On May 25, 2006, Fayu Temple, as an ancient building from the Qing Dynasty, was approved by the State Council to be included in the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. Fayu Temple, also known as Hou Temple, is located on the left side of Baihuading in Putuo Mountain. It is one of the three major temples in Putuo Mountain. Fayu Temple was founded in the eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1580 AD). In the 38th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1699), the main hall was built and a plaque with "Tianhua Fayu" was given, hence its current name. There are 294 existing palaces, covering an area of 8,800 square meters. The whole temple is arranged on a six-story platform, and the entrance is upgraded in order. On the central axis, there is the Heavenly King's Hall in the front, the Jade Buddha Hall in the back, and the Bell and Drum Tower between the two halls. After that, there are Guanyin Hall, Jade Pai Hall, Daxiong Hall, Sutra Library and Abbot Hall. Guanyin Hall is also called the Nine Dragons Hall. The nine dragon carvings are very exquisite and vivid.
Introduction
Huguo Zhenhai Zen Temple and Fayu Temple are one of the three major temples in Putuo Mountain, Zhejiang, also known as the Hou Temple. It was built by monk Dazhi Zhenrong in the eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1580). It was first named Haichao Temple, and later renamed Haichao Temple and Huguo Zhenhai Zen Temple. Fayu Zen Temple, also known as the Back Temple, is located on the left side of the Baihua Peak of Putuo Mountain in Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, at the foot of Guangxi Peak. It is 42.8 kilometers away from Puji Temple. It is one of the three major temples in Putuo.
Fayu Temple covers an area of 33,408 square meters and has 294 existing temples, which are arranged on six floors based on the mountain. The entrance gate is upgraded in sequence, with the Tianwang Hall on the central axis, the Jade Buddha Hall at the back, the Bell and Drum Tower between the two halls, and the Guanyin Hall, the Royal Stele Hall, the Mahavira Hall, the Sutra Storehouse, and the Abbot Hall. Guanyin Hall is also called the Nine Dragon Hall. The Nine Dragons carvings are very exquisite and vivid. The Nine Dragon caisson and some glazed tiles in the Nine Dragon Hall were demolished from the Ming Palace in Nanjing and are known as one of the three treasures of Mount Putuo.
The whole temple is grand and lofty, with an extraordinary atmosphere; the Qianbu Golden Sands not far away is open and comfortable, and the sound of the waves roars day and night;
On May 25, 2006, Fayu Temple, as an ancient building from the Qing Dynasty, was approved by the State Council to be included in the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
Master Yinguang Memorial Hall was established to commemorate Master Yinguang, a modern eminent monk. He devoted himself to writing at Fayu Temple for 40 years. His articles were popular all over the country and he was promoted as the "13th generation founder of Pure Land Sect". In 1983, Fayu Temple was listed by the State Council as one of the first batch of national key temples open to the outside world.
Historical background
Fayu Temple was founded in the eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. Because the springs and rocks were secluded and the thatch was used as a nunnery at that time, it was named "Haichao nunnery" after taking the meaning of "Fahai Chaoyin"; in the 22nd year of Wanli, it was renamed "Haichao nunnery". Temple", also known as "Guo Zhenhai Zen Temple" in the 34th year. Later it was destroyed by war. In the 28th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Puji Temple and Fayu Temple received funds from the court and were built at the same time. Later, Zen Master Mingyi of Fayu Temple went to Fujian alone to raise funds. It lasted three years and used the money raised to build Yuantong Hall. , dedicated to the statue of Guanyin Buddha, and two years later, the Mahavira Hall was built to house the Bodhisattvas.
In the thirty-eighth year of Kangxi (1699), the Qing court granted Jinxiu Temple, repaired the main hall, and gave it the plaques of "Tianhua Fayu" and "Fayu Zen Temple", so it was renamed. During the Tongzhi and Guangxu years, temples were built one after another, becoming a famous temple in the south of the Yangtze River.
In the eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1580), Dazhi, a monk from Macheng, came to Putuo from Western Shu to pay homage to Buddhism. He built a thatched house to live here and named it "Haichao Temple". Later it was changed to "Haichao Temple". In the 34th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1606), the imperial court named it "Guoguo Zhenhai Zen Temple". In the 38th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1699), it was renamed "Fayu Zen Temple" and is still in use today. The main buildings of Fayu Temple are the Tianwang Hall, the Jade Buddha Hall, the Kowloon Guanyin Hall, the Imperial Stele Hall, the Main Hall, and the Abbot Hall. There is also a nursing home in the temple, where elderly monks take care of themselves in their old age. In 1983, Fayu Temple was designated as a national key temple in Han areas.
Architectural Features
When the main hall was built in the 38th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1699), it was given the title of "Fayu from the Sky", so it was renamed Fayu Temple. Nowadays, the temple is huge, including the Tianwang Hall, the Jade Buddha Hall, the Kowloon Guanyin Hall, the Imperial Stele Hall, the Main Hall, the Abbot Hall, and the Master Yinguang Memorial Hall.
Fayu Temple has experienced many fires and pirates, causing inestimable losses. Later, through the efforts of several generations of hosts, continuous restoration and repair work was carried out. All Buddhist statues were destroyed during the "Cultural Revolution".
