Everyone in Beijing knows Tanzhe Temple, which is an ancient temple. It is said that there was Tanzhe Temple first, and then there was Beijing City. According to official research, Tanzhe Temple was first built in the first year of Yongjia (307 A.D.) of Sima Chi, Emperor Huai of the Western Jin Dynasty, and it has been more than 1,700 years since then. The Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang I saw last time was built in the Taining period of Emperor Sima Shao of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 325), four dynasties later than this Tanzhe Temple. Don't underestimate the emperors of the four dynasties. In fact, there are only eighteen years. You can imagine how chaotic the world was at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty.
Tanzhe Temple was originally called Jiafu Temple. A monk came to build a temple, set up a Buddha statue and lit incense. The monks at that time could only recite sutras, and they didn't know much about how many sutras there were and how many Buddhas there were. During the period of Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty, an eminent monk named Monk Huayan came. He came here with the Huayan Sutra, and this Jiafu Temple followed the Huayan School. After the Buddha was exterminated in Huichang, an eminent monk of Zen came back again, built the temple again, and lit incense again. This Jiafu Temple changed to follow Zen and was renamed Longquan Temple. Jurchen Jinxuzong Wanyan Quan was the first incumbent emperor to come to Tanzhe Temple to burn incense. It was the first year of Huangtong (AD 1141). Jin Xuzong renamed Longquan Temple Dawanshou Temple, and rewarded tens of thousands of silver for rebuilding the temple. In the Jin Dynasty, there was a prince Wanyan Yungong who did not become an emperor. He once came to Tanzhe Temple to burn incense. The abbot and monk Chongyu Zen Master wrote a post and carved it into a stele on the back wall of the temple. It still exists for more than 800 years. . Wanyan Yungong's son became emperor named Jin Zhangzong, who once built Xiangshan Temple in Beijing for his daughter to worship Avalokitesvara.
The Great Khan of Mongolia killed countless people in order to conquer the world. After Kublai Khan ruled the world, his daughter, Princess Miaoyan, refused to enter the city. Instead, she wanted to live in Tanzhe Temple and knelt on the ground in front of the Avalokitesvara every day to atone for her father's sins. Just because Princess Miaoyan once became a monk in Tanzhe Temple, the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty dared not go to the temple to worship Buddha. Sometimes they would bring the great monk of Tanzhe Temple to the palace for dinner. Worship Buddha and chant scriptures.
It is said that Taoist monk Yao Guangxiao lived in Tanzhe Temple in the early Ming Dynasty, but there is no official history record, and it is suspected that the famous monk of Tanzhe Temple clings to the powerful. Yao Guangxiao has been assisting Zhu Di, including his son Zhu Gaochi, how could he live far away from the emperor? He has always lived in the Qingshou Temple not far from the imperial palace, and now near the Xidan Telegraph Building, there is no more. It is rumored that after Yao Guangxiao retired, he lived in a monk's house in a corner of Tianning Temple next to the Second Ring Road. There is no evidence for this, because Yao Guangxiao never retired at all. Tanzhe Temple was very good in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor even sent his cronies to become monks in the temple. Emperor Ming also bestowed the name of Tanzhe Temple on two occasions, that is, "Chi Ci". The previous time was Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, who "given Longquan Temple"; the latter time was the unlucky Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, who "given Jiafu Temple" after he ascended the throne for the second time. The advantage of mutual fanfare with the emperor is that the real estate business of Tanzhe Temple is not short of money. In the Ming Dynasty, the great monk of Tanzhe Temple could often get money from the palace, and then the halls in the temple often saw new ones.
In the Qing Dynasty, everything followed the Ming rules, and Emperor Kangxi followed the Ming rules and granted Tanzhe Temple the presiding officer. He transferred a monk Zhenhuan from Guangji Temple in the city to Tanzhe Temple to be the head of the temple. This monk Zhenhuan is proficient in the Law School, so Tanzhe Temple has since reformed the Law School. Monk Zhenhuan took the post with money, and the money was definitely more than fifteen guan. During his tenure, he saw tall buildings rising in the temple. Kangxi then went to inspect the work, and named the temple "Chijian Xiuyun Temple". You see, the monk Zhenhuan did not repair it, but rebuilt Tanzhe Temple according to royal standards. Since then, Tanzhe Temple has become the largest Han Dynasty royal temple in the Gyeonggi area. Kangxi attached great importance to Tanzhe Temple, and his son Yongzheng, who didn't often go out of the city, followed him, and his grandson Qianlong must not be left behind. The Qing emperors all came to Tanzhe Temple to burn incense. This is the Chinese Buddhist temple they must worship. The Tibetan one has the Lama Temple, and there are shamans in the palace for secret sacrifices.
