Founded in the 11th year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 68), it is the first temple built after Buddhism was introduced into China.
It is of great significance to the spread and development of Buddhism in China and the cultural exchange between China and foreign countries. It has a special position in the history of Buddhism in China, and is known as "the source of Buddhism" and "the ancestral home".
196 1 was designated as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.
As the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Luoyang was the largest city in China and a world-famous metropolis at that time.
Monks in Tianzhu (now India) preached here with modern Zhufalan, bringing many Buddhist classics. Liu Zhuang, Emperor of the Han Dynasty, ordered the construction of the first temple in accordance with the traditional Buddhist style. Legend has it that the White Horse came back from Da Yue (now Afghan) with Buddhist scriptures and Buddha statues, hence the name "White Horse Temple".
There are two stone horses standing opposite each other outside the White Horse Temple, carved in the Song Dynasty, not in the Han Dynasty.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the prosperity of Buddhism, the White Horse Temple reached its peak, and monks from all over the country and even the world came to worship, among them, monk Jian Zhen, a monk in the Tang Dynasty who had made great contributions to Sino-Japanese friendship.
Wu Zetian also visited many times, showing unprecedented prosperity.
Wang Changling, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote: "Looking at the ancient temple in the moonlight, climbing the tower outside the forest.
The south wind opens the promenade, and the summer night is like cool autumn.
"A famous poem praising the elegance of the temple.
Buddhism disappeared in the whole country at the end of Tang Dynasty, which dealt a great blow to Baima Temple.
Zhao Guangyi of Song Taizong ordered the reconstruction of the White Horse Temple.
In the 4th year of Yuan Dynasty (1333), the tablet of "Luo Jing White Horse Temple Ancestral Hall" inscribed by the great calligrapher Zhao Mengfu still stands in the temple, which is a rare artistic treasure.
The White Horse Temple we see today was renovated in the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1556), and the door plaque was inlaid at that time.
Today, the area of Baima Temple is about 40,000 square meters.
In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1555), there was still a bell with a weight of more than 1,000 Jin hanging in the temple.
Baima Temple is the first temple built by the government after Buddhism was introduced into China.
Its construction is closely related to the famous "Yongping Seeking Dharma" in the history of Buddhism in China.
According to legend, Liu Zhuang, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, slept in the Nangong at night, and the dream god put white light on his head and flew around the temple.
The next day, he learned that there was a Buddha in his dream, so he sent envoys Cai Yin and Qin Jing to worship Buddha in the western regions.
Cai, Qin and others met with Kashmotong and Zhu Falan, the eminent monks of Tianzhu, in Yueshi (now Afghanistan).
In the 10th year of Yongping (67), Cai and Qin invited Buddhist monks to come to China to preach Buddhism, and rode a white horse carrying Buddhist scriptures and statues to the capital Luoyang.
Emperor Han Ming ordered the construction of a temple imitating Tianzhu style.
In order to remember the merits of the White Horse, the temple was named "White Horse Temple".
Since the White Horse Temple, temples in China have been widely called temples, so the White Horse Temple is considered as the birthplace of Buddhism in China.
Monks of all ages and even famous foreign monks came here to observe the scriptures and seek dharma, so Baima Temple was honored as "the ancestral court" and "the source of interpretation".
Since its completion, Baima Temple has been rebuilt several times, especially in the era of Wu Zetian.
The White Horse Temple is a rectangular courtyard, facing south. The main buildings in the temple are King's Temple, Giant Buddha Hall, Daxiong Hall, Jieyin Temple, Pilu Pavilion and Yun Qi Tower.
When you visit the White Horse Temple, you can not only enjoy the magnificent temples and lifelike Buddha statues, but also enjoy several scenic spots with vivid historical stories.
There is a tomb in the dense cypress trees on the east and west sides of the courtyard at the entrance of the antique Baima Temple, which is the famous "Two Monks' Tomb".
The stone tablet in front of Dongling is engraved with "Master Morten's Tomb in Tong Yuan, Seventh Road of Han Dynasty", and the stone tablet in front of Xiling is engraved with "Master Zhu's Tomb, Head Coach of Han Kai Education".
The owners of these two tombs are the eminent monks & Gashmoteng and Zhu Falan, who were invited by the Han Dynasty to preach scriptures and teachings.
The title on the stone tablet was sealed by Song Huizong Evonne.
