Which temple is the largest in Shenyang City? There is no doubt that it belongs to "Ci'en Temple". He is known as the " Ten Directions Jungle " in the Northeast. Together with Yingkou , Lingyan Temple , Jile Temple in Harbin, and Prajna Temple in Changchun, it is collectively known as the four major Buddhist temples in Northeast China. At the same time, the Liaoning Buddhist Association was also established here.
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Ci'en Temple was built in in the first year of Chongzhen , that is, in 1628, and was founded by the monk Huiqing. Qing Shunzhi , Qing Daoguang and the Republic of China were all rebuilt and expanded. Let us walk into this ancient temple with a history of nearly 400 years together and learn some stories about him from another perspective.
The predecessor of Ci'en Temple can be traced back to Tang Dynasty . In ancient times, Shenyang was a place that must be fought for by military strategists. After repeated looting of war, the temple has been several times prospered. The history of its predecessor has long been submerged in the long river of history and cannot be verified. Later Jin The second year of Tiancong, in the first year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the monk Huiqing came here to rebuild the ancient temple. Due to many factors such as funds, the main hall, Weituo Hall and the north and south corridors were not built until the first year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1644). Although the temple was built, the incense was not prosperous and gradually became desolate and dilapidated.
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In the fifth year of Shunzhi, in the early summer of 1648, an exiled monk from Beijing was escorted from Beijing. His Dharma name was Hanke, whose courtesy name was Zuxin and his pseudonym was Zuren. He was the most accomplished monk in Ci'en Temple. The monk left the people was originally a famous scholar in Jiangnan, with a common surname Han, from Boluo, Guangdong, and was the son of Han and Japanese-Zhang, the Minister of Rites in the late Ming Dynasty. He became a scholar in his early years. At the age of 29, he saw through the world because he witnessed his father's death. He became a monk in Luofu Mountain and began to devote himself to practicing Buddhism.
That year, the remaining monk was sent to Nanjing to print scriptures. Just as the Qing army headed south, the soldiers were in chaos and life was in trouble. The heartbroken monk wrote quickly and wrote the book "Revised Changes". The book records the tragic situation of the Qing army's invasion of Nanjing's burning, killing, and looting, as well as the ugly situation of those who once acted as a mighty and powerful official officials and nobles either fled or surrendered. When the scriptures were printed and were about to go out of the city to return to the temple, the "Re-Change Record" mixed in the scriptures was found by the Qing soldiers and reported to the court. After Emperor Shunzhi saw this book, he originally intended to execute the monk left. However, considering that he was a monk, he demoted the monk left to Ci'en Temple in Shengjing (Shenyang) to express his compassion. The monk left became the first person to be trapped in the Qing Dynasty's literary inquisition. But this also made the most wonderful story in Ci'en Temple in hundreds of years later.
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After the monk arrived in Shengjing (Shenyang), he began to spread Buddhism widely. In the originally desolate and dilapidated Ci'en Temple, there were more and more pilgrims, and the incense became more and more prosperous. According to legend, one year, the sun was scorching from spring to summer, and there was no rain in the drought. Plagues were everywhere inside and outside the city, and the death toll was numerous. The streets and alleys were wailing everywhere. The monks were compassionate and took the risk of leading the monks from all over the temple to the suburbs to pick herbs, boiled them into decoctions and delivered them to them from door to door, persuading the people of the group to drink. This kind of good deed has also made many patients infected with the plague safe. The remaining monks have also received high praise among the people!
In addition, the monks of the leftover are not only profound in Buddhism, but also a figure of the originator of the Black Soil Culture in Northeast China. He is talented in poetry and songs and some literati and scholars in Shengjing (Shenyang) organized a "Bingtian Poetry Society" in the seventh year of Shunzhi. This is the earliest literary group in Shenyang and the largest cultural organization in Northeast China at that time. In the long history of the Black Soil Culture in Northeast China, it is definitely the most brilliant one.
The remaining monk with profound Buddhist teachings and literary talent has preached and taught Buddhism in many temples in Shengjing (Shenyang). Therefore, he has a high reputation among the people and the Buddhist community and is regarded as the founder of Buddhism in Liaoshen region. However, in the 16th year of Shunzhi (1660), the 49-year-old monk completed his mission and passed away in Shenyang.The believers of the monk Leftover Monk moved his body to Qianshan, which the monk yearned for, and built the Zen Master Pagoda on the western foot of Yingluo Peak, and edited his poems into "The Collection of Poems of Thousand Mountains" and "Quotes of Zen Master Leftover" and published them into a book. After the monk left the world passed away, Ci'en Temple gradually lost its past glory. Later, due to years of disrepair, it was finally obscured by history and gradually became deserted. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the temple was almost deserted and there were few monks.
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1912, this ancient temple that has experienced many vicissitudes has welcomed an important figure, Monk Bu Zhen. At that time, Ci'en Temple was only left with a dilapidated small temple ruins. The land around the temple had become an orchard and vegetable garden for farmers. In order to recreate the past style of Ci'en Temple, Monk Bu Zhen vowed to rebuild and restore the temple. So, Monk Bu Zhen, wearing an patchwork garment and a cloth bag, began to run around for more than ten years. In the end, the emperor paid off and raised funds to redeem the land of the farmers. On this old site, the Heavenly King Hall, the Bell and Drum Tower, the Zen Hall, the Buddhist chanting hall, the side hall, the West Gate, the Bichu Altar, etc. were built. The Main Hall was finally built in 1930. At this point, Monk Bu Zhen spent nearly twenty years to finally complete the construction of Ci'en Temple.
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During the special period of the "Cultural Revolution", Ci'en Temple did not escape this disaster safely. The Buddha statues in the temple were destroyed, cultural relics were destroyed, magical tools were lost, and monks were forced to return to secular life. The Central Plains of the Sutra Building contains 1,600 volumes of the "Three Treasures" classics from two extremely precious dynasties in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and have also been destroyed to varying degrees or even lost.
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1979, the Shenyang government implemented the party's religious policy, causing monks scattered from all over the country to return to the temple one after another, and the municipal government renovated Ci'en Temple. The lost scriptures have been re-copied and the damaged parts have been repaired. The religious activities of the temple resumed, and cigarettes were stormy and believers gathered. The newly renovated temple faces west and east, covering an area of about 12,000 square meters. The front of the main building is the mountain gate, and the second floor of bells and drums on both sides of the entrance are. The temple's buildings are divided into three-story courtyards. The front floor is the Heavenly King Hall, and the three main halls are enshrined in statues of the Four Heavenly Kings, Maitreya Bodhisattva , and Weituo Bodhisattva . The middle floor is the Main Hall and the five main halls enshrined the master Shakyamuni Buddha, the Medicine Buddha Glazed Light Buddha, and the Western Paradise Amitabha Buddha. And Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva , Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva , Manjushri Bodhisattva , Samantabhadra Bodhisattva 4 great Bodhisattvas who have a cause and effect on the Saha world. Further down there are the Altar of the Bhikkhu and the Sutra Tower.
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Ci'en Temple is now a symbol of Shenyang City. It carries the history of Shenyang, shows the present of Shenyang, and protects the future of Shenyang!
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