Matters needing attention
1. Every year during the Spring Festival, pilgrims from home and abroad gather here. There will be a bell ringing ceremony for blessing on New Year's Eve this year. Tens of thousands of people came to ring the bell to pray on New Year's Eve last year. The master of the whole hospital and the police force of Taiyuan public security fire control are involved in maintaining order.
2. Chongshan Temple does not accept tickets and has no circulation office. It only needs to buy a fragrant flower coupon from 2 yuan. Every pilgrim will get three incense sticks provided by the temple for free when he enters the temple. The temple specially reminds pilgrims not to bring their own incense sticks, and the temple will provide free incense sticks.
The temple is open from 8 am to 4 pm, and it is open all day on New Year's Eve to remind visitors to help maintain order and pay attention to safety.
brief introduction
Chongshan Temple is located in Dilianggong Street, yingze district, Taiyuan City. 【 Founded in the Tang Dynasty. The White Horse Temple was originally named, then changed to yanshou temple and Shan Zong Temple, and changed to Chongshan Temple in the Ming Dynasty. In the 14th year of Hongwu (138 1), Wang Zhu, the third son of Zhu Yuanzhang, recommended his mother-high queen and expanded the old temple site, with a length of 550 meters from north to south and 250 meters from east to west, with a total area of 1400 square meters. It is the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in Shanxi Province. ]
Before the Ming Dynasty, it was just a small temple. Some people say that this is the palace where Emperor Yang Di visited Taiyuan, while others say that this is the former site where Wu Zetian became a monk when she was young. Now the word "Tang Zong Site" on the right side of the mountain gate probably comes from these legends. According to the wooden tablet in the temple, Zhu Feng, the king of Jin, opened the Ming Taizu in April of the 16th year of Hongwu (1383) and approved the establishment of a new temple, which lasted for 8 years and was completed in the 24th year of Hongwu (139 1). Unfortunately, a fire broke out in the main hall of Chongshan Temple (1864) three years ago, and all the main buildings were burned down, only the Great Compassion Hall and some ancillary buildings survived. In the seventh year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (188 1), Zhang Zhidong, governor of Shanxi Province, built a Confucian temple on the site of Chongshan Temple. Since then, Chongshan Temple has been divided into two parts. The Confucian Temple occupies most of the place, which is now the first part of Shanxi Museum, while the Great Compassion Hall, which only accounts for one fortieth of the original temple area, has become the representative of the ancient White Horse Temple and Chongshan Temple in the Ming Dynasty.
Stepping into the quaint mountain gate, I saw a lush and flowery courtyard, and along the aisle between the flowers, it was the Hall of Great Compassion. Dabeitang is the main building of this temple, and it is also the most complete and standard Ming Dynasty wooden structure in Taiyuan. Its history is twenty or thirty years earlier than the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City in Beijing. The temple is seven rooms wide and four rooms deep. The upper part of the temple is the double eaves on the top of the rest mountain, with five arches, which has a solemn aesthetic feeling. The hall is spacious and bright, from the inner columns, beams and beams to Pingji, all painted with gold and silver, giving people a sense of wealth and elegance of Guanyin Bodhisattva in Chongshan Temple.
On the front of the main hall is an 8.3-meter-high statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva with thousands of hands and eyes, which is peculiar in shape and well-proportioned, covered with gold foil and glittering. Avalokitesvara with thousands of hands and eyes actually has only 20 left and right arms, with one eye in the center of each hand. Multiplying the Buddhist "Twenty-five Possessments" by 40 hands and 40 eyes respectively constitutes a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. According to Buddhist scriptures, thousands of hands and eyes are one of the "six disguised forms" of Guanyin, which symbolizes insight into all the blessings in the world. The eyes on her forehead symbolize that she has reached the realm of "samadhi", and the eight instruments she holds, such as wheels, snails, umbrellas, buildings, flowers, bottles, fish and knots, symbolize good luck. Knives, guns, swords and halberds are said to be used to subdue demons; The daily use of hands held high above the head symbolizes the infinite dharma that dominates the universe; Hada, with four hands held high on her chest, symbolizes her sincere admiration for her ancestors ... She is big but not fierce, graceful, gentle and feminine. Fluttering clothes, smooth lines and emotional faces show a dignified and steady connotation beauty everywhere. This Buddha statue is not only a precious religious work of art, but also a masterpiece of ancient sculpture in China. On both sides of the avalokitesvara statue with thousands of hands and eyes, there stands a statue the same size as her, on the right is the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, and on the left is the Manjusri Bodhisattva with thousands of hands and bowls. From the front, Manjusri has only three heads and six arms, but if you add the hands on the chakra composed of coils of arms behind you, it will exceed 1000 arms. If you look closely, you can find that each hand of the statue still holds a golden bowl, and a Buddha sits in each golden bowl. According to the explanation of Mahayana Yoga Sutra, this image is one of the disguised forms of Manjusri Bodhisattva and has the same specific symbolic significance as Guanyin Bodhisattva. It is worth mentioning that the sculpture in each hand, although decorated, is still carefully carved, and the meticulous golden ball and Sakyamuni's eyebrows are clearly distinguishable. Surprisingly, the work is not complicated.
