Traditional Color Art of Datong Ancient Buildings

When I came to Datong, besides visiting the famous Yungang Grottoes, another famous historical site that Zhang Ji wanted to explore was Huayan Temple, which was built in Liao and Jin Dynasties. Its allusion is: it is named after the Mahayana doctrine that "the flower of compassion must bear solemn fruit" according to the Buddhist sutra Huayan Jing.

Knowing the decline of Huayan Temple, the restoration and reconstruction is due to the works of Liang Sicheng, a famous ancient architecture expert. As early as 1930s, Mr. Liang Sicheng, Mr. Lin and Mr. Mo came to Datong by train from Beiping to inspect ancient buildings. The first stop is Huayan Temple. Mr. Liang's "Report on the Investigation of Ancient Buildings in Datong" said: "The site of ancient Yanmen in Datong is Pingcheng in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the residence of Taoist Emperor Wu. Today, Emperor Xiaowen has moved south to Luoyang, and has been one of the Buddhist art centers in the Southern and Northern Dynasties for more than 90 years ... Fansi is famous for its blue name, and there are two temples, Huayan Huashan, which are famous far and near. "

In other words, without Mr. Liang's on-the-spot investigation and a large number of precious materials left behind, Datong ancient city could not be rebuilt and Huayan Temple could not be restored to its original appearance. Shanxi people are grateful and built Liang Sicheng Memorial Hall in Datong.

Huayan Temple, located in the southwest corner of the ancient city, covers an area of more than 60,000 square meters. It was a large-scale temple complex in Liao and Jin dynasties, and it was prominent because of its nature as a royal ancestral temple in Liao countries. 196 1 was listed as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in China.

In early autumn, Zhang Ji stopped at Huayan Temple to observe and feel the royal momentum. On the side of the broad square in front of the temple, the archway stands tall, the antique streets and alleys are novel and strange, and the shops in the streets and alleys are full of retro flavor, just like attracting tourists or pilgrims to travel back to ancient times. Looking at it carefully, I am happy and understand the kindness and intelligence of Datong cultural people: if you want to go to Huayan Temple, you must "warm up" in front of the temple.

During the Liao and Jin Dynasties, Datong (Gu Ping) was a different capital. Huayan Temple in Pingcheng, built in the eighth year of Liao and Qing Dynasties (1062), is a stone statue and bronze statue of emperors in Feng 'an. At the end of Liao Dynasty, due to the war, some temple buildings were destroyed, and Jintianjuan was rebuilt in three years (1 140). The whole temple sits west to east, and more than 30 single buildings, such as Shanmen, Puguang Mingtang, Mahayana Hall, Boccaccio Hall and Huayan Pagoda, are arranged on the north-south main axis respectively, with strict layout.

Repeatedly built and destroyed, repeatedly destroyed and repeatedly built. Huayan Temple was seriously damaged in the war at the end of Yuan Dynasty. Rebuilt in the early Ming Dynasty, Huayan Temple was divided into two parts, becoming Upper Huayan Temple and Lower Huayan Temple; Five years of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty was another war. Only the Hall of Ursa Major and the Tibetan Hall of Boccaccio survived. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Huayan Temple was riddled with holes and desolate.

Huayan Temple in Zhihua has been divided into two parts since the Ming Dynasty. Go to Puguang Temple first, and then to Huayan Temple.

Puguang Temple is resplendent and magnificent, and the couplet in front of it is quite Zen: "The world has never been rich and magnificent, so let's talk about it here. Life is bustling, and fame and fortune have been hard to let go since ancient times. " The main hall is seven rooms wide, with double eaves resting on the top of the mountain, and there is a treasure in the front. The statues, murals and caissons in the temple were all copied and rebuilt according to the characteristics of the Liao and Jin Dynasties in the early years.

The Lower Huayan Temple, centered on the Bhagavad-gita Tibetan Hall, has buildings such as statues of the Liao Dynasty, Shijing Building, Pavilion-style Tibetan Scripture Pavilion and Tiangong Pavilion. The main hall is the Tibetan temple of the Bhagavad-gita, which means the Tibetan temple of Buddhism. Five rooms are wide and four rooms are deep, with a single eaves and nine ridges. At both ends of the ridge, there are glazed kisses as high as 3 meters. The roof slope is gentle, the eaves are far-reaching, simple and elegant.

