Zhang
Nangong, a famous city in southern Hebei Province, not only has the reputation of "dry dock" and "little Beijing", but also is a Buddhist holy place in the history of China from a cultural perspective.
The Nangong became attached to Buddhism, and it has been nearly two thousand years since the first pagoda in China, the Ordinary Pagoda, was built. The Ordinary Tower is located in the northern suburb village about 1.5 km northwest of Nangong City, and is a national key cultural relic protection unit. According to the Annals of Nangong County, written in the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1559), "Ordinary towers were flooded in abandoned counties (Zhangheng River flooded Nangong County in the fourteenth year of Chenghua, and the official buildings and houses were completely destroyed. In the sixteenth year of Chenghua, the county moved to this city, so the old city was called the abandoned county), and the Han Emperor Yongping was built in ten years ... ". 1990 During the renovation of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, during the 15th year of Jiajing's tower renovation, 4 1 bronze buddhas were found in the upper four-story Buddhist niches. There is an inscription on the back, which records that the two paragraphs of the ordinary tower "Han Yongping took pictures of Morten and Zhu Falan on the 15th day of the first month of the tenth year" need to be paid attention to twice a year. "Ten Years of Han Yongping" is a landmark year. "Photography Morton and Zhu Falan" are two iconic figures. In ten years, Han Yongping officially recognized the existence of Buddhism, symbolized by "Saman took Mo Teng, Zhu Falan returned to Luoyang, the eastern capital". She Mo Teng and Zhu Fa Lan were the first eminent monks who were allowed to preach Buddhism, and they were the founders of Buddhism in Han Dynasty. It was in this year that Mo Teng and Zhu Falan, the first monks to enter the mainland, began to build the first pagoda in China-the ordinary pagoda.
Buddhism is one of the three major religions in the world, which originated in ancient India. When it was introduced into Chinese mainland, historical records are unknown. One said that the Western Han Dynasty mourned the first year of Yuanshou (2 BC), and the other said that the Eastern Han Dynasty mourned Emperor Yongping for ten years. Nevertheless, Buddhism was officially recognized in the tenth year of Emperor Yongping of Han Dynasty, which is also the year that most historians admire. According to Shu Wei Shi Lao Zhi, in the seventh year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 64), Liu Zhuang, Ming Di "dreamed of a golden man at night and flew to the temple with white light on his head." In my dream, the Jin people visited, and I didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse, so I "visited the ministers and waited for the Buddha's right." Fu Yijia, who is proficient in divination and dream interpretation, said, "Last night's dream was that the Buddha showed his holiness to your majesty, which indicated that Dahan's country would be prosperous in the world." Ming Di was overjoyed, so he sent 18 people, including Dr. Cai Cheng and Dr. Qin Jing, to the west to seek Buddha. After two years' hard search, I finally met Morten and Zhu Falan, the eminent monks of Tianzhu, riding white horses and holding the Forty-two Chapters, and welcomed them back to China with the true image of Sakyamuni. In the tenth year of Yongping, Cai Cheng and other Buddhist welcoming teams arrived in Luoyang, the capital of China. When they arrived in Beijing, they took two eminent monks, Mo Teng and Zhu Falan, and temporarily lived in the Fist Temple of the official's son. The scrolls were stored in the stone room of Lantai in the palace library. In order to remember the merits of the White Horse, the White Horse Temple was built in Yunguanxi, Luoyang the following year. Ming Di did not forget that his father Liu Xiu was forced to start over by soldiers in Wang Lang in the second year (AD 24). His adventure in Nangong was a detailed experience. (According to legend, in the second year of Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu's turn over a new leaf, he toured Hebei and heard that Wang Lang's soldiers had arrived, so he hurried across the Hutuo River. When he arrived at the Nangong, he took a car and fled into an empty house, avoiding Wang Lang's pursuit. Liu Xiuyan is a land of geomantic omen. Later generations set up a pavilion here (named "Dafeng Pavilion"). Before the White Horse Temple was built, Morten and Zhu Falan took photos to build a pagoda near Dafeng Pavilion in Nangong, and a Buddhist temple was built in the north of the pagoda. This is the first tower and the first temple in China-the ordinary tower and the ordinary temple.
