Qianjiang Evening News Hourly News Reporter Zhang Mijia
In the 10th century, Qian Li, the last king of the Wuyue Kingdom, ordered the construction of the pagoda (later known as "Leifeng Pagoda"), but only a year after its construction, the kingdom collapsed.
Over the next thousand years, the pagoda suffered several disasters and was destroyed several times before collapsing in 1924.
In March 2001, an 18-hour live archaeological broadcast brought posterity back to the depths of that long history: how many relics of that year can be found in the piles scattered around the ruins of Leifeng Pagoda? Is there a mysterious pagoda underground palace hidden under the base of the tower?
All this, with the display of a magical tower within a tower, the gilded ashoka pagoda, gradually became clearer, and at the same time, greater mysteries followed.
◆Single product recommendation: Gilded gold and silver Ashoka Tower
◆ Archives: Wudai Wuyue (907-978) Height 35.6 cm, base side length 12.5 cm Excavated in 2001 from the Leifeng Pagoda Underground Palace in Hangzhou, Zhejiang
◆ Recommended by: Chen Shuihua, director of Zhejiang Provincial Museum
The Leifeng Pagoda on Xizhao Mountain on the south bank of the West Lake was originally a pagoda built by Qian Li, the last king of the Wuyue Kingdom. It is famous for its beautiful scenery and the legend of the white snake. Leifeng Pagoda stands on the south shore of the West Lake, facing off and echoing the Baochu Pagoda on the Jewel Mountain on the north bank.
In September 1924, the Leifeng Pagoda fell, like a Xizi girl breaking one of her arms. People of insight have always called for the reconstruction of Leifeng Pagoda and the restoration of the "Leifeng Xizhao" landscape. In March 2000, the plan to rebuild the Leifeng Pagoda was put on the agenda. In order to cooperate with the reconstruction, the archaeological excavation work of the Leifeng Pagoda site has also become logical.
The situation after the opening of the Leifeng Pagoda Underground Palace
The truth is just beginning to appear
From February to July 2000, after the first phase of archaeological excavations, after cleaning up nearly 10,000 cubic meters of broken bricks and wasteland, the archaeological team revealed the collapsed Leifeng Tower and the base of the tower.
Later, from December 2000 to July of the following year, after the second phase of archaeological excavations, archaeologists revealed about 4,000 square meters of the site, excavated the underground palace and opened the iron letter excavated in the underground palace, which is where the gilded gold and silver Ashoka Pagoda appeared.
Until March 2001, the iron letter was opened, and the gilded gold coffin containing the gilded gold and silver Ashoka Pagoda with the buddha's conch hair, the gilt gold box, the gilt gilt gilt cushion, the gilt gold belt, the copper mirror, the copper coin, the glass bottle, the silk fabric and other offerings were all reproduced in the human world.
Among them, the most eye-catching is this splendid pagoda - the underground palace has been in the water in the early years, and when it was discovered, the bottom of the stupa was rusty with water; and its upper body was shining and intact. Behind this dazzling luxury and intricate craftsmanship, there seems to be an endless legendary story.
Leifeng Tower fell
In July 2001, just a few months after the excavation of the Leifeng Pagoda Underground Palace, archaeologists, while sorting out the many stele excavated from the Leifeng Pagoda, found the remnants of the Huayan Jingbao recorded in the ancient Southern Song Dynasty book "Xianchun Lin'an Zhi", with 162 characters on it.
In the inscription of the stele, Qian Li claimed to have been devout to the Buddha in his life, and did not dare to hide such relics and holy relics as "Buddha's conch hair" in the palace, and specially built a pagoda on the shore of the West Lake to make offerings, named "Imperial Princess Pagoda". According to the research, the "Imperial Princess Pagoda" is the Leifeng Pagoda.
The Leifeng Pagoda was presided over by Qian Li and began construction in the fifth year of the Northern Song Dynasty (972) and was not completed until the completion of the second year of the Taiping Revival (977). Sighingly, only one year after the completion of the Leifeng Pagoda, wu yueguo descended to the Song dynasty and perished.
