Author: February River
There is an ivory temple in Nanyang, a white horse temple in Luoyang and a stone horse temple in Xiyang. I was born in Xiyang. I lived in Luoyang when I was a child and in Nanyang when I was old. "Sanyang" is the three places I care most about in my life, and there are three important temples.
White Horse Temple, the ancestral home of the world, was the first temple in China ordered by Emperor Han Ming when he woke up. This is the introduction of top-level culture. Xiangyan Temple was the refuge of Xuanzong after the Tianbao Rebellion in Tang Dynasty-he hid in it for seven years, but Shima Temple in Xiyang was left out in the cold, probably because it was far from the hub city.
We drove to visit the temple. In fact, it is only a stone's throw from Xiyang. The green hills outside the window are as bright as jade, and there is a small river, or "brook", embedded in the middle, which meanders and swims and will arrive soon.
My first impression is that this temple is not particularly large in scale, but it is beautiful and free and easy. The whole temple is exposed on the hillside by the stream, and the steps are wide and big, so you can take your time. The whole temple is full of buildings, pavilions and pavilions, which seem to be piled up with building blocks that have been played for a long time. I have seen many monasteries, but this style is quite puzzling: how is it different from other places?
Is it new? Not new. This temple is an old brand and an old-timer According to the stone tablet in the temple, in the third year of the Northern Wei Dynasty, namely in 534 AD, the Buddha statues, three grottoes and more than 100 niches were dug, and 1500 stone buddhas sat here for nearly 1500 years, staring at the green hills on the other side of the stream. Its "cultural qualification" surpassed all the temples in the Tang Dynasty.
It was built by a temple on the mountain, and actually wrapped the northern Wei grottoes with a temple. Monks will be stationed soon and come to open the light another day. An entrepreneur named Li Zhiheng earned money by digging coal, and cooperated with Xiyang county government to clean up the ruined temple that had been abandoned for decades. Not very big, but very broad, bright and generous.
However, as far as I know, all temples are called "jungles". The above modifiers should be said to be taboo for temples in general. Temples should pay attention to being deep, quiet and quiet, and the forests are lush and lush, "leafy and closed to Buddhism". When the sky is clear and gloomy, it is "the balcony is in the misty rain"-that's right.
I suddenly realized that "it's different from other places" because the people who live there are different! It is the landform of Xiyang County, like an earth-rock mountain. It's mostly dry here, so there is no misty rain here. Most trees are thorns and thorns, and there are not many tall trees. Ginkgo, pine, cypress, bamboo, bodhi and holly, which are common in temples, are even more rare. Such a spectacular temple built on a hillside is naturally particularly conspicuous and has no hidden dew. The surprise in my heart suddenly fell back. The lack of rain and trees is not the fault of Shima Temple, but also the result of fate. This is how Lafaille arranged his own destiny. He dances in other places, and this place he wants to bathe in the sun. This is the style.
In fact, the grotto statues are similar to the Longmen in Yungang, because many halls are covered, and Buddhists sit there and look at us a bunch of laymen gracefully and peacefully. What interests me most is a sitting statue of a bodhisattva, with half of its head missing and its body slightly tilted. The posture suddenly reminds me of Leonardo da Vinci's sketch figures, which is very beautiful and elegant! I visited several monasteries, and people said that they had a statue of Venus in the East. It's good, but it's a bit exaggerated. This free and unrestrained form of viewing freedom-I won't say it, you can see it yourself. Another interesting thing is that there is also a stone tunnel, and there is a stone room in the secret stone tunnel of the grottoes. This is a spectacle discovered only recently by cleaning up the temple. They explained that it was built to avoid destroying the Buddhist scriptures mentioned in the history books. I think it's a little far-fetched. The exit of the tunnel is the hall of the king of earth treasure, which is said to be eighteen layers of hell. I am almost satisfied.
