The legend of the Zen temple
Text/Guo Yunhui
Zen Temple (Photo by Du Anmin)
The Yulan Expressway is like a black dragon, flying between the majestic and dangerous loess plateau in the north and south. After crossing the Wei River in the south, along the Chishui River Valley to Lantian Yushan Mountain, the valleys on both sides are deep and dense, the valleys and ditches overlap, under the viaduct, the stream is gurgling, the ditch turns with the plateau, the road follows the valley, winding and winding, small bridges and flowing water, and the scenery is pleasant. When driving to Siqian Village, Gaotang Town, Huazhou District, Weinan City, a majestic temple stands on the side of the road, shining brightly and brilliantly under the background of sunset and burning clouds. This is the famous Zen temple.
Zen Meditation Temple, south of Qinling Mountains, north of Weishui, east chain of loess hills, west of Longevity Plateau. The topography of the monastery is a standard lotus cave point. The eight ditches of the Longevity Slope are woven into a lotus flower, and to the east is a horsetail ditch about five miles long, which is narrow and deep, with cliffs on both sides, and the whole is L-shaped, and the mouth of the ditch is exactly opposite the heart of the lotus flower. The meditation temple is located right in the lotus heart, and the horsetail gou is the root of the lotus stem. From afar, lotus flowers float in the sky, temples are radiant, dazzling, and the scene is endless.
According to legend, during the Tang Dynasty, the mother of the Tiangong King traveled through the clouds and found that there was a gorgeous snow lotus on the slope of Longevity, like her lotus altar, and she was very happy, so she dreamed of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, saying that by building a temple in this treasure land of feng shui, the country will be strong and the people will be prosperous and prosperous forever. The longevity plateau is the essence of the northwest loess plateau, no matter how dry and rainless the days are, the longevity plateau is full of dew every morning, the soil is warm, and the harvest is guaranteed by drought and flood. Since the Tang Dynasty, there has been a long history, outstanding people, talents, and strong people. The emperor immediately sent people to investigate, ordered the construction of temples, recruited skilled craftsmen from all over the world, and the imperial court sent special personnel to supervise.
The design of the main hall of the meditation temple is unique and unique. The entire hall has no columns and no purlins, only one beam is used to directly connect the east and west edges, and the method of combining the through beams and corners is used to form a one-step whole frame, and the components are closely attached to the walking beam. The main hall forms three roofs and one beam, and the unique style of one beam solidifies the whole room, which can be called an ancient Chinese architectural miracle.
The structure of the hall is dexterous, profound in meaning, lifelike and seamless. The front of the eaves is set off by bucket arches, and the yin and yang riveting between the back and the girder are connected, which can be loaded and removed, without any iron nails.
The whole hall, with round carving, open-cut carving, relief carving, line carving and other technical art fine carving, the roof of the hall is a glazed roof, unique construction, painted decoration, dazzling, green tile red wall, high cornices, dense arches, majestic, simple and elegant, exquisite nature, sitting south to north, nestled by the water, all are profound folk art.
The construction craftsmen struggled with the girder from beginning to end, which required an 18-meter-long and 1.5-meter-diameter log, which was difficult for the craftsmen to find after traveling for miles around. Even if there is, the whole thousand pounds, there was no means of transportation at that time, the road was rough and could not be transported to the construction site. Just as he was in trouble, one night, suddenly evil clouds rolled, the wind was fierce, lightning and thunder, there was a loud noise in the sky, and heavy rain poured in an instant. The sleeping villagers closed the doors and windows, got into the bed, and did not dare to probe. When dawn came, the wind and rain suddenly stopped, the sky was clear, and people found a log in the courtyard in front of the main hall, exactly 18 meters long and 1.5 meters in diameter, straight and smooth. It is said that the Heavenly Soldier Tianjiang was transported from the deep mountains of Shangluo late at night, and it was an artemisia girder. The so-called artemisia wood is a kind of called artemisia grass, after 10,000 years of growth into essence, the mountain artemisia grass is everywhere, people often use grass paths to make wax candlesticks, little baby lanterns can be used. Since then, this artemisia beam has been famous all over the world and unparalleled in the world.
With the girder, how to get up to the roof truss, it is also a difficult thing, the whole is several thousand pounds, there was no modern hanging beam equipment at that time, and it was difficult to do it manually. The craftsmen circled around the beam, and there was no good solution. When he was anxious, an old man with a childlike appearance stood in the courtyard, with a red face and white beard, crutches, wearing a Taoist robe, and kept walking. Someone asked: "Old man, what is the way to put the beam on the house?" The old man smiled with his beard in his hand, and said unhurriedly: "My old man is about to bury it in his neck, what can I do?" Said Bi suddenly disappeared. The craftsmen wanted to say that the old man said, burying the earth in the neck, is telling us to make slope beams out of piles of earth. Therefore, a mound of earth was piled up in the middle of the house, creating a slow slope, rolling the girders, and pushing up the roof truss along the slow slope. It is said that the white-bearded old man is also a heavenly god and specially came to guide the maze.
