1. The legend of Motherwort in the Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is about ten miles long, between Zhengyang Gate and Yongding Gate. Build. There is such a kind of motherwort in the Temple of Heaven. Before the Republic of China, there were several pharmacies selling "motherwort" in the Temple of Heaven. After the Republic of China, they were moved out of the Temple of Heaven.

The Temple of Heaven, a group of ancient buildings, can be said to be world-famous. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Imperial Vault of Heaven, the Circular Mound, and the Echo Wall are all familiar names to people. Many products even use pictures of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests as trademarks. I won’t go into detail about the architecture of the Temple of Heaven here, but let’s just say that there is a strange grass in the Temple of Heaven: the young shoots can be eaten as vegetables, called asparagus; when they grow up and mature, the stems and leaves can be used to make medicine. An effective medicine for treating women's diseases is called "motherwort", and the brewed medicine is called "motherwort ointment"; the seeds are also gynecological medicine, called "motherwort". Why are there so many motherworts in the Temple of Heaven? There is such a story among the people.

The storyteller said: In the early years, before the Temple of Heaven existed, and before it was enclosed in the city, it was also a large piece of yellow land, where many farmers lived, and they also cultivated and plowed the land. Find food. Here, there lives a farmer named Zhang. The old man has been dead for more than two years, and there is only one old lady left. The old lady has no sons and only has an eldest daughter who is sixteen or seventeen years old. The mother and daughter are living in this desperate situation. Hard life with little money. Because the old lady missed her husband and was worried that no one would farm the land for them, she fell ill as the days passed. Her illness became more serious day by day. The old lady became anxious, and Miss Zhang became even more anxious. I consulted many doctors and took many medicines, but nothing worked. Just when the crops were harvested in autumn, Miss Zhang made up her mind: go to Beishan to find the elixir. When she was young, her father and mother told her stories, saying that there were many elixirs in the old mountains and valleys of Beishan. As long as you were not afraid of climbing mountains and found this elixir, any serious illness could be cured. Miss Zhang has already remembered it in her heart. At this time, she was going to Beishan to find medicine, so she told her mother. Her mother was worried and said, "How can you, a little girl, walk such a long way?" Miss Zhang said, "Don't worry, Mom, I will do it as soon as possible." Be careful on the road." She asked an aunt next door to take care of her mother. She took the dry food and went out to Beishan to find the elixir.

After leaving home, Miss Zhang was worried: Where is Beishan? She thought: Beishan must be in the north, let’s go north! After walking for one day, I saw the mountain. After walking for three more days, I still haven't reached Beishan. However, the mountain that Miss Zhang saw was getting closer and closer. On this day, we came to a mountain pass. Miss Zhang was thinking: Should we enter this mountain pass? Just look at the old man with a white beard walking down the mountain pass. The old man saw Miss Zhang and said happily: "Girl, you are a little girl, what are you doing in the old valley in the mountains?" Miss Zhang asked why her mother was sick and why she wanted to go to Beishan to find the elixir. After saying it again, he asked the old man with the white beard: "Grandpa, is there any magic medicine here?" "Yes, there is." "Grandpa, how do you go up the mountain?" The old man with the white beard smiled and replied He pointed his hand towards the mountain and said, "Little girl, you can go up the mountain here, turn seven bays to the left and eight bays to the right. Eat pine nuts when you are hungry, drink clear springs when you are thirsty, see the earth and the sky, and have the elixir at hand." Miss Zhang listened. The old man spoke like a song, and she understood in her heart that she just didn't understand what "seeing the earth and the sky" meant. When she was about to ask the old man, the old man with the white beard had already left the mountain pass and walked far away. Miss Zhang went up the mountain. She turned seven bays to the left and eight bays to the right. When she was hungry, she picked up some big pine nuts on the ground to eat. When she was thirsty, she lay down next to the mountain spring and drank some water. When she was tired, she slept in the mountain col. If you wake up, you should go up the mountain. I can’t remember how many days I walked. On this day, Miss Zhang walked to the top of a hill. There was a small pool on the top of the hill. The water in the pool was so clear that all the white clouds in the sky shone into the pool. Miss Zhang was in a daze here when she heard the voices of girls talking behind her. Miss Zhang turned around and saw two little girls walking towards her. One was wearing a snow-white dress, and the other was wearing a light yellow dress with white plum blossoms embroidered on it. They were so beautiful. As they got closer, the girl in white clothes smiled and said, "Sister, what are you doing in a daze? Don't you know our 'Heaven on Earth'?" When Miss Zhang heard about "Heaven on Earth", she was very happy and said: " Sisters, do you have any elixir? Please help my mother!" The girl in the flowered dress said, "Sister, there is no need to tell us. I have a bag of elixir here and I can make it into a paste when I go home. Just give it to the aunt." He said and handed over a small bag. The girl in white clothes said: "In this pocket, there are also seeds of the elixir. After my aunt is cured, my sister will scatter these seeds on the ground and let them grow by themselves. If anyone gets sick like this "I'm not afraid of you anymore." The girl in the flower dress said, "Sister, please go home quickly. If we don't send you off, please remember it!" Miss Zhang said to the two sisters with great gratitude. After thanking him, he turned around and walked down the mountain. After walking not far, Miss Zhang really couldn't bear to leave these two kind-hearted sisters. She wanted to take a look at these two sisters again. She looked back and saw that there were still girls in white clothes and flowers. I saw only a white parrot and a sika deer, flying and running to the west from "the ground to the sky".

