The house is as big as a royal mansion, especially the back garden of the home, with pavilions, towers, strange flowers and plants, small bridges, flowing water, green pines and cypresses. The rich man Huang and Lao Xiang really like to play and rest in this garden.

Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, there is a legend about its origin.

Legend When the Tang Dynasty was , there was a rich man named Huang Shougong in the city of Quanzhou . His family has a wealthy family and hundreds of hectares of fertile land. The house is as big as a royal mansion, especially the back garden of the home, with pavilions, towers, strange flowers and plants, small bridges, flowing water, green pines and cypresses. The rich man Huang and Lao Xiang really like to play and rest in this garden.

That night, Huang Shougong was enjoying the cool air in the garden. The breeze was soothing and he fell asleep unknowingly. While he was in a panic, he heard the sound of wooden fish coming from outside the garden, and kept ringing. Then he walked out of the back garden and saw that it was a monk. He asked, "Master, why do you always knock on wooden fish outside my garden?" The monk put his palms together and replied, "Donor, I am here to beg for alms."

So that's it. Huang Shougong was a devout Buddhist scholar. He hurriedly asked the servants around him to take out a bucket of rice and a string of money. But the monk waved his hand and said, "If you don't convert rice, don't convert money, can you build a temple with one piece of land?" Huang Shougong said, "Master, you can give me land, but I wonder which piece of land your master has taken care of?" The monk smiled and said, "Just transform your garden, how about it?"

At this time, Huang Shougong was in a difficult situation. If he wanted to present this garden, he would feel sorry for him! "Master, why do you have to have my garden?" "I see that there is always purple air lingering in the sky above your garden, which is a treasure land. If the donor dedicates it to build a Buddhist temple, it will be of great merit!" Huang Shougong thought for a while and said, "Master said there is purple air, but I can't see it. If you can make the mulberry tree in this garden bloom, and you can touch and see it, I will definitely believe you."

Huang Shougong thought to himself that the mulberry tree can only grow mulberry leaves and , and it is impossible to bloom lotus, so there is no need to give it to the garden. The monk smiled and said, "Donor, as long as you are sincere, the mulberry trees can bloom lotus. You can't regret it when the time comes!" After that, the monk knocked on the wooden fish and left.

Huang Shougong woke up and realized that he had a dream. I didn't take it seriously even after I smiled. Two days passed like this, early on the third morning, before Huang Shougong got up, the servants came to report that the mulberry trees in the garden were blooming. Huang Shougong ran to the garden without even wearing his shoes. Sure enough, he saw snow-white lotus flowers blooming from the mulberry trees, and a quiet fragrance wafting out. At this moment, the monk in his dream knocked on the wooden fish and walked into the garden, looking at Huang Shougong with a smile. Now that things have come, Huang Shougong can no longer refuse, "How big does the land does Master need?"

"It's not small, don't be big, the size of the robe is enough!" The monk patted the robe on his body and said. (Note this scene. When the Great Sage Bodhisattva borrowed Wolf Mountain, Jigong monk begged for alms and built a temple, this was also said. It seems that this robes are really useful!) Huang Shougong looked at the cracked robes on his body, which were short and narrow, and thought to himself: How big can this robes be with the broken robes? I’m afraid it’s not enough to build a land temple. What’s wrong with him this small piece of land? He can also get the reputation of being happy and kind. He agreed. (I don’t know that there is a heaven outside the sky, and there are people outside the sky. I don’t know whether the robes are as big or small as golden cudgels)

But when the monk saw him take off his robes and throw them into the air, the Buddha’s name sounded, and the robes floated upwards with the wind, and slowly became larger and fell down, covering the entire garden. This was the Kaiyuan Temple later.

