Zunsheng Temple

Zunsheng Temple

Near beiwanzi village, Rucun Township, Wutai County, Shanxi Province, is a giant temple on the South Gate Road of Wutai Mountain. According to legend, the Indian monk Buddha poli of Tang Dynasty visited Manjusri Bodhisattva here and built a temple. It was built in the Tang Dynasty, rebuilt in the Song Dynasty, and repaired in the early Republic of China. The temple area has towering ancient trees and magnificent buildings. There are exquisite brick carvings on the shadow wall in front of the temple. There are all kinds of halls and pavilions in the temple. There are five courtyards in a row. They go up step by step and stack on each floor. There are Buddhist houses on the left and right, with grand scale and rigorous layout. The base of Daxiong hall is high and the building is magnificent. The Wuliang hall is made of brick and exquisitely carved.

brief introduction

Zunsheng temple in Wutai Mountain was built in Sui Dynasty, which has a history of more than 1300 years. Wutai Mountain is located in the ancient Chaoshan must pass, so it is called Wufeng throat. In the first year of Yifeng in the Tang Dynasty, the glass worshiper of the Indian Buddha chaotai (worshiping Mount Wutai, traditionally known as chaotai) came here to see Manjusri Bodhisattva present himself as a saint. He became a Bodhisattva and returned to the western regions to worship the Sutra of Buddha Zunsheng, which was translated into Chinese. Covering an area of 32300 square meters, the temple is the second largest Buddhist jungle in Mount Wutai. There are 350 halls, including five jade Buddhas, five Zhangmu Buddhas, and more than 390 painted Buddha statues. Zunsheng temple is honored as the ancestral hall of "Zunsheng Dharma gate" all over the world because of the Buddha's top Zunsheng Dharma Sutra. Inside the temple, there is a sutra building of Song Dynasty engraved with the Sutra of Zunsheng on the top of Buddha, which has a history of nearly one thousand years.

legend

In the past, both Buddhist believers and tourists went through Mount Wutai on foot. Starting from Wutai City, turn over geziling, go down to Ruhu basin, then go up huyangling, go through Longwan in the northeast, and point directly to jingeling, the intersection of Nantai and Zhongtai. Therefore, it is called "throat of five peaks".

Zunsheng temple was founded in the Tang Dynasty. It was called Shanzhu Geyuan at that time. It was rebuilt in the fourth year of Tiansheng in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was renamed Zunsheng temple after it was rebuilt in the 19th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. It was partially repaired in the seventh year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty. The monument in the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi recorded the history of the temple. The existing temples were rebuilt in the Republic of China.

It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, there was an Indian monk named "Buddha poli" who had heard of the earthquake and lived in Manjusri's residence. He traveled far away in quicksand and came to pay homage. Yifeng first year, reached this land. To the south of Taishan Mountain, between the tiger Yangling mountain and the master, there are dry trees and clouds, famous flowers and five peaks. I feel very happy. " He threw himself into the air and said, "I came from afar to see Manjusri's holy face.". At this time, an old man came out of the valley and said to Polly in Sanskrit, "all living beings in the Han Dynasty create more crimes. Monks commit more commandments. In the west, there is the Sutra of Buddha's top, which can destroy all living beings and attach importance to evil karma. Do you come here?" Polly replied, "I will come to pay homage to you, but I will not come to you." The old man said, "if you don't pass the Scriptures, what's the benefit of being an apprentice? If you see Manjusri, how can you recognize it? You should return quickly and take this sutra. " After hearing this, Polly was very grateful. He kowtowed at the old man's feet and looked up. Suddenly, the old man disappeared. He knew that he had just seen Manjusri. Polly became more devout and returned to India. He took the Sutra of Buddha's top and Dharma, went to Chang'an, China in the first year of Hongdao, and played the whole process in Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty. Gaozong Dayue ordered master Rizhao Sanzang to translate with Polly. Three thousand pieces of silk were given to Polly to keep the Sutra. Polly sobbed: "I was ordered to get scriptures, not to offer them for personal wealth." Gao Zong was also moved, so he left a translation and returned it to Sanskrit Scripture. Polly took Sanskrit scriptures with him, climbed Mount Wutai again, and later sat on Mount Wutai. This legend is based on historical facts and deified. In history, Buddha poli has contributed to the cultural exchange of Buddhism between China and India.

Architecture

The existing temple buildings in Zunsheng temple are large in scale. They are arranged along the central axis and enter the temple seven times in a row. They are symmetrical to other buildings. They cover an area of more than 32000 square meters and have more than 210 hall buildings and caves. The brick carvings on the temple buildings are exquisite with high craftsmanship, which can be regarded as the representative of the temple buildings in the Republic of China.

