Zhangye great Buddhist temple

Dafo temple is located in the southwest corner of Zhangye City in Gansu Province. It is an important group of places of interest on the Silk Road and a landmark building of Zhangye. Founded in Xixia, it has a history of more than 900 years and integrates Han culture and Xixia Culture.

There are many ancient buildings, towering trees, green grass and beautiful environment in the temple. In the temple, there is the largest indoor Reclining Buddha in China, the nirvana statue of Sakyamuni. The Buddha's body is 34.5m long and the shoulder is 7.5m wide. One person can lie flat on one middle finger alone. It turns out that there are three layers of space in the body of the Buddha statue, with various Buddhist treasures and scriptures on the head. Unfortunately, it was burned and destroyed during the cultural revolution. The Grand Buddha Hall, Buddhist art exhibition hall, Buddhist scriptures exhibition hall, earth pagoda, Shanxi guild hall, golden pagoda hall, etc. are available for tourists to visit.

Zhangye great Buddhist temple

Zhangye Great Buddha Temple, formerly known as JIAYE Rulai temple, is a national AAAA tourist attraction built by the royal family in the past dynasties because it worships Sakyamuni's nirvana statue, also known as "WOFO Temple". It is located in Dafosi lane, Minzhu West Street, Ganzhou District, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, with a total area of more than 30000 square meters. It was built in the first year of Yongan (1098).

Zhangye Dafosi scenic spot is an important group of scenic spots and historic sites on the Silk Road, and it is also the landmark of jinzhangye, a famous historical and cultural city.

The largest Xixia Buddhist hall in China, the Great Buddha Hall, the largest indoor wooden clay Buddha and the most complete first printed version of Yongle BeiCang, are preserved here. It is a Buddhist Art Museum integrating architecture, sculpture, murals, sculpture, scriptures and cultural relics.

In November 1996, it was listed as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Historical evolution

Zhangye Dafo temple was built in the first year of Yongan (1098) of Xixia, which lasted for five years and was completed in the third year of Zhenguan (1103).

Ming Yongle nine years (1411) imperial name baojue temple.

In 1678, Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty changed Hongren temple.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were expansion projects.

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, the government has allocated funds for several times to move and build archways, mountain gates and three scattered temples, which has made the millennium old temple take on a new look.

Architectural pattern

structure

Zhangye great Buddhist temple has a archway gate, four heavenly kings hall, guanci hall, Guodian hall, Peidian hall, wing room and main hall of reclining Buddha. In the south of the main hall is the induction temple, in the north is the golden pagoda hall, and in the back are the Tibetan Golden Pavilion and the earth pagoda.

characteristic

Zhangye Dafo temple, as a royal temple in the past dynasties, has a close relationship with the royal families of Xixia, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has a typical palace architectural style. The temple buildings run through the east-west axis, and the left and right side halls are arranged symmetrically. The whole group of buildings has unique shape, rigorous layout, prominent theme and distinct keynote. The main building, the Great Buddha Hall, is an outstanding representative of Xixia architectural art. The hall is composed of two-story pavilions. The plane structure is neat and standard, and the space combination is varied. It gives people a sense of natural, solemn and profound, vivid and ethereal, and reflects the Royal spirit of "the supreme of the Ninth Five Year Plan".

Cultural relics

overview

The existing ancient buildings in Dafo temple include Mountain Gate, archway, bell tower, Drum Tower, Dafo hall, Dacheng hall, sutra collection hall, earth pagoda and gold pagoda hall. The Grand Buddha Hall, Buddhist art exhibition hall, Buddhist scriptures exhibition hall, earth pagoda, Shanxi guild hall, golden pagoda hall, etc. are available for tourists to visit.

In 1966, stone tablets, bronze Buddha, bronze mirrors, Buddhist scriptures and other precious cultural relics were found in the Great Buddha Temple.

In 1970, a Shihan, placed in 1441 of the Ming Dynasty, was found under the foundation of the original golden pagoda hall. It contains exquisite jade carvings, pearls, silverware, etc. In the silver box with eight diagrams, there are coral, amber, agate, cinnabar, quartz, ancient Chinese coins and Persian silver coins.

Main hall of Dafo Temple

The main hall of the Great Buddha Temple is a two-story building with double eaves and top of the mountain. It is 33 meters high, rectangular in plane, 9 rooms wide and 7 rooms deep. It covers a total area of 1770 square meters. The top of the hall is covered with green tiles, and the hall is surrounded by corridors.

The statue of Sakyamuni's nirvana is the largest clay Reclining Buddha in China. It is 34.5 meters long and 7.5 meters wide. It is made of wood and clay, painted in gold, with gold on the face, a lotus stand on the head, lying on one side, eyes half closed and lips slightly open. The palm of the right hand is placed under the face, the left hand is placed on one side of the thigh, and the big "Swastika" symbol is painted on the chest. Sanskrit means "auspicious sea and cloud". The statues are exquisite, well proportioned, smooth in lines, natural in expression, peaceful and lifelike in appearance. On both sides of the statue are standing statues of youpoyi and youposai, and on the back are statues of ten disciples mourning. There are eighteen Arhats on both sides of the north and the south, with different shapes and vivid images. There are huge murals on the East and west walls of the hall, which are based on the stories of journey to the West and Fengshen romance. The composition is miscellaneous but not chaotic, and the image is on the wall.