Because it is said that there is often purple air swaying before the construction of Kaiyuan Temple, its main hall is also called "Purple Cloud Hall"; and because of the story of this mulberry tree blooming white lotus, it is also called "Mulberry Lotus Dharma Realm". ! In a thunderstorm in 1925, the mulberry tree was struck by lightning and lightning, one of which fell to the ground. The monks in the temple held up the branches with granite and engraved a couplet "Compare the green leaves and hang down for two years, so that the branches should not be damaged to the whole sky." The branches survived magically, with lush branches and leaves blooming youthful. Until today, the old mulberry tree divided into three is still alive, with branches extending to the north, east and south, like a blooming lotus.If you have the chance, you might as well go and take a look. Maybe you can really see the wonderful auspicious image of "Mulberry Blossoms" when you have a chance.

Kaiyuan Temple is located in West Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. It is the largest Buddhist temple in Fujian Province. It was reviewed and approved at of the 44th World Heritage Conference in , and was successfully included in the "World Cultural Heritage List" and became the 56th World Heritage Site in China. The temple was first built in 686 in the early Tang Dynasty and was originally named Lotus Temple. During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty (738), the imperial court ordered each state in the world to build a temple, and it was named after the year name, so it was renamed Kaiyuan Temple and has been used to this day. Due to repeated changes in dynasties, most of the existing major buildings were built in the Ming and Qing dynasties, covering an area of ​​78,000 square meters. In the temple, there are the Heavenly King Hall, the Temple of the Courtyard, the Main Hall, the platform, the Ganlu Jiefu, the Master Hongyi Memorial Hall, , Zang Jing Pavilion, Merit Hall, Zunsheng Courtyard, Shuilu Temple, Zhenguo Pagoda , Renshou Pagoda , and the Tanyue Temple rebuilt for the Jialan Temple to commemorate the donor Huang Shougong. etc., build a magnificent and magnificent.

Kaiyuan Temple is combined with the Heavenly King Hall. The existing building was built in the 14th year of the Republic of China (1925). The stone pillars in the hall are shuttle pillars, and a wooden couplet is hung on the stone pillars, "This place was called the Buddha's Kingdom in ancient times, and the streets are full of saints." This couplet was written by the Southern Song Dynasty

The temple is the earliest and only preserved bell tower built in China. The bell tower is square in the plane, a single-eaves hip-mounted two-story pavilion, a large wooden structure on the bottom floor, a column net layout, and a bracket configuration are all Tang Dynasty architectural techniques. The bell tower is hung with a large Tang Dynasty bell, which is 2.9 meters high, a diameter of 1.56 meters, a thickness of 15 cm, and a simple shape.

"Sumere Pagoda " was built in the tenth year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty. It has a brick and stone structure with a dense eaves of nine-story square tower, with a simple form, steady and dignified appearance, showing the majesty of the Tang Tower. There is a stone gate in the middle of the first floor of the Sumeru Tower, and a stone gate is embedded at the top of the door lintel, with the four words "Sumeru stands sharply". The front is full of small square windows, and each eaves are stacked and picked out. The eaves are Fengduo . The top of the tower is a metal tower brake

Kuao Hall, also known as Ziyun Hall, is the main building of Kaiyuan Temple. The Great Hall was built in the second year of Chuigong in the Tang Dynasty (686) and has been affected by the Tang, Southern Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. The existing buildings are relics of the tenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1637). The main hall has nine rooms wide and six rooms deep. It has a construction area of ​​1,338 square meters, a double-eaved hip-top, and a height of 20 meters. The four words "Sanglian Dharma Realm" are written on the horizontal plaque under the double eaves of the front eaves. The hall is made of columns, with a total of 86 large stone pillars, supporting a wooden frame with a beam-type support, known as the "Hundred Column Hall". There are twenty-four "Flying Musicians" carved on the Douzhu, which combines Buddhist wonderful sound birds, Christian angels and Chinese flying celestials shapes, and are exquisitely carved.

