Jiashan Temple

Jiashan Temple

Jiashan temple, also known as Lingquan temple, is located in Jiashan National Forest Park, Shimen County, Hunan Province. It is the core scenic spot of Jiashan scenic spot, 8 kilometers away from Shimen County. It is surrounded by beautiful scenery. In 870 A.D., the great monk of Shanhui was granted to lead the monks to build a temple. It enjoys the high reputation of "imperial cultivation in Three Dynasties" and a large scale, and is known as "riding to pass the Mountain Gate". In the Ming Dynasty, due to the successive years of war, most of the temples were destroyed, and Buddhism declined. There were only more than 60 monks. In the early years of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Fengtian Yuda monk was stationed here, leading monks to build temples and restart the Zen pass. The scale of the temple was far larger than that of Tang, song and Yuan Dynasties. There were Daxiong hall, Dabei hall, Jingdian, Tianwang hall, weituozhuang, Shanmen, yonghuating, ximechi, yuxijing, fangshengchi, talin, zishibei square, bell and Drum Tower, which were known as "famous temples in southern Chu".

Historical evolution

Jiashan temple was originally known as PuCi temple, also known as Lingquan temple. It was built in 870 A.D. (11th year of Xiantong in Tang Dynasty) by the fourth generation of the Southern Sect of Zen Buddhism, Qingyuan. It has experienced the "three dynasties of imperial cultivation" of Yizong in Tang Dynasty, Shenzong in Song Dynasty and Shizu in Yuan Dynasty. to

At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Li Zicheng, the king of Dashun, defeated the abbot of Chan Yin Jiashan for 30 years.

In the heyday of Jiashan temple, it had nine halls and one palace. Later, it was revived and abandoned several times after the chaos of war. Now, six halls and one palace have been restored.

Jiashan temple is the place where the Buddhist patriarch of Zen preached. The Song Dynasty eminent monk Yuan Wu Ke Qin commented and sang Bi Yan Lu, which is known as "the first book of Zen" in the world, and has a far-reaching influence in China, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

Jiashan is the ancestral court of tea Chan, which is famous in East Asia. Jiashan Niudi tea has been listed as a tribute from Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty.

It was built in 870, the 11th year of Xiantong, Yizong of Tang Dynasty. It was repaired repeatedly in song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Because it was repaired by Yizong of Tang Dynasty, Shenzong of Song Dynasty and Shizu of Yuan Dynasty, it enjoys the reputation of "imperial repair in Three Dynasties". The original scale is very large. From the gate to the main hall, there is a saying that the gate is closed on horseback. However, after many vicissitudes, only the main hall rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty remains.

Jiashan temple was in its heyday in the early Qing Dynasty. In the period of the Republic of China, the hall was in disrepair for a long time and was destroyed by people.

Before the founding of the people's Republic of China, there were only three halls and one chamber. After 1949, after the land reform, most of the buildings were demolished during the "great leap forward" and "Cultural Revolution", but only the hall of the Tang Dynasty.

The hall was repaired in 1850 A.D. of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty. It is of brick and wood structure, with double eaves resting on the top of the mountain, nine ridges of colored glass and yellow tile roof. The exterior of the lower eaves does not use columns, but uses brick walls. Its wings and corners rise up, and the corner Gables radiate 45 degrees. It is rarely seen in other temples in the province.

The hall is 27 meters in width, 17 meters in depth, 13 meters in height and 459 square meters in area.

Qingshi platform base, Baozhu stone railings, column piers are mostly in the shape of breast nail drum. The inner gold column is set with a basin covered column base (a relic of Tang and Song dynasties), decorated with ribbed lattice fans, and the rear eaves wall is erected with a garden gate. In front of the hall, there is a stele of rebuilding Jiashan Lingquan temple in the 44th year of Kangxi (A.D. 1705) on the east side, and a stele of rebuilding Jiashan Lingquan temple in the 30th year of Daoguang (A.D. 1850) on the west side On one side, both of them are engraved in regular script, vigorous and powerful. On the wall above the two steles, there are two ink and color murals of "entertainment picture" and "Tang Monk taking scriptures".

The original 20 Buddha statues and a song bell in the hall have been destroyed.

The two steles record the origin of the rise and fall of the temple and Li Zicheng. The original banner of "Daxiong hall" is said to be written by monk fengtianyu himself. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, he Li, the prefect of Lizhou, personally visited this place for investigation. He wrote an article "after the biography of Li Zicheng", which discusses the monk "fengtianyu", namely Li Zicheng, and describes his life in Jiashan temple in detail.

Jiashan temple is famous for its Fengtian Mingyu monk. There is a stone pagoda Tomb of monk Fengtian Mingyu on the west side of the left main road of the temple.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Zhang Taiyan was sent by Sun Yat Sen as a "labor envoy in Western Hunan" through Shimen Zaoshi, and got five poems of plum blossom hundred rhymes by Li Zicheng.

In 1980, the Cultural Department of Shimen County obtained a lot of precious material materials near Jiashan temple, such as the epitaph of monk Fengtian Mingyu, the Ming porcelain urn, and the woodcut board of plum blossom Baiyun. All these show that the person who holds Fengtian Mingyu is Li Zicheng.

There are also stories about "Chuang Wang Dian" and "Yu Xi Jing" around Jiashan temple. It is said that when Li Zicheng left Beijing, he brought a jade seal from the Ming emperor's palace to Jiashan and abandoned it for fear of searching by the government.

