There are many ancient temples that I have visited during ma's journey, from the Nanchan Temple of Foguang Temple, which contains Tang Dynasty wooden structures, to the Qinglian Temple, where you can see tang dynasty painted sculptures, and then to the Longxing Temple of the Ancient Architecture Museum, all of which have brought me full harvests.
However, the ancient temple that surprises me the most, then it must be Ningbo Ashoka Temple, why is it the most surprising to me? Because if you open its introduction, then you will understand that this is the only remaining ancient temple named after Ashoka in Our country, which shows that it is very different.
Before enjoying the attractions, we can first understand what is Ashoka Temple, it is said that in the 2nd century AD, the king of the Indian Peacock Dynasty Ashoka, was extremely religious in Buddhism, in order to promote Buddhism, the Peacock King ordered the compilation of Buddhist scriptures, more pious is to take out the Buddha relics, distributed to the world to build 84,000 ancient temples, China also built 19 stupas at this time. The Ashoka Pagoda in Ningbo that we see today is the only one of the 19 remaining ones in China.
Ningbo Ashoka Temple is located in Wuxiang Town Baozhu Taibai Mountain foothills hua peak, from the city only takes 1 hour by subway, but there are not too many tourists, most of them are Worship Buddha or humanistic travel enthusiasts.
But it's gratifying. Even though Ashoka Temple is famous, it is still free to tourists, which is a clear stream in ancient Chinese temples.
Emperor Taikang of the Jin Dynasty was in a three-year state, and because of the illness of Liu Saha, a stone man from the prefecture, he dreamed that after seeking a pagoda, he built a monastery here, opening the prelude to ashoka temple.
For more than 1700 years, after experiencing the vicissitudes of the extinction of the Buddha, many fires, many reconstructions and reconstructions in the first year of Huichang, Ashoka Temple was rebuilt for the last time in 1988, forming a scale of more than 600 buildings covering an area of 124,100 square meters, which is the current situation we see at present.
Such a large Ashoka Temple, if you want to spend half a day to see the whole thing, it is not so easy in my opinion, travelers who like monuments can focus on the horse and stop the surface to refine a few highlights, after reading it will definitely make you look at Ashoka Temple with astonishment.
The first attraction: to see the ancient tower
There are many ancient pagodas in Zhejiang Province, such as the Liuhe Pagoda in Hangzhou, the Original Lishui Yanqing Temple Pagoda in the Northern Song Dynasty, etc., in fact, in Ningbo Ashoka Temple also hides an ancient pagoda that began in the Tang Dynasty and was rebuilt in the Yuan Dynasty - West Pagoda, which has been repaired but still retains a strong Yuan Dynasty brick and wood imitation pavilion structure, becoming one of the only two remaining Yuan Dynasty ancient pagodas in Zhejiang Province.
The second big attraction: ancient architecture
Compared with many ancient temples in the north, the architecture of Ningbo Ashoka Temple is not very old, but if you look closely, you can still find some different places.
Exquisite glazed sculptures can be seen at the top of the seven-room Daxiong Treasure Hall, and the Qianlong Emperor's imperial pen and the good lion roar plaque can be seen in front of the porch.
Behind the Daxiong Treasure Hall is the relic hall built in the Northern Song Dynasty in order to enshrine the relics of Shakyamuni, once the golden glazed tiles at the top of the hall could only be used with royal approval, and the "Hall of Miaosheng" written by Song Xiaozong could not be seen in front of the hall, from which it was enough to see the importance of the status of the relics hall.
The third big point to watch: Yuan Dynasty stone carvings
The most surprising thing about Ashoka Temple is the Four Heavenly Kings stone carvings of the Yuan Dynasty hidden in the back wall of the Temple, which were originally decorated on the West Pagoda and later moved to the back wall.
Each of the four heavenly kings is about 1 meter tall, some wearing armor, some holding a cymbal, some stepping on the clouds, etc., using a variety of techniques such as high relief, through carving, and skeleton carving, showing the superb level of Yuan Dynasty statues in Ningbo and even Zhejiang.
It can be said that compared with the Lingyin Temple, the Ashoka Temple, which is not too famous in tourism, has become a treasure place for humanistic travel enthusiasts with its distinctive relics, and finally I want to say that after seeing the Ashoka building, you may wish to enter the Ashoka Hall to enjoy an authentic iftar meal and end The Ashoka trip beautifully.
Ashoka Temple Travel Tips:
Admission: Free
How to get there: Ningbo Station can take Line 4 to Daqingqiao Station, then transfer to Line 1 and get off at Baozhu Station, then walk 1.2 kilometers.