#Nanjing Headlines#【Baohua Mountain: Longchang Temple 1】
Before returning to Longchang, when the tour team followed the guide fish through the temple, I still lingered outside the temple gate, inspected the water of the ring pond, admired the zigzag of the wall, looked up at the two tall ancient ginkgo trees in front of the wall, and discerned the landscape situation in front of the temple. Ancient ginkgo biloba is a botanical cultural symbol of many ancient village ancestral halls, famous temples and other ancient buildings, and from its annual vicissitudes, it can be inferred that the antiquity of these buildings and the multiplication of their humanistic activities can be inferred. In the ancient village of the deep mountains in southeast Hubei, in the Dongyue Temple in our hometown, in the Huiji Temple in Tangquan Town, Pukou District, Nanjing, etc., we have seen these ancient ginkgo bilobas that are more than a thousand years old.
On the wall in front of the temple, the five golden characters of "The First Mountain of the Vinaya" shine brightly. When I did not enter the mountain gate before, I knew very superficially about Buddhism, thinking that Buddhism was very simple. When I was in the temple, I learned that the Buddhist system was complex and there were many sects. In terms of the doctrine of belief (the method of distinguishing only oneself, not the authentic interpretation), there is a distinction between Mahayana and Hinayana buddhism. Mahayana is our current common Buddhism; Hinayana buddhism, also known as southern Buddhism, is mainly spread in Southeast Asia and the southwestern ethnic minority areas of the mainland, and the language spoken is mainly Pali, also known as Pali Buddhism. They also believe in Mahayana Buddhism, and in mainland China, there are Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism. In China, Buddhism has eight major sects, namely Zen, Vinaya, Tantra, Pure Land, Dharma, Dharma, Tendai, and Huayan. Within the sect, due to different traditions, there are also distinctions, for example, within Zen Buddhism, which has a wide influence on the mainland, there are the three gate schools of Cao Dong, Cloud Gate, and Dharma Eye... Buddhism is a cultural phenomenon in human society, and its internal system is complex, with various sects and sects, each holding its own, and there is no lack of disputes over righteousness; even if it is the same sect, it is not uncommon to argue and exclude. It would be naïve to sum it up only in terms of "cutting out the home, from then on the six roots are pure, free from red dust". Especially in the soil of the mainland market economy, temples have a tendency to commercialize, which is worth vigilance.
The mountain gate of Longchang Temple is very unique, one is that the mountain gate faces north, facing the Yangtze River, it is said that this pattern is because when the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors came from the Yangtze River when they drove to Longchang Temple, the mountain gate faces north, containing the meaning of driving; the second is that the mountain gate is narrow and seems to be completely unorthodox. Longchang Temple is a Vinaya dojo, the precepts are extremely strict, it is said that the narrow mountain gate can avoid monks from entering and leaving casually, and at the same time can avoid the troubles of the world. I am very much in favor of the proposition of "Buddhism on Earth, Buddha in The World". Buddha, has never been a god detached from the human world, Mahayana emphasizes crossing people first and then crossing oneself, to promote the Dharma, to purify sentient beings out of the sea of suffering, no matter how far away from the mountains and live in the jungle for a long time, how can you leave a human character? Just taking the direction of the mountain gate of Longchang Temple as an example, we can see how great the influence of the emperor as a layman", on the Buddha's gate.
The temple of Longchang Temple is said to have 999 and a half rooms, and the internal layout design is extremely peculiar, consisting of many large and small courtyards, and the whole temple is like a Dharma altar. The architectural style of the temples along the coast of the mainland has some similarities and differences with those in the Midwest, such as the eaves of the corridor and the ceiling ceiling, etc., the temples of the coastal temples are simple and simple, such as the Longchang Temple; the Central and Western ones are heavily painted, and the ceiling is exquisitely painted with various patterns, exquisite and abnormal.
Longchang Temple has a Weituo Hall directly opposite the Daxiong Treasure Hall, which enshrines the Vedic Bodhisattva, which is also unique among mainland temples. The Buddhist community usually regards Vedic as the protector of the Buddha, so most of the Veda in the temple is to accompany the Three Treasures Buddha, while longchang Temple has set up a temple for Vedic, and there must be a reason for it. The Vedic Hall is also the Cloth Hall of Longchang Temple, where monks examine words and deeds and repent of their mistakes. The walls on both sides of the vehta hall are beautifully painted with murals, preaching Buddhist stories; the two compartments are squatters, although there are beds, they are empty, unless a large festival is held, I am afraid that few people will live in Pingsu.
