1991, the mountain gate, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, pharmacist hall and bell tower had been completed one after another, and the yanseng temple was opened to the public with a lot of incense. Among the three treasures in Nanchang (the bronze Buddha in Youmin temple, the bronze bell in bell drum tower, and the iron elephant in Puxian Temple), the only remaining bronze bell (cast in the Southern Tang Dynasty, weighing 10064 Jin) is now placed in the bell tower. According to the modern Nanchang ballad, "Jiangxi is poor and poor, and there are 36000 copper.".

Youmin temple is famous in East and Southeast Asia. Hongzhou Zen, which originated from Youmin temple, is one of the two major sects of Zen in Tang Dynasty, which is juxtaposed with shitouzong, and has opened the later Buddhism sects such as Linji, Jiyang, Yangqi, Huanglong, etc.

geographical position

Youmin temple is located in the north of Bayi Park and the East Bank of Donghu District, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. It is located at No. 181, Minde Road, northwest of the intersection of Minde Road and SuPu road. It is the only complete temple in Nanchang city.

According to the records in the stele of rebuilding Youmin temple, Youmin temple was once large in history. From the front of the temple to the side road of Huangdian in Bayi Square, and then to xiashawo, the whole East Lake is included in Youmin temple, which can not be called magnificent. Moreover, there was a saying in the previous Youmin temple that "riding a horse to close the Mountain Gate" can also reflect the scale of Youmin temple at that time. Today's Youmin temple is not as big as it used to be because of the land use restriction in the old urban area of Nanchang. Some scholars even think that it is less than one percent of its heyday.

Historical evolution

According to the records of Nanchang Fu Zhi (Qianlong Edition), Youmin temple in the Southern Dynasty was donated by GE sturgeon, the teacher of Wang Weizong in Yuzhang. At first it was called Shanglan temple. During the reign of emperor Tianjian, in the well beside the house, "Jiaodou was very fierce. Xiao, king of Yuzhang, built a giant Buddha to subdue Jiaolong." Therefore, in the first year of the Taiqing Dynasty (547 AD), Ge sturgeon donated his house to build a temple to worship Zhenjiao Buddha, and the temple was renamed as Dafo temple.

During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Dafo temple was renamed Kaiyuan Temple. In the fourth year of Dali (769 AD), mazudaoyi, a Zen monk, visited the temple and preached scriptures. According to the records in the history of Buddhist cultural exchange between China and Korea, Jin Dabei, a new Buddhist monk, lived in the temple in the early days of Kaiyuan. During the Dali period, Hongzhou was once renamed Zhongling. In the eighth year of Dali (773 AD), Shidao, the founder of the eighth patriarch of Zen, lived in the temple and practiced Buddhism for 15 years.

In 784 A.D., Wuji, a new Buddhist monk, came to Kaiyuan Temple to pay homage to Zen master zhizang of the Western Tang Dynasty, a disciple of the then Abbot Mazu. He was deeply appreciated by zhizang of the Western Tang Dynasty. He changed the name of Dharma to morality and taught Zen mental skills. In addition to morality and justice, Zen master Hongzhi and huizhe also came back to Korea to create the school of shixiangshan and tongbaoshan. At the beginning of the ninth century, Zen formed "nine mountains of Zen" in Korea, among which seven mountains were related to Hongzhou sect of Mazu Daoyi.

After the Tang Dynasty, the temple buildings were destroyed and repaired many times. At the same time, they were renamed many times, such as Chengtian temple, Nengren temple and Yongning Temple.

During the reign of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, the temple was renamed Youqing temple. During the Jiaqing period, a bronze Buddha was cast in the back hall of the temple. It is 1.6 Zhang high and weighs 36000 Jin. Therefore, it is said in modern Nanchang folk that "Jiangxi is poor and poor, and there are 36000 copper.". However, the temples and the bronze Buddhas were destroyed in the cultural revolution, the monks were driven out of the mountain gate, and the temple buildings were occupied by other units and individuals.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Youqing temple was occupied by warlords as barracks. Later, the National Revolutionary Army designated the temple as an ammunition depot, which became a forbidden area, and the monks were expelled. During this period, gunpowder exploded several times and the buildings in the temple were damaged.

In 1927, during the battle of Nanchang Uprising, the uprising army attacked Youqing temple, the ammunition depot of the national revolutionary army.