The imperially-given Buddha statue Vairocana Buddha is worshipped in the middle of the hall. It is translated as , the Tathagata in Chinese, and is the highest deity of Buddhist Tantric Buddhism. On both sides are the four great Buddhas that were shaped by the King of Shenji during the Hall of the Five Dynasties of . They are the Oriental Fragrance World Agua Buddha, the Southern Happy World is the Buddha of Treasure Life, the Western Pure Land Amitabha Buddha, and the North Lotus World Achievement Buddha, collectively known as " Five-Direction Buddha ", also known as " Five Wisdom Tathagata ". These five great Buddhas are shining with golden light, with clear clothes, kind appearance, and solemn appearance. They use their hands to make seals of preaching, giving, guiding, and meditation. The craftsmanship is exquisite and amazing. The five Buddhas are hosted by Manjushri , Samantabhadra , Ananda , Kasyapa , as well as Guanyin, Shizhi, Weituo , Guanyu , Brahma King , Indra, and other 10 gods and guardian gods. In the middle behind the main hall are one of the Six Guanyins of Tantric Buddhism (Millennium Guanyin, Saint Guanyin, Horse-head Guanyin, Eleven-side Guanyin , Cunti Guanyin, Ruyi Wheel Guanyin ), as well as Shancai, Dragon Girl , and Eighteen Arhats with different expressions on both wings.

Kaiyuan Temple has different abbots from all generations of refuge, Dharma Xiang Sect , Vinaya Sect, Pure Land Sect, Tantric Sect, Zen Sect, etc., but the main hall can always maintain the system of Tantric Sect, which is very rare and rare in the mainland, where Han Buddhism is the main one.

0 The nectar altar behind the Great Hall of the Great Dew was said to have often descended from here during the Tang Dynasty, and a monk named Xingzhao dug a nectar well here. The third year of Tianxi (1019), an altar was built on the well, and it was called the Ganlu Jie Altar. It was rebuilt in the late Ming Dynasty, with a double-eaved octagonal spire, surrounded by corridors, covering an area of ​​645 square meters. There are five levels of the altar, and the highest level is dedicated to the wooden sculpture of the Buddha in the Ming Dynasty Lushenara . There are 64 various gods that protect the Three Refuges and Five Precepts around the waist of the altar. Kaiyuan Temple Ganlu Jietan is known as the three major Jietans in China, along with Beijing Jietai Temple and Hangzhou Zhaoqing Temple.

There is a tower on the east and west sides of Kaiyuan Temple, which is in a "pin" shape with the Main Hall. Both towers are imitated wooden octagonal five-story pavilion-style stone towers.

East is the "Zhenguo Tower". It was built in the sixth year of Xiantong in the Tang Dynasty (865). It was initially built into a five-story wooden tower. Later, due to several destructions and remodeling, the wooden structure was changed to a brick structure, with a total of seven levels. Today's stone pagoda was rebuilt during the Southern Song Dynasty and is 48.24 meters high. It was selected as the Chinese Four Famous Towers in 1997 and can be called the king of stone towers.

is the "Renshou Pagoda" in the west. It was built in the second year of Zhenming, Liang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties (916). It was initially a seventh-level wooden pagoda. It was later destroyed and rebuilt many times. Yi wood is a brick. Today, the stone pagoda was rebuilt by the Southern Song Dynasty. It is 44.06 meters high, slightly lower than the eastern pagoda. Its scale is almost the same as the eastern pagoda. Kaiyuan Temple Twin Pagodas is the highest pair of stone pagodas in China. It has remained strong after the test of Quanzhou 8-magnitude earthquake during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and the test of many typhoon .

on both sides of the central axis of Kaiyuan Temple, there are also some buildings: the descendants of Huang's Wu'an ( Nan'an , Hui'an , Tong'an, Anxi , Zhao'an ) and the overseas Ziyun family are all proud of this. There is a Cundi Zen Forest commonly known as "Little Kaiyuan Temple", which originally worships Cundi Bodhisattva , which is Tiantai Sect ; there is Zunsheng Courtyard in the west, and now part of it is the Hongyi Memorial Hall, with a Shuilu Zen Temple for temple monks to live in.

Quanzhou Kaiyuan Temple Stone Pagoda is a treasure of ancient stone structures in my country, and is unique not only in China, but even in the world. "The Buddha's country has been famous for a long time, and the Sanglien is unique in its reputation." Kaiyuan Temple has its unique regulations, long history, magical legends and exquisite buildings, making everyone who has been here linger!

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