Waguan Temple was built in 364 and has a history of more than 1,000 years. It is a very prestigious thousand-year-old temple in the Qinhuai area of ??Nanjing.
In 317, there was a government-run pottery workshop in Hualou Gangdi in the southwest of Zhonghua Gate.
In 363, Emperor Ai of the Jin Dynasty was worried that the wandering monk Huili and others had no place to live, so he issued an edict to grant the Waguan Temple kiln land to the ascetics.
"Jiankang Shilu" records:
In the second year of Xingning, Emperor Ai of Jin Dynasty, he ordered the potters to be moved to the north of Huaihe River, so he used the land of the kiln on the south bank to use the monk Huili to build it. Waguan Temple.
At that time, the people called Tao Guan "Wa Guan", hence the name.
The Southern Dynasty Buddhist classic "The Biography of the Eminent Monk of Liang" records: "It is unknown who Shi Huili was. In Yonghezhong of Jin Dynasty, he came to visit the capital, often begging for vegetables and doing asceticism to cultivate blessings. He arrived in Xingningzhong of Jin Dynasty , the place where the pottery was started was called Waguan Temple."
That is to say, at that time Master Huili asked the emperor to build a temple on the old land of Taoguan, and the ancient temple got its name.
The origin of the name of Waguan Temple is recorded in the "Jinling Chronicles": During the Western Jin Dynasty, two green lotuses grew here. People were very surprised, so they dug them up and dug out a tile coffin. . Inside the coffin is an old monk who has passed away for many years. Lotus flowers grow from under the monk's tongue.
People were surprised, and the legend of "Sitting Lotus on Land" was left in history, and the temple got its name from this.
Monk Huili spent a lot of energy and hard work during the construction period, from writing to the court to raising funds to build the temple, thinking day and night. When the temple was built, the monks solicited donations from scholars in the capital. The scholars donated up to 100,000 yuan. Gu Kaizhi, a famous painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, promised to donate one million yuan.
Luo Pin, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in a poem:
In those days when Tao asked Xieyao, the cultural twilight of the six generations was over.
The mural has millions of dollars from Vimalakirti, who is General Gu in your eyes?
In 370, Emperor Jian Wen, who believed deeply in Buddhism, succeeded to the throne. He strongly supported the eminent monk Zhu Fatai in expanding Waguan Temple, which made the temple famous and increased its number of monks and disciples.
Waguan Temple also has works by the great sculptors Dai Kui and Dai Yi, their father and son. The works are five bronze Buddha Vimalakirti statues carved and cast in the temple, which are called "White Jade Tathagata".
During the Yixi period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there was a Jade Buddha presented by Sri Lanka in the temple. It was 1.4 meters high, with pure jade color and unique shape. People at that time compared the Jade Buddha with Gu Kaizhi's Vimalakirti paintings, The Buddha statues of Dai Kui and Dai Yi are called the "Three Wonders of Waguan Temple".
"Southern History·Shiziguo Biography" records:
At the beginning of Jin Yixi, envoys were sent to present jade statues for ten years. The statue is four feet and two inches high, has a clean jade color and a unique shape, almost not artificial. This statue was in Waguan Temple during the Jin and Song Dynasties.
Dai Kui, a native of Qiao, was erudite and good at writing. He could play the piano and calligraphy, was good at painting landscapes and Buddhist statues, and was good at sculpture. Dai Kui lived in seclusion all his life and never became an official. He used his own dry lacquer and ramie method to create five Buddha statues for Waguan Temple.
The five Buddhas are Vairocana Buddha Tathagata in the center, Ashen in the east, Baosheng in the south, Amitabha in the west, and five Buddhas in the north. Five Buddhas sit on a round platform with their backs to each other.
Gu Kaizhi, whose nickname is Hutou, was born in Jinling during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was erudite and talented, good at calligraphy, poetry, and painting, especially figures, Buddha statues, gods, etc.
