Originally, I was going to Xiaoxitian in Yixian County, because before the heavy rain in Shanxi and the disaster repair of Xiaoxitian, it was temporarily changed to Changzhi Guanyin Hall
Along the way, Teacher Chen comforted us: Xiao Xitian was from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and the visual effect of the asphalt was good, look lively; Guanyin Hall was during the Ming Dynasty's Wanli Calendar, more than 100 years earlier than Xiao Xitian, and more than 800 immortals of the Three Religions of Confucianism and Taoism held a conference, which had more artistic value
Guanyin Hall is located in this humble small ravine, east of Liangjiazhuang Village in Xiaochang Township, the western suburbs of Changzhi City
In the ninth year of the Ming Dynasty (1581), the soldier attendant Gao Qinding returned home and was built by his deceased mother
The construction area of Guanyin Hall is only 681 square meters, sitting on the east and west two courtyards, the central axis is the mountain gate, the Hall of the Heavenly King, the Pavilion and the Hall of Guanyin
Because the nucleic acid test takes up time, when arriving, it will be late, the temple door is closed, the leader rushed forward to knock on the door, looking at the empty temple in front of the small back of Xiao Li, who had been busy for a day, somehow remembered a poem of some age: the monk knocked on the door under the moon
The person who watched the temple was Xiao Li who made an appointment in advance and was waiting for us, and he read our nucleic acid report very carefully and let us in
Passing through the mountain gate, the teacher said that you should remember the appearance of the four heavenly kings
Why?
Remembering that the security guard after work reluctantly went to open the lock of the Guanyin Temple, I wandered around the door
Under the old tree at the door, two turnips were planted, and a green onion was tied with red rope each
The teacher said that this is to seek children, and the pronunciation of radish in this dialect is "stacked back", which means that the descendants are prosperous and stacked, and they must also be "onion" bright and clever
The three meows next to them said they couldn't understand why you humans always had these strange behaviors
What treasure can such a small temple hide?
Inside the temple gate, there was another iron gate, and the three characters of Guanyin Hall on it were written by the soldier waiter, more than 400 years old
The teacher said that the temple and the temple are not the same, the temple for the Buddha to offer bodhisattvas, the temple for the ghost gods, the church does not clearly stipulate who to offer, at will, the original meaning of the nunnery is actually a small hut, the feudal era nuns can only make a small hut retreat, over time there is a name for nunnery
So, who is offering in this Guanyin Hall?
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and Heavenly Kings; Lao Tzu, the Jade Emperor's Mother,The Great Emperor," The Heavenly Gods, the Heavenly Immortals; Kong Shengren, the 72 disciples、、、 the three families of Confucianism and Buddhism
There are 881 painted sculptures in one class, and the whole church will never be repeated
It's true? Such a small room?
The iron door opened and stepped into this 30-square-meter Guanyin Hall, and in the midst of the dazzle, a heart was slammed hard, two words: shock
On the beams between the heavens and the ground, the carved columns and paintings are surrounded by auspicious clouds, and the Buddhist temples and immortal palaces and pavilions are hidden in them, and various characters are vivid
The elites of the Buddha's realm, the immortal world, and the human world gathered together, this is, the three realms engaged in a party?
The main altar is divided into three rooms, with Guanyin Bodhisattva in the center, Manjushri in the south, and Puxian in the north
Guanyin sat on the lotus platform, with a compassionate face, his right hand resting on the right leg of the lotus platform, his left arm hanging down naturally, his left foot stepping on the back of the mount roaring toward the sky, and his body leaning forward slightly sideways, looking down at all beings
Guanyin's head is covered by a canopy, and the Buddhist story of "Fifty-three Ginseng of the Virtuous Fortune Boy" is being staged behind the cliffs and rocks
Shan Cai, Dragon Girl (destroyed), Wei Dao, and Night Fork stood left and right, and on the pillars in front of the niches there were Manjushri riding lions and Puxian driving elephants flying in the air, and the immortal monks and laymen held the moon and arched the Guanyin Bodhisattva in the center
Look closely at the canopy, between the colorful clouds, who is sitting on the knees?
The three masters of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism: Shakyamuni, Laozi and Confucius
The Buddha spoke in the center; Lao Tzu was on the left, dressed as the Head of the Dao, preaching the scriptures and discussing the Tao; Confucius was on the right, preaching and teaching karma to solve puzzles and talking
Surprised, not surprised?