In the Yuan Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, Hanlin Wang Gou wrote a poem about Shima Temple, which said, "The water is clear and the village is quiet, the rock temple is shaded, the monks talk about the biography of Shima, and the guests listen to the birds in the mountains ... sunset city road, looking back across the jungle." In the Ming Dynasty, Prime Minister Qiao Yu wrote a poem, "Take an empty picture through the ages as a horse, and follow the dragon for thousands of years." . This is the origin of the name "Shima Temple": the story that Li Shimin, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was killed and rescued here by a god horse. I looked at two stone horses not far from the temple, standing quietly in the sun. I don't know what idea it has turned, and I don't know how many years it has turned. He will think about "Ganges sand number" in the future.
There are grottoes in Maijishan, Dunhuang, Yungang and Longmen in Gansu, but they are all "tourist units" that specialize in making tourists' money. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, the stone Buddha was reopened, and there was only one Xima Temple in Xiyang, where good men believed in women. What is "essence"? My understanding: I have everything, and others don't. This is the essence and characteristic.
They sent me a Jinzhong Daily with the title Shima Temple: Ancient, Thick, Magical, Mysterious, Quiet and Harmonious. The monk in the temple asked me to write, crow painting, bodhi state of mind, cool world.
Impression shima temple
Author: Zhao Zhipeng
Buddhist culture is an important part of China traditional culture. It not only makes people in China proud, but also envies people abroad. In recent years, with the rise of tourism at home and abroad. Undoubtedly, Buddhist cultural resources are an important wealth for the development of tourism in China, and also an excellent window for foreign countries to understand the cultures of various ethnic groups in China. Shima Temple is the epitome of the development of Buddhist culture in Xiyang County. Grottoes are places where early Buddhism in China built temples and Buddha statues. It first appeared in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (200 years). During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the wind of drilling holes was the most popular. Northern Wei Dynasty. Grottoes have been dug in northwest China, such as Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Gansu (366), Yungang Grottoes in Datong, our province (460) and Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan (493). Shima Temple belongs to this period, and the grottoes were dug in the third year of Yongxi in the Northern Wei Dynasty (534). According to historical records, there are 14 national famous grottoes in China, among which Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes have been listed as world cultural heritage by UNESCO and are world monuments. They are the pride of the Chinese nation and the glory of the Chinese people. In order to inherit and protect the cultural heritage of the motherland and develop the tourism resources of Xiyang County, in 2004, with the care and support of the county party committee and the county government, Li Zhiheng, a coal merchant, invested heavily in the renovation.
When it comes to Xiyang, many people will take Dazhai as their first choice. There was a saying, "Dazhai is in Shanxi, what should Shanxi do?" With the passage of time, "agricultural school" has gone far from us. However, Shima Temple is a place worth visiting and has a very strong cultural heritage. But it is not known to the outside world. In the Dictionary of Places of Interest in China (198 1 edition), the only place to record places of interest in Xiyang is Shima Temple. 1987 was awarded "Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit of Shanxi Province" by Shanxi Provincial People's Government. In 2005, Shimasi Grottoes were officially selected as famous grottoes in China. In 20 13, it was listed in the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units by People's Republic of China (PRC) and the State Council. It is not well known, and it is inseparable from the geographical location, economy, politics and culture of Xiyang County. In Dazhai, Chen Yonggui and Guo Fenglian, there are almost no real celebrities in Xiyang County who are unknown to people in the long history. Some people once regarded Xiyang as the No.1 scholar in the Jin Dynasty and the only No.1 scholar in the feudal era of Xiyang-Yang Yiyun. And a generation of famous Confucian Zhu, also known as "Southern Zhu Beiyang", which is a little flattering! Inscriptions preserved from Shima Temple, memories of the old people in Shima Village, and folk stories. We can easily see the difficulty of repair. The construction fund of Shima Temple has always relied on donations from local villagers and surrounding villages. The alms given by monks who went out to raise money in previous dynasties; The local people in Shima village rented the land rent of the temple. According to the memory of the old people in Shima Village, Shima Village and nearby villages have a total of 1300 mu of land, of which 900 mu belongs to temples. Monks in Shima Temple also have sheep and horses, as well as the money saved by opening a pharmacy. The number is limited, resulting in some previous buildings are very simple, such as bell tower, drum tower, Galapagos hall, Erlang hall and so on. These have prompted the restoration of Shima Temple for a long time, and there is no "celebrity effect". It can only be lost in the long river of history, which is not enough to explain its historical, artistic and cultural value.
