Deng Yu Pagoda Temple is located in Deng Yu Village, Haobei Town, 20 miles south of Yushe County.
The pagoda temple, founded in an unknown date, is now the only remaining hall, which is a Qing Dynasty building. The main hall covers an area of 31.3 square meters and faces west and east. Built on a 0.08-meter-high stone pedestal, it is three rooms wide and five rafters deep, with a single eaves roll roof, a six-purlin front porch structure, a three-step single bow under the eaves, and four large red lacquer columns standing majestically on the drum cylindrical foundation. The front eaves are decorated, the open room is equipped with a door, and the two rooms are strip windows. The lintel inscription: "Elysium" three words. Under the right window of the front wall is a sign erected by the Yushe County People's Government, with the inscription: "Statue of the Stone Pagoda of Dengyu Village, a Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit, was paid by the Shanxi Provincial People's Committee, announced on May 24, 1965."
▲ Pagoda temple
▲ Lintel forehead title: "Elysium"
▲A sign erected by the People's Government of Yushe County
The window can see the environment inside the temple, push the door in, and a stone stupa stands in front of you. According to local villagers, there was originally a Stone Pagoda of the Tang Dynasty in the temple, which is said to have been carried by divine forces from a place called Shifodi in the north of the village, and after several site selections, it finally settled here. Around 1998, it was stolen twice, and only the base and the eaves of the tower remain. In 2007, the villagers copied the original shape, style and size on the original basis, and restored it with simulated stone. The existing stone tower is divided into three parts: the tower brake, the tower body and the tower base, with a height of 3 meters, a diameter of 1.2 meters and a circumference of 3.65 meters. The pagoda is 0.8 meters high, and under the dome of the treasure gourd, it is an octagonal prism, and each edge has a shrine Buddha statue. The pagoda is a four-corner prism, 1.7 meters high, decorated with stone railings and stone pillars on all four sides, carved with two dragon play beads and other patterns, in the middle of which there are four large Buddha statues, a number of small Buddha statues, the body is plump and full, the look is solemn and kind, gentle and round, vivid and soft. Or sit on the lotus platform, or sit on your knees, or stand with your hands together, or your hands are either the seal of fearlessness, the seal of wishes, or the seal of meditation and the seal of Dharma, as if they are teaching the Fa, and if they are enlightened. On the right side of the tower, a stone pillar is embedded in it, which is about a foot long and about eight inches high, and reads: "The eighth year of the Tang Dynasty Kaiyuan Year Ji Gengshen March Yin Shuo Fifteenth Day Pengchen (Author's Note: that is, 720 AD)". The top of the Buddha statue is engraved with a pattern, and the seats are carved with fish, elephants or figures. The tower is 0.5 meters high, octagonal, divided into three sections, with a lotus pattern underneath, and there are figures around the middle, or standing, or sitting, or kneeling, or doing hard work, and aside names.
▲After the tower body was stolen, the villagers imitated the restored stone tower
▲The text on the right side of the tower is embedded with a stone pillar
The Buddha statue at the top of the tower is engraved with a pattern
▲Under the tower is a lotus pattern, and there are human figures around the middle
Although the temple is not large, it is magnificent with red walls and green tiles, pillars out of the corridor, and carved beams and paintings. The stone pagoda is exquisitely designed, beautiful in appearance, simple and generous, giving people a sense of solemnity, and is one of the essences of the stone pagoda statue of the Tang Dynasty, which is a scene of Yushe.
What is even more gratifying is that according to the People's Daily on April 17, 2017, on April 16, the body of Deng Yu's stone pagoda, which had been lost for nearly 20 years, entered the Shanxi Museum in Tibet under the witness of the monk who saw the lantern at the Zhongtai Zen Temple in Taiwan. At this point, the Stone Pagoda body of Deng Yu, which has a history of nearly 1300 years after 20 years of loss, has finally returned to Shanxi.
The returned Deng Yu Stone Pagoda is a Tang Dynasty stone carved painted four-sided Buddha statue tower, sandstone, 3.2 meters high, round seat square column, from bottom to top by the base, tower body, tower eaves (with flat seat), tower brake four parts set together. In 1965, it was announced as the first batch of cultural relics protection units in Shanxi Province. The height of the tower is 1.77 meters, the tower body has many inscriptions, the Buddha statue carved on all four sides of the tower body is dignified, the face is round, the body is plump, the look is calm, the clothing pattern is smooth, which reflects the distinctive characteristics of the Sheng Tang statue, and some detailed treatments, such as head light, meat bun, face, chest and abdomen, legs, clothing, etc. have a prominent Kaiyuan period style, showing the culture and artistic courage of the Tang Dynasty, which is of great value for the study of Tang Dynasty Buddhist art and carving art. The stone pagoda was stolen in 1998 and later relocated to Taiwan, where it was donated by the faithful to the Chung Tai Zen Temple. After the abbot of Kaishan learned that the stone pagoda came from Shanxi, he wished to return it as a donation. After the full cooperation of the relevant departments on both sides of the strait, the stone pagoda body of Deng Yu, which had been lost overseas for 20 years, was finally returned to its hometown (deng yu, which has not yet returned to Yushe).
The Stone Tower of Return▼
2014.7. Original,
2022.3. Modified to Yin Yi Zhai
Text/Han Zhiqing Photo/Qiao Huaiming Network
About the Author
Han Zhiqing, male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1946, from Shecheng Village, Yushe County, Shanxi Province. He is currently a member of the Chinese Poetry Society, vice president of the Shanxi Yellow River Sanqu Society, vice president of the Jinzhong Poetry Society, and president of the Yushe Poetry Society. He is the author of the poetry collection "Turbid Zhang's Love Silk", "The Song of Turbid Zhang", "Shanghai Shangxing Poetry Grass", the song collection "Turbid Zhangqu Flower", the co-authored song collection "Shi Ni Collection", "Banpo Hanshan Collection", the anthology "The Voice of Turbid Zhang", the poetry collection "Ancient and Modern Poets Yong Yu Society", "Taihang Red Sister-in-law Song", "Poetry Yong Yuzhou", "Yuzhou Yinfeng" and so on.