New China opened Tanzhe Temple as a park for ordinary people to visit. In order to protect the ancient buildings, no incense is allowed inside the hall, and incense burners are set up outside the hall. In the late 1960s, Tanzhe Temple was closed for a period of time and reopened in 1980. Religious activities resumed in the 1990s. In 2001, it was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit. In 2007, it celebrated the 1700th anniversary of the temple.
When I came to Tanzhe Temple a few years ago, I could drive to the parking lot in front of the mountain gate. It’s not working now, the parking lot has been changed to a distance, the purpose is to pass through the shed market held by local residents before and after visiting the temple. You can buy peach wood swords for warding off evil spirits, jujube sticks for mountaineering, vegetable dumplings for food and slingshots for hunting birds. These things are not what I want, but I saw a historic site not far from the shed market.
At first glance, this is the tomb tower of monks in the Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties. Yes, this may be the tomb tower of Princess Miaoyan in the early Yuan Dynasty. The temple called her Master Miaoyan.
Going forward, there are still historical sites to see, which are dilapidated.
Don't look at the shabby stone road, there are red walls on both sides of it. If you look at the bluestone slab in the middle, this is the configuration of the Royal Road. I don’t know if Wanyan Quan (Niandan) of Jin Xuzong took this way to enter the temple, but Qianlong definitely took this way to burn incense at Tanzhe Temple. Of course, someone carried him a sedan chair at that time.
The monks in the past lived in the temple, and the monks now live outside the temple. There is a huge white bark pine in the monastery.
Go to the front of the mountain gate of Tanzhe Temple.
Outside the mountain gate is an archway with four pillars and three floors, and a single eaves roof with yellow glazed tiles, which is the royal specification. "Cuizhang Danquan" is written on the front forehead, and "Xianglin Pure Land" is written on the back. There are several ancient pines in front of the archway, and the most important thing is the signboard tree of Tanzhe Temple.
The temple name of Tanzhe Temple has never been called "Tanzhe Temple". This Tanzhe Temple is a folk name. Because there is a Longtan pool with spring water behind the temple, and the Zhe tree on the mountain, the folks call this temple Tanzhe Temple. Zhe trees are called Huangsang in the south, and some Zhe trees grow here only because of the favorable geomantic omen of Mount Everest behind the temple. Some people with low medical skills said that the bark can help people increase their family size, so people continued to go up the mountain to peel the bark and make medicinal wine for their wives when they returned home. If things go on like this, the Zhe tree in the mountains will be difficult to sustain, and now it is hard to find except this one in the world.
After passing the archway, there is a gully, which the mountain god dug to release the flood. There should be a bridge over the ditch for pilgrims to cross the ditch to reach the other side. The name of the bridge is "Huaiyuan", which seems to have been built in the Ming Dynasty. Look at the mountain gate behind the bridge.
Masonry structure, three arch gates, white marble gates. The interior above is a vault with arched stones, the so-called beamless hall. The exterior is a yellow glazed tile single-eave Xieshan roof with green trimmings. This should be the roof of the Qing Dynasty, with decorative ears. Hanging in front of the door is "Edict to build Xiuyun Temple", written by Kangxi. In case tourists go to the gate and misunderstand the plaque on it, the park management office also hung a vertical plaque of "Tanzhe Temple". When tourists see this vertical plaque, they will celebrate with their foreheads and hands, "there is no mistake". When the monks first came to China, they lived in no fixed place, and they often searched for caves to live and practice. Later, the gates of regular Buddhist temples were still made of bricks and stones, and the arched gates also had arched roofs inside. No beams and beams were used, which was to simulate caves, so that the monks would not forget the roots. The Baima Temple in the Han Dynasty used to be such a mountain gate, and the form of the arch gate was retained during the later renovation.
Tanzhe Temple is very high-end, not only because of the royal support of the past dynasties, but also because of the white pigeons.
It is said that the great monk in a temple in Bingzhou in ancient times was good at chanting scriptures, and there was a couple and two pigeons on the beam outside the temple who built a nest and raised two chicks. When the monk recited scriptures, he said to the white pigeon on Liangshang, if your second chick is a person who is plagued by evil, may they be saved. After a long time, the second chick suddenly fell to the ground and vomited blood and died. The monk shook his head and sighed. The next day, the monk dreamed that the second child came to pay homage. He said that he was a white dove who used to listen to scriptures on Liangshang. At sunrise, the monk traveled to a neighboring village to visit, and it turned out that a pair of twins were born in Yuan's family. This is one of the stories of Buddhists exhorting people to chant sutras to do good.
You can enter Tanzhe Temple by walking in front of the second general Heng Ha inside the mountain gate. Behind the mountain gate is of course the Temple of Heavenly Kings, but despite such a simple principle, it is not the temple that follows it. The Shanmen and Tianwang halls of many temples are combined into one Shanmen hall. Tanzhe Temple is built on the mountain, and the Tianwang Hall after the mountain gate is on the upper platform. Look at the Palace of Heavenly Kings.
