This article is published with the authorization of the author.
Wutai Mountain, a holy place of Buddhism, has many famous ancient temples. One of them is very special, far from the town, hidden in the wild, unknown for more than 1000 years. However, 83 years ago, it broke through the night sky like a bolt of lightning, and it still shines brightly.
This is the most brilliant monument of ancient architecture in China, the "Mecca" in the hearts of all those who study and love ancient architecture, the oldest and most typical civil building in China, and the "Beige Temple" in Wutai Mountain built in the Tang Dynasty!
The prosperous Tang Dynasty is the most glorious era in history, and its palaces, Buddhist temples and other buildings have reached the peak in the architectural history of China. The ancient buildings in China are mostly non-durable wood, and the passage of time has lost time, and it is only a miracle that they can be preserved so far.
It was Liang Sicheng and Lin and his wife who discovered this miracle during the Republic of China. "A gentleman on the beam, a beauty under the forest", this pair of gifted scholars and beautiful women left us many stories, and found that Beixing was the most wonderful part.
Eighty-three years ago, in the summer of 1937, Lin Liang and his party braved the heat and rode mules back to Wutai Mountain to find the dream of "Tang structure" that had been lingering for a long time. Previously, they had been searching hard in China for three years and still had no results.
In fact, earlier, Japanese scholars had conducted a larger-scale investigation on the ancient buildings in China, claiming that there were no civil buildings in China that were more than 1000 years old. If you want to appreciate the elegant demeanour of Tang wooden structure, you have to go to Japan.
However, during this trip to Wutai, Lin Liang still felt a glimmer of hope. It turned out that they saw a newly published album Dunhuang Atlas. In a mural depicting Wutai Mountain in the Tang Dynasty, "Great Bukkoji" came into view.
Before that, they had learned that there was a remote ancient temple named "Bukoji" in Doucun, a hundred miles southwest of Wutai Mountain. At the critical moment when the war was coming, I was fearless and resolutely went to solve the great dream of "tanggou". Unexpectedly, this trip will rise to a peak in the hinterland of China like a sudden subsidence.
Two days before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 (1937.7.5), the mystery of the origin of this oldest wooden structure in China was uncovered by Lin Liang and his wife. The East Hall, which was built in the 11th year of Dazhong (857), was originally Tang-style and has now been unveiled. It turned out to be the "Parthenon" in the East.
Eighty-three years after the discovery of Beixing Temple, we followed the footsteps of the master and came to Beixing Temple. However, Beixing is still like a hermit, avoiding the noise and vanity of the world and hiding in the mountains.
Bukkoji sits east to west and enters from the west gate. The three-step courtyard faces east layer by layer. The towering pedestals and towering old trees in the courtyard can't see the famous East Hall as soon as you enter the door.
The first entrance is Manjusri Hall, which was built in the 15th year of Jintianhui (1 137). Wutai Mountain is the Dojo of Manjusri Bodhisattva. It is common to worship Manjusri Bodhisattva in temples, but this Manjusri Hall is different. It is the largest temple in China.
Manjusri Hall is seven rooms wide (as wide as the main hall) and four rooms deep, and the space is extremely spacious. The original large room only used four pillars (thin pillars were added by later generations). According to reports, this hall is an isolated case of a special architectural structure "constructional column method" in Song and Jin Dynasties, and ancient architecture lovers must study it well.
In the center of the courtyard, a stone building about 5 meters high is slim and graceful. The base and eaves are carved with lotus patterns and musicians' images. The jar is full of scriptures, and you can see the "Four Years of the Tang Dynasty" in the Qing Dynasty (877).
This stone building in the Tang Dynasty makes people feel familiar. I have seen photos of Lin working in Beixing Temple before. In this black-and-white photo, Lin is standing on a ladder to measure the stone building.
I am not a devout Buddhist, and I know nothing about architecture. I came to Beixing Temple not to visit the national treasure, but to follow the footsteps of the masters, feel their love for the national treasure, and realize their responsibility for China culture.
Climbing up the steps along the arch, just above the ground, a magnificent temple suddenly came into view. This looks like a thousand years ago, 1 163 years ago, which is hard to describe. Just like Du Li's poem, it makes your heart ring.
Beige Temple was the oldest and largest wooden building in the Tang Dynasty at that time (now ranked second, 78 years later than the Wutai Mountain nanzenji discovered after liberation). It has a huge scale, a single eaves roof, the width of seven rooms, five panels in the middle, which can be opened and closed, and two outer rooms have straight windows.
There is also a classic stone building in the Tang Dynasty at the entrance of the main hall, which is beautiful in outline and antique. The total height of the building is 3.2 meters, with a hexagonal base, the waist of which is engraved with lion and lotus petals on the back. The Dalagni Classic is engraved on the building, and the year number "Eleven Years of Dazhong" is engraved at the end.
No matter who you are, you will be shocked at the first sight of the complex, gorgeous and magnificent bucket arch. Layers are higher than people, and the cornices are nearly four meters, which is nearly one meter longer than the cornices of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the largest building in ancient times. The huge bucket arch supports Beixing's thousand-year-old bones and history with a steady and firm posture.
The sun shines into the temple through the dust, and the Buddha is still as bright and serene as ever. Full cheeks, curved eyebrows, straight lips, kind and quiet, overlooking the world, focusing on the Millennium, always listening to the voices of all beings. (iron bar covers face, Buddha forgives)
More than 30 Bodhisattvas and King Kong have smooth lines, plump bodies, smooth and delicate skin and soft clothes. According to research, all the statues are the same age as the main hall, so they have the elegant charm of the Tang Dynasty.