Strangely enough, when Miss Zhang came, she walked for seven days and eight nights. When she returned, she arrived home very quickly.

When Miss Zhang got home, she boiled the elixir and gave it to her mother. Within a few days, her mother recovered from her illness, and Miss Zhang and her neighbors were happy. Miss Zhang scattered the seeds of the elixir in her pocket all over the edge of the land. In the spring, dark green buds appeared, and in the summer they grew into elixirs. In the autumn, the elixirs produced seeds again, and they grew better every year. Many years. When women were sick, they followed the method taught by Miss Zhang and boiled elixirs to cure their illnesses. What is the name of the elixir? Everyone said: "The kind-hearted Miss Zhang worked hard to find the elixir for her mother and cured her disease. Let's call it motherwort." The name "motherwort" has been passed down.

Later, I don’t know how many years passed, and there was an “Emperor” in Beijing; I don’t know which “Emperor” it was passed to, and this “Emperor” asked “God” to bless him. , a temple of heaven was built on this piece of land where motherwort grew. The Temple of Heaven was built, and there were still lush motherwort growing in the open space in the Temple of Heaven. The emperor got angry and said, "How could there be so many wild grasses growing in the Temple of Heaven where I worship the heaven? I pulled them all out!" At that time, a minister whose mother had eaten motherwort and whose wife was eating motherwort said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, this is not a weed, it is called asparagus. Isn't your Majesty a dragon? If you pull it all out, Your Majesty, please stop growing a beard.” The emperor was afraid that he would not grow a beard, so motherwort was left in the Temple of Heaven. From here on, the young shoots of motherwort are called asparagus.

2. The Temple of Heaven is an ancient Chinese building that is well-known at home and abroad, but its secret may not be known to everyone.

When the Temple of Heaven was first built, it was a place for worshiping heaven and earth, so it was named the Temple of Heaven and Earth. This can still be seen from the shape of the altar wall today

. The altar wall has two layers, the inner and outer, and both are round from the south to the north, which is in line with the traditional concept of a round sky and a round place in ancient my country. Although the worship of heaven and earth was changed from the ninth year of Jiajing, and another Temple of Earth was built in the northern suburbs, the wall of the Temple of Heaven remained unchanged.

Most people think that the Temple of Heaven is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, which is another big misunderstanding. The original meaning of the character Nian is the harvest of grains. In seal script, it is from Qian or from He, which is the shape. So

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is actually a place where emperors prayed for good weather and good harvests, and the place for salutes

is His Highness’ round platform. That is not the foundation of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

Altar. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is just a house to shelter from rain and snow during sacrifices. When it was first built, it was a square hall with yellow tiles, jade tiles, double eaves and double ridges, which was

!% wide and #& deep.

The palace. In the 17th year of Jiajing reign, Emperor Jiajing transformed it into a round pavilion style

The golden-domed hall was named Daxiang Hall. It was rebuilt during the Qianlong period and finally completed into its current appearance. According to

it is said that during a thunderstorm in 1999, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was burned by thunder and fire because its pillars

were made of sandalwood and the incense drifted for miles. We The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests that we see now was rebuilt after that.

The real place for worshiping heaven is the Circle Qiu Altar, which is the Temple of Heaven in Chinese. /p>

The meaning of heaven. The Yi Jing's "Dui Gua" says: "Qian is the sky, and it is the circle." "Chu Ci·Tian Wen" also has "the circle is nine layers, which one is the circle?" The sentence "The sky has nine levels, who is in charge of running it?" This white marble altar, like the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, is an ancient Chinese

It is an excellent building. Because the circle is a place for worshiping the sky, its building dimensions can only use the "number of days", not the "number of days", that is, one, three, five, and so on. 7.

Nine and other odd numbers. Because "The Book of Changes" says: "The Yang hexagram is odd, and the Yin hexagram is even." The sky is Yang, so only odd numbers can be used when building. , the entire structure was measured with the "Yuanyang ruler"

The ancient ruler is used in conjunction with the modern ruler. The ancient ruler is used to measure the diameter of the altar, and the modern ruler is used.