The censer in front of the Heavenly King Hall is used by pilgrims, and the incense pavilions on both sides of the censer are used by monks themselves. The Palace of Heavenly Kings is three rooms wide, with doors open in the open room and sills, walls, sills and windows at the top. Since it was a temple built by imperial edict, no one went to the palace to report it when he used it three times and six bowls of Linghua. The upper part is a structure of bucket arches and beams, and the top of the mountain is green glazed tiles with single eaves. Under the forehead hangs the "Tianwangdian" gilded seven-dragon fighting plaque, which was inscribed by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. But the handwriting does not look like Kangxi's original work, it should be rewritten by later generations.
Maitreya Buddha must be enshrined in the Temple of Heavenly Kings, and here is a woodcut and gold-plated statue. Maitreya Buddha is the future Buddha, who will be born from Tushita Heaven after 5.6 billion years. That being the case, where did the Maitreya Buddha statue in the temple come from? The earliest Maitreya Buddha statues were Bodhisattva statues sitting in half lotus posture, and later they were mostly Buddha images with big belly. This big-bellied Buddha is actually the image of a cloth bag monk. There were sixteen Arhats in Chinese Buddhism at first, and there were all of them until the Tang Dynasty. Later, after the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, two more Damoduoluo and Budai monks were added. Bodhidharma was added from the Tibetan tradition, and Bu Dai Monk was added from the Han tradition. I once saw Maitreya standing behind the statue of Maitreya in the Shanmen Hall of Xihuang Temple, not Wei Tuo, but Dharma Doro. The two brothers stood on the same shrine one behind the other.
The interior is decorated with gilded panlong and flat chess ceilings, and the Buddhist altars are quite gorgeous, all of which are gilded woodcut reliefs.
There are four heavenly kings standing on the kangs on both sides of the Hall of Heavenly Kings. This is not new. There are also murals of Han generals on the wall, which are four-value meritorious deeds, that is, the value of the year, the value of the month, the value of the day, and the value of the time. They are all gods. The four-value meritorious service belongs to the heavenly generals among the heavenly soldiers and the heavenly generals, and the guardian gods in Taoism. When the Jade Emperor spread his net to capture Sun Wukong, the four meritorious officers had contributed. Take a look at the value of Luna Huang Chengyi below. It is not uncommon to build a small temple in a Buddhist temple. There are Guan Gong Hall and the God of Wealth Hall, but it is really rare to hang statues of gods in Buddhist temples like Tanzhe Temple.
The large copper pot is now on display in the small courtyard on the east side of the Temple of Heavenly Kings.
This is the small pot of the three copper pots in Tanzhe Temple, which was used for cooking in the past. The large pots for cooking porridge and steaming buns were lost, and the two pots were even bigger. It is said that the porridge pot is so big that the monks have to build a ladder to clean the pot, and if a passing monk comes to the temple to eat, the monks will add water to the pot without adding ingredients. "Tanzhe Temple" is engraved on the furnace door, which is said to be for fire prevention. Let these three characters stand for Tanzhe Temple to be smoked here, and the fire will no longer burn the main hall. This is a bit of Dayu's water control, changing from blocking to dredging.
There are courtyard walls on both sides of the Tianwang Hall, and there are doors on the walls. Between Shanmen and Tianwangdian is the first courtyard in the temple, which is Tianwangdian Square. After passing the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the next floor is the Daxiong Hall Square of the Second Academy.
There are two supporting halls on both sides of the steps, and the Jialan hall is on the east. The Jialan Hall is three rooms wide and two rooms deep. The upper part is a beam-lifting structure, with gray tiles and a single eaves hard mountain top, and an eaves corridor in front. The Garan Temple is enshrined in the Buddha's patron saint. This patron saint is not Wei Tuo, but Bosni King. His prince is called Ji Tuo Prince (Prince Nian Riding Camel). A Vihara was built in the garden of King Jituo’s house, where Sakyamuni taught scriptures, which is the Vihara.
There are several Taiping flowers in front of the gate of Jialan Temple, which are in full bloom. Taipinghua was originally a flower in the south, and there are many in Sichuan. There were Shu people who presented flowers to the Ming emperor and planted them in the back garden of the palace, and they are still in the flower bed in front of Jiangxuexuan in the imperial garden of the Forbidden City. When the Taiping flowers bloom, they are very fragrant. Visitors come here to sniff them one after another, and then shout, "What kind of flower is so fragrant?"
Opposite the Jialan Hall is the Patriarch Hall, and some volunteers are wiping the plaque in front of the hall.