The completion of ordinary pagodas and temples has promoted the spread of Buddhist culture in the Central Plains, and established the position of Nangong as a Buddhist holy place in the history of Buddhism, the Buddhist community and the minds of good men and women. Since then, the worship of Buddha in Nangong has become a common practice, and the incense lasts forever. Its high prosperity and wide popularity can be seen from a large number of Buddhist remains in Nangong.
Nangong County Records was founded in the Ming Dynasty and has been published in six editions. According to the chronicles of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China, there have been 17 temples in Nangong since the Song and Ming Dynasties, with a maximum of more than 30 temples. However, according to the inscription of rebuilding the stone Buddhist temple recorded in Nangong County Records (Kangxi Edition), "there are more than 100 prosperous environments in Brahma Temple in Nangong City". Moreover, the cultural relics of Nangong and archaeological discoveries in recent years are mostly related to Buddhism. Nangong City has 64 cultural relics at or above the county level, including 22 Buddhist statues, temple sites and temple inscriptions, accounting for 34% of the total. There are 69 cultural relics above Grade III in the collection, including 43 Buddhist cultural relics, accounting for 62.3% of the total collection. Especially in recent years, the new discovery of Buddhist archaeology in Nangong has supplemented the blank of historical records. 1in the spring of 995, while cleaning the riverbed in the northwest of his village, the North Second University of Chuiyang Town found hundreds of white marble Buddha statues in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. This spring, when Xiaoguan Village of Beihu Office plowed the white fields in Qunying Hubei Reservoir Area in spring, it found nearly 100 white marble Buddha statues in Beiqi. A few days later, when digging in the west of Houdige village in Zhongzhen, nearly 100 white marble Buddha statues in the early Tang Dynasty were dug up. At the same time, a large number of beautifully carved Buddha statues appeared in the east and west wings of Nangong, which attracted the great attention of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and immediately organized rescue exploration and excavation of the two sites. During the excavation of the site of Houdi Pavilion, more than 300 white marble, bluestone and ceramic Buddha statues were found. According to Mr. Xie Fei, a senior archaeologist and deputy director of the Cultural Relics Bureau, this batch of Buddha statues unearthed in Houdige is rare in Buddhist archaeological excavation because of its large number, exquisite carving art and long age. Comparable to Qingzhou and Quyang Buddha statues, it is expected to rank among the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China. Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau has decided to protect Houdige and Xiaoguan Village as quasi-provincial protection units and report them to National Cultural Heritage Administration for further excavation. This archaeological discovery once again proves the profound connotation of Buddhist culture in Nangong.
There must be a famous temple in the holy land, and the Dojo condenses the Buddha's edge. After the reform and opening up, people's enthusiasm for respecting Buddha has been fully released. 1992, Nangong Municipal People's Government respected the wishes of the masses and approved the proposal of the Provincial Buddhist Association to rebuild the famous temple and restore the first temple in China-the ordinary temple. 1992 10 "the first patriotic monk in China", the executive director of the National Buddhist Association, the Standing Committee of the Sixth CPPCC Provincial Committee and the Vice President of the Provincial Buddhist Association, Master Hong Chuan became the abbot. After 1 years of preparation, 1 1 month laid the foundation stone. Tens of thousands of Buddhist monks, officials from all walks of life, and good men and women from all directions attended the celebration, and the clues of the famous temples began to appear. Recently, the leaders of the Provincial Department of Ethnic and Religious Affairs and the Provincial Buddhist Association once again inspected the Buddhist cultural origins of ordinary temples and Nangong. The grand wish of expanding ordinary temples and building the first Brahma Temple in China was issued, which was highly valued and supported by the Nangong Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government. It opened the prelude to the reopening of the Nangong and even the national Buddhist event.
We are looking forward to this important event, and we pray for the longevity of the Buddha in Nangong.
? (Xingtai Daily, June 65438+1October 65438+July 2006)