In the years that followed, Leifeng Pagoda experienced vicissitudes: in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Leifeng Pagoda was set on fire by rebels in the Fangla Peasant Revolt in Zhejiang Province, and the outer wooden structures of the tower were destroyed by the rebel army. In the first year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1195), the Leifeng Pagoda was renovated and once again flourished. In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1555), the Wukou attacked on a large scale, Hangzhou was besieged, and the Leifeng Pagoda suffered a second fire raid in the war, leaving only the brick tower heart.
Leifeng Tatar Heart
Whenever the sun sets in the west, the remnants of the tower and the mountain are reflected, like fireballs will fall, and the mood is very desolate and distant. And this image of Leifeng Pagoda has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people since then.
After the Leifeng Pagoda was burned by the Wokou, it was full of holes and stubbornly stood for more than 300 years.
The poet Xu Zhimo once wrote in his diary on September 29, 1918: "On the way we visited leifeng pagoda, I have never been to it, the shape and color and status of this tower, there is really an indescribable mysterious solemnity and beauty." The four large brick columns inside the tower have been dismantled into an inverted cone shape, which looks very dangerous. "Due to the continuous extraction of tower bricks by good men and women, coupled with the disrepair, sun and rain and other reasons, leifeng tower is crumbling.
Only six years after the poet described the situation, at about 1:40 p.m. on September 25, 1924, the Leifeng Pagoda was finally overwhelmed and collapsed.
"Buddha's conch bun hair" relic
Lei Feng Tower fell, is the relic still there? Is it well preserved? Where is it now? These questions seemed to have been answered by archaeologists after opening the iron letter unearthed in the dungeon and after seeing the splendid gilded and silver Ashoka Pagoda.
When Qian Li was the king of Wuyue, he imitated the ancient Indian Ashoka to build a pagoda, made of copper, iron and other metals to make 84,000 small pagodas, the appearance of gold, commonly known as "Golden Tu Pagoda", Buddhist texts called "Ashoka Pagoda". In the iron letter of the Leifeng Pagoda Underground Palace, it is this kind of Ashoka Pagoda. The difference is that this Ashoka Pagoda in the Leifeng Pagoda is made of more advanced silver as a material. Although the pagoda has gone through thousands of years, it still shines brightly, as if it were newly built.
The whole silver pagoda is exquisite: above the mountain flowers and banana leaves in the four corners of the pagoda, there are sixteen pictures of Buddhist stories showing the deeds of the Buddha's life, such as the birth under the carefree tree, the asceticism by the Nilian River, the sayings in the Luye Garden, etc., which vividly reflect the important life of Shakyamuni Shakyamuni, such as his birth, home, monasticism, enlightenment, and mission. The reliefs on the four sides of the pagoda record the story of Buddha Bunsen, in turn, the prince of Samu sacrificed himself to feed the tiger, the corpse king cut the meat and trade pigeons, the fast eye king Sheyan and the moonlight king Shi Shou, focusing on the display and promotion of Shakyamuni's good deeds in his lifetime.
At that time, when archaeologists carefully gazed at the pagoda, they clearly saw the golden coffin inside through the cutouts in the pagoda. If this silver pagoda is regarded as a silver rafter, plus the golden coffin inside, this is the real "golden coffin silver coffin", which is the highest specification of the yì buried Buddha relic.
The relics of the "Buddha's Conch Hair" mentioned by Qian Li in the Huayan Jingbao must be in this golden coffin. For the purpose of protecting the cultural relics, so far experts have not opened the silver pagoda to remove the golden coffin. The relics are still safely stored in this magnificent gold coffin and are worshipped by the world.
Nowadays, after the completion of the new leifeng pagoda, the leifeng xizhao landscape of "only managing the sunset for tourists" has been restored, and the tourists on the Xizhao mountain have climbed the new pagoda of Leifeng between the Maolin and bamboo cultivation, looking at the lake and mountain color of Xizi Lake, listening to the evening class morning bell of Jingci Temple.
In the Lonely Mountain on the other side of the West Lake, in the "Leifeng Pagoda Cultural Relics Museum" in the Gushan Pavilion area of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, there is a good place to see history in real objects, waiting for people to come to read and taste.
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Source: Qianjiang Evening News Hourly News