The Patriarch Hall has the same architectural form as the Garan Hall on the opposite side. I asked the volunteer who is the patriarch of this hall? He said he really didn't know, according to Tanzhe Temple's current Law Sect, maybe he is the ancestor of the Law School? Luzong originated from Jingye Temple in Xi'an, and the actual originator was Daoxuan, a Tang monk. Daoxuan once assisted Xuanzang in translating the scriptures of the Western Heaven, and then entered Zhongnan Mountain. In fact, the Patriarch Hall in temples in the world today usually enshrines Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma, that is, Bodhidharma who faced the wall in the cave behind Shaolin Temple for ten years during the Northern Wei Dynasty. Why did Bodhidharma face the wall for ten years? It was because he wanted to localize Buddhist theories. After ten years of thinking in the cave, he came up with a set of theories that allow people to understand the principles of Buddhism without being literate. This is Zen Buddhism. Bodhidharma thus became the first person of Zen in China, the first ancestor of Zen. Don't tell me, his theory is quite effective. When it was passed on to the sixth generation, the master of Zen Buddhism was called Tang Seng Huineng monk, and he was illiterate. Monk Huineng is a Zen sect of the Southern School. He needs someone to read to him when he sees a word, and he needs a scholar to write it on the wall when he thinks of a verse. His most famous work is "Bodhi does not have a tree, and a mirror is not a stand; there is nothing in the first place, where is the dust?"
Standing in front of the East and West Side Halls and going up the ladder, you will find the large platform of the Daxiong Hall, surrounded by a circle of white marble handrails.
The Daxiong Palace is five rooms wide and three rooms deep, with bucket arches and beams on the top, yellow glazed tiles and green trimmed edges and double eaves on the roof, seven ridged beasts, gold-pasted double dragons and painted seals. identity of. In the front, the door is opened in the open room, and there are sills, walls, sills and windows in the top. The east and west gables are solid walls without windows, and the back is the open room with doors. There are two plaques hanging in front of it, the upper one is the gold bucket plaque inscribed by Mr. Zhao Puchu "Daxiong Palace", and the lower one is the paper plaque "Fuhai Pearl Wheel" inscribed by Qing Qianlong. Looking back at the plaque in the Hall of Heavenly Kings again, it should be Mr. Zhao Puchu's important topic.
The most amazing thing about the Daxiong Palace is the pair of owl kisses on the main ridge.
This was remade in the Qing Dynasty according to the original Yuan Dynasty Chi kiss, and it was still strangled with iron plates, and the iron plates were tied with gold chains. The gold chain is thicker than the gold chain on the neck of the richest man in China. Legend has it that when Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty came to burn incense in the temple, when he walked to the main hall and looked up, he found the owl kiss Too Old on the main ridge. He untied the gold chain around his neck and gave it to the great monk in the monastery, asking him to turn around and strangle the owl, so that it would not fall and hit people. Only Tanzhe Temple has this gold chain on the girdle of all buildings. It is the only example in the world at home and abroad, and it is one of the treasures of Tanzhe Temple. Fortunately, this is a thing from the Qing Dynasty. If it was a gift from the emperor of the Song Dynasty, it would definitely not stay for a while, and it would have been taken away by Shiqian. After the time shift, there are no thieves in the world.
There are statues of one Buddha and two Bodhisattvas on the altar in the Daxiong Hall, which are the three saints of Huayan. In the middle is a clay statue of Vairocana Buddha, with Kassapa and Ananda standing on both sides. Vairocana Buddha is the Dharmakaya Buddha, sitting cross-legged, with the meditation seal on the left hand and the fearless seal on the right hand.
On his left is Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.
On the right is Manjushri Bodhisattva.
Tanzhe Temple was built in the Huayan sect in the early Tang, Wu and Zhou dynasties. The worship of the Huayan three holy statues in the Daxiong Hall should have been passed down from that period. Although Zen and Luzong were later changed, the Buddha statues offered in the Daxiong Hall have not changed. Some temples have a special hall dedicated to the three sages of Huayan, called the Huayan Hall. For example, there is a Huayan Hall in Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou.
Along the platform under the eaves of the Daxiong Palace, you can walk to the back of the hall and step onto the platform on the next floor. There are also ladders on both sides of the platform under the Daxiong Palace to allow you to climb to the next platform.
The platform on the next floor is very wide, it does not seem to be a simple square in front of the hall, there must be a hall missing in the middle.
I found a monk who swept the ground from the side road, and after consultation, I learned that there was indeed a Sansheng Temple here, and there was also a monk's dining hall called Zhaitang, which collapsed in the Qing Dynasty. Since the Three Sages of Huayan have already been enshrined in the Daxiong Hall in front, then the Three Sages in the past here should be dedicated to the Three Sages of the West, right? In the middle of the Three Saints in the West is the sitting statue of Amitabha Buddha, and on both sides are the standing statues of Guanyin Bodhisattva and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva. If the Amitabha Buddha in the middle is a standing statue, it is the Jieyin Buddha, and the main hall will be called the Jieyin Buddha Hall.