The height of the altar is measured in feet. The altar has three floors. The diameter of the top floor is nine feet, which is "one nine". The middle floor is "three five". The bottom floor is "three seven". "The number of days". The total of the three levels

)" is "five-nine", which is exactly in line with the auspicious omen of "Nine-five, the flying dragon is in the sky, good luck to the adults" in "The Book of Changes" . "The Book of Changes" also said: "Tai Chi produces two instruments, and two instruments produce four images."

So a round center stone, also called Tai Chi stone, was placed in the center of the top floor. Tai Chi Stone is surrounded by nine fan-shaped stone slabs, which are added layer by layer. They are all multiples of nine, and the final nine layers are total.

The number of nine and nine also symbolizes the sky. There are nine levels. The tablet of the Emperor of Heaven is placed on the Tai Chi Stone, symbolizing that the Emperor of Heaven resides in the ninth heaven. The number of stone slabs on the middle and bottom floors are also multiples of nine. The number of railings around the altar also has a symbolic meaning. The top four railings,

each side has !' blocks, ****% blocks, the middle layer has !$' blocks, and the bottom layer has !'$ blocks, totaling # &$

Blocks, the number of degrees in "a week of days"#&$. Because of the ingeniousness of the altar's construction, Emperor Qianlong specially rewarded the chief craftsmen with sixth-grade, seventh-grade, and third-grade crowns without grades.

To the south of the circular hill is the Zhaoheng Gate. To the west of the gate is a large stone platform, which is used for erecting lamp poles.

The original length of the pole was ( Zhang ( inch).

The diameter of the lamp is & feet, and the height is ' feet, like a small room.

In it, the "Panlong All Night Treasure Wax" cast with dragon patterns is lit. The wax is made of yellow wax from Sichuan and Guangxi. It is long) feet and thick! It will not burn out after being lit, does not shed oil, and does not need to be cut.

The flowers can be continuous Burns !% hours and is a precious artifact.

The Temple of Heaven, such a solemn and solemn place, actually has a hair-raising place

called "Ghost Pass". The livestock used for sacrifices were kept in the sacrificial place,

to the west of the two altars of the Circle Qiu and the Valley of Prayer, while the slaughtering pavilion and the divine kitchen for making tributes were located on both sides.

East of the altar. According to regulations, on the Shinto between the Qinian Gate and the Chengzhen Gate, no living creatures are allowed to pass, except birds, which are not prohibited by law, and animals used for sacrifice are not allowed to pass.

Pass Zhaohengmen and Beitianmen. So people built a door-shaped tunnel under the Shinto.

The cattle, sheep, chickens and rabbits used for sacrifices were sent to the slaughtering pavilion for slaughter. Because they never returned,

this place was called "gate of hell". At that time, it was also said that the cave was haunted by ghosts and imprisoned heavenly masters who violated the heavenly rules. Therefore, people did not dare to enter and leave the area casually, and the worshipers during sacrifices also tried to avoid them as much as possible. Open this place to avoid attracting ghosts and bringing bad luck.

There were many specialties in the Temple of Heaven, one of which was water. There are many wells with bitter water in Beijing, but the water from the well in the Temple of Heaven is sweet. The Taoist priests said that the well's

Tongtian River was sacred water, and they used this to defraud people out of money. Wang Shizhen wrote in a poem:

"The sweet spring water in the capital's soil veins, the spring buds in Guzhu are fried in vain. Only the Temple of Heaven is a good stone, clear waves

A spoonful can be bought for a thousand dollars "The price is really expensive. In addition, Tiantan's adenophora, mother ointment, and asparagus were also famous. Asparagus is originally a common wild vegetable, but because Emperor Kangxi particularly liked to eat asparagus from the Temple of Heaven, it was listed as a tribute to the imperial kitchen, and its price suddenly increased a hundred times. People can't eat it without going to the famous big restaurants in the capital. By the time of Tongzhi

Temple of Heaven asparagus no longer entered the palace, and dignitaries no longer patronized it.

Tian Tan’s Aesophyllum and Motherwort Paste are truly good medicinal materials at a reasonable price. Longqishi Yimu ointment was once a famous product in Beijing. It was once favored by foreign businessmen and was one of my country's earliest export commodities.

Motherwort, the main raw material of Motherwort Cream, is originally wild. The optimistic Taoist priest of the Temple of Heaven

Moved wild herbs to the Temple of Heaven and cultivated them deliberately. Of course, they grew better and were more effective.

A poem about bamboo branches in Beijing reads: "Purple calyx with square stems produces the Temple of Heaven, and the ointment of the squid is boiled into the liver.

It can heal the blood and nourish the deficiency, which can benefit the mother. The son will buy it "How can you be filial?" Of course, these two medicines were naturally praised as magic medicines by Taoists

3. The "Seven Star Stone" in the Temple of Heaven, in fact There are "eight" stones in a mountain, and it is said that the eighth stone is "Changbai Mountain".

(The sacred mountain in the hometown of the Manchu people)