The three ancestors of the three religions sit side by side, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are one, and a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, coexisting and communing to benefit all sentient beings
The Bodhisattva of the Northern Second Dynasty, wearing a flower crown on his head, wearing a chest pendant, with his left leg curled and his right leg hanging down, sits on a lotus platform, and sits on a six-toothed white elephant crouching in front
Above the canopy is a group of hanging statues of Shakyamuni Buddha riding to the Lingshan Festival
Manjushri Bodhisattva, sitting on a lotus platform, also wears a flower crown on his head, wears a crown of flowers on his chest, his right leg is coiled, his left leg is hanging down, and his foot is stepping on a green lion
Above the canopy, the five-colored auspicious clouds lifted the Pavilion of the Heavenly Palace, and the Jade Emperor sat in the Pavilion, surrounded by Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals and Civil and Military Officials
Behind the three bodhisattvas and on both sides, only the hanging statues could not see the beams and walls, and the mountains and stone platforms, trees and flowers, dragons, phoenixes, birds and beasts were bright and dark in the clouds, looming, and colorful
On the two sides of the hall, on the top of the Buddhist platform, from the bottom up, the first layer is made of eighteen arhats, the second layer is twenty-four heavens, and the third layer is twelve enlightened bodhisattvas
On the fourth floor, the north wall is a Confucian sage, the seventy-two disciples of Confucius
The south wall is the Taoist Immortal King, the Jade Emperor, the Queen Mother of the West, the Old Shou Xing, the Lei Gong, the Electric Mother, the Eight Immortals、、、 as long as you can call the name, all of them are together
Looking closely layer by layer, the arhat is the most grounded in the Buddha's world, entrusted by the Buddha to reside in the human world, carry forward the Dharma, help sentient beings, and arrange for the ground level
The eighteen arhats are more than 1 meter high, which is the largest in addition to the three main statues, with different looks and postures, a distinct personality of joy and sorrow, and a vivid shape
Dumb Luohan had a black face, and a thin Luohan had a erlang leg
FuHu Luohan was braging about his newly acquired pet
An arhat fell asleep, smiling sweetly in his sleep
An arhat was digging his ears and squinting his eyes at you: Again, I'll listen
The big belly Maitreya also got down, mixed in the arhat pile, the dragon girl holding him was about to go out, Shan Cai carrying his crescent shovel, carrying his big cloth bag, smiling and waiting outside the door
This kind of plastic method inside the door of one foot outside the door makes the whole space have a deeper depth, giving people a kind of imaginary space outside the mountain and a building outside the building
When Buddhism came to China, it also followed the customs, and the gods were humanized, and they had a lively atmosphere of life and the interest of the world
On the second floor above the Arhat are the twenty-four heavenly statues, which are gradually smaller in size, standing from sitting and moving from stillness
The Twenty-Four Heavens were originally the Twenty Heavens, and they were the guardian and protectors of the Buddha's kingdom, including the Four Great Heavenly Kings, and most of them were the gods of Brahmanism and Hinduism: the Great Brahman, the Emperor, the Vajrapani, the Maharana, the Moritz, the Dragon King, the Yama, the King of Kinnara、、、
We Chinese people can't remember these awkward names, they are guests from afar, put on Beautiful Chinese clothes, and add a few Chinese gods to receive foreign guests: Guan Gong became the protector of the Buddhist Gate, Jia Lan, Bao Qingtian became the King of Yanluo, the city god, the land, the fire god, the Erlang, the spirit official, and even the Houyi
After Buddhism entered China, especially after the Yuan Dynasty, the nationalization of appearance and clothing made these heavenly gods from India become authentic Chinese gods
Four Heavenly Kings, isn't this the one who plays the lute at the door? No wonder when we entered the mountain gate, Teacher Chen asked us to remember the appearance of the four heavenly kings, and the four in the Guanyin Hall were a miniature version of the door, looking exactly the same as their clothes
On the third floor above the heavens, the multicolored clouds fluctuate and change, twelve colorful beasts ride the lotus platform, and twelve serene enlightened bodhisattvas sit in the clouds, forming a strong dynamic contrast with the lively shapes of the heavens
The Enlightened Bodhisattvas are the twelve great masters of tantra worship, namely: Manjushri Bodhisattva, Puxian Bodhisattva, Puyan Bodhisattva, Vajrapani Bodhisattva, Maitreya Bodhisattva, Qingjing Hui Bodhisattva, Wei De Zi Bodhisattva, Dialectical Bodhisattva, Pure Karmic Obstacle Bodhisattva, PuJue Bodhisattva, Enlightened Bodhisattva, And Virtuous First Bodhisattva
The Twelve Great Masters can enter the realm of Enlightenment and listen to the teachings of the Great Sun, so they are called the Twelve Enlightened Bodhisattvas
On the fourth floor above the Enlightened Bodhisattva, the north wall is confucian, the seventy-two disciples of Confucius, and the seventy-two sages of the people
The south wall is a Taoist, and in the fairyland there are the Jade Emperor, the Queen Mother," and eight immortals to wish the old birthday star
There is Nezha who comes to Huaguo Mountain to capture Sun Monkey
There are also the familiar Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, the Tang Dynasty Yingjing, the Oban Festival、、、 and so on
In addition, between the beams and around the doors and windows, there were overhangs, except for the ground on which we stood, and there was no vacancy
There are no walls or pillars, as if the whole room is telling you the story of heaven and earth
In the blessed land of heaven and earth, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, immortal star officials, literati and scholars, the great view of the ocean, the joy and harmony
Such a rich content in the small space, the composition is complicated but dense and reasonable, seemingly chaotic but actually orderly, I really don't know how the Ming Dynasty craftsmen did it, in addition to admiration is shock, back for a few days, or unforgettable
Unfortunately, it was a little late, and the lights could not be turned on in the hall, only the teacher's cold light pen pointed out the wonderful points
You can't take pictures, the pictures in the temple come from the Internet, and earlier this may have been just a small country temple with free access
It is said that it has not been renovated since it was built during the Wanli Dynasty, and it has remained unchanged; during the Cultural Revolution, Liangjiazhuang Village used adobe walls to surround the Guanyin Hall and wrote slogans on the walls to avoid the catastrophe
Ming Dynasty inscription on the beam
Suspension sculptures, which began in the Tang Dynasty, do not survive much, even in Dunhuang sculptures are rare and only one case
However, in Shanxi, there are many exquisite hanging sculptures, such as the Jingxin Temple in Taigu Yangyi, the Thousand Buddhas Nunnery (commonly known as "Xiao XiTian") in Yixian County, the Special Statue Temple and Golden Pavilion Temple in Wutai Mountain, the Shuanglin Temple in Pingyao, the Chongqing Temple in Changzi County、、、 and the Changzhi Guanyin Hall