Both sides of the hall door are inlaid with 6 square meters of brick carvings, on which the stories of the Buddha preaching and the statues of various Buddhas with different expressions are carved. In the south is the Western Paradise, with the words "ascend to heaven" on the top and "Western Holy Land" on the bottom right. The couplet is "the palace is towering, no one worships it, the golden body shows the Huanhe River, and all the saints are converted.". In the north is the picture of Buddha's saying, with "entering into samadhi" written on the top and "performing in the bottom garden" written on the right. The couplet is "Buddha's day adds radiance, and all kinds of good return to the other side; the Dharma wheel turns constantly, and ten directions look forward to Zhengpu dyke". This is a treasure of Chinese brick carving art. There are two couplets of the Qing Dynasty on the door of the hall. One of them is "created in the Western Xia Dynasty, built in the former Ming Dynasty, more than hundreds of years up and down, more like someone to repair the good fruit; if you wake up, call it, you will sleep, and you will travel three thousand worlds, so the dream is a vacuum.".

Sutra Hall

Behind the main hall is the Sutra Pavilion. In 1445, the Yingzong emperor awarded 345 kinds of scriptures, 685 letters and 3584 volumes of imperial edicts printed in 1440 to the Dafosi temple. It is now a collection of Buddhist treasures such as the great Prajna paramita Sutra written in clay and gold.

Thousand Buddha pagoda

Amitabha thousand Buddha pagoda is commonly known as earth pagoda. The tower is 33.37 meters high. It is said that there are ashes of Sakyamuni. The whole tower is composed of tower base, tower body and phase wheel. Each side of the tower base is 23 meters long, with 13 sections in total. The diameter of the canopy is more than 4 meters. There are 36 copper tiles around and 36 tassel bells hanging. The shape of the pagoda is unique, which is similar to the White Pagoda of Miaoying temple in Beijing.

The hall where the earth tower is located has been built into a small museum. The museum displays such precious cultural relics as scriptures, stone tablets, bronze mirrors, jade carvings, pearls, ancient Chinese coins and Persian silver coins unearthed from the Great Buddha Temple.

The story mural of journey to the West

The story mural of journey to the west, painted on the wall behind the reclining Buddha in the Great Buddha Hall, is a classic work in the mural of the temple. The mural, covering an area of about 15 square meters, is composed of several independent stories. On the screen, there are dangerous mountains and strange rocks, towering ancient trees, running streams, clouds and mists, and high mountains and sea of fire. It reflects "shuishuizimu River", "Daomei relieved ape", "baby playing Zen heart", "fighting red child", "living ginseng and fruit tree", "road blocking Flame Mountain" and "great saint worshipping Guanyin" ”Monkey King, Tang Seng, Zhu Bajie, Sha Seng, Guanyin Bodhisattva and red boy are depicted in detail. The murals are composed of people, gods, demons, animals, trees, clouds, water, fire, mountains and stones. They are dynamic or static, hidden or visible, bright or dark, and are extremely vivid.

History and culture

Changed its name many times

Zhangye great Buddhist temple has changed its name. It was called "Hongren Temple", "baojue Temple" and "Hongren Temple" in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was also called "Ganzhou WOFO Temple" and "great temple" in folk, and later also called "Xixia Temple".

Legends and anecdotes

According to Zhu Zhanji, the emperor of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, in the Western Xia Dynasty, there was a national teacher named Wei baa who sat in silence one day and heard the sound of silk and bamboo nearby. He dug three or four feet to get a jade Reclining Buddha covered with green tiles and gold bricks, so he built the Buddha Hall in the East and West.

According to historical records, the Empress Dowager of Xixia often came to worship and live in the temple; Zhangye Dafo temple is said to have been the birthplace of Kublai Khan of Yuan Dynasty, and the Empress Dowager Beji, the mother of Kublai Khan of Yuan Dynasty, also lived here for a long time, and her coffin was placed in the temple. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Xian, Emperor gongzong of Song Dynasty, became a monk here to avoid disaster. Marco Polo, an Italian traveler, was attracted by the grand architecture of the great Buddhist temple and the prosperity of Zhangye. He stayed for one year. In the 16th century, the temple could accommodate four or five thousand people to worship at the same time.

Research value

Zhangye Buddhist temple is closely related to the royal family of the Xixia and Yuan Dynasties. The historical and artistic value it carries is a fresh historical book that studies Zhangye's history and culture, religious culture and multi-ethnic integration.

The discovery of Chinese ancient coins and Persian silver coins in the temple, especially the rare and exquisite Persian silver coins, has become a strong evidence of the prosperity of foreign trade along the silk road.

The largest Xixia Buddhist hall in China, the Great Buddha Hall, the largest indoor wooden clay Reclining Buddha and the most complete first printed edition of Yongle BeiCang, are preserved in Zhangye Great Buddha Temple

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Ye Da Fo Si