Tianning pagoda

Tianning Pagoda in Tianning Temple is known as "China's first pagoda". It carries 1000 tons of copper ornaments and adopts unparalleled bronze carving art. It is a "Tower of prosperity, culture and inheritance". It is 153.79 meters high and is the tallest Pagoda in the world.

There are four elevators in the pagoda, which can lead to 12 floors. The 13th Ming floor is the highest floor on the pagoda where you can enjoy the scenery and overlook the beautiful scenery of Changzhou. All kinds of glass or jade Buddha statues in the pagoda are a highlight, or you can take a picture with the big clock on the top of the pagoda (charge). The most eye-catching is the diamond throne type Tasha at the top of the tower. The tower brake consists of lotus stand, elephant wheel, drum seat, flame plate, etc. it is cast from 75 tons of brass.

Tianning pagoda

Tianning Temple is one of the most protected temples in China. It was built in Zhenguan and Yonghui years of Tang Dynasty. It has a history of more than 1350 years. It is the largest and most intact ancient temple in Changzhou. It is also known as the four jungles of Chinese Zen together with Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, Gaomin temple in Yangzhou and Tiantong temple in Ningbo. The Tianning pagoda, built in 2002, was designed by Professor Lu Bingjie, with Zhu Bingren as the chief copper craftsman. Bearing 1000 tons of copper ornaments, Tianning pagoda adopts unparalleled copper carving art. It is a "Tower of prosperity, culture and inheritance". It is 153.79 meters high and is the tallest Pagoda in the world.

Brief introduction of Tianning pagoda

Tianning pagoda, the first Buddhist pagoda in China, is located in Tianning Temple, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Tianning pagoda was built in April 2002, with a total construction area of 27000 square meters and a 13 storey height of 153.79 meters, which is the highest among more than 4000 pagodas in China. From the underground palace on the ground floor to the bell tower on the top floor, the whole pagoda takes Buddhist culture as the main line, and takes Dongyang wood carving, Yangzhou lacquerware, Changzhou random needle embroidery, Hui'an stone carving and other hand-made arts as the means of expression, which subtly interprets many doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism. The completion of the pagoda echoes with the Great Buddha of Yungang in the north, Longmen in the Central Plains, Leshan in the west, Lingshan in the East and the temple of heaven in Hong Kong in the south, becoming the heart of the five Buddhas. Tianning pagoda adopts the style of Tang and Song Dynasty pagodas in appearance: octagonal cornice, dignified form, simple and rough, grand momentum.

Tianning Temple

The style of architecture in Tang and Song Dynasties is elegant but not complicated, simple and elegant. Although there is no beauty of carved beams and painted buildings, it has the charm of antique, showing a solemn atmosphere. Since the foundation was laid in April 2002, 6500 tons of steel has been used to support the tower framework. The steel structure of the tower was capped at the end of 2003. Through precision measurement, the perpendicularity error between the top and the bottom is less than 1 cm. With such precision, Tianning pagoda won the first award: the gold award issued by the national steel structure association in 2004.

The pillars, railings, suspended ceiling, stairs, handrails and thresholds of Tianning pagoda are all made of Phoebe, and the consumption has reached 5000 cubic meters. These Phoebe trees come from the deep forests of Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. They are raw materials with a diameter of 1m and a length of 9m and 6m respectively. Among them, there are 60 to 72 pillars in each layer, and more than 1000 pillars in 13 layers. On the first floor, the cornice extending more than 8 meters outside the tower is made of Phoebe. On this floor alone, the timber of Phoebe reaches 1300 cubic meters. Among the 1000 tons of copper ornaments carried by Tianning pagoda,

The most eye-catching is the diamond throne type Tasha at the top of the tower. The tower brake consists of lotus stand, elephant wheel, drum seat, flame plate, etc. it is cast from 75 tons of brass. Considering the difficulty of installation, the whole tower brake is cast into 5 sections and then connected one by one. The excellent process of casting and splicing makes the whole tower brake integrated. On the eaves of the pagodas, there are 50000 pieces of bronze inscription tiles, with strip-shaped bronze bottom tiles at the bottom. The inscriptions on the tiles were inspired by the inscriptions on ancient bronzes. This innovative design made the bronze inscription tiles obtain the national patent. In addition, the rafters and watchboards of the roof, and the brackets on the eaves are all decorated with copper. The brackets that are no longer load-bearing are covered with copper, while the shapes and sizes of the brackets and brackets are completely in accordance with the ancient architectural rules. Among the existing pagodas in China, the most famous one is the pagoda of Shaolin Temple. The newly built Tianning pagoda will be surrounded by a forest of 1000 white and Han jade pagodas on the 6-layer fence at the base of the pagoda, forming a grand gathering with Tianning pagoda. Each pagoda is 65cm high, and its base is 1.75m high. It is made of "Oriental White" jade from Ya'an, Sichuan Province, by folk artists from Huian, Fujian Province and Quyang, Hebei Province. Among the 1000 jade pagodas, there is a forest of Buddhist scriptures on the side of 1000 pieces of jade. The scriptures on the forest will be written by 500 eminent monks at home and abroad. So far, more than 200 Buddhist scriptures have been collected.