There are also statues of two eminent monks on the balcony.
They entrusted their admiration for the two eminent monks to the Buddhist disciples in China.
Balcony, known as "air courtyard", is the scenic spot of Baima Temple.
During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the abbot of the temple, Ru Yin, once wrote a poem praising: "The Xiangtai Pavilion is beautiful and exquisite, and the flowers and rain have been around the Vatican Palace for many years. It's rare to see a stone hanging high, and when I hear it, I'm disappointed. "
"This platform, which is 43 meters long, 33 meters wide and 6 meters high and inlaid with blue bricks, has the distinctive features of ancient oriental architecture.
Piluge is spectacular, leaning against the double eaves of the mountain and flying with horns. Ancillary buildings such as temples and monasteries are neatly arranged to form their own courtyards.
In the courtyard, cypress trees are green, golden laurels are quiet and the environment is quiet.
According to legend, it was originally the place where Liu Zhuang, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, spent his summer studying when he was a child, and later it was changed to the place where Tianzhu monks stayed to translate scriptures.
On the east side of the mountain gate of Baima Temple, there is an exquisite, simple, tall and handsome stupa, which is the famous Yun Qi Pagoda.
Yun Qi Tower is a square brick tower with dense eaves, with 13 floors and a height of 35 meters.
It has a unique shape and is unique among ancient pagodas.
Yun Qi Tower, formerly known as Baima Sini Gu Mei Pagoda, was rebuilt in the 15th year of Jin Dading (1 175), which is the earliest existing ancient building in Luoyang.
There are many pomegranate trees in Baima Temple.
Pomegranate in Baima Temple was famous in Beijing during the Han and Wei Dynasties.
Pomegranate originated in Rest (present-day Iran), and was introduced to China together with Buddhist scriptures and Buddha statues in Han Dynasty, and most of them settled in Luoyang and Chang 'an.
At that time, people praised pomegranate as a symbol of exchanges between Chinese and foreign people, and its value doubled. The pomegranate in Baima Temple also has the saying that "white sweet pomegranate is a real cow".
As the first ancient temple in China, Baima Temple occupies an extremely important position in the history of Buddhism and foreign cultural exchanges in China.
The first Buddhist temple in China, Luoyang Baima Temple, is located more than ten kilometers east of Luoyang, with Mangshan Mountain in the north and Luoshui in the south. As the sun sets, the sunset glow sets off the white horse temple hall with red walls and green tiles, and sets off pines and cypresses. The weather is solemn.
Seeing the words "White Horse Temple" on the mountain gate, people can't help asking: "What does this have to do with the white horse?" This has to start with this famous story recorded in many ancient books-one night in the year of * * * (608 years of Buddha calendar, seven years of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty), Liu Zhuang, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, dreamed that the man of God was flying in the palace with daylight, which was gratifying.
The next day, Liu Zhuang asked his ministers.
A learned minister said: "There was a god named Buddha in West Tianzhu (ancient India), and the emperor may have dreamed of Buddha.
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Liu Zhuang then sent someone to ask for it.
A group of people crossed the Tianshan Mountains and Castle Peak, met Morten and Zhu Falan, Buddhist monks, and invited them to China. Baima returned to Luoyang, Kyoto on 1967 (the tenth year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty).
In the second year, the decree built a Tianzhu-style fine house for Morton and Fran, named White Horse Temple.
The original meaning of "temple" is official position. Because Morten and Fran came to the official office for the first time and were foreign guests, they still called their new home a temple to show their courtesy. Since then, Buddhist buildings in China have been called temples.
The name of "white horse" is said to be taken from the white horse carrying scriptures.
Although later scholars disputed this legend and the time and path when Buddhism was first introduced into China, ordinary Buddhists talked about it. Emperor Hanming's seeking for Buddhism has become a basically recognized fact in the history of Buddhism in China, and the White Horse Temple, as the initial symbol of Buddhism's introduction into China, is well known at all times and at home and abroad.
Present situation of Buddhist temple
In the historical storm, the White Horse Temple has been destroyed and built several times, but the site of the temple has never changed.
In the late 7th century, when the Tang and Five Dynasties were in full swing, Xue Huaiyi, the temple owner, was favored by Zetian, and the White Horse Temple was in full swing, with more than a thousand monks.
