Kaiyuan Temple is 260 meters long from north to south and 300 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 78,000 square meters. In the heyday of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there were 0/20 temples/kloc, with thousands of monks. After the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), the government allocated special funds for maintenance many times. 1962 was listed as a provincial cultural relics protection unit, 1983 as the second batch of national key cultural relics protection units and national key Buddhist temples, and 1986 as one of the top ten scenic spots in Fujian province.
Shanmen, also known as Tianwang Temple, was built in the Tang Dynasty for three years (AD 687) when Wu Zetian was listed. The stone pillars in Tianwang Temple are spindle-shaped, slightly thicker up and down and slightly thinner in the middle. A wooden couplet "This place is a famous Buddhist country, and the streets are full of saints" was written by Zhu, a Dali scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, and a modern monk master. Sitting on both sides of the King's Hall are King Kong and Brahma. They glared, held their heads high, and looked very dignified, which was quite different from the four donkey kong sculptures in general temples. Some people jokingly call them "two generals".
Crossing the mountain gate is an open slate clearing, called Baiting, which is a place where officials and people worship and activities in ancient and modern times. Eight giant banyan trees, which are hundreds of years old, stand on both sides of the stadium, shaded and intertwined. There are eleven ancient buildings, small pagodas and two slender buildings of different shapes under the tree. There is a 3-meter-high stone carving silk-burning furnace in the courtyard, and the furnace body is carved with dragons, auspicious clouds, lotus petals and creeping weeds. Later, on both sides of the silk-burning stove, there were two square stone towers engraved with the story of Prince Sahammer giving his life to feed the tiger. The East-West Pagoda and the East-West Corridor are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the worship hall, adding silence and solemnity to Kaiyuan Temple.
The main building on the central axis is Daxiong Hall. According to legend, Ziyun built land when the temple was built, so it is also called Ziyun Hall. On the giant plaque above the Hall of Ursa Major, four characters of "Sanglian Dharma Realm" are written in Weibei font in response to Sankai Anbaili's statement. According to legend, as early as the early Tang Dynasty, Quanzhou was rich in silk, which used to be the mulberry garden of the rich man Huang Shougong. One day, Huang Shougong dreamed that a monk asked him to raise land to build a temple. He said that the mulberry trees in Bai Lianhua will provide land to become attached. As a result, a few days later, all the mulberry trees in the garden bloomed in the white lotus. Huang Shougong was moved by the boundless Buddhism, so he donated this mulberry garden to build a temple. Kaiyuan Temple has the reputation of "Mulberry Buddhism".
Daxiong Hall was built in the Tang Dynasty in the second year of Wu Zetian's hanging arch (AD 686). The main hall is 20 meters high, nine rooms wide and six rooms deep, with an area of 1387.75 square meters. The center of Ursa Mahayana is dedicated to the highest position of Buddhism tantra-Piluchana. The Buddha has three bodies, namely, dharma body, confession body and incarnation. It is symbolized by Piluzena Buddha, Lushena Buddha and Sakyamuni Buddha respectively. The dharma body is in the pure land of constant silence and light, from which all dharma bodies symbolize the world and the universe. On both sides of the Dharma Body, the Buddha of Oriental Fragrance, the Buddha of Southern Joy, the Buddha of Western Blissfulness and the Buddha of Northern Lotus are consecrated in turn. These five giant buddhas are glittering, with distinct clothing lines, kind faces and solemn testimonies. Their hands are used for presentation, giving, receiving and meditation, and their craftsmanship is exquisite and amazing. Five Dhyani Buddhas's threats include Manjusri, Pu Xian, Ananda, Ye Jia, Guanyin, Shi Zhi, Wei Tuo, Guan Yu, Brahma Heavenly King, Earth Division, and 10 Fashen. In the middle of the back of the main hall, there is the first holy Guanyin, the tantric six Guanyin, as well as eighteen arhats, dragons, and different wings.
