Ancient Tang Temple

Gutang temple is located in tangsivalve village in the eastern suburb of Luoyang, where Longhai railway, Jiaozhi railway and Zhengtong highway meet. The temple faces north from south, which is quite different from the general Chinese Buddhist temple. According to relevant information, the ancient Tang Temple, formerly known as Fuxian temple, was built in the Tang Dynasty. It was originally located at the "Tang Temple cliff" at the west end of tawan village, Fuhe Township, a suburb of today. In Ming Dynasty, Luohe river overflowed and destroyed the temple. After the flood, the villagers moved part of the remains of the temple to the north for several miles to rebuild the temple. In 1922, after the temple was rebuilt, Zhang zuomin, the chief of staff of Wu Peifu, the warlord, inscribed "ancient Tang Temple" on the forehead of the mountain gate, which has been preserved to this day. There are Shanmen hall, Guanyin hall, Baiyi hall and LIFO hall in the temple. The "Houda hall" was destroyed in ten years of turmoil, and there are more than ten steles.

Ancient Tang Temple

The ancient Tang Temple, formerly known as Fuxian temple, is located in tangshimen village in the eastern suburb of Luoyang City, Henan Province. It was built in the Tang Dynasty and was originally located at the "tangsi cliff" in the west of tawan village, Fuhe district.

geographical position

Gutang temple is located in tangsimen (formerly known as tangsimer) village in the eastern suburb of Luoyang, where Longhai railway, Jiaozhi railway and Zhengtong highway meet. The temple faces north from south, which is quite different from the general Chinese Buddhist temple.

Layout structure

According to relevant information, the ancient Tang Temple, formerly known as Fuxian temple, was built in the Tang Dynasty. It was originally located at the "Tang Temple cliff" at the west end of tawan village in today's Fuhe district. In Ming Dynasty, Luohe river overflowed and destroyed the temple. After the flood, the villagers moved part of the remains of the temple to the north for several miles to rebuild the temple. In 1922, after the temple was rebuilt, Zhang zuomin, the chief of staff of Wu Peifu, the warlord, inscribed "ancient Tang Temple" on the forehead of the mountain gate, which has been preserved to this day.

There are Shanmen hall, Guanyin hall, Baiyi hall and LIFO hall in the temple. The "Houda hall" was destroyed in ten years of turmoil, and there are more than ten steles.

Prosperous period

According to legend, the ancient Tang Temple used to be on the edge of the Luo river, with weeping willows set off. In front of the gate of the temple is the rippling Luo river. The scenery is very pleasant, attracting tourists like weaving, and the incense is very prosperous. At the gate of the temple, there is a very high pagoda. When the pagoda is so high that people can't look up to it, they can't hang their hats on their heads. When the morning sun rises, the long shadow of the pagoda can cover Qilihe; when the sun sets, the shadow of the pagoda reaches Baima temple. Therefore, people are used to call this Fuxian Temple "Pagoda Temple".

After Sui Dynasty, the friendly exchanges and cultural exchanges between Tang Dynasty and Japan entered a period of unprecedented prosperity. Following the old system of sending envoys to the Sui Dynasty, Japan continued to send envoys to the Tang Dynasty. In the fifth year of Zhenguan (631 AD), Japan sent out the first "envoy to the Tang Dynasty" composed of overseas students and monks. By the third year of Kaicheng (838 AD), Japan sent out 12 envoys to the Tang Dynasty, and four envoys to welcome and send guests to the Tang Dynasty. At first, the size of the mission was generally no more than 200, but later it was increased to 500

.

Related allusions

The purpose of sending envoys to the Tang Dynasty was to learn and absorb Tang culture from China. They imported a large number of classics from China, which made Chinese culture popular in the upper class of Japanese society and permeated into ideology, literature, art, customs and other aspects. Monks in Tang Dynasty visited famous mountains in China, prayed for Dharma, brought back a large number of Buddhist scriptures, statues and implements, and imitated the Tang Dynasty, which created the atmosphere of Japanese Buddhism building temples in the mountains.