Although the Sansheng Temple is gone, the two merit monuments in front of it are still there. I went forward and looked at it, and the handwriting on the monument was basically unreadable. A copper incense burner is now placed in the position of the Buddhist niche in the Sansheng Hall.
There are also relics of the past on both sides of the Sansheng Temple, which are four ancient trees. There is a Sala tree on the front side.
There is also a ginkgo tree behind the Sala tree.
There are teachings about planting bodhi trees in Buddhist temples, because Sakyamuni meditated under the bodhi tree for seven days and seven nights, and finally achieved great enlightenment and became a Buddha. Compared with Bodhidharma who faced the wall for ten years, the Buddha became a Buddha after seven days of meditation, so it is conceivable that Sakyamuni's skill is very powerful. But Beijing can't cultivate bodhi trees, so what should we do? Buddhist temples in the Beijing area plant sala trees, a kind of horse chestnut. I also saw this tree in Yunju Temple last time, but the staff in that temple falsely claimed that it was a bodhi tree. The two Sala trees in Tanzhe Temple are said to be six hundred years old, but the two ginkgo trees behind them are both more than one thousand years old. The ginkgo tree to the east is called the emperor tree, the one in my picture above. Volunteers in the temple said that whenever a new emperor came to the throne, a new branch would grow from the root of the tree; whenever an emperor passed away, a branch would fall from the tree. I asked him which dynasty did the miracle begin? He said he forgot. I asked him, do foreign emperors count? He said it doesn't seem to count. I can't ask any more questions. I went to the next floor of the platform under the stairs and looked up.
Above is the Pilu Pavilion on the second floor. The Pilu Pavilion is seven rooms wide and two rooms deep, with bucket arches and beams, yellow glazed tiles and green trimmed sides with single eaves and a hard mountain top. There are eaves and corridors up and down, and the horizontal plaque of "Pilu Pavilion" hung under the upper eaves is said to be written by Kangxi; the horizontal plaque of "Yuanling Zongjing" hung on the lintel of the lower floor is said to be written by Qianlong. Go in and have a look.
Five Buddhas are worshiped in the hall, which is the rule of Chinese Tantric Buddhism. In the middle is the Vairocana Buddha, which is called the Great Sun Tathagata Buddha in Tantric Buddhism. On the inner side of his left hand is the Southern Baoxiang Buddha, which represents the wisdom of equality; on the outer side is the Eastern Aksha Buddha (recited at Azufo), which represents the wisdom of the great circle mirror. The inner side of his right hand is the Western Amitabha, representing the wisdom of observation; the outer side is the northern Bukong Buddha, representing the wisdom of accomplishment. The four Buddhas represent the four wisdoms of the Buddha, and the Dainichi Tathagata represents the wisdom of the Dharma Realm, which adds up to the five wisdoms, so the five Buddhas are also called the five wisdoms.
The east and west walls of the Pilu Pavilion are full of murals and comic strips of Buddhist stories. Check out the murals on the west wall.
The brightest part, the above story is called "The Shepherd Offers Mi". It is about Sakyamuni's six years of asceticism, from one meal per solar eclipse to one meal every seven days, and finally without meals, he was as skinny as a stick. Seeing how miserable he was, two gopis by the river took milk and boiled it to offer to Sakyamuni. Sakyamuni regained his strength after eating chyme, so he said that he would preserve his wisdom and live for the sake of saving all living beings. In the picture, the shepherdess is holding a bowl of chyle, and Sakyamuni puts his hands together in ten seals to express his appreciation.
The following story is called "The Magic Army Refuses to Fight". It is said that after six years of asceticism, Sakyamuni had eaten chyme and was extremely powerful, so he met the devil king. The devil wanted to prevent Sakyamuni from becoming a Buddha, and organized several battles, but all failed. No matter how the devil's army attacked, Sakyamuni used the golden light behind his head to make him fall to the ground, and the devil had no choice but to admit defeat. Finally, the Great Protector God appeared and dispersed all the demon army. In the picture, Sakyamuni sits cross-legged, with the meditation seal on his left hand, expressing contempt for the devil king;
If there are pavilions in Buddhist temples, they are usually Buddhist scripture pavilions, the lower floor is for Buddha statues, and the upper floor is for Buddhist scriptures. The Pilu Pavilion in Tanzhe Temple is not a Sutra Pavilion. I guess its second floor should also have Buddha statues. Since the first floor is dedicated to the Buddhas of the five directions, the second floor should be dedicated to the three Buddhas of the Huayan Sutra. In the center is Vairocana Buddha, which is the Dharmakaya Buddha; There is Shakyamuni Buddha, which is the Buddha of Responsive Body. The second floor of Pilu Pavilion is currently closed, so I have not been able to visit it.
