The ruins of Gutongtai Temple are located southwest of the foot of the Red Mountain, behind a collapsed house. Although the remains are only an old house, a few broken walls and an ancient well, in the shadow of weeds and dead trees, it looks old and thick, and the years cannot erase the glory of the place.
The full text of the "Monument of Yuanyu Temple" is recorded in Hongzhi's "Jurong County Chronicle", indicating that the inscription was written by Hu Bingwen. The inscription tells the beginning and end of the construction of the temple by the jinglun monks and apprentices in the 30th year of Tonglun (the eighth year of the Southern Song Dynasty), and at the same time indicates that the Yuanlu Temple is the ancient Tongtai Temple. It is said that the stone stele of Yuanshan Temple was lost several years ago.
After the liberation of the courtyard of Gutongtai Temple, it was used as a silkworm house by the villagers. It is hard to imagine that this remnant wall is the original main entrance of the temple.
This old house is the only complete building in the ruins, although it is a modern renovation, but most of the green bricks on the walls are from the pre-Qing dynasty. The tiles were covered with thick thatch, a small window, and the only furnishings in the house were an old wooden toilet.
Several remnants of the wall are rare ancient buildings. The masonry method of three horizontal and one vertical (or one za) in the lower part of the wall was from the Song Dynasty or earlier dynasties.
The old bricks of this wall are at least han dynasty in terms of weathering.
This wall doped with old bricks is also worth noting, as one of them has a typical Warring States pattern. Why is there so many pre-Song Dynasty bricks in this Song Dynasty temple? Experts speculate that when the temple was built, the common people collected it from all over the place.
Walk along the thorny path next to the old house and come to the backyard of the Temple of Silence.
This ancient well without a well fence in the backyard, judging from the inner wall and structure, was at least excavated before the Song Dynasty. It is speculated that the monks of yuanshu temple used to take water from this well to eat.
This columnar stone stained with laterite, some people say it is an ordinary dismount stone, and some people say that it is the tower of the hexagonal tower. The Six Square Pagoda, also known as the Great Monk Pagoda and the Abbot Pagoda, represents the six-sided world of Buddhism, and the original dome above symbolizes perfection, implying the perfection of merit in the six worlds. If it is proved that this stone is really a hexagonal tower, then the half inscribed with the inscription is missing.
The study and study of the ancient Tongtai Temple continues...