During the reign of Yongzheng, some monks fished it out and offered it to the magistrate. The magistrate turned it to the court, and later generations called it the "jade seal well". Tianmen Mountain, which is adjacent to Jiashan temple, and counties such as Dayong, Cili and Linli, have successively found some cultural relics related to fengtianming jade, which has aroused people's interest.

It is said that when Li Zicheng lived in seclusion in Jiashan, his legal name was monk Fengtian Mingyu. At the last entrance of the temple, he built a special hall as his residence, which was called "Golden Hall" by local residents.

In the old site, the temple was rebuilt and named "the Sutra collection hall", which is still called "the golden hall" by the villagers. In addition, the couplet of "the golden hall" in the old time can be proved: "if you get it immediately, the soul of the emperor's throne will be destroyed, and the golden hall will be darkened; if you lose the deer, you will be awakened from the dream of living in Zen, and the mountain will be green."

During the period of the Republic of China, the hall was in disrepair for a long time, and it gradually declined due to man-made damage.

After the founding of new China, through the "land reform", "great leap forward" and "Cultural Revolution" period, most of the buildings did not exist, only the main hall (now known as Guanyin Hall). In 1958, it was the office of "state-owned 19 peak forest farm". In 1959, Hunan Provincial People's government announced that it was a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit. In 1980, cultural relic workers in Shimen County found a number of precious material materials, such as the tomb of Fengtian monk and the woodcut remnant of Meihua baiyunshi, near Jiashan temple. Combined with the textual research of historical materials, fengtianyu monk was Li Zicheng, the leader of peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, which aroused great attention and contention in the history circle at home and abroad. In 1983, the people's Government of Hunan Province once again approved Jiashan temple as a provincial cultural relics protection unit. In 1990, with the approval of the state and provincial religious departments, the people's Government of Shimen County officially announced Jiashan temple as a place for religious activities, which was listed as a key temple and included in the dictionary of Chinese places of interest.

In 1992, the people's Government of Shimen County invested in the restoration and reconstruction of the Jiashan temple and Chuang Wang cemetery according to the original appearance described by he fan, the governor of Lizhou in the Qing Dynasty, who visited Jiashan in person. The existing buildings in Jiashan Temple mainly include Mountain Gate, Jiuqu bridge, bell and Drum Tower, Tianwang hall, Daxiong hall, Dabei hall, Dharma hall, sutra library, Lingquan tower and Zhaitang. The whole Mausoleum of Chuang Wang covers an area of more than 30 mu. It is composed of mausoleum guard, Yongchang pool, Dashun bridge, purple stone archway, Shinto, Mausoleum, minglou, Shenchu, stele Gallery, memorial hall, Yefu tower and other buildings. Jiashan temple has become a tourist attraction integrating Chuang Wang mausoleum, Buddhist holy land, source of tea ceremony and forest scenery.

On December 16, 1993, the county government issued a document: it agreed to grant monks' organizations certain management and use rights to Jiashan temple.

On December 15, 1998, according to the religious policy, Jiashan temple was handed over to Buddhist organizations for management.

Jiashan temple is composed of Jiashan National Forest Park and its Jiashan temple, Chuangwang mausoleum, Biyan spring, etc., with a total area of 3 square kilometers. It is a well-known scenic spot at home and abroad that mainly focuses on human landscape and integrates natural scenery.

In 1993, it was approved as a national forest park by the Ministry of forestry.

In 1994, it was designated as a national demonstration park of 20 forest parks by the Ministry of forestry.

In 2002, it was rated as AAA scenic spot by the National Tourism Administration.

In 2014, it was promoted to national AAAA scenic spot.

Previously, Jiashan temple was announced as a provincial cultural relic protection unit by Hunan Provincial People's Government twice in 1959 and 1983, Chuang Wang mausoleum was announced as a provincial cultural relic protection unit by Hunan Provincial People's Government in 1996, and Jiashan temple was listed as the "Seventh Batch of national key cultural relic protection units" in 2013.

In 1999, it was approved by Hunan Provincial People's government as a key place for religious activities in Hunan Province; Jiashan scenic spot was rated as' 97 best scenic spot (spot) in Hunan Province by Hunan Provincial Tourism Administration in 1998, and passed the inspection and acceptance of "international ecological leisure scenic spot" in 2014.

Temple culture

Biyan Zen

Another reason why Jiashan temple is famous in the world is that Biyan Buddhism originated from this temple.

In the reign of emperor huizongzhenghe of the Northern Song Dynasty (1111-1118 AD), master Yuanwu Keqin, the abbot of Lingquan Temple (Jiashan Temple), compiled a 10 volume edition of "Buddhist monk Yuanwu biyanlu", also known as "biyanquan", in the Abbot's room of Biyan, and talked about this "Ode to the ancients" in Jiashan temple.

Before recording each of the "hundred rules", the book first adds "chuishi" as a clue to solve the problem, lists "this rule", then comments sentence by sentence, introduces the resume of the proposer of the case, and comments on the aphorism, makes his own eulogy, and finally comments on it. The essence of master Yuanwu's thought and this unique way of transmitting Dharma formed the unique Biyan Zen style of the temple, and gradually spread at home and abroad.

Biyanlu has become the main book of Chinese Zen linjizong, especially has a great influence on Japanese Zen Buddhism, known as "the first book of Zen".

On August 28, 1998, Japanese Buddhist culture was inspected

Chinese PinYin : Jia Shan Si