Wei Tuo at the lower right of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is a treasure of wood carving with both form and spirit. It is about the size of a real person, with neat armor and a slightly forward body. Between the brow, the eyebrows and the corners of the mouth, there is a determined and heroic temperament. This statue is completely free from the shackles of religious statues. In addition, there is a bronze Buddha, a Burmese jade Buddha and a dozen small bronze buddhas, all of which are unique and wonderful.
There are dozens of antique Tibetan Classrooms on both sides of the main hall, and the Huayan Sutra written by monks in the Qing Dynasty is particularly eye-catching.
The platform of Dabeitang is not high, but it is very large, accounting for almost two-thirds of the whole compound, which may be the main reason why the whole compound is not congested because of its tall building. In order to change the flat and spacious platform, clever ancient architects added two small hexagonal pavilions on both sides of the platform, the Drum Tower Pavilion on the left and the Bell Pavilion on the right, all of which were covered with glazed tiles and surrounded by bricks, which were exquisite and beautiful, and were also precious buildings in the early Ming Dynasty. The big bell tower in the southeast corner of the compound is more than 20 meters high. A large iron clock cast in the year of Zheng Deyuan (1506) was hung upstairs, with a height of 2m, an outer diameter of1.8m and a total weight of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Jin. The big clock has a wide range, round and deep percussion, elegant and pleasing to the ear, and powerful pounding. Every celebration, the whole city can hear rich and melodious bells. A pair of iron lions in front of the door, cast in the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, are magnificent in appearance and strong in bones and muscles. They are masterpieces among lions and beasts in the Ming Dynasty.
Although the area of Chongshan Temple is only one fortieth of the original temple, it has concentrated so many priceless cultural relics and materials, attracting more and more tourists with its unique elegance, harmony and enrichment.
Three treasures of Chongshan Temple
The Tibetan scriptures are its first treasure. There are a large number of Buddhist scriptures preserved here, and the rare versions are rare in the country. There are precious early editions in the history of woodcut printing in China-Chongning Wanshou Collection in the Northern Song Dynasty and Zhaisha Collection in the Southern Song Dynasty. Chongning Wanshou Cang, also known as Gushan Cang, took 33 years to carve. The original block-printed edition contains 564 letters and more than 5,800 volumes. There are only 17 volumes 18 pages left. "Shacang" was carved in Shaoding four years in the Southern Song Dynasty (A.D. 123 1) and completed in Yuan Yingzong two years (A.D. 1323). After 100 years of carving, the rock sand cave contains 59 1 letters and 6362 volumes. There are 562 letters and 4846 volumes. In addition, there are 505 copies and 4,257 volumes of Yuan Tibetan Scriptures collected by the people, namely, The First Year of the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 13 12) and Puning Tibetan Scriptures, which are 8 1 copy and 2,068 volumes less than the original works.
In addition to the above editions, there are many kinds of Tibetan scriptures that were moved from other monasteries or places in the future, such as the Ming version of Tibetan Scriptures "Southern Tibet" moved by Taiyuan Zhong100,000 yuan and "Northern Tibet" moved by Datong, and the photocopy of Tibetan Scriptures cleared from Japan in the 1970s, also known as "Ganjul". In addition, there are other distinctive stone carvings, such as the rubbings of Diamond Sutra, the golden Huayan Sutra, the Goblet of Fire and the Huayan Sutra of Pricking Blood. It is these Tibetan scriptures with different periods, versions and characteristics that make Chongshan Temple occupy an important position in Buddhist temples.
The second treasure of Chongshan Temple is those two sets of murals. In ancient times when there was no photography and plate-making technology, copying was the only means to spread famous historical paintings to future generations. Today, we can see the painting style on the two corridors of the Hall of the Great Hero, and we should thank our ancestors for leaving us such a precious copy. One of these two paintings is Buddha of Sakyamuni, which depicts the story of Sakyamuni becoming a Buddha. The other set is "Figure 53 of the Good Fortune Boy", which depicts the story of the good fortune boy visiting Buddha. Although these two sets of replicas have gone through more than 500 years, they are still as bright as ever, and they are called "gem paintings". These paintings not only enable us to enjoy beauty, but also provide us with valuable materials for studying the history of China painting.
The third treasure of Chongshan Temple is three clay sculptures and gilded bodhisattvas located in the front of Great Compassion Hall. These three Buddha statues were shaped during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, with a history of more than 500 years. In the middle is the Guanyin Buddha statue with thousands of hands and eyes; On the left is the image of Pu Xian; On the right is the manjusri bodhisattva, with thousands of hands and bowls. All three statues are about eight meters high, with beautiful figure, kind face and elegant appearance, giving people an amiable and respectable feeling. These three Buddha statues are unique in shape and exquisitely carved, which are really treasures of sculpture art in China.