Brief introduction of Monroe Buddhist temple culture

Almost all Dai people in Xishuangbanna believe in Buddhism, which spread from the south to the throne. Buddhism first spread from India to the south, then to Sri Lanka, and then to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, China, Yunnan, Dai and other Southeast Asian regions, belonging to Southern Buddhism, also known as Hinayana Buddhism. Hinayana Buddhism is also called Pali Buddhism because Pali is a classic language. The schools of Hinayana Buddhism are divided into four schools: the popular department, the seating department, the inclusive department and the accurate department. Seats are very popular in southern India and East India; Everything is said in northwest, central and west India; Positive quantity department is popular in West India and South India. It is said that everything has spread to Sumatra and Java, and the positive part also exists in central Vietnam.

The basic teachings and theories of Hinayana Buddhism: "Four truths" (bitter truths, gathering truths, destroying truths and Tao truths) are the basic theories of Buddhism. Buddhism believes that life has experienced eight hardships, such as birth, old age, illness and death. It advocates self-liberation, seclusion and practice, and finally achieves nirvana. It is expected that through the pursuit of good karma, good karma will be accumulated and good results will be obtained in the afterlife. According to the Hinayana doctrine, there are two laws that cannot be violated, one is Buddhism, and the other is kingly law. Therefore, Hinayana religion is closely related to the political rulers in its spreading areas, which makes the spread of this religion have two characteristics: first, it spreads from top to bottom, and religion is strongly advocated and supported by the ruling forces; Second, it is universal in the field of communication and has a profound and tremendous impact on people's politics, economy and culture.

Buddhist monks at the top of Xishuangbanna: Buddhist monks at the top of Xishuangbanna are mainly divided into three grades: "Pa" (Misha), "Du" (Bhikkhu) and "Sabah" (Du Tong elder or elder). After the age of seven or eight, the man was sent by his parents to the Buddhist temple to learn from the scriptures and prepare for "pa", which is called "Keyong" in Dai language; After preparing several sets of classics that the Ba society requires to learn, please hire a good master and choose a good day to get a haircut and become a monk, called Ba. When "Pa" reached the age of 20, his level of Buddhism had been greatly improved, and he didn't want to return to the secular world. Upon application and with the consent of the abbot of the central Buddhist temple, I can be promoted to "Du". At the age of 30, "Du" wanted to become a monk all his life, with profound Buddhist attainments. After my application, I got the approval from the General Buddhist Temple in Xishuangbanna, the call leader at that time or the General Buddhist Temple in Meng and the Chief Tusi in Meng.

There are many kinds of angular pagodas with dense eaves. These towers are basically made of bricks, painted with lime and paint, and most of them are solid. There is a shrine in each small tower, and a mud phoenix is flying in the air. Ba. "Dai Buddhist architecture in Xishuangbanna: Hundreds of years ago, Hinayana Buddhism was introduced into Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, and became a religion believed by Dai people. Buddhist temple buildings can be seen everywhere here, almost every village has Buddhist temples, and some Buddhist temples have pagodas next to them. Buddhist temples and pagodas have become the center of Dai people's life, temples in the eyes of the world, and Buddhist architectural art has also become valuable cultural and artistic wealth of Dai people.

The Dai Buddhist temple in Xishuangbanna is mainly built with double eaves and sloping flat tiles. Buddhist temples are mostly square, facing east from east to west, and the roof slope consists of three floors. The nave is high, and the east and west sides are staggered in descending order. The roof adopts rectangular tiles, and the tail of the tiles is hooked on the flat bamboo rafters. The ridge between the main ridge of the roof and the eaves is smoothed with lime and decorated with various tiles. The tiles on the main ridge are flame-shaped, and most of the first ends of the ridge have the image of a phoenix, which is unique. Each Buddhist temple consists of three parts: the Buddha's seat, the monk's seat and the platform. Most of the statues of Sakyamuni on the base of the Buddha statue are sitting statues. Buddha's ears are very strange, big and wide, and they are "

The entrance pavilion next to or near the Buddhist temple to enter the stupa is also unique. On one side of a double-eave herringbone roof, a roof is built at right angles and connected together to form a door pavilion. There are only pillars under the eaves, but no walls, extending in all directions for people to enter and leave. Although it is a replicated building, it shows the special architectural style of the Dai people because of its ingenious layout. From this, we can see the remarkable characteristics of Dai architecture. In other words, these buildings have no columns embedded in the wall. Most of them have stupas. The pagodas mainly include: Myanmar bell tower, pavilion tower, Taj Mahal tower and octagonal tower with dense eaves. These towers are basically made of bricks, painted with lime and paint, and most of them are solid. Manfeilong Pagoda in Jinghong City belongs to King Kong Pagoda in Thailand. This stupa has sprung up like mushrooms after rain, designed by three Indian Buddhist missionaries and built by Dai leaders. It was built in a.d. 1204, and it has been 800 years since then. The tower foundation is plum blossom-shaped, with a circumference of 42.6 meters. The main tower is 16.29 m high, and there are eight small towers around it, with a height of 9. 1 m and octagonal distribution. The tower is multi-layered gourd-shaped. There is a shrine in each small tower, and a mud phoenix is flying in the air. The whole tower is flawless and beautiful. It is a national key cultural relics protection unit and a tourist attraction for people.