Shima Temple originated from the cliff stone carvings in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and gradually became the present scale. On the one hand, the ancients religiously chose to carve here because they took a fancy to this treasure trove of geomantic omen. On the other hand, the unique sandstone here is also very suitable for digging caves. Stones are like walls, and bees gather, which is also a magnificent scenery of Shima Temple. The original name of Shima Temple is Luo Ying Temple, which is just a legend and cannot be verified. After the completion of the Northern Wei grottoes, it was named the Poetry Buddha Temple. During the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty, in 1068, monk Yuehai presided over the construction of 30 stone temples and corridors. After the expansion of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the scale of temples gradually expanded, and incense became increasingly prosperous. At its peak, there were more than 65,438+000 monks in the temple. After the excavations in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty and other dynasties, it gathered the essence of Buddhist sculpture art in the past 600 years and drew a long historical trace.
The whole Shima Temple, Hongshipu, white sandstone wall, cliff stone carving, Shima, stone bridge, stone tablet, stone archway, Buddha-protecting turtle, axe-testing stone and sky-mending stone all originated from the stone of Shima Mountain. Halfway up the hill behind Shima Temple, a row of natural sand and stones about 9 meters high and 40 meters long hangs vertically like a waterfall. At the foot of the cliff, a huge stone is lying at a 40-degree angle, which looks like a waterfall hanging down and flying into a stream. It's spectacular!
If from the Northern Wei Dynasty, influenced by the Buddhist culture at that time, Shima Temple began to break ground, which really constituted a complete architectural complex. Langfeng Bridge was donated by Zhao Geng, a gentry of this county, in A.D. 1745, and finally a stone archway was built in front of Langfeng Bridge in Jiaqing 15 of Qing Dynasty. During the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty, temples were built around the megalithic circle according to the surrounding terrain, forming a complete temple of Buddhist temples, pavilions, corridors, temples and statues. It was only in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties that it was rebuilt, and today's scale was achieved. The whole Shima Temple is in the east of Shima Mountain, facing Guishan across the river. During this 1500 years, it was destroyed by wars many times.
Due to the influence of road traffic in the past, Shima Temple is located in a remote place. In feudal times, the slow spread of Buddhist culture made the past Buddhist architecture of Shima Temple break away from the style of mainstream Buddhist architecture. Coming out of Langfeng Bridge, along the 28th stone steps, it used to be a pavilion. The mainstream architectural style is "Tianwang Temple", which is dedicated to the four heavenly kings, Maitreya Bodhisattva and Vito Bodhisattva. This reconstruction has been in line with the mainstream architectural style, which can also be said to keep up with the trend and make Shima Temple more perfect. In terms of architectural style, Shima Temple maintains the symmetry of China's architectural style. Taking Tiefo Building, Ursa Hall, Front Pavilion, Stone Steps, Shipai Building and Stage as the central axis, the newly-built octagonal pavilion is also on this line. The symmetry of the bell tower and drum tower, the Galapagos Hall and Jiro Hall, and a pair of stone horses. The harmonious combination of architecture and grottoes is almost perfect. What's even more amazing is that the snail-like ceiling of brick arch coupons built around the two huge stones between the Great Buddha Hall and the Children's Hall is like a natural stone gallery. It is a masterpiece of Ming Dynasty architecture in China, and is called a miracle in the history of ancient architecture in China by experts.
According to the evaluation of archaeological experts after many investigations, the stone carvings on the cliff of Shima Temple are of high artistic value, with exquisite carving, gorgeous coloring and realistic modeling, which are incomparable to other grottoes, but the scale is slightly smaller and has high research and appreciation value. Known as "Little Jasper of China Grottoes Art" by Chinese and foreign grottoes experts.
For thousands of years, after vicissitudes and reconstruction, it has stood on the land of Leping. Fascinating beautiful legends seem to bring people back to that distant era that is gone forever. We are sure that this scenic spot will reproduce its historical features. Xiyang's "Shima Leng Yun" Sanskrit Holy Land will surely become a scenic spot that Chinese and foreign tourists yearn for.