Under the guidance of my tutor, I looked up at the faint ink on the roof of the dark hall and listened to the legendary story of a "national treasure" discovered by talented woman Lin with the help of God 83 years ago.
Lin, who was far-sighted, occasionally looked up and found a row of vague handwriting under the beam of the main hall, so he quickly set up scaffolding and climbed up the beam. When I brushed away the dust of the Millennium, I recognized the words "the Lord of the Buddha Hall sent the female disciple Ning Gong".
Lin is a writer. During the surveying and mapping inspection, Mr. Lin did all the work involving words, such as reading inscriptions. Seeing these words, she was shocked and immediately remembered that the same words were engraved on the stone building in front of her house. Compared with the hatchback, the truth is revealed to the world.
We also went back to the Shijinglou outside the temple and found out the lettering fields such as "Ning" and "Eleven Years of Tang Dazhong". These words and the inscriptions of the Tang people under the beams in the hall (listing the names of the donors who built the hall) are mutually corroborating, which became the ironclad evidence of the date of the hall 83 years ago.
Lin's "A Glimpse of the World" completely unveiled the past life of Bugu Temple: Bugu Temple was built in the period of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (47 1-499), and by the Tang Dynasty, it had become one of the world-famous "Top Ten Temples". The murals in Dunhuang Grottoes depicted the scenic spots at that time.
But 200 years later, in the fifth year of Huichang, Tang Wuzong (845), the giant Buddha was destroyed on a large scale, and the temple was completely destroyed except for a brick tower. It's only been 12 years, and the female disciple of Kyoto Ning donated a huge sum of money for reconstruction. The East Hall we see today is the relic of this reconstruction (857).
Today's Beidou Temple is almost the same as that seen in Lin Liang 83 years ago, and has little change when it was built 1 163 years ago, and its surrounding environment has hardly changed, which is a unique miracle in the turbulent land of China.
On the far right side of the Buddhist altar in the main hall, behind the mighty King Kong, an inconspicuous statue of a woman in the Tang Dynasty is hidden in a corner of the Buddhist altar, sitting cross-legged, that is, devoting herself to the Buddha and accepting the worship of all. According to the test, she is equivalent to Ning Gong, the benefactor of the main hall (no photos, online photos).
When Lin left Beidou Temple, he said to Liang Sicheng, "I really want to make a statue for myself, so that I can stay with this pious lady of the Tang Dynasty forever and sit cross-legged here for another thousand years." .
The owner of the merit of the East Pavilion is female, and the discoverer is female. Is it destiny takes a hand? ! Because of Ning Gong's kindness, Beixing was able to rebuild on the ruins, and because of Lin Liang's discovery, it was able to regain its glory after a thousand years. Kitamura!
Thousands of years of scenery, thousands of feelings, whether whole or part, can feel the spirit of the Tang Dynasty flowing thousands of years ago.
Behind the gate, there are many "graffiti" left by the Tang people when they visited Beidou Temple thousands of years ago. It is precisely because of these handwriting that it is inferred that the main entrance of the East Hall has never been replaced since it was built, and it is an authentic work of the Tang Dynasty.
Beixing has maintained many firsts in the architectural history of China, one of which is the oldest wooden door in China. For thousands of years, how many winds, frost, rain and snow have been blocked by these two door panels!
There is a custom of painting murals in Buddhist temples in the Tang Dynasty. Thousands of years have passed, and only a few pieces remain. The techniques and styles of these paintings are exactly the same as those of the Tang Dynasty murals in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, except that the white lead powder has turned black and the color has lost its luster, but it is even more antique.
There is also an ancestor tower in the left rear of the East Hall, whose decoration style has obvious northern temperament, especially the door ticket decoration like flame and lotus petals, which was first noticed by Mr. Liang.
According to the shape of Dunhuang murals, Mr. Liang concluded that this pagoda should have been built during the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is the only remaining building when the Beigao Temple in Huichang of Tang Dynasty was destroyed in five years, and it is also one of the only two ancient pagodas in Northern Wei Dynasty in China, which is very precious.
This is a big clock cast in the Yongle period of Daming. The architectural relics of Beixing span nine dynasties, including Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China, and the age span is the longest among ancient buildings in China.
"This is the only wooden structure building in the Tang Dynasty that we have encountered in these years. There are dozens of statues of Bodhisattva in the Tang Dynasty in the temple, with Tang ink inscribed on the beam and Tang murals on the wall. One of these four things is absolutely amazing, and the four arts are gathered together, which is the first national treasure of China! " Liang Sicheng, the discoverer of Booker Keji, is sincerely impressed!
Looking into the eyes of the two discoverers, I once again studied this rare treasure in front of me and felt the charm of the Tang Dynasty precipitated by thousands of years of history. The seemingly simple structure symbolizes the broad mind and lofty sentiments of the Tang Dynasty.
In Beixing, I have been shaking Liang Sicheng's clumsy steps in front of my eyes, and Lin's thin figure makes me respect. Inside and outside the temple gate, light and shadow rise and fall, as if time were flowing. I leaned in the shadow behind the door, unable to speak, but I felt that time passed so quickly.
No matter where I stand, I always feel that Lin Liang, 83 years ago, is standing here meditating. Walking in the North Temple, I always feel that every corner is connected with the past and the future, walking in the tunnel of time.
I traveled hundreds of kilometers to visit an ancient temple that survived in the wild. Although I have only witnessed a lonely back, what I feel is a prosperous dream, which is the unique tolerance and mind brought by the clouds crossing history.
Traveling through time and space, through ancient and modern times, meeting national treasures and cherishing the memory of masters is a reunion with our ancestors' civilization, a pursuit of historical memory and the most precious experience in my life.