Chinese and English are as follows:
Guiyuan Temple English guide words
Guiyuan Temple
Chinese Buddhist temples are never single buildings. They always consist of a group buildings following a fundamental pattern, which can, however, be modified. The main buildings and their symmetrically corresponding secondary buildings form individual groups and courtyards. The entire temple complex is spacious. The building inside the complex are usually single-storied and the main halls are sometimes decorated with a double roof. The towers, pavilions and halls can be multi-storied structures.
The Chinese temple complex has been subject to great structural changes throughout the centuries. But temple architects follow the basic principles of secular structures from the Tang Dynasty onwards. The complexes stand on a central axis, usually a north-south axis: east-west only as an exception. (Guiyuan Temple is just the very exception.) The main buildings are strung along this central axis, their broadest sides facing south or east.
The most important and most frequently presented building inside a Buddhist temple complex are the main entrance gate, the bell and drum towers, the Hall of the Heavenly Kings, the Hall of the Buddha and a pagoda.
Buddhism is said to be founded in India in the 6th century BC by Siddatha Gautama (BC565 –BC486), the son of a nobleman and member of the Kshatriya caste near the present borders of India and Nepal. Buddhism advocates that all the people are crea
ted equal and turns against the caste system of Brahmanism, so it was popular with the common people.
It was said that Buddhism was spread to China in 2 BC. At the beginning, it was only regarded as a kind of witch. About 200 AD, Chinese version of Buddhist scriptures began to appear, and thus, Buddhist doctrines began to emerge with traditional Chinese religious thought. From 2nd century to late 6th century, translation and research of Buddhist sects with Chinese characteristics were becoming more and more popular and many temples were built, which reached its peak in Sui Dynasty (581AD-617AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907). Some Buddhist sects with Chinese characteristics came into being. Buddhism exerts a great influence on Chinese philosophy , literature, art and folk customs.
What is presented before our eyes is a copper statue of a famous bodhisattva in Hynayana Buddhism. Bodhisattva is a tittle which is only next to Buddha. This statue is the image of Avalokitesvara, which has been popular with Chinese people or more than 1,000 years. She is called the Goddess of Mercy cordially by Chinese and is regarded as the symbol of kindness, mercy and benevolence. When we visit the Avalokitesvara Pavilion after a while, I will give a detailed introduction about her. This copper statue was sent to Guiyuan Temple by Taiwan Buddhists in September 1990. It shows that all Chinese, whether in the mainland or in Taiwan, are eager for the reunion of the country, even including r
eligion believers.
The building we see now is the Buddha Hall where one certain Buddha and his two assistant bodhisattvases are worshiped. This Buddha is Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha means incomparable brightness. According to Buddhism, time and space is limitless and thus there are many many Buddhas in different spaces and times. But in a certain space or in a certain period of time, there is only one certain Buddha who is in charge of instructing all living creatures. Amitabha Buddha is the Buddha who presides over the Land of Ultimate Bliss in the west, which will come in the future. Buddhist scripts describe the Land of Ultimate Bliss as a wonderland, in which no pain exists and the people enjoy their lives. In one word, it's very attractive. Some people will think it must be very difficult to enter such a world. How can I go to such a paradise? Maybe I have to work hard and bear a lot of sufferings. In fact, it's very easy to enter the world. He only need often murmur 'May Buddha preserve us' sincerely. It's enough.
You see, the statue in the middle is the very Buddha. On his left is the Goddess of Mercy. On his right is the other bodhisattva who follows the Buddha. It is said that he can save all the living creatures from three kinds of terrible disasters.
Now, let's step into the Buddhist scripts Pavilion where the scripts of Buddhism are kept. But I 'm afraid what attracts our attention at the first sight must be this snow-white statue. It i
s a statue of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. This statue was carved out of a big piece of jade which is 2-meter-tall and weighs 3 tons. It was carved by Myanmar handicraftsmen and donated to the temple by the Rangoon Buddhists in 1935 .
If we watch the statue, we may sense that the peaceful expression on the Buddha's face has brought us to a quiet and harmonious state.
The last building we will visit is the Avalokitesvara Pavilion in the north yard. When we entered the yard just now we saw a statue of her. Now I'd like to introduce her carefully.
As a goddess, she swore that she would not become a Buddha until all the living creatures suffering from pains were saved. So she became a bodhisattva who is most popular among the people and attracts the most believers of all the gods and goddesses in Buddhism. It was said that one would be saved from trouble and disaster as long as he (she) chanted her name and if it was heard by her. Thus she is called Guanshiyin, which means 'hearing or looking on the voices of the suffering'. Because of her kind heart and benevolence she got another title ' the Goddess of Mercy'.