The Tang Dynasty sometimes sent envoys back to China. Because of the difficulties and dangers of navigation, they often stayed and naturalized in Japan. Shen Weiyue and Yuan Jinqing are well-known, all of whom worked in the Japanese imperial court; Jianzhen, the most famous monk of Tang Dynasty who went to Japan to teach commandments, was the most famous monk.

From the map, China and Japan are close neighbors, separated by only one East China Sea. However, in the middle ages, it was not easy to cross the rough sea. Storms often made ships capsize. "Three points of life are needed for a boat and a horse.". In order to pray for a safe voyage and a smooth return journey, people often regard the God as the protector of the ship, which is a symbol of power and authority. There are temples built for foreigners such as Japan and Persia in xiushanfang, huijiefang and Reid square in Waiguo City, the eastern capital. This also fully proves that there were many foreigners living in Luoyang at that time.

Buddhist activities

It is worth mentioning that in the 21st year of Kaiyuan (733 AD), Japanese monks Rong Rui and Pu Zhao came to China with the ninth envoy to the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty was living in Luoyang, the eastern capital. He ordered two Japanese monks to live in Fuxian temple, the eastern capital. Master dingbin, the abbot of Fuxian temple, gave them precepts.

Three years later, Rong Rui and Puzhao prayed for the Buddhist monk of Fuxian temple to go to Japan to preach the Dharma. The Indian monk putishana, who lives in the fuhsien temple, went to Japan on the same boat with Daoyu. Later, Daoyu became the second generation successor of Zen Buddhism in Japan, and Puti Shina also enlightened the Great Buddha of Dongda temple in Nara, Japan. After going to Daoyu, Rong Rui and Pu Zhao still couldn't make up their minds. They arrived in Yangzhou and invited the eminent monk Jianzhen to Japan.

significant contribution

At this time, first Jianzhen arrived in Japan, and Daoyu and Puti Shina all went to Dongda temple to visit Jianzhen. Jianzhen and Daoyu brought highly developed Tang culture, such as sculpture, painting, calligraphy, architecture, medical knowledge and a large number of precious books and cultural relics to Japan, which made great contributions to the cultural exchanges between China and Japan.

Fuxian temple was originally located in ta'erwan, Wuli East of Luoyang City, also known as "Ta Temple". Its former site should be in "tangsi cliff" in the west of tawan village. Buddhism was very popular in Tang Dynasty. There were many monks and nuns, and there were many temples. Fuxian temple was one of the famous temples.

Floating picture inscription

Empress Wu Zetian once wrote floating picture inscriptions for Fuxian temple; amizhenna, a northern Indian monk, once translated scriptures in Fuxian temple; shanwuwei, a Chinese Indian monk, came to Luoyang in 724 A.D. and translated the Mahayana sutra in Fuxian temple; Wu Daozi, a famous painter, once painted murals in the temple. During the reign of Tianqi in Ming Dynasty (1621-1627), Luohe river overflowed, and the pagoda of shangganxiaoyun and the whole temple were destroyed by Luoshui. After the flood, the people around moved some relics of Fuxian temple to the north for several Li, and rebuilt the temple by adding "Wai" village to today's Tang Temple.

In 1696, Wang Shanxin, a native of Luoyang, invested in the reconstruction of the temple, which further expanded its scale. It was rebuilt in 1922 and inscribed "ancient Tang Temple" by Zhang zuomin, the chief of staff of Wu Peifu, on the forehead of the mountain gate, which has been preserved to this day.

scenic spot

Since the 1980s, the ancient Tang Temple has been restored many times and has become another place for religious activities and tourist attractions in our city. Many Japanese monks and folk friends have come here to pay homage and visit.

Address: Qiming North Road, Fuhe Hui District, Luoyang City, Henan Province

Longitude: 112.517052

Latitude: 34.704011

Tour time: 1 hour

Traffic information: take bus No.41 or 58 to tangsimen station

Chinese PinYin : Gu Tang Si