During the Anshi Rebellion and the Huichang Law Difficulty, the Baima Temple was greatly damaged, as the Tang poem said, "When the white horse is empty, the broken monument and brake can be seen."
The autumn wind rises in the rustling hut, and the sound of rain lingers all night.
In the 10 century, Song Taizong rebuilt the White Horse Temple, which was "novel and magnificent" and "more like a heavenly palace".
Today's White Horse Temple was built in Jiajing, Ye Ming in the16th century,17th and18th century, which was rebuilt by Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty.
196 1 year, Baima temple was designated as a national key cultural relics protection unit.
At present, Baima Temple covers an area of 40,000 square meters and has more than 100 halls, which is a typical vertical layout of Buddhist temples in Han Dynasty. The main building is located in the north-south middle line.
Entering the mountain gate, there is a stone tablet on each side. The memorial tablet of Luo Jing Baima Temple on the east side was written by a talented monk in Yuan Dynasty, and the calligraphy is beautiful and elegant.
Further on, past the Temple of the Heavenly King, the main hall of the whole temple-the Giant Buddha Hall. In the main hall, Sakyamuni sat on the lotus platform with flowers in his right hand, Ye Jia and Ananda stood beside him, Manjusri Bodhisattva and Pu Xian sat in rows, and the next day, the woman waited on him.
The five offerings on the incense table are complete, the left and right bells and drums are hung high, the curtains are hung, and the futons are arranged, which is solemn and solemn.
This scene constitutes what China Zen often said: "Smile at the flowers".
In the southeast corner of the Great Buddha Hall, there is a cast iron clock of Amin Dynasty, weighing 2500 kilograms, which is engraved with the words "The bell resounds through the Vatican Palace, the ghost of an underground earthquake.
"White Horse Bell" is one of the eight scenic spots in Luoyang. It is said that whenever the bright moon is clear and the morning light is slightly exposed, the monks go to the temple to chant Buddhist scriptures, and the bell of Baima Temple is melodious for dozens of miles, and the bell on the bell tower of East Street in the city can also ring accordingly. On the other hand, the bell tower in the city can be used to ring.
Behind the Great Buddha Hall is the Hall of the Great Hero, which supports the Great Buddha III. The hatchback is divided into eighteen arhats.
These arhats are all sitting, with different postures and different looks. They are shaped by the dry lacquer carving process of the Yuan Dynasty, which is very precious.
The so-called bamboo dry paint sculpture method is to first wrap paint, hemp, silk and silk on the clay tire layer by layer, and then uncover the clay tire to make a statue and make it with bamboo dry paint. With a long history, it flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and gradually disappeared after the Song Dynasty, so statues are extremely rare in the world.
Behind the main hall is Jieyin Temple, and behind it is Piluge, the last Buddhist temple in Baima Temple.
Piluge was built in the Tang Dynasty. On the blue brick balcony, it is nearly seven meters high, nine meters long and three meters wide.
Pilu Pavilion is dedicated to Pilu, the pure dharma Buddha of Sakyamuni, with Manjusri Bodhisattva and Bodhisattva standing next to it.
The back wall of the pavilion is inlaid with a stone tablet engraved with 42 chapters.
This Buddhist sutra briefly introduces the basic ideas of Buddhism and is generally considered as the earliest Chinese translation of Buddhist sutra, which was translated by She Morteng and Zhu Falan.
Piluge leans on the double eaves of the mountain, flying wings pick corners; There are statues of Morton and Flange in the east and west annex halls of the exhibition hall.
Wang Changling, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, once sang to the White Horse Temple: "The moon looks at the ancient temple and climbs the tower outside the forest.
The south wind opens the promenade, and the summer is cool as autumn.
"In fact, as early as the Northern Wei Dynasty, the White Horse Temple Garden was famous for a while.
There are many sand fruits, grapes, pomegranates and so on. In Baima Temple, and the fruit is "sweet and delicious, ranking first in Beijing". At that time, the emperor also sent someone to pick him up.
But these scenes are gone, and the most attractive place today is the cool platform.
On the stage, Piluge and the surrounding buildings form a small courtyard, a pool of clear water, lotus flowers and several cypresses, which are lush and refreshing. From the audience, if the whole courtyard is in the air, in the early Qing Dynasty, Shi Ruxiu once wrote a couplet: "Rain cypresses are sprinkled on the platform, and the gazebo shows the mountains and swallows the moon."
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