The Buddhist temple in my impression should be a deep place with "winding paths leading to secluded places, and Zen rooms with deep flowers and trees". It should be a pure land outside the world where "the mirror of pure dust is like a mirror, and the lofty towers decorate the distant sky". Or maybe It is the Qingyuan artistic conception of "The clouds are still there behind the green mountains, and four or five peaks in the southeast are drawn." However, these two temples in Yunnan have their own unique personalities and do not belong to any one of them. Of these two temples, one is Chongsheng Temple at the foot of Cangshan Mountain in Dali, and the other is Yuantong Temple in the bustling city of Kunming.
Dali and Kunming are more than 300 kilometers apart. The cultural differences have long been formed due to factors such as geography, transportation, population, and ethnicity. Even with today's extremely convenient transportation, the cultures of the two places are still harmonious but different, each with its own characteristics. However, these two temples have deep historical roots as early as the Nanzhao period thousands of years ago. At that time, Dali was the western capital of Nanzhao Kingdom, and Kunming was the eastern capital of Nanzhao Kingdom. The two temples, one in the west and one in the east, look at each other from a distance, which is a symbol of the heyday of Nanzhao Kingdom. Today, through these two temples, we can vaguely trace back to Dali and Kunming thousands of years ago.
The uniqueness of Chongsheng Temple is that it once carried the imperial atmosphere of Nanzhao for hundreds of years. As a famous royal temple and political and religious center during the Dali Kingdom of Nanzhao, its heyday can be described as "Gaotang Huishiluo" Thousands of people, ringing bells and beating drums to make noise in the morning." Not to mention that among the twenty-two generations of kings of Dali, nine became monks and became monks in Chongsheng Temple. Once the beauty of the country is abandoned, she is always accompanied by the ancient Buddha with green lantern. How charming is this Chongsheng Temple?
Yuantong Temple is located in the bustling city of Kunming. It is quiet in the bustle and can be seen as big from the small. Its connotation is just like its name, harmony and harmony. It not only integrates the three major sects of Mahayana Buddhism (also known as Northern Buddhism), Theravada Buddhism (commonly known as Hinayana Buddhism) and Tibetan Buddhism (also known as Lamaism), but also vaguely Some traces of the coexistence of Buddhism and Taoism can be seen.
Chongsheng Temple - an imperial atmosphere with an open and closed atmosphere
Dali is a unique country in Chinese history. Nine of the 22 emperors became monks. The power of religion has great influence on the country. The influence of the secular world is huge. The cities and classics of the past have long been wiped out. What is left is all related to Buddhism, whether it is pagodas, grottoes, or widely existing beliefs among the people. The spiritual pursuits of Nanzhao and Dali for thousands of years are like the snow in the sky. Like infiltration between Cang Er.
At the foot of Cangshan Mountain, the magnificent Chongsheng Temple, with morning bells and evening drums, tells the story of the rise and fall of an ancient country, a legendary history. Looking from a distance, this is not a Zen room with winding paths leading to a secluded place, but an open and closed imperial palace. More than a thousand years ago, was it Cangshan Wu that worshiped the sage and covered it for more than 300 miles, blocking the sky? We don't know, we can only stand here and weave those stories through our imagination.
Today, there are no emperors in Chongsheng Temple, and those legends have been lost in the long river of history, leaving only the broken words of Ling Xing, but the tradition of "wonderful fragrance, paradise, harmonious world" remains. down. The Chongsheng Temple, which was rebuilt and consecrated in 2006, reproduces the great achievements of the tenth generation of Nanzhao King Quan Fengyou - "Seven miles square, more than 100 acres on three weeks, 890 houses, and 11,400 Buddhas." ", with 4550 hu of copper", it has the advantages of "three pavilions, seven floors, nine halls and one hundred buildings". In front of the temple stands the majestic three pagodas.
The restoration of Chongsheng Temple ended the century-old history of having pagodas and temples in Dali, and created a beautiful scenery that is enhanced by pagodas and temples. The planning and layout of Chongsheng Temple focuses on protecting the three pagodas. It is derived from history, draws on the layout characteristics of famous foreign temples, and integrates the essence of the architectural features of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. According to the primary and secondary three axes, eight platforms, nine entrances and eleven floors are planned and constructed. The entire antique building complex covers an area of ??600 acres, with a construction area of ??20,080 square meters and a total investment of 182 million yuan. On the main axis, there are Dapeng Garuda Square, Mountain Gate, Dharma Protector Hall, Maitreya Hall, Eleven-faced Guanyin Hall, Main Hall, Acuoye Guanyin Pavilion, Mountain and Sea Grand View Stone Archway, and Wanghai Tower. On both sides of the central axis and on the sub-axis are the Dharma Circulation Office, Abbot Hall, Guest Hall, Zhai Hall, Luohan Hall, Thousand Buddha Gallery, Patriarch Hall, and Buddhist Research Institute.