The temple sits in the north to the south. On the East and west sides of the temple, there are brick holes at the lower level and wooden building holes at the upper level. On the lintel of the building hole at the west side, there are four characters "throat of five peaks". Under the hole is the ridge concave passage on Mount Wutai. There is a brick archway on the east side between the two floor caves, with three doors and three floors. The middle door is larger. The building on the brick ticket cave is a wood like structure with cornices. The entrance and facade of the stele tower are decorated with numerous brick carvings.

On the south side of the Lingao passage, there are guanjian hall, cangjing hall, Pilu hall and wuwenshu hall. The hall of the three great scholars is dedicated to Manjusri, Puxian and Guanyin, hence its name. The hall of Manjusri refers to the five statues of Manjusri Bodhisattva on the top of five platforms. The six halls on the north side of the passage are all five in width, the smallest of which is 12 meters in width, the largest of which is 15 meters, and the depth of most of them is about 9 meters.

The Sutra tower is a two-story building with twelve corner pavilions on both sides. The base of the platform is also twelve corners. The upper part is covered with double eaves and a sharp roof. There is a circle of porch pillars outside. The inside of the porch pillars is built with brick walls to form a palace. Its architectural style, two-story appearance, gorgeous and exquisite, into the inside is a room. The East is called Wanyuan Pavilion, and the west is called Sanbao building.

On the west side of the hall of the three great scholars, there is also a hall building. The lower floor is made of brick, and the upper floor is made of wood. It is called Sanxing building. The upper floor was originally used for three-star statues of blessing, fortune and longevity, and the lower floor is the hall of the king of Tibetans. Behind the Qijin hall, there is a brick tower with dense eaves. It has 12 corners around the tower, nine floors up and down, and a height of 319 meters. It is built with brick holes under it. It encircles the tower for one week, like an apron. There were thirty-three of them, originally for thirty-three Dharma protectors. Yuanwang wanzang brick tower stands on the ridge, with overlapping eaves and blue sky as its back.

On both sides of the main hall of seven entrances in Zunsheng temple, there are many small courtyards, with monk's houses, walls, stone steps, gate holes and screen walls, forming a circuitous layout structure. There are brick carvings, flowers, trees and figures on the entrance of the building, on the window wall and on the brick surface of the eaves of the long head. Walking and sightseeing have the feeling of appreciating the landscape of the garden.

traffic

train

Beijing has direct access to Wutai mountain air conditioning line, hard seat price is 70 yuan, one night, southern friends can first go to Taiyuan, and then take the car from Taiyuan to Wutai Mountain, about two hours, the ticket price is about 25. A lot of cars, convenient transportation.

highway

Because the traffic to Wutai Mountain is not very convenient, the highway becomes the only traffic facility to Wutai Mountain. Tourists from other places can go to Taiyuan first. There is a bus from Taiyuan bus station to Wutai Mountain scenic spot. There is a shuttle bus between Taihuai town and Taiyuan every day. During the June meeting of Wutai Mountain (from the beginning of June to the 10th of July in the lunar calendar), the most tourists are there. During this period, tourist buses are added to Wutai Mountain scenic spot in the counties and towns around Wutai Mountain.

Restaurant

Xinzhou vasu:

It's named for its tile like shape. Production began in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. Tile crisp, about 10 cm long, 4 cm wide, 0.5 cm thick, inside and outside are golden yellow, watermark "Xinzhou tile crisp" words. It is crisp in quality, sweet and fragrant in taste, and can be regarded as one of the most delicious dishes. Long time put color and taste can not change, often eat has the function of strengthening the stomach and body. Tile crisp is made of fine powder, pure egg yolk, superior cooking oil and fine granulated sugar. There are also special requirements for flour ingredients. When forming, it is pressed into tile shape after deep frying. In recent years, tile crisp, a famous food in Xinzhou, has gained new life and has been widely used in the market. It has been rated as the best food by the provincial commercial system.

shopping

Taiwan mushroom: the mushroom growing on the top of five platforms in Wutai Mountain. It has delicious taste and high nutritional value, and is as famous as the "Tricholoma" produced in Zhangjiakou. There are two varieties of taimushroom, vanilla and Yinpan. Vanilla flavor, silver plate to cap large and white as silver plate. The mushroom is thick in cover, thick in stem, round in bottom, oily, and will not harden after drying. Tricholoma matsutake also has certain medicinal value. One of the main components of the famous Chinese patent medicine "Shujin powder" is Tricholoma matsutake.

Folk festivals

Let's go

It's a unique custom in southern Shanxi Province. After the wheat harvest, the new son-in-law, with the joy after the harvest, steamed jiaozi steamed bun in the shape of a big moon with the flour ground from the new wheat to see his mother-in-law. It contains the moral of blessing the parents in law's family happiness, well-being and bumper harvest.

Cultural relics protection

In October 2019, Zunsheng temple was approved as the eighth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

Address: Wutai County, Xinzhou City

Longitude: 113.386862

Latitude: 38.788152909305

Chinese PinYin : Zun Sheng Si