There are many brick carvings on the main ridge of Pilu Pavilion, which are extraordinary. Brick-carved roof ridges like the one in the northern palace are very rare.
The brick carving on the front of the roof ridge is a dragon playing with a pearl, and the back is a phoenix playing with a peony. The front is invisible, too high. The picture above is the back, and those phoenixes look like big roosters no matter what. Don't look at it as a brick-carved phoenix peony, but the kisses at both ends of the main ridge are extremely exquisite.
There is a high-relief sculpture of a flying phoenix on the body of the Chi-kissed Chi-long, and it is painted and pasted with gold. Such exquisite owl kisses are extremely rare, and you must not miss them if you go to Tanzhe Temple. Similarly, it is difficult to see the details of this ridge kiss from the front. I can only see it like this when I go to the mountain behind Pilu Pavilion.
Pilu Pavilion is the last building on Tanzhe Temple Middle Road and also the tallest pavilion. Behind the Sansheng Temple is Pilu Pavilion, and there is a small courtyard to the east of it.
This is the abbot's courtyard. Abbot’s Courtyard is a quadrangle courtyard, with the main house facing south and five rooms wide, where the abbot lives. There are towering ancient cypresses in the courtyard, and there is also a bronze water tank. The abbot does not have to travel far to fetch water.
There is also a small courtyard deep in the abbot's courtyard, which is very secluded. There is a square pavilion in the courtyard, under the eaves is a horizontal plaque inscribed by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty "Yiyi Pavilion (Niangan Pavilion)". This is the pavilion commonly known as Liubei Pavilion.
There are Su-style paintings on the beams and squares in the pavilion. Take a look at this one.
There is a group of people sitting there having a feast, and in front of it is a red rabbit sitting on a horse with a beautiful beard dancing a sword. Is this "Guan Gong warming wine and beating Hua Xiong"?
Yigan Pavilion, "Gan" is Langgan, which is also a beautiful stone. "Yi" means great beauty. That is to say, there is a large piece of jade-like stone in the pavilion. I went up to have a look.
"Here there are lofty mountains, luxuriant forests and bamboos, as well as clear and turbulent streams, which are reflected on the left and right, and it is thought of as flowing water, which is the second place in the list." How about it? You will definitely think of Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Collection Preface", right? Qianlong chiseled such a good stone out of the groove, of course, to make a cup for Qushui. Qianlong and the abbot sat opposite each other. A eunuch and a young monk placed wine cups on the Naqushui, and the two emperors and monks drank from their side. Of. What Qianlong drank must be Shaoxing old brew, and the abbot wanted to pick the Coca-Cola drink in the glass. Around Qianlong, there was a court lady holding a plate of drunken shrimp, and beside the abbot, there was a young monk holding a bowl of edamame. Qianlong built such a pavilion here to coerce the old monk to be arty. There is no lack of "high mountains and high mountains" in Tanzhe Temple. If this is the case, there must also be "luxuriant forests and bamboos", which really exist.
You see that bamboo is golden yellow, do you think it is a dead bamboo? In fact, it is not, this is a very high-grade "jade inlaid with gold" bamboo. In addition to lush forests and bamboos, Wang Xizhi also mentioned "clear streams and turbulent streams". Qianlong also asked someone to make one, otherwise how would there be Qushui?
Oh, the curved water flowing in this ditch turned out to be ambergris. It first drives the cups in the pavilion, and after flowing out of the pavilion, it pours into the copper vat of the abbot's courtyard, and the abbot drinks every day is the emperor's tooth wisdom chant.
Qianlong would not easily sleep with the old monk, no matter how deep the old monk was. Qianlong was used to lying on the cold kang alone, where is his kang? Just above the small courtyard where the bamboo was repaired just now. There is still the Qianlong throne in the main room to indicate, the old man from Mentougou sits in the middle, and the young men from Mentougou stand on both sides.
This is the chief seat on the east side of the Three Holy Hall. There are also tall buildings built on both sides of the Sansheng Temple, where we ordinary people can drink tea. The epidemic situation has not been completely eliminated, and it is currently closed.
From Pilu Pavilion to the east, you also have to go up the steps. The platform above is almost equivalent to the height of the second floor of Pilu Pavilion. There are two ancient cypresses on the platform.
That house is Yuantong Palace.
In the middle of the Yuantong Palace, there is a golden statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in the middle of the woodcut and gilded altar, and on the surrounding walls are 32 portraits of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. There is a pennant on the altar with the words "To Guanyin Bodhisattva" written on it. Who is so loud?