There are 29 painted sculptures of the Liao Dynasty on the Buddhist altar, and the original image in the north is the past Buddha, that is, the burning Buddha, threatening two disciples and four bodhisattvas; In the central part, Buddha Sakyamuni is the deity, threatening to serve two disciples and four bodhisattvas; The southern deity is the future Buddha Maitreya, and six bodhisattvas are threatened; There are four buddhas sitting in front of the three Buddha statues, namely Guanyin, Manjusri, Pu Xian and Dizang from north to south.

Around the Bhagavan Temple, there are two-story pavilion-style sutra depository with 38 rooms. There are five wooden pavilions at the rear window, which are connected by arch bridges, and the upper parts of the left and right walls are connected by arch bridges on both sides. The wall is divided into two floors, the lower floor has a door and a cabinet inside. It is said that there are more than 1.700 letters and 1.800 volumes of Tibetan scriptures in Ming and Qing dynasties in this Buddhist scripture pavilion, among which 1.700 volumes of Buddhist scriptures were carved between Yongle and Wanli in Ming Dynasty, and the leather books of Buddhist scriptures were mounted with silk cotton, which is the top grade of Buddhist scriptures. I don't know the truth because I didn't have a chance to see it.

I know that the stupa here was restored and built according to the records of Liao history. It is the second largest square wooden pagoda with pure wooden tenon and mortise structure in China after Yingxian wooden pagoda. It is 43 meters high, with a golden plate at the top and a lotus pond at the bottom. The pagoda is composed of statues of Sakyamuni Buddha, Guanyin Bodhisattva and Jiao Jiao Bodhisattva carved in sandalwood. There is nearly 500 square meters of Thousand Buddha Underground Palace under the tower, which is made of 100 tons of pure copper and contains relics and more than a thousand Buddha statues.

The Upper Huayan Temple, centered on the Hall of the Great Hero, is divided into two halls: the mountain gate, the crossing hall, the Guanyin Pavilion, the Tibetan Pavilion and the hatchback corridor. The layout is rigorous and patchwork.

Daxiong Hall is one of the largest Buddhist temples in Liao and Jin Dynasties. There are stone steps on the front of the platform in front of the temple, surrounded by goulan, and the hexagonal bell and drum tower built in Ming Dynasty is on the left and right. The main hall faces east, with nine rooms wide and five rooms deep. There are three wooden doors on the front eaves of the temple, all of which are single eaves of pot doors. The glazed kiss on the main ridge is very large and consists of eight glazed components. It is said that the northern kiss is the original of the Jin Dynasty and the southern kiss is the Ming Dynasty. It is the largest glazed kissing beast in ancient buildings in China.

There are three statues of Five Dhyani Buddhas in the center of the hall, which were put here after being carved in Beijing in the second year of Ming Xuande. The Buddha's face is flat, the bun is inlaid with pearls, and the court stands on both sides for twenty days, with different postures.

The four walls of the temple are covered with 2 1 giant murals, which are said to have been painted during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. The picture is 6.4m high and136.8m long, depicting more than 5,000 people. Its contents are all Buddhist stories, such as "Seven Places and Nine Meetings" Buddhist stories, auspicious boy pictures, Fa Chuan pictures, thousands of hands and eyes 1 1 Guanyin pictures, Hua Yan San Sheng, Shui Yue Guanyin pictures, Luohan pictures and so on. All covered with gold, colorful, exquisite and well preserved.

You can look around on the platform when you are out of the Hall of Ursa Major. The main hall of Huayan Temple is solemn, the tower is arched, and the overall layout is really solemn and elegant.

Entering the bell tower, we are close to the drum tower, and all the doors are closed. Zhang Ji looked stupidly: If you are in a temple, if you can meet Buddhist events and courses in the temple, or if you can listen to the twilight drums and morning bells, your secular heart will be close to the Buddha.