Chapter 13 Section 13 Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Dojo Jiuhuashan Temple Group

Jiuhua Mountain in Qingyang County, Anhui Province is known as "the first mountain in the southeast". For thousands of years, it is not only famous for its beautiful scenery, but also for its unique Buddhist temples. According to legend, in the fifth year of Long'an in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 401), Indian monks came to Mount Jiuhua to build a nunnery, but it was not until the Tang Dynasty that there were Buddhist temples in Mount Jiuhua. In the early Tang Dynasty, Jin Qiaojue, a member of the royal family of Silla, crossed the sea and came to Mount Jiuhua. From the fourth year of Yonghui (AD 653) to the sixteenth year of Kaiyuan (AD 728), he cultivated himself and preached Buddhism for 75 years.Jin Qiaojuehan has profound cultural attainments, and his poem "Send the Boy Down the Mountain" was also included in "Complete Tang Poetry".The poem reads: "Confucianism is lonely and you miss home. Farewell to Jiuhua in the cloud house. I love to ride bamboo horses to the bamboo railings, and I am lazy to gather golden sands in the golden land. Add bottles to the bottom of the stream and don't call the moon, cook tea in the pot and let go of flowers. Good There is no need to cry frequently, and the old monk is accompanied by mist." After Jin Qiaojue passed away at the age of 99, his physical body was very similar to the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha in Buddhist legends. Build a body tower for him and worship him.According to legend, Li Bai also wrote the poem "Praise of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva", praising Jin Qiaojue for "relying on the power of false universal kindness, he can save boundless suffering".Since then, the reputation of Mount Jiuhua has been greatly enhanced, and the incense is flourishing day by day.Huacheng Temple, Wuxiang Temple, Yanshou Temple, Chongjue Temple and Fuhai Temple were built one after another, forming a famous group of Buddhist temples.At that time, someone described it as: Jiuhua One Thousand Temple, scattered in the clouds.

After the Tang Dynasty, in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the temples of Jiuhuashan continued to be built and the incense continued, but they were also damaged by wars many times. Exhausted, so that there were no monks for 40 years.The existing buildings were rebuilt during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.During the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 300 temples in Mount Jiuhua, with more than 5,000 monks and nuns. The temple buildings in Mount Jiuhua have deviated from the traditional majestic and symmetrical layout, adapted to local conditions, making full use of the changes in the mountainous terrain, with bold and elaborate designs and a unique style.Most of the building materials are locally sourced. The temples and temples are mostly made of stone walls and wooden columns, powder walls and small windows, and dark brown tiles, which have the characteristics of residential buildings in southern Anhui mountainous areas in terms of color tone and style.

There are nearly 80 existing temples in Mount Jiuhua, more than 1,500 Buddha statues, and more than 1,300 cultural relics such as imperial decrees, scriptures, jade seals, and ritual objects issued by Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty.The temples are Gion, Dongyan, Wannian, Ganlu, Zhantan, Shangchan Hall, Prayer Platform, Xiaotiantai, Wanfo Temple, Huijue Temple and Jiuhualianshe, each with more than 100 houses.In particular, the four temples of Gion, Dongyan, Wannian, and Ganlu are known as the Four Great Forests of Jiuhua because of their large scale, which can open altars to preach precepts and hold various Buddhist activities.

The temples in Mount Jiuhua are mainly concentrated in Jiuhua Street and Min Garden.Jiuhua Street not only has Huacheng Temple and the Temple of the Body, but also has the four major jungles of Jiuhua, Gion, Dongyan and Wannian, with more than 20 temples.Therefore, it is called "Lotus Buddha Kingdom" by believers. Huacheng Temple is built at the foot of Furong Mountain in Jiuhua Street. It is not only the main temple of Jiuhua Mountain, but also the temple of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.During the Yonghui period of Tang Dynasty (650-655 A.D.), Jin Qiaojue went to the mountain to practice here.Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty gave money to expand the temple, and sent eunuchs to deliver more than 1,000 volumes of Buddhist scriptures, which were stored in the Buddhist scripture building behind the temple.Kangxi and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty also bestowed autographed plaques.The existing Huacheng Temple is a Qing Dynasty building.The four-entry hall is majestic and majestic, with the mountain supporting the situation, and the layout is both symmetrical and not completely symmetrical, reflecting the superb art of the builders at that time.There is a circular square in front of the temple, and there are row upon row of buildings on the left and right sides of the square.Every year on the 30th day of the seventh lunar month, the birthday of Dizang, the square in front of the temple is crowded with pilgrims who worship gods and Buddhas.The scripture building behind the temple is the oldest building in Jiuhua Temple.Inside, there are 6777 volumes of "Nirvana Sutra" printed during the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty. According to legend, the "Huayan Blood Sutra" written by the monk Jiuhua Wuxia in the Ming Dynasty who pricked blood and mixed with gold powder took 28 years of work. There are also several bundles from India. Sanskrit "Bayue Sutra".