On the east side of the Yuantong Palace is the Vajra Longevity Pagoda. There is no relic in this pagoda, so don't call it the relic pagoda.
They said that the tower was built by Zhu Zhanyong, king of Yuejing in the Ming Dynasty, in the second year of Ming Zhengtong (AD 1437). This Zhu Zhanyong is the grandson of Zhu Di and the younger brother of Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Di made him King of Yue during the Yongle period, and his domain was in Quzhou, Zhejiang. Although Zhu Zhanyong was crowned king, he never went to Quzhou to become a vassal, and he has been shopping and eating in the capital. Zhu Zhanyong is the first king of Yue, and because he has no descendants, he is also the only king of Ming Yue. After his death, he was given the posthumous title of "Jing", and the domain was revoked. Zhu Zhanyong had nothing to do in the capital, so he came to Tanzhe Temple to build this Vajra Longevity Pagoda, which contained the birthday horoscopes and Buddhist scriptures of his mother, Queen Mother Zhang, and prayed for her birthday. But somehow, this tower doesn't work very well. The pagoda was completed in the second year of Zhengtong, Zhu Zhanyong passed away in the fourth year of Zhengtong, and Queen Mother Zhang also died in the seventh year of Zhengtong.
There is a stone tablet on the wall behind the Vajra Yanshou Pagoda, which is the aforementioned Jin Wanyan Yungong Burning Incense and Worshiping Buddha Poster, which was honorably produced by the great monk Chongyu Zen Master of Tanzhe Temple for 800 years. Because it is behind the pagoda, and the pagoda is fenced off, so I didn't see the real face of the monument. But even if you see me, you won't know the characters on it, because those characters are weathered, and no one can recognize them. It doesn't matter, the words on this stele are recorded in "Old News under the Sun": "A forest of yellow leaves and thousands of mountains in autumn, a luan stick will accompany you to win the tour. The strange rocks squat on the jade tiger, and the old pine coils lie on the green qiu. Looking down at the end There is a meditation room in the valley, and the waterfall falls quickly down the cliff. It is ridiculous that those who are running around in the world of mortals, how many people rest here for a while."
Go east and pass the Vajra Longevity Pagoda, which is the Ksitigarbha Hall. The Ksitigarbha Hall houses the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and its side walls are also colored woodcuts, which are very beautiful. Take a look at one of the "Six Paths of Reincarnation".
After watching the Ksitigarbha Temple, I climbed up from its side and ran in the world of mortals. In the red dust, you can see the back of the Vajra Longevity Pagoda and the back slope of the Pilu Pavilion roof, including the exquisite ridge kiss. Walking on the mountain to Tanzhe Temple West Road, there are three halls side by side. In the middle is a large one, Guanyin Hall.
The Guanyin Hall is three rooms wide and two rooms deep. The top is a structure of bucket arches and beams, with yellow glazed tiles and a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain, and five ridged beasts. Below is a foot-high white stone platform, on which there is a circle of white marble handrails. Because there is no eaves porch, eaves poles were added at the four corners. Under the eaves hung a plaque of "Lotus World Cihang", inscribed by Qianlong. On the niche in the middle of the hall is a statue of Avalokitesvara with a golden body and a clay body. There must be a good fortune boy and a dragon girl standing beside him. There are several colored woodcuts hanging on the walls on both sides, which are the story of fifty-three ginseng, a boy of good fortune. This story is also told in the Huayan Sutra. It is said that after listening to the teachings of Manjusri Bodhisattva, the boy of good fortune is going to pay homage to the wise men in the world and cultivate the way of Bodhisattva. He walked all the way, met fifty-three masters, and even attended Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Finally, he was enlightened by Guanyin Bodhisattva in Luojia Mountain and stayed with Bodhisattva.
To the left of Guanyin Hall is the slightly smaller Manjusri Hall.
On the right is the slightly smaller Puxian Hall.
There is also a temple to the west of these three halls, the Dragon King Hall.
It is said that there should be a statue of the Dragon King in the Dragon King Temple, but it does not exist here, and it may have existed before. The most amazing thing about the Dragon King Hall is the stone fish hanging on the west side of the front porch.
This is not a fish fossil, but a fish stone carving. This stone is very special, it looks like ebony, but it has the sound of gold and jade when struck. Some people say that this stone comes from the sky, so it is a meteorite. It was tested for copper. This is one of the treasures of Tanzhe Temple. It is said that as long as you are sincere, touching the stone fish can cure all diseases. In the past, sick people often came to Tanzhe Temple to touch stone fish, but now they are not allowed to touch them, even if they are sick or not. I don't know if the hospital made comments, which affected their business.
Go down the steps from the Dragon King Hall, and there is a building on the west side of the Sansheng Hall, which is also a large courtyard.