According to Buddhism, bodhisattvases have no distinction of sex, that is, they are neither male nor female, because they are immortals. But it's very strange and interesting that most of bodhisattvases were engraved or carved in the images of various kinds of men in human society. Changes didn't take place until an emperor's mother thought it
was inconvenient to worship a male bodhisattva in her bedroom. From then on, Guanshiyin, the bodhisattvas began to appear before her believers in the image of a beautiful and elegant lady.
We'll pay a visit to a very serious, sacred place. Generally, the place is regarded as the most holy by Buddhists. It is the Grand Hall, where the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni is worshiped. It is always the center of a Buddhist temple in construction and in Buddhists' mind.
The statue in the middle is Sakyamuni. According to Buddhism his mother gave birth to him in a garden. He belonged to Kshatreya Caste. He married his cousin when he was 16 or 17 years old. At the age of 29, he was confronted with the sights of an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic. With eyes opened to aspects of life newly revealed to him, he broke from the material world and became an ascetic . Six years later, he gave up mystic concentration that at last brought him enlightenment under a bo tree. He then founded an order of mendicants and spent his next 45 years preaching his ideas until his death.
These two statue beside the Buddha are his two disciples. The one on the right was said to be Sakyamuni's cousin and he had good memory so that he could remember all the Buddha told his disciples. The one on the left was said to be the lord of Brahmnism and he once was Sakyamuni's tutor. But afterwards he was convinced by Buddhism after long-term debate between Buddhism and other religion
ions and he accepted Sakyamuni as his tutor. Thus he became the eldest one of all Sakyamuni's disciples.
Next, we'll pay a visit to the Ahrat Hall in the south court.
The Ahrat Hall is an important structure in a Buddhist temple. But not all temples have an Ahrat Hall, especially, well-kept Ahrat Halls are very rare in China. This one is among them, and what's more, it has its own unique characteristics.
Generally, an Ahrat Hall is a square building. The building is subdivided into four small square courts so that the hall can get enough sunlight. This kind of structure show some lucky implications in Chinese Buddhist culture.
Another characteristic about the hall lies in these sculptures themselves. They were neither made up of wood, nor stone, nor clay. A special way was taken in making them, which could prevents them from being burned, being soaked or being eaten by insects. All the sculptures were floating in water while Wuhan was flooded in 1954, but, surprisingly, they were sound and safe after the flood had receded. It was really a wonder.
Ahrats are the immortals in Buddhism. But when you have a look around the sculptures, you may find from the expressions on their faces that they are so familiar to you. That's only because they were molded on the basis of the people in the reality, so they are human beings in our daily life rather than immortals.
Ahrats are the symbols of harmony, happiness, and good luck, so the Wuhan natives have got
used to counting ahrats since ancient time to pray for peace. There are a few ways of counting ahrats. We can count from the first ahrat from left to right or from right to left, when we just enter the hall. We can also choose any ahrat as our starting point, and count in the same way, left to right or right to left. We should base counting on our own ages whatever we take. For example, I'm 25, so I should stop in front of the 25th ahrat from the starting ahrat. The sculpture in front of which I stop is my lucky ahrat. My lucky ahrat will accompany me to spend a peaceful and lucky year. Wouldn't you like to have a try now? If you need, I can explain connotation of some ahrats.
That's all for the explanation to Guiyuan Temple. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. You will have another 30 minutes to have a look around the temple. If you have any problems, do let me know. I would like to repeat our bus number, A3074. Please don't forget. See you later.
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Dear tourists Friends:
On behalf of our ×× travel agency, I welcome everyone. My surname is Zhang, so everyone will call me Xiao Zhang! As people often say, meeting is fate. I feel very honored to meet you all in the beautiful river city of Wuhan and spend this wonderful time with you. This is our driver, Master Ni, who has rich driving experience, so you can safely enjoy the beautiful scenery of Wuhan outside the window during your trip. Today, the two of us will serve you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and we will try our best to solve them for you. We hope that our enthusiasm, patience and carefulness can bring you peace of mind and happiness.
Guiyuan Temple
Guiyuan Temple is located in Wuhan City. It was founded by Zhejiang monks Bai Guang and Zhu Feng in the 15th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1658). In 1983, it was designated as a national key Buddhist temple in Han Dynasty by the State Council. It is now the seat of the Hubei Buddhist Association and the Wuhan Buddhist Association. Here there are towering ancient trees, luxuriant flowers and trees, clear springs and green water, and winding paths leading to secluded areas. It is a "one of the best places in western Han Dynasty".