In 1929, Yao Guomei and Zeng Feier, the residents of Nanchang, together with monk Heng, the abbot of Nanhai palace, donated money to repair Youqing temple. Yao Guomei donated tens of thousands of yuan to the clinic to rebuild the main hall, rebuild the mountain gate, rebuild the Buddhist Chanting hall and rebuild the Buddha statue. Yao Guomei also set up a clinic in the right room of the mountain gate to supply incense to the temple. The room on the left side of the mountain gate is the circulation place of Buddhist scriptures. On the west side of the temple, there is also a four story four corner clock tower with granite structure, on which the bronze bell of the original Puxian temple is placed. After the restoration, Yao Guomei and others proposed to change the name of the temple to Youmin temple. Later, Yao Guomei and others set up Nanchang jushilin (also known as "jueji nianfo Lin") in nianfo hall. Since then, Shi Cizhou, Shi Yinguang, and Mei Guangxi, the Buddhist monk, have successively entered the temple to lecture. Nuonahutuktu and his disciple guru Gongga also opened the altar and preached in the temple.

On July 1, 1957, the provincial people's government declared Youmin temple the first batch of provincial key cultural relics protection units.

In 1960, Banchan Erdeni chojijianzan, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, accompanied by Li Weihan, head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, and pan Zhenya, vice governor of Jiangxi Provincial People's government, visited Youmin temple and was warmly received by Buddhist monks led by Shindo.

After the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution" in June 1966, Youmin temple was destroyed. The temple buildings, Buddha, Bodhisattva statues and magic weapons were destroyed. Monks were driven out of the mountain gate. The 30000 Jin bronze Buddha statues were sawed and melted apart from the head.

In September 1986, Youmin temple was rebuilt. By the beginning of 1991, Shanmen, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, pharmacist hall and bell tower had been completed. The only surviving bronze bell (weighing 10064 Jin, cast in the Southern Tang Dynasty) among the "three treasures" (the bronze Buddha in Youmin temple, the bronze bell in bell drum tower and the iron elephant in Puxian Temple) in Nanchang was placed in the bell tower. In 1995, the bronze Buddha was recast.

architectural composition

Youmin temple has a scale of about 89000 square meters. The temple is divided into two major buildings, the main hall and the side hall. The buildings in the main hall include Mountain Gate, Tianwang hall, Tongfo hall, Daxiong hall, FA hall, etc., while the buildings in the side hall include zunkeliao, Hakka hall, Daliao, warehouse, Guanyin hall, zushi hall, Jialan hall, dizang hall, etc.

Youmin temple was built during the reign of Liang Tianjian in the Southern Dynasty and flourished in the Tang Dynasty. It has a history of more than 1400 years. Youmin temple in the glorious period experienced the changes of Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty and other dynasties. Affected by the war, Youmin temple was destroyed and repaired at one time. Due to various reasons, the scale of Youmin temple is less than one percent of the glorious period of Tang Dynasty. Originally, Youmin temple had main hall, left hall and right hall, but later the right hall no longer existed.

Cultural relics in the temple

Youmin temple is majestic. There are many Buddha statues and Thousand Buddha VATS in the front hall. More than 90 Buddha statues are decorated outside the vats. They have different expressions and are simple and dignified. There are many Buddha statues on the jar, which are rare in China. There are huge bronze Buddha statues in the back hall, which are solemn and precious. On the right side of Youmin temple, a four story bell tower stands beside Youmin temple. There is a large bronze bell hanging in the bell tower. It was cast in the Southern Tang Dynasty in the 10th century. It weighs more than 5000 kg, is 2.3 meters high and 4.7 meters long. The clock tower was built with granite in 1929.

Bronze Buddha

The statue of Amitabha (also known as "Jieyin Buddha") was cast at the end of the Jiaqing period. With the help of believers, a bronze Buddha was cast in the back hall. It is 1.6 feet high and weighs 36 thousand pounds. During the period of the Republic of China, Nanchang folk saying "Jiangxi is poor, there are 36000 copper" refers to this.

Bronze bell

Youmin Temple bronze bell (bell tower) is located in the southeast corner of the small garden, No. 37 Huanhu Road, Nanchang City (dormitory of Jiangxi Provincial Radio and Television Department). The clock tower is 4 meters square and 12.5 meters high. It has a hemispherical roof with a lightning rod on one side. The lower three floors of the bell tower are vacant, with only four floors on the stairs. The fourth floor is octagonal, and there are no walls on the four corners, which is convenient for lighting and ventilation.

The bronze bell of Youmin temple was cast by Lin Renzhao, a great general of the Southern Tang Dynasty (who was left behind in the Southern Tang Dynasty and was later poisoned by the later leader). It weighed 10.064 Jin, was seven feet high and was one Zhang, four feet and eight inches long. It bears the character "Tai Sui Ding Mao was recast in the fifth year of Qiande in the Southern Tang Dynasty"

Chinese PinYin : You Min Si