Chapter 77 Looking for Foguang Temple

In June 1937, Sicheng, Huiyin, together with Mo Zongjiang and Ji Yutang from the Construction Society, went to Mount Wutai to look for Foguang Temple.They have been to Shanxi more than once. The territory of Shanxi, the scenery and customs along the way, the various characters in the mountain villages, and even the Shanxi dialect that is not easy to understand can all arouse their intimacy close to nostalgia. Sicheng looks at things more from the perspective of science, rational inquiry and architects.Sitting in the car and seeing a tower, he will criticize: the structural design of this tower is unreasonable, the tower is so tall, and the insufficient "receipts" and the heavy and deep and dense eaves make people feel uncomfortable. An impression of stability.Passing a temporary bridge, the passengers got off and walked across the bridge, and the empty car drove over the bridge. He carefully observed the bridge body, and said to Huiyin: This bridge can be called a special project made in China—a wooden frame on the pillars On top of it, sorghum stalks were placed, and soil was spread on the sorghum stalks. It is worth noting that such a structure has the strength to carry cars.But Huiyin looks at things more aesthetically and emotionally: "...all kinds of romantic locations in the countryside are beautiful and innocent. The old ones are holding on to crutches, and the young ones are bare-chested. They are all dotted along the road. Bright eyes and a smiling face. On a hillside, there are people walking, herding sheep, facing the sun, backing the sun, casting light and shadows; The one with the braids, the clothes are so simple that there is only a red belly, with two or three flowers vaguely embroidered on it..."

After entering the mountain, they no longer have this leisurely mood.The mountain road leading to Foguang Temple is too difficult. The rugged path twists and turns along the steep cliffs, with cliffs on one side and deep cliffs on the other. Sometimes, even donkeys are so scared that their legs tremble and refuse to move forward.They had no choice but to unload their luggage and march slowly with the donkey.After walking like this for two days, they arrived at a small mountain village --- Bean Village.Foguang Temple stands on a high slope in Dou Village, and its vigorous outline is outlined by the soft light and shadow at dusk.Sicheng, Huiyin and their party were so excited that their hearts were pounding: My Buddha is merciful, it is really an ancient building! Just look at the huge, strong and simple brackets and the tall and far-reaching eaves, they can build such a building. in conclusion.

Foguang Temple sits east and faces west, surrounded by peaks on the south, north, and east sides, and the west side is broad and open, making the whole temple look extraordinary.Entering the mountain gate, there are two courtyards at the front and back, both of which are very spacious, and the halls, halls, buildings, pavilions, kilns, houses, stables, and houses are in order.In Buddhism, the east is the highest, and the East Hall in the backyard is the main hall.The main hall is seven rooms wide and four rooms deep. The columns, foreheads, bucket arches, doors, windows, and walls are not painted with paint, but painted with earth and vermilion, which looks simple and simple.

There are 35 statues on the spacious Buddhist altar in the East Hall, which looks like a fairy forest.The five main Buddhas are Sakyamuni Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, Samantabhadra Yansa and Manjusri Bodhisattva.Around the main Buddha, Buddha statues surround him.On both sides and back of the main hall, there are 500 statues of Arhats. To their surprise, on the left side of the altar, there was a life-size seated statue of a woman in casual clothes.The monks in the temple told them that this was the statue of our Empress Wu.Excited and exhausted, a group of people stayed in the monastery and started the investigation and measurement of Foguang Temple.

Dougong, beam frame, algae well and carved plinths have been seen one by one, and everything shows the characteristics of late Tang architecture.There must have been many murals on the walls of the hall in the past. They speculate that this may be the only surviving mural of the Tang Dynasty in China other than Dunhuang. The most important part of the wooden building is the roof structure of the house. Sicheng and his assistants climbed onto the roof.At this time, they were pleasantly surprised like a treasure.They saw the double-main-edge structure that was only seen in the paintings of the Tang Dynasty in the past, and saw the ancient herringbone "forked hands" supporting ridge building --- this structure was only read from "Zao Fa Shi" in the past, and now I saw the authentic work here, perhaps this is the only isolated case in China!