The temple was built in the Tang Dynasty and was originally called "Xingguo Temple". It was renovated in the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, and was renamed "Zen Repair Temple" after renovation in the Wanli Year of the Ming Dynasty (1573), with a construction area of 342.9 square meters. The historical meditation temple is larger, covering an area of more than 600 square meters, the Buddhist gate faces south, and there is a mountain gate, and there are bell towers and drum towers on the east and west sides, three halls, and twelve rooms. Buddhist services are constantly presided, morning bells and evening drums, chanting sounds, incense is burning, and it is very lively. At present, only one Daxiong treasure hall remains.
In 1983, the temple was listed as a county cultural relic protection unit, and on April 20, 1992, it was listed as a provincial cultural relic protection unit.
After liberation, the meditation temple served as a school. The first teacher was Lin Maohong from Lin Family Village, and the second teacher was Dongmingtai from Zhuzhang Village. Later, two classrooms were built in the south of the temple before the students moved to the new classrooms. During the ten years of turmoil, the rebel Red Guards flaunted the banner of destroying superstitions, smashing seals, capital and repairs, destroying the carvings of beasts and beasts in houses, demolishing Buddha statues, and leaving temples in tatters. After the Cultural Revolution, two elderly female abbots came to the monastery, and Shi Xiaocai, a female college student from Beijing in 2000, lived in the monastery together, cleaned the hall, and for decades, painstakingly operated, busy with Buddhist affairs every day, and received pilgrims and tourists. Later, the two old abbots passed away one after another, and Xiaocai built a mausoleum and white jade tombstone in the temple as a memorial. Today, Shi Xiaocai is still alive, continuing to preside over Buddhist shrines, competing for business, writing Buddhist scriptures and telling scriptures.
In the eighties of the last century, the higher-level cultural relics department prepared to demolish the hall and move it to the county seat, and moved it to the same place as the Temple of Literature, which was also a Tang Dynasty building, for centralized protection. The people in front of the temple and the surrounding villages resolutely disagreed, and the villagers elected Zhang Dongjin and Zhang Tianen as representatives and led the delegation to the relevant departments of the province and city to negotiate. Later, it was discovered that the foundation of the main hall had begun in the Temple of Literature, and for fear that people would forcibly demolish it, they dug up the road into the village, and there was a banner at the entrance of the village, which read: "Vows to coexist with the Zen Temple!" "Men, women and children sat on the steps of the main hall, forcing the cultural relics department to abandon the relocation plan, so they decided to restore the original appearance.
In 1991, the Provincial Bureau of Culture allocated special funds to rebuild the main hall and reshape the golden body of the Buddha statue, and the masses also donated funds, materials and materials to divide cultivated land for Buddhist presidings and provide daily life guarantees.
In 2016, the cultural relics department allocated special funds for refurbishment, adding squares, building walls, installing street lamps and flagpoles, repairing antique-style standard toilets, and building land temples and small temples of the dragon king. On top of the main hall is a gold-lettered plaque inscribed by Zhao Puchu, chairman of the National Buddhist Empire, and the temple has a new look.
The Yulan Expressway passed by the temple, and the high-speed management department also saw this treasure land of feng shui, so they built a Huazhou service area next to the road, opposite the Zen Temple. The modern architecture and classical temple are relatively beautiful, and the combination of the shuttle vehicles is truly picturesque and beautiful.
Yulan Expressway Huazhou Service Area (Photo/Du Anmin)
On the 23rd day of the first month of this spring, the author had the privilege of visiting the meditation temple meeting. But seeing pilgrims near and far, thousands of people, all the sheep intestine lanes in the Weinan Plateau, tourists wearing red hanging and green are flocking to the temple, large and small vehicles are lined up for miles, the village laneway snack stalls are one after another, empty hands pedestrians are difficult to pass, several pairs of big drums in the courtyard, the surrounding water leakage, gongs and drums are noisy, twisting songs, square dancing, horse racing high bridge playing zhenghua. In front of the main hall, incense was burning, crowded and crowded, shuttling back and forth, chanting, drums at dusk, the entire temple, the ground shaking, the roar shook the sky.
I looked at the magnificent scene in front of me and couldn't help but praise:
Beautiful Zen Temple!
Magnificent Meditation Temple!
【About the author】
Guo Yunhui, male, born in December 1946, from Huazhou District, Weinan City, retired cadre. He joined the education system in the sixties, was a physical education teacher at Gaotang Middle School in the seventies, and transferred to the township party and government organs in the eighties, and retired in December 2006.