Guiyuan Temple is composed of three distinctive courtyards: the North Courtyard, the Middle Courtyard and the South Courtyard. It has three main buildings: the Sutra Pavilion, the Main Hall and the Luohan Hall, covering an area of ??more than 17,500 square meters. The main building in the north courtyard is the Sutra Library. It is a pavilion-style building with five bays on both sides. It is about 25 meters high. It has a large ridge on the top, fish angles and claws, flying beams and eaves. It is simple and exquisite. In front of it are four pillars reaching the sky and two phoenixes. In the rising sun, five dragons play with pearls.
The whole building is exquisite, magnificent and resplendent. There are many Buddhist cultural relics stored here. In addition to Buddhist scriptures, there are also Buddhist statues, religious objects, stone carvings, calligraphy and painting inscriptions, and foreign language classics. It is a Buddhist temple with the largest collection of Buddhist statues in China. When Master Taixu visited Myanmar in 1935, Buddhists in Yangon gave him a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha weighing more than 1 ton of jade, which was enshrined here. There are only three such Buddha statues in our country, and the other two are enshrined in Beijing and Shanghai respectively. The Buddhist scriptures collected in the Sutra Pavilion include: a copy of "Long Zang" from the Qing Dynasty, a photocopy of "Qi Sha Zang" from the Song Dynasty, and a "Pinga Zang" printed in Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. There are also two treasures: one is the word "Buddha" written by Li Shunqian, a 69-year-old man in Hengshan, Hunan, in the first year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1875). The word "Buddha" is written on paper no more than 6 inches long and wide, and consists of 5,424 characters from the original text of the "Diamond Sutra" and "Heart Sutra". Each character is only as big as a sesame seed and cannot be distinguished by the naked eye. Look at it with a 30x magnifying glass and you will see that the pen is strong and beautiful. It is a calligraphy treasure. The other piece is the Huayan Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, which were copied with blood and gold powder by monk Miao Rong from Wuchang. The handwriting is beautiful and can be called a masterpiece.
The main building in the middle courtyard is the Main Hall. The hall was first built in the 18th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1661), and has been repaired many times since. The current Main Hall was rebuilt in 1908, the 34th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. In the middle of the hall is a seated statue of Sakyamuni, flanked by statues of his disciples Ananda and Kasyapa. Sakyamuni bares his left shoulder and sits in lotus position, solemn and quiet. The back of the Buddha statue is carved from camphor wood with the pattern of "five dragons holding the saint". There are also statues of Wei Tuo, Maitreya and Ksitigarbha in front of the Buddha statue. Behind the Buddha statue is a group of island Guanyin statues. I saw Guanyin standing barefoot on the island, with a dragon girl and a boy standing on her left and right. Behind her was an eight-foot-high clay sculpture cliff, with vast expanse of blue waves and raging waves beneath her feet. The entire statue tipped forward. When people look up, they see Guanyin's sleeves seeming to be fluttering, walking towards you on the turbulent waves, which increases the appeal of religious art. The altar table in front of the Buddha statue is a rare wood carving treasure. The altar table is 4 feet 8 feet high, 1 feet 2 feet wide, 2.5 feet deep and wide, with a vertical railing in front, 1.5 feet wide and 0.6 feet high. It is divided into five grids with deep hollows. The pattern depicts the scene of the emperor and the people welcoming Tang Xuanzang when he returned to Chang'an for Buddhist scriptures: there are Tang Monk, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Monk and other characters from "Journey to the West"; there are civil and military officials from Li Shimin onwards, guards, and common people; there are pavilions and palace walls. , carriages and horses, landscapes, banners, flags, canopies, incense burners, wax stands, etc. are all available. Looking at the whole picture, it is complex, lively and unprecedentedly grand. The lower edge of the hanging railing is composed of five dragon clouds, winding around and supporting the ground with four tiger legs, which is vivid and powerful. It is said that this camphor wood carving took ten people a year to complete.
In the Wei Tuo Hall in front of the Mahavira Hall, there is a wooden statue of Wei Tuo, wearing armor and holding a pestle. The image of the protector god who is the head of the "Two Generals". This wood carving is made of a whole piece of camphor wood, and the line cutting techniques are all in the style of the Tang Dynasty. It is an art treasure of Guiyuan Temple and a precious heritage among our country's sculpture art.
Guiyuan Temple belongs to the Caodong Sect, also known as Guiyuan Zen Temple. It, together with Baotong Temple, Xilian Temple and Zhengjue Temple, are now known as the four major jungles in Wuhan.
I hope everyone has a pleasant trip, thank you.