Tianning Temple

At the top of the 13th floor of the pagoda, a 15 ton clock is suspended. The wall of the bell is as thick as a green brick, and the pillar of the bell is thicker than the mouth of the bowl. The bell is far away, and the gospel is wide. Although this big clock is not the largest, its height of 118 meters is enough to make it the tallest one. "Gaozhong No.1" and "guotaiminan" inscribed by abbot Songchun of Tianning Temple are located on the north and south walls respectively. The other six walls are a complete volume of Vajra Sutra, with 8000 8 cm square characters engraved on the thousand year old camphor wood. On the inner walls of the four sides of the first high bell are four Yangzhou lacquer paintings with exquisite carving, full gold, magnificence and solemnity. These four large-scale lacquer murals, such as Huayan Dafa and fahua miaodan, are the works of Jiangsu arts and crafts celebrities LV Yonglin and Yang Zhongbao. They are also the first time that Yangzhou lacquer painting has entered Buddhism. On the 13th floor of the pagoda, the grand scene of Buddha Sakyamuni's preaching and the gathering of all kinds of Buddhists and immortals in Lingshan mountain is displayed. The interpretation of this scene is the five Buddhas and the four walls. The five Buddhas are worshipped in five directions, East, West, North and south. In the center is a natural crystal Buddha which can be called the treasure of the pagoda. This transparent and natural statue of Sakyamuni Buddha originated in India in the 16th century and was exiled in Europe in the last century. In 2003, Gao Peizhi, a Chinese lover, welcomed it back to China and donated it to Tianning pagoda. The other four Jade Buddha will be carved from white, ink, blue and red jade from Hetian jade and Kunlun jade in Xinjiang. The five Buddhas show the scene of Buddha preaching, while the four walls show the grand momentum of Ten Thousand Buddhas' pilgrimage. Each wall is 6 meters long and 2.4 meters high. The carving process is the best Dongyang wood carving in China. More than ten masters of Dongyang folk carving will spend eight months to show 500-600 figures and scenes with different expressions on teak wood with the technology of Yang carving protruding more than 10 cm.

Stepping into Tianning pagoda base square, looking up, you can see the large plaque of "Dragon City elephant religion" hanging between the first and second floors of the pagoda. The plaque is 5 meters long and 2 meters high. At the four corners of the tower base, the four heavenly kings, 5.3 meters high and made of all copper, are tall, dignified and majestic, holding four "magic weapons" of sword, lute, umbrella and dragon respectively, implying the prayer for "good weather". On both sides of each statue, there are 8 bronze elephants. Each elephant is 3.2 meters high and 5 meters long. Another two Jiulong pillars, 19.8 meters high and 3 meters in diameter, stand on both sides of the pagoda. They are carved from granite and weigh more than 200 tons. The square where the dragon and the elephant come together also reflects the theory of "Dragon City elephant education". In addition, there are two incense burners 5 meters long, 1.8 meters wide and 2.8 meters high on the square, which are the largest incense burners in China so far.

Historical evolution

Since ancient times, there must be a pagoda in a temple, and Tianning Temple is no exception, but the pagoda was destroyed in the Song Dynasty. As the saying goes, temples are destroyed in troubled times and pagodas are built in prosperous times. In order to praise the prosperous times and pray for the common people, monk Songchun, the abbot of Tianning Temple, made a great wish to raise funds from Tianning Temple to rebuild the Tianning pagoda. This idea has been affirmed and supported by the municipal government and people from all walks of life. The foundation of the reconstruction project was laid in April 2002, with a cost of 300 million yuan. At 9:08 a.m. on April 30, 2007, Shi Yicheng, President of China Buddhist Association, and the Buddhist temple of Jiangsu Province Ming Xue, the president of the association, and the emissary of the Great Buddha pagoda of Zhengjue in India gathered in Changzhou to hold a grand opening ceremony for the Tianning pagoda.

Architectural features

Tianning pagoda is located at the north end of the North-South central axis of Tianning Buddhist temple in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, which enjoys the reputation of "the first jungle in Southeast China". It overlooks the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal in front and relies on Changzhou Hongmei Park in the back, with a total construction area of 27000 square meters. Buddhism says "thousand feet and thirteen rates". The pagoda has 13 floors, with a total height of 153.79 meters and a net height of 108 meters. The completion of the pagoda echoes with Yungang Giant Buddha, Longmen Giant Buddha, Leshan Giant Buddha, Lingshan Giant Buddha and Hong Kong Temple of heaven Giant Buddha, adding new luster to the world of Buddhism. The whole pagoda was designed by Professor Lu Bingjie, a famous pagoda designer in China. Its construction concept is to build a "Tower of prosperity, culture and inheritance". Its core idea is "the tower of culture".

The pagoda adopts the style of Tang and song pavilions, octagonal layout, steel frame structure, diamond throne pagoda shaped Tasha, 70 tons of bronze casting, gold foil sticking outside, resplendent. The exterior wall is decorated with white marble to show the body of Jinding jade

Chinese PinYin : Tian Ning Bao Ta