The ring altar of Mana behind the Hall of Great Heroes was built on the second step of the central axis. Ganlu Tan Jie was built in the Song Dynasty and rebuilt in the late Ming Dynasty. It has an octagonal conical roof with double eaves and cloisters around it, covering an area of 645 square meters. The altar is divided into five layers, and the highest layer is dedicated to the wood carving statue of Lushenafo in Ming Dynasty. There is a lotus leaf of Chiba on the lotus seat where it sits, and a 6 cm Buddha statue is carved on each lotus leaf. Four buddhas, namely, King Kong Hook, King Kong Lock, King Kong Bell, King Kong Lock, and 24 Buddha statues, including Sakyamuni, Amitabha, Hanshan, Picked up, Avalokitesvara with a Thousand Hands, and General Wei Tuo, stand around the Lushena Buddha. Around the waist of the altar, there are 64 trump cards of various gods to protect the three conversions and the five precepts.
The manna ring altar in Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou has a long history, unique architecture and special worship. It is also called the three ring altars in China together with Jietai Temple in Beijing and Zhaoqing Temple in Hangzhou. On both sides of the central axis, there is a Tan Yue Temple, which was converted from the THE TEMPLE OF JIALAN Temple in the east to commemorate the benefactor Huang Shougong. There is a statue of Zen forest, commonly known as "Little Kaiyuan Temple", dedicated to Tiantai Sect. There is a sacred temple in the west, part of which is now opened as a memorial hall for Master Hongyi, and there is also an amphibious temple for monks to live in. The octagonal five-story pavilion-style wooden stone towers standing about 200 meters apart in the squares on both sides of Baiting are Quanzhou East Tower and West Tower respectively. They are famous for their majestic bodies, wonderful shapes, exquisite architecture and exquisite carvings, and have attracted countless Chinese and foreign scholars and tourists to visit, watch, ponder and study since the Song Dynasty.
The East Tower, named Zhenguo Tower, was built in the sixth year of Tang Xiantong (865). It was originally a five-story wooden tower, which was later converted into a stone tower. The tower is 48.24 meters high and has a frame structure. The central column of the tower runs through all floors and is the support of the whole tower. Liang Shi is installed at eight corners of each tower core column, connected with the tower wall and inclined column with a thickness of 2m, and the protective bucket of the top column is lifted out of the arch frame layer by layer, thus reducing the span of Liang Shi. The Liang Shi is jointed with the beam frame like a tenon, which makes the stress connection between the tower core and the tower wall become a whole, greatly strengthening the firmness of the tower body. The tower wall is carved from granite, criss-crossing and overlapping, with accurate calculation and meticulous construction. East Pagoda 1997 has been selected as one of the four famous pagodas stamps in China, making it the king of existing stone pagodas in China.
The West Tower, Renshou Tower, was built in the second year of the Five Dynasties Liang Dynasty (9 16). It used to be a seven-level wooden tower called "Infinite Life Tower". In the fourth year of Beizheng (1 1 14), it was called "Renshou Tower". From the first year of Song Shaoding to the first year of Jiaxi (1228- 1237), it was converted into a stone tower, with a height of 44.06 meters and almost the same scale as the East Tower.
Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou attracts monks, believers and tourists from all over the world to worship and visit with its long history, magical legends, unique laws and regulations, exquisite architecture, precious cultural relics, beautiful art and excellent reputation. Kaiyuan Temple also has advanced training courses in Buddhism. The graduates are abbots of temples all over the country, which shows that Kaiyuan Temple has a high status in Buddhism.
Monks in Kaiyuan Temple in the past dynasties were famous for their Buddhism, poems and articles, or became famous, or died after joining the WTO. Master Hong Yi, a legalist monk who combined Buddhism, calligraphy, epigraphy, music, painting and poetry in modern times, lived in Kaiyuan Temple for a long time in his later years. 1942 After the death of Master Hongyi, some ashes were buried in Hupao, Hangzhou, and some were built in Qingyuan Mountain in the northern suburbs for storage.
Kaiyuan Temple is located in West Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou. Although it lacks the background of famous mountains and rivers, it shortens the distance between human beings and Buddhism and invisibly increases the intimacy of good men and women. Perhaps this is one of its unique features!