Gu Kaizhi, Liu Song, Lu Tanwei, Xiao Liang and Zhang Sengyao are also known as "the three major painters of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties". The characters painted by Gu Kaizhi pay special attention to the key points and expressiveness. He once said, "The beauty of the four bodies has nothing to do with the beauty; the expressive portrayal is in the adu."
Vimalakirti lived at the same time as the Buddha Sakyamuni and was a layman with great eloquence. The "Vimalakīrti Sutra" tells that Vimalakirti was ill, and Sakyamuni sent his ten disciples and Maitreya Buddha to inquire.
Vimalakirti's thin body, mysterious eloquence, delicious food and clothing, luxurious life and various external and internal characteristics aroused the infinite love and admiration of scholars in the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties. Gu Kaizhi's paintings of Vimalakirti express Vimalakīrti's "clear and sick appearance".
Waguan Temple has always been prosperous and has many believers. In the early Southern Dynasties, it has developed into a large temple with thousands of monks. Regular temple fairs formed based on official temples are also the earliest and largest temple fairs in Jiangnan.
Some businessmen set up an unobstructed fasting in Waguan Temple. There were many wonderful and wonderful acrobatic performances at the fasting party, attracting tourists and believers from all over the country. The flow of people was huge, and it was famous in the Jiangdong area. .
During the Xiao Liang Dynasty, the magnificent Waguan Pavilion was built next to Waguan Temple. It is a scenic spot for climbing up to overlook Jinling and the river.
Waguan Temple is famous for its pavilions and wide thoroughfares, which allow for people to watch and go back and forth. It has attracted many literati and scholars to visit here, and has left many well-known masterpieces.
When Du Fu, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, came to Jinling and visited Waguan Temple and saw Gu Kaizhi’s masterpiece Vimalakirti, he wrote: “I was hungry and thirsty when I looked at the painting, and I was confused when I followed it. The Golden Li Temple with a Tiger Head is magical. Unforgettable alone" poem.
"Golden Millet Tathagata" is the alias of Vimalakirti. In memory of Du Fu, people in Jinling called this alley "Jinsu Alley" and built Jinsu Nunnery.
Li Bai came to Waguan Temple and wrote a poem "Hengjiang Ci" with his feelings. The poem said: "Humanity is good when crossing the river, but Nong's way is bad. One wind blows down the mountains in three days, and the white waves are high." "In Waguan Pavilion"
This is when Li Bai saw the surging waves of the Yangtze River in Tianmen Mountain, Anhui, and couldn't help but think of the Waguan Temple in Qinhuai, so his description of the architecture of Waguan Temple and the river reflected it. The Wagang Pavilion is tall and spectacular.
Historical records indicate that the Waguan Pavilion is more than 200 feet high, and you can overlook the whole city from the top. Li Bai once wrote in a poem:
Climb the Waguan Pavilion in the morning and have a great view of Jinling City.
Zhongshan faces Beihu, and Huai River flows into Nanrong.
Dharma drums are vibrating in the two corridors, and kites are blown in the four corners.
Go out of the sky and climb up to the Han Dynasty, looking up at the sun and moon bamboo.
From the poem, we can see the grandeur of Waguan Temple's architecture and its vast area.
During the Yang and Wu Dynasties of the Five Dynasties, Waguan Temple was renamed Wuxing Temple. In 937, it was renamed "Dioyuan Temple", and Waguan Pavilion was also renamed "Dioyuan Pavilion". Later it was destroyed in the war.
In 1591, monks rebuilt the temple and named it "Fengyou Temple" by Jiao Hong, the number one scholar. Ming Dynasty writer Wang Shizhen wrote an inscription and a poem "Heavy Damage to Waguan Pavilion".
The opera writer Kong Shangren in the early Qing Dynasty wrote "Waiting for the Qinglian Pavilion of Waguan Temple", the poet Wu Meicun's "Man Jiang Hong", the poet Yu Binshuo's "Waguan Temple" and so on.