In fact, if you only look at it from a distance, what people see is only the corner of Lingyang Temple. Lingyang Temple is different from other temples in that it is built on a cliff halfway up the mountain, and the most attractive thing is that it is a large-scale lava cave temple. The main hall of the temple is located in a cave on Ganshan Mountain, which is called the largest lava cave temple in Guangxi. This cave is called Litchi Rock. It climbed steep steps from the foot of the mountain, climbed halfway up the mountain, bypassed the hut and guest room, and then entered the cave. Mashan county is a karst landform with unique and magical stalactite resources, which constitutes a rich karst landscape. There are grotesque stalactites in litchi caves, which are very ornamental.
By 20 12, the total area of Lingyang Temple is about 6,000 square meters, and the main hall in the cave is about 600 square meters. There are seven halls, including Sambo, Guanyin, Sleeping Buddha, Maitreya, Wei Tuo, Protecting Buddha and Lonely Death, which are dedicated to Buddha statues 15. These Buddha statues are all made of white marble, shipped from Myanmar, the hometown of Buddhism, and opened by eminent monks in famous temples such as Wutai Mountain and Emei Mountain. They are very precious. In addition to the main hall, there are rooms, pavilions, zhaitang, pavilions and other buildings outside the cave, as if riding on a cliff, with extraordinary momentum. In fact, Lingyang Temple was not originally built on dry mountain climbing, but at the foot of Bamao Mountain, which is the campus of Guling Middle School. So, how did Lingyang Temple "climb" the dry mountaineering temple? Here is a historical story.
According to historical records, Lingyang Temple was founded in the Yuanfeng period in the middle of Song Dynasty, and has been through many dynasties such as Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has a history of nearly a thousand years. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, temples were destroyed by lightning. It was rebuilt in the early years of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (AD 1664), but in the middle of Qing Dynasty, Lingyang Temple was destroyed by the fire in Guling Street, so that most of the temples were burned down. In the fifteenth year of Daoguang (1836), Lingyang Temple was restored again, and after several expansions, the scale of the temple was larger than before. At that time, Lingyang Temple was built with the Hall of the Great Hero and the halls of Guanyin, Dizang, Tianwang, Maitreya and Wei Tuo. In every hall, there are also front, front, middle, back and slant halls, as well as Buddhist scripture building, bell tower, drum tower and more than 20 squatters, living rooms and zhaitang. The halls are connected by corridors with blue bricks and green tiles, and equipped with a stage, which is very imposing.
Lu Jian, 73, still remembers the luxurious style of Lingyang Temple. The old man comes from Guling Street. He said that he often went to Lingyang Temple to play when he was a child. The clock on the bell tower of Lingyang Temple is his favorite with his friends. They often run to the temple to ring the bell when the adults are not looking. If they can't reach it, they pick up the stones on the ground and throw them at the clock to make it ring loudly for fun. He said that Lingyang Temple occupied a large area at that time. The main building is divided into a hall and two rows of side halls. The main hall is divided into three entrances, and the wings are divided into two floors. The gate is rectangular, and you need a round door to get to the hall.
Things change with the stars. Due to the lack of proper protection, Lingyang Temple was destroyed for various reasons, the temple was demolished, most of the cultural relics were lost, and all the Buddha statues were destroyed. It was not until 1983 that the party and the government implemented the religious policy that Lingyang Temple was restored and rebuilt. However, the former site has been used to build the school, so Lingyang Temple moved to Litchi Rock in Gan Dengshan. After more than 20 years of continuous repair and expansion, the temple has continuously extended from the inside to the outside of the cave, forming a scale. Then, as early as the Song Dynasty, who built the Lingyang Temple and why? There is a local saying: During the Yuanfeng period of the Song Dynasty, there were always water monsters in Guling area, which caused floods every year, flooded the world, and the countryside was deserted for years. Nine times out of ten, the houses were empty and the people were miserable. So, the real people in Lingyang, a fairy family in the sky, were ordered by the Jade Emperor to subdue the demon and control the water, destroy the water demon, save all beings, and let the people live and work in peace and contentment from now on. In order to appreciate the kindness of Lingyang, later generations built temples and offered sacrifices, praying for good weather and abundant crops.
In addition, there is another saying circulating in the temple: Hui Yuan, a descendant of the sixth ancestor of ancient Zen Buddhism, traveled to the ancient zero zone, and when he saw that the geomantic omen here was very good, he meditated and recited the scriptures here, and then his disciples preached, and then he gradually developed into a temple. It is said that when Zen master Hui Yuan went to Guling to build the Lingyang Temple, it was on a large scale, with more than 65,438+0,000 monks living there.
Both of the above statements are legends. As for the origin of Lingyang Temple, there is no way to verify it now. However, in recent years, Lingyang Temple has become an important place for religious activities, and its momentum and luck are not what they used to be. In addition, the temple is built on the mountain, which is very magnificent. Looking around, there are small bridges and flowing water under the mountain, and the scenery is charming, which makes people linger!
In the pure morning, near the ancient temple, the early sunshine points to the treetops;
My road twists and turns, through a valley covered by branches and flowers, leading to a Buddhist retreat;
Here, birds live in the mountain light, and people's hearts feel quiet in the pond;
A thousand voices were quiet, but the bell rang.
This is a poem written by Chang Jian, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, which is used to describe the scenery of Lingyang Temple in mashan county.