Facing the north and south of the courtyard is the Guangshan Precept Altar.
I stood at the door and watched.
The precept altar is a three-story white marble xumizuo with Buddha statues on it. There is not much space on the ring platform, and it is quite crowded even if the three certificates and seven masters have to sit down. This precept altar is not as big as the precept altar of Jietai Temple next door, but because Tanzhe Temple is a large temple, monks and bhikkhu precepts can also be given here, which can be regarded as a great precept. There is a copper censer hidden behind the Jietan Hall, which is very high-grade. I don’t know why it is hidden behind the hall.
There are also some small houses in this yard.
In the middle of the courtyard is the most important Shurangama Altar.
This is an octagonal pavilion with double eaves, with octagons on the bottom and a round spire on the top, gilt-covered bowl ridge brake, yellow glazed tiles and green trimmed roof. There are doors in the east, west, north, and south, and the other sides are sills, walls, sills and windows, with partition doors and partition windows, and three intersections and six bowls of lattice flowers. The Shurangama Altar sits on a two-foot-high white stone platform with white marble handrails around it. Look at the structure under the eaves.
This kind of architectural form with a circle on the bottom is called "an umbrella" among the people. This Shurangama Altar was built during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty. Due to a long period of disrepair, it was dropped for protection in the 1970s. It was rebuilt as it was in 2013. It looks very new, and it must have been heavily oiled in the past two years.
The altar is the place where eminent monks lecture. The round hall is called the altar, and the square hall is called the hall. The Shurangama Altar is a special place where eminent monks of Tanzhe Temple lecture on the Shurangama Sutra, and the Shurangama Sutra is recited every morning in the temple. "The Shurangama Sutra" is the great law of Buddhism, and it is compulsory for all sects of Sutra and Misery.
Go in and have a look.
There is also an inner room in the room, and in the middle is a painted woodcut statue of Sakyamuni. In a dull blue tone, the warm-colored Buddha statues and canopies are very eye-catching and extremely beautiful. Look up at the structure above.
Multi-layer four-column lifting beams, one column rotates on each floor, and rises staggeredly, which is a bit similar to Douba caisson. I can't say well about this kind of beam structure, anyway, it looks dazzling. The canopy had some kind of light, and it looked very bright in the dark room. This Shurangama Altar is very beautiful both inside and outside, and it is now a must-see item in Tanzhe Temple.
Facing the south and north of the courtyard is the Zhantan Hall, which houses a Zhantan Buddha statue.
Legend has it that the Zhantan Buddha statue was the first woodcut statue of Sakyamuni when he was alive. Because the sculptor carved it according to the reflection of Sakyamuni on the water, there are water ripples on his body. Buddha statues of this style have been handed down, but they are very rare, because sandalwood is very rare. I have seen a Zhantan Temple on the top of Dailuo Mountain in Wutai Mountain, in which there is a statue of Zhantan Buddha with water ripples. This sandalwood Buddha statue in Tanzhe Temple has no water ripples, so it is called Amitabha Buddha statue in the temple. Zhantan is also called white sandalwood. The Lama Temple Buddha Statue is carved from a whole piece of white sandalwood. It is very precious and holds the Guinness Book of Records. The Lama Temple Buddha is a woodcut golden statue of Maitreya Buddha, not a water-rippled sandalwood statue.
In Tanzhe Temple, apart from the Heavenly King Hall and Daxiong Hall formatted in the middle road, these buildings in this courtyard are very important, including the Shurangama Altar in the middle, the Zhantan Hall in the south, and the Jie Altar in the north. Because of this courtyard, Tanzhe Temple is more complete than most temples, making it the most important Han Buddhist temple in Beijing.
There are also some caves on the mountains around Tanzhe Temple, and the caves are full of Guanyin statues, so they are called Guanyin Caves, and they have everything. In order to save energy, I stayed until lunch time, and didn't go to those holes. Monasteries with a long history will have tomb towers of eminent monks. When there are many eminent monks, the towers will become forests. Tanzhe Temple also has a forest of pagodas. It is said that there are more than 70 pagodas. I did not visit them for the same reason as above.
After visiting the temple, there are fellow villagers on the side of the road who have set up lunch for sale. When I went up to inquire, they were all vegetarian dumplings, which was not my favorite. I went down the mountain to find a village-level restaurant to eat village food, and I ate meat. Many years ago, I also ate at a farm here. My sister-in-law really went to the village and bought a chicken. The hostess was very sorry to say that there was no old hen, just a reed chicken, and then made us a big bowl of stewed chicken with mushrooms in a pressure cooker. That meal was really good and impressive. Even if you are full from this farm meal today, you will forget to eat it three days later. After the meal, I burped three times, drank the pot of coffee I brought with me, and went home.