In 1983, the Putuo Mountain Buddhist Association began a large-scale restoration and rebuilt the prayer building. In 1987, two new nine-dragon walls and two stone scripture buildings were built outside the Tianwang Hall. In 1995, a stone monument was built beside the lotus pond. The palace and pavilions are extraordinary. The current temple is huge, with 194 halls covering an area of 8,800 square meters, arranged on a six-story platform. There are Tianwang Hall, Jade Buddha Hall, Kowloon Guanyin Hall, Royal Stele Hall, Daxiong Hall, Abbot Hall, Master Yinguang Memorial Hall, etc.
Among them, the Kowloon Guanyin Hall is the most splendid. The "Nine Dragon Pan Arch" and other buildings in the hall were moved here from Jinling (Nanjing) Ming Palace Jiulao Hall during the Kangxi period. They are very precious. The hall is divided into 7 rooms and 5 rooms deep. The glazed roof has a nine-dragon caisson in the inner groove, a dragon plate on the top, eight dragon rings and eight pillars flying down, and the glazed lamp in the middle is like a bright pearl, forming a pattern of nine dragons grabbing pearls.
Tour order
Haihui Bridge (Nichiren Pond) - Shanmen ("Tianhua Fayu" inscription, Nine Dragon Wall) - Tianwang Hall - Jade Buddha Hall - Jiulong Hall (Kowloon caisson) - Royal Monument Hall - —Abbott Court
The whole temple is grand and lofty, with an extraordinary atmosphere; the Qianbu Golden Sands not far away is open and comfortable, and the sound of the waves roars day and night; Wang Anshi of the Northern Song Dynasty once praised it as "the trees hold books in autumn, and the bells ring in the waves."
The entrance gate is upgraded in sequence. On the central axis is the Tianwang Hall, followed by the Jade Buddha Hall. Between the two halls is the Bell and Drum Tower, followed by the Guanyin Hall, the Royal Stele Hall, the Mahavira Hall, the Buddhist Sutra Tower, and the Abbot Hall.
Introduction to attractions
Tianwang Hall
Enter the mountain gate and pass the Nine Dragon Wall. Opposite is a double-eavesresting-mountain-style building with the title "Tianwang Hall" between the eaves. The existing two five-story stone scripture towers were built during the reconstruction in 1988. . There is a forest of ancient camphor trees in front of the Tianwang Hall, and there are two flagpoles on both sides of the corridor. This is also different from other temples on the mountain. It is said that one of them has been changed seven or eight times, while the other one is often regarded as a sacred object by pilgrims and peeled for medicine, but it is still towering, so it is known as the "living flagpole of the back temple".
The arrangement of the four heavenly kings in the temple is unique. It is said that it is to avoid duplication with Puji Temple.
Jade Buddha Hall
The Jade Buddha Hall behind the Heavenly King's Hall is three rooms wide, with an additional fence and a yellow glazed roof. It is a small and exquisite Xieshan-style building with double eaves. There are a bell tower and a drum tower in the east and west of the main hall. There is an ancient cypress on the platform, which is old and vigorous. On the west side, there is a podocarpus tree with a circumference of more than 3 meters, which is quite rare.
The bonsai in the Fayu Temple
The Jade Buddha Hall was originally dedicated to a jade Buddha statue of Sakyamuni that was purchased by a monk from Mount Putuo in the eighth year of Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1882). The jade color is bright and clean, and the carving is extremely fine. It was later destroyed, and the Jade Buddha now enshrined is 1.3 meters high and was moved from Yongle Palace in Beijing in 1985.
Royal Stele Hall
The five-room hall is covered with yellow tiles. There is a door in the west side building that leads to Xiangyun Road in Foding Mountain . The main hall is five rooms wide (about 32 meters wide) and four rooms deep. There is a verandah in front, supported by brackets, and the third generation of Buddha is worshiped in the hall. The three rooms in the east ear of the palace are called the "Three Holy Temples", which are dedicated to the statues of the Three Saints. The three rooms of the West Er Hall are called "Guandi Hall", housing the golden seated statue of Guan Gong. There are five auxiliary rooms (living rooms) on both sides.
The abbot's courtyard
is the highest point of the temple. There are 27 two-story eaves buildings in a row, divided into five courtyards. The seven rooms in the middle used to be the abbot's room of Master Yinguang, and were later changed into a memorial hall. Master Yinguang (1861-1940), commonly known as Zhao Shaoyan, is known as the "Thirteenth Generation Patriarch of the Pure Land Sect". He was born in Shaanxi in the 11th year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1861), and became a monk at the Lotus Cave in Zhongnan Mountain at the age of 21. In the 19th year of Guangxu (1893), Yin Guang followed the monk Hua Wen to Fayu Zen Temple in Putuo Mountain, where he studied Buddhist scriptures. , for more than 40 years. Later, he went to Lingyan Temple in Suzhou to establish a Pure Land Dojo.
Master Yinguang is the author of Buddhist masterpieces such as "Master Yinguang's Notes" and has a profound influence on the Chinese Buddhist community.