The entire layout is magnificent, solemn and beautiful, without losing the national characteristics. The Buddhist statues in the temple are based on the "Zhang Shengwen Painting Scroll", the "Five Hundred Arhat Statue" sculpted by Li Guangxiu in the Ming Dynasty and the cultural relics unearthed from the Three Pagodas. Created from a blueprint, the statue combines the characteristics of "Zen" and "Tantrism" to form Dali's unique statue style, and also restores the grand open and closed imperial atmosphere of Chongsheng Temple.
Yuantong Temple - a Buddhist pure place to find tranquility in the bustle
In the first year of Yongtai of the Tang Dynasty (765), Nanzhao built the East City on the north bank of Dianchi Lake. At the same time, it also built A number of temples with Nanzhao Buddhist characteristics were established, and the Buduoluo Temple built under the cliff of Luofeng Mountain in the northeastern suburbs of Tuodong City is one of them. The Buduoluo Temple is the predecessor of Yuantong Temple.
"Pudala" is the transliteration of the Sanskrit potalaka, which is also translated as "Potala" or "Putuo". The free translation is "Guangming Mountain with small white flowers", which is the Guanyin Dojo. "Yutong" is one of the thirty-two names of Guanyin, and Guanyin is also called "Master Yuantong". Therefore, whether it is "Pudala" or "Yantong", they are both temples dedicated to Guanyin.
Guanyin was introduced to Yunnan with Tibetan Tantric Buddhism and first settled on the Erhai Lake, becoming one of the main idols of Yunnan Tantric Buddhism. The princes of Nanzhao regarded Tuodong City as the "Eastern Capital" and built Guanyin Temple and Butuoluo Temple at the beginning of the city's founding. The temple has been repaired several times, forming the Yuantong Temple we see today.
In all temples, after entering the mountain gate, you walk upwards, and the main hall is higher than the mountain gate. However, Yuantong Temple is just the opposite. After entering the mountain gate, you don't go uphill, but downhill along the central axis. The exquisite Yuantong Shengjingfang stands in the middle of the gentle slope, while the Yuantong Palace is located at the lowest point of the temple. There is a pool in front, with hand-operated corridors on both sides surrounding the pool and connecting to the opposite hall, forming a unique style of waterside pavilion-style temple and pond courtyard. In the temple, green mountains, clear water, colorful fish, white bridge, red pavilion and Zhu Palace complement each other, making the scenery picturesque.
The scenery around Yuantong Temple is beautiful. The cliff behind the temple is steep, the mountains are lush, the trees are green, the springs under the cliff are gurgling, the morning glow and sunset shine on the stone walls, and they are painted with gold and red, which is gorgeous and moving. The Qing Dynasty people had the poem "The sound of the water and the ancient rhyme of the piano, and the new scenery of the mountains" and the inscription "Na Xia Ping". Although it is now surrounded by buildings, the temple is surrounded by green hills, colorful pavilions, and waterside pavilion corridors. It is quiet in the bustle and has a special cave. There is a couplet that goes: "The ancient temple lives in the bustling city, and there is a lot of traffic. It depends on how you settle down. You can see it everywhere." The chaotic appearance; the Buddha is destined to the soul, the tourists and the audience, who can respect him, randomly visit the paradise."
The buildings in Yuantong Temple are mainly Mahayana Buddhism (also known as Northern Buddhism), and there are Buddhist temple buildings from Theravada Buddhism (commonly known as Theravada Buddhism) and Tibetan Buddhism (also known as Lamaism). The Bronze Buddha Hall of Theravada Buddhist Temple is an exquisite Thai-style building with a slim appearance and golden color. It is located behind the Yuantong Hall. The Puguangming Hall, the palace of Tibetan Buddhism, is on the east side and houses eminent Tibetan Buddhist monks.
In addition, there are Taoist immortals such as the Eight-hole Immortal, Antarctic, and Sanxing immortals carved in wood on the Yuantong Shengjing Archway, the Taoist clay sculptures of immortal officials on the two walls of the hall, and the big "Shou" character on the Nixia screen. The stone carvings and portraits of Zhang Sanfeng and Lu Dongbin all reflect the coexistence of Buddhism and Taoism in Yuantong Temple. It also corresponds to its name "Yuantong", which means harmony and harmony.