As soon as people embark on a sightseeing trip to Dali, almost all of them yearn for the Cangshan Mountain, Erhai Lake and Three Pagodas there. Cangshan Mountain has ever-changing winds and clouds. Sometimes it is covered with residual snow, showing a ring of clouds; sometimes it is bathed in drizzle and the forest is filled with smoke. Erhai Lake is beautiful and colorful. At dusk, it clings to the sunset and the shadows of the mountains; in the early morning, the shadows are dim, like embracing the rising dawn. The three pagodas have remained unchanged for thousands of years. They have gone through vicissitudes of life and stand between the mountains and the sea, like golden stems pillaring the sky, exuding charming style.
It is said that in ancient times, there were pagodas on the nineteen peaks of Cangshan Mountain, and countless pagodas of various names were built in villages of all sizes, such as stupas, Fengshui pagodas, evil-repelling pagodas, etc. However, due to the catastrophes caused by natural and man-made disasters over the past hundred years, there are now only more than 30 towers left, among which the three towers are the best preserved and the most majestic. The three pagodas were originally an integral part of Chongsheng Temple. Chongsheng Temple is a large-scale Buddhist temple. Xu Xiake, a great tourist in the Ming Dynasty, once recorded the following in his diary: "This temple is located under the tenth peak. It was built in the middle of the Tang Dynasty and was named Chongsheng Temple. The first three towers stand in tripod, and the middle tower is the tallest..." It can be seen that at that time, there was a Chongsheng Temple behind the tower. Holy Temple, it is a pity that this great temple has disappeared.
The largest of the three pagodas is also known as the Qianxun Pagoda. It is a dense eaves-style building with a total of 16 floors, which is the largest number of floors among the existing even-numbered ancient pagodas in my country. The inside of the tower is hollow, and in ancient times there were "well"-shaped stairs for people to climb. Li Jing, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty, wrote a poem "Traveling in Dali" that praised: "Thousands of peaks outside the threshold are inserted into the sea waves, and the three hibiscus pagodas are jade. I can see the silver mountain palaces in the sky, and the black water sail bridge passes in the mirror." The image is vividly written. The majestic appearance of the tower and the beauty of the surrounding scenery are revealed. There are four huge golden-winged birds cast at the four corners of the top of the tower. This bird is said in Buddhist scriptures to be the protector of Sakyamuni and likes to feed on dragons. According to local literature, there have been many floods in the history of the Dali area. At the same time, the climate here is humid and there are many pythons, which often come out to harm people and animals. The locals believed that the dragon and water monster were causing trouble. They also believed that the dragon and water monster respected the pagoda and feared the roc, so they built a tower and cast a bird to suppress it. Some people also say that these four golden-winged birds were originally made of gold and no longer exist. The Garuda you see now is made of copper. On the screen wall in front of the tower, there are four vigorous characters "Yongzhen Mountains and Rivers" engraved in marble.
The niches in the Qianxun Tower originally housed Buddha statues. Due to the damage caused by previous earthquakes and man-made Due to factors, the Buddha statues have been lost, and some are scattered abroad. According to historical records, 11,400 Buddha statues were cast during the construction of the pagoda, and 20,275 kilograms of copper were used. The two small towers are both planar octagonal hollow brick towers with dense eaves. The two towers have exactly the same style. They are both ten floors and 42.4 meters high. The first to eighth floors are hollow straight walls with eaves on each floor. The corners are upward. The whole body of the tower is like a jade pillar holding up the sky. The two small towers are 97 meters apart, forming a tripod. p>
As for the construction period of the three pagodas, research shows that the pagodas were most likely built during the Fenghu period of Nanzhao (824-859). This was mainly based on the architectural shape of the pagodas and the political and economic situation of Yunnan at that time. And the time when Buddhism spread to Yunnan was analyzed and determined. According to Wang Song's "Unofficial History of Nanzhao": "In the first year of Kaicheng (836), Dali Chongsheng Temple was built on the top of Cuodian, seven miles away from the base, and the holy monk Li Xian established San. The tower is more than thirty feet high. Self-protection and ten years until the first year of Tianqi are determined. "The Fenghu period was the period when Nanzhao society entered serfdom from slavery. At this time, the society was extremely prosperous, and Buddhist activities such as building temples, statues, and pagodas were very popular. From this point of view, the three pagodas have a history of more than 1,000 years.
After thousands of years of baptism, the architectural level of Dali's Three Pagodas is indeed impressive. In the year of Yihai (1515) in Zhengde, Ming Dynasty, a strong earthquake occurred in Dali, and the Qianxun Pagoda "broken like broken bamboo", but 10 Tianhou recovered automatically and was safe and sound. In 1925, another severe earthquake occurred in Dali. 99% of the houses in the city collapsed, but the three towers remained intact.
Who is it? More than 1,000 years ago when the level of productivity was extremely low, the Three Pagodas of Dali were designed and built that are still proud of today. One theory is that they were built by the eminent monk Li Xian when Piluo Pavilion was king of Nanzhao; a more credible theory is that It was built by the great craftsmen Gongtao and Huiyi. The lives of these two craftsmen cannot be investigated.
However, judging from the fact that the architectural style of Qianxun Pagoda is very similar to that of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an at the same time, there is no doubt that the Tang Dynasty government sent craftsmen to take charge of the construction of this project. First of all, most dense-eaves towers in the Tang Dynasty were square, with no complicated decorations on the first floor. Qianxun Tower also has the same characteristics. Secondly, the lower part of the dense-eaves tower in the mainland is particularly tall, and the distance between the upper floors is very short. There are no doors, windows and other structures on the floors above the tower body. Qianxun Tower also has the same characteristics. Thirdly, even the methods of building towers are very similar. The construction method of "fish holding beams and mound pavilions" is popular in the Central Plains. When building three towers here, they also used the method of building one layer of towers with a layer of earth. Because the tower is very high, a sloped earth platform was piled under the tower during construction. To transport construction materials. The tower body is built one level higher, the earth platform is also raised one level, and the slope is lengthened accordingly. When the nearly 70-meter-tall 16-story tower was built, the slope of Tutaizi had already extended to the area around Dali's Wusheng Bridge. It can be seen that the Three Pagodas in Dali are the crystallization of the wisdom of the Han people and the people of all ethnic groups in the Dali area.
Looking eastward from the top of the tower, you can see the vast mist of Erhai Lake and the dots of white sails. The islands in the lake are like the golden shuttle in the hands of the Weaver Girl, weaving a piece of green brocade. The gentle breeze blows by my ears, the silky white clouds move away under my feet, and the beautiful scenery of Cang'er Lake comes into view. The figures of the Three Pagodas, as white as jade bamboo shoots and as beautiful as hibiscus emerging from the water, can be seen within a few dozen miles of Dali. They are the finishing touch to the charming scenery of Yin Cang and Yu Er.