Quanzhou South Shaolin Temple is a huge building complex, with Dongyue foothills in the east, East Gate moat in the west, East Lake in the south and Islamic cemetery in the north. The existing Dongchan Shaolin Temple is only a small part of Quanzhou South Shaolin Temple.
Cai Qing Yongzheng's "Xishan Magazine" said: "The wisdom of thirteen empty spaces entered Fujian, and Shaolin Temple was built at the foot of Qingyuan Mountain. At thirteen o'clock, the martial arts of Fujian monks began. " "There are thirteen entrances to Shaolin Temple, surrounded by three walls. There are a thousand monks in the temple, a hundred hectares of farmland and lush forests, which set the Shaolin Temple off at the foot of the (Qingyuan) mountain." "The Temple of Heaven is next to Shaolin Temple, and Master Zhikong visited Wang Taishou and stood in the Temple of Heaven."
If so, the Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou should have been built during the period from Tang Wude to Zhenguan (6 18-649).
Western Hills Magazine's Poems on Eastern Shandong in Northern Song Dynasty said: "Shaolin Temple was built in Qingyuan, with ten gates and three mountains, and thousands of monks attacked Wang Fan."
According to Qing Daoguang's "Jinjiang County Records, Volume 69", it is recorded that "Tuozengji Town and State was built on the East Lake outside Renfengmen, and Ming Xuande was rebuilt ten years later. Monks have restored one-tenth of their old site. " It can be seen that today's Daozhen Temple is only one tenth of that of ancient times. Today, the temple is surrounded by ancient stone troughs, ancient wells and a pair of stone benches for practicing martial arts, as well as the King Kong Pool and the Dog Cutting Pool (which have been built into Donghu New Village with numerous buildings). The scope of Tuozengji almost includes the present Dongchan Natural Village. According to this calculation, the entire Shaolin Temple covers an area of three ridges and a hundred hectares, and its scale is large, so you can imagine.
On the Scope of South Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou;
According to the cloud quoted by Cai Yongzheng's Xishan Magazine and Tang's Zhong Minji in Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty, "The Temple of Heaven is next to Shaolin Temple, and the Zen master Zhikong visited Wang Taishou and stood in it." It can be seen that the center of Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou in Tang Dynasty is located next to the Temple of Heaven in Dongyue Mountain. The ruins of the Temple of Heaven still exist, that is, 20 meters in front of the existing Dongyue Palace. Next to the Temple of Heaven, the remains of South Shaolin Temple are still discernible.
According to Yu Liguang's "Di Qing Palace on the First Mountain" in Ming Dynasty, Dongyue Palace "does not contain its date of establishment, but it is built in a different way." The most important is Zhang Ruxijian, a senior minister in the 22nd year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1 152). The Temple of Heaven is in front of it. Shaolin Temple was built in the Tang Dynasty and Dongyue Palace was built in the Southern Song Dynasty. Perhaps the temple site is the gap after the first destruction of the Shaolin Temple monk's "anti-king attached back beam". (See Quanzhou Li and Quanzhou Temple Dongyue Palace Quanzhou List. )
In the middle of Ming Dynasty, Anxi, Li Sen bought a large wasteland of Dongyue Mountain as a cemetery for free burial of Quanzhou people. It seems that these burial sites are also the wasteland of Shaolin Temple after the collapse of the "Thousand Monks Against Yuan" in the late Southern Song Dynasty. (See Quanzhou People's Directory Li Sen).
In the village at the foot of Dongyue Mountain, Xiahou Zhou Dexing's "scissors to cut hibiscus" cave tomb, the Qianjiang River is slightly east, next to the ancient avenue leading to Fuzhou, there is also a place called "Shanmen", which is about one mile east of the Temple of Heaven. This is the gate of Shaolin Temple.
There is a ravine opposite the mountain gate, with flowing water. It is said that you must wash your feet here before entering Shaolin Temple to show purity and piety. Today, place names still exist, and the mountain shape remains the same.
Along the mountain gate, you can see an open field, which is the site of a huge building complex in Shaolin Temple. In the 1970s, it was transformed into a "shooting range". Ancient wells and ancient buildings were discovered when the shooting range was built.