The Flesh Body Hall is located in Shenguang Ridge, about three miles west of Huacheng Temple, and is the pagoda courtyard of the Flesh Body Pagoda.Going up the stairs through Jiuhua Street, looking up at the body hall on Shenguang Ridge, you can see the tall and shining hall, and the plaque of "the first mountain in the southeast" in front of the hall is extraordinary and awe-inspiring.There are 81 steps on the iron chain of the handrail, which not only has the risk of climbing high, but also the joy of going to a higher level.In the center of the hall stands a seven-story red wooden pagoda.There are eight small attics on each floor of the tower, and there are more than 100 Ksitigarbha statues in total.

Gion Temple is built at the foot of Dongyan, and the mountain gate faces Jiuhua Street.The buildings in the temple are raised layer by layer, with twists and turns and exquisite structure.The Pohuo Liao in the temple stores eight cauldrons handed down from ancient times, the largest of which is about one foot in diameter. People call these cauldrons "thousand monk stoves". Wannian Temple was formerly known as Zhaixing Nunnery.During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1573-1619), the Wutai monk Wuxia came to Jiuhua Mountain and built a thatched nunnery on the top of the East Peak. He practiced painstakingly and lived to 126 years old. After his death, his body would not rot for three years. Reincarnated, his body was enshrined in gold.Emperor Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty named him "Yingshen Bodhisattva" when he knew about it.People customarily call this temple the Centennial Palace.After the expansion in the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed Wannian Temple.The couplet here, "Given the Hundred Years Palace, Protecting the Nation Temple", somewhat summarizes the changes of the temple.The Wannian Temple organizes space according to the ups and downs of the rocks, ranging from one floor to as many as five floors. The roof is uniform, the baseline is winding, and it has a unique style.So far, the flawless body has been placed in the air for more than 360 years, and it is not rotten, which shows that the anti-corrosion technology in the Ming Dynasty in my country was already quite high.

Dongyan Temple is divided into upper and lower courtyards, about two kilometers north of Wannian Temple.The upper court was built by the monk Zhou Jing in the Ming Dynasty, and the lower court was built for the later Xinjian residence.The upper courtyard was destroyed by a fire in 1933, and the lower courtyard has been renovated, and now it has been turned into Jiuhua Hotel to entertain tourists. Of the four major jungles in Mount Jiuhua, only Ganlu Temple is not located in Jiuhua Street.Ganlu Temple is located on the northern half of Jiuhua Mountain.In the sixth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1667 A.D.), the emperor's Yulin national teacher was ordered to offer incense to Jiuhua. Seeing the beautiful scenery surrounded by mountains and water, he proposed to build a temple here, and the monks and nuns in the mountains unanimously agreed.On the day when the construction started, the mountains and bamboos were suddenly covered with crystal clear dew, and there were rumors that it was sponsored by the Bodhisattva, and the nectar was poured down.After the temple was built, it was named Ganlu Temple.Ganlu Temple is located on the mountainside, and it is also the only place where the North Road goes to the mountain. The incense is very strong.

Jiuhua Mountain and Huangshan Mountain are in the same vein, with a surrounding area of ​​more than 100 kilometers. The scenery is wonderful.Li Bai, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, visited Mount Jiuhua three times, leaving behind a poem that says, "In the past, on the Jiujiang River, I looked at the Jiuhua Peak in the distance, and the green water hung on the Tianhe River, and I embroidered nine hibiscus."Liu Yuxi even praised Mount Jiuhua for its "strange peak, which is shocking at first sight".Now, Mount Jiuhua has been turned into a tourist area, receiving thousands of domestic and foreign tourists and Buddhists.