"February 8th" is a temple fair in Yuntai Temple in Huang Guan, which started from the Tang Dynasty and went through the Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China until the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. With the historical changes and the rise and fall of the country, the incense has never stopped.
Yuntai Temple, located in the most open hinterland of Guanyang County, Guilin, is known as the Pearl of the Dragon. The temple sits west facing east, backed by the ocean mountain system, and the jiusan winds on the ocean ridge, and the clear spring flows in from the depths of the dense forest; Two kilometers to the left and right in front of the temple are two karst mountains in Fiona Fang with a height of 100 meters. The left side looks like a lion, called the Lion Cottage, and the right side looks like a ox, called the ox village. They all sat in the back and looked at the front; Twenty kilometers in front of the temple is the remnant vein of five mountain systems on the mountainside of Dupangling Mountain, such as five fine horses running for food, which is called Wumashan Mountain. Ocean Mountain and Dupont Ridge are mountains nearly two kilometers above sea level, which are shrouded in mist all the year round. Yuntai Temple is located in a valley of tens of kilometers in Huang Guan Town, Fiona Fang, with an altitude of about 300 meters. Compared with the elevation of 2009.3m in Jiucailing of Dupangling, the drop is over1700m. The gushing irrigation river flows from south to north in the middle of the valley to Xiangjiang River and Yangtze River. Niuwan River, which flows from west to east, bypasses Yuntai Temple and flows into the irrigation river of Huangniuzhai. The second-class highway running through the north and south of the valley leads directly to Guilin, Yangshuo and Hunan. There is a poem saying: "A week in Yuntai is better than a life in Qian Shan;" Away from fairyland, the heart is there, and the dream is nowhere to worry about. "
In the early years of Emperor Wu of the Tang Dynasty (about 687 AD), a monk from Dong Yuan, a master of Chang 'an, went to Shishan Village, Huang Guan Town, and saw mountains and clouds rippling in the west. As the legend says, "When chaos first opens, the lotus sits on it", which is quite similar to the Buddha's holy land. At the foot of the Seven Ridges, the soil is rammed, the bark is spread, and the reed is tied as a brake. After each dynasty, it is named "Yuntai Temple".
In the process of giving alms, Master Dongyuan saw the sufferings of many people in rural areas. Every spring, he can't even afford hoes, plows, farm tools and rice, which makes him miss the spring and a year. Therefore, in the early spring, on the eighth day of February, the day when Buddha Sakyamuni became a monk, Master Dongyuan gave all the money he received from charity every year to poor families who could not afford farm tools and seeds, so that the poor could farm in spring. Year after year, this seems to be the rule of Yuntai Temple. On February 8 every year, many poor people go to Yuntai Temple to burn incense and worship Buddha and receive alms. On this day, people who make farm tools and seeds will also go to Yuntai Temple to worship Buddha and sell goods. Give merchants a chance to meet and worship Buddha. This is the prototype of February 8th.
About 40 years later, in the 16th year of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty (AD 728), a great benefactor named Dong Yuan, an official of Wuyue people, lavished hundreds of thousands of dollars and built a huge Yuntai Hall after ten years. On the eighth day of February, big banks give alms to the poor, or give money, or buy farm tools and seeds to help with spring ploughing. Then, the number of believers and disciples increased, and pilgrims and tourists followed. Especially on the eighth day of February, taking advantage of the three benefits of worshipping Buddha, doing business, sightseeing, or accepting charity, buying and selling farm tools, or enjoying scenic spots, thousands of families rushed to "February 8" and paid attention to the believers in the surrounding counties, forming a grand "February 8" temple fair. Since then, the grand event has lasted for a long time and intensified. The spread covers neighboring provinces, as far away as Huguang and Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Many provincial offices of Yuntai Temple have proved this point.
On February 8th, villagers and vendors from Quanzhou, Xing 'an, Gongcheng, Lingchuan, Daoxian and Jiangyong in Fiona Fang's Bailixiang-Gui border, and many families almost came to their lair and flocked to Yuntai Temple from all directions. According to historical records, Yuntai Temple has many halls such as Lake, Guangzhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Guests from other provinces gathered in Yuntai Temple to make reservations from the first day of February, and didn't leave the temple until the fifteenth day, returning home with full loads. Yuntai Temple has become a holy place that people want to go and track.
Before noon every day, Yuntai Temple in Fiona Fang has been packed with people, cigarettes are around, and bells are melodious. People buy ponchos, cloaks and summer sleeping mats; Han folk tea-picking operas and puppet shows always win full house applause; Monkeys and martial arts sellers often win applause from the audience; The children running around are deafening with the "crying" made of green bamboo, and nuns squeeze into the cracks to chase and play, like hide and seek; The diet here includes rice noodles, oil dumplings, hemp balls, peanut pagodas, croissants, eighteen sisters of mushrooms (flavor) and twenty brothers of winter wine (pot), and everything; Sitting, standing and squatting in front of the booth, the smoke from the kitchen is lingering, and the fragrance is fragrant, especially the fried hemp pills, which are fragrant for ten miles and are a bustling scene. As the sun sets, the temples are resplendent and magnificent, the vendors are happily cleaning up their stalls, the ladies are singing, the drunkards are hobbling back with plows, and the Brahma drums and sound waves are ten miles away. This vivid and beautiful picture aroused many people, especially those who were born and raised in this land.
Although the "February 8th" temple fair was crowded with people, everyone's posture was very harmonious, so there was no need to scold each other. Although there are many people crowded, but pay attention to avoid stepping on other people's feet; Occasionally, I apologize with the words "Kindness, please forgive". When the goods can't be sold, the temple will help the vendors put the heavy wooden furniture in place, and the monks will be responsible for protecting it and buying it the next day. If it is not sold out on the third day, the temple will be bought at the cost price for future charity. The fact that China is a country of etiquette is vivid. This is the vegetable root of tradition, harmony and a beautiful living environment
The number of people attending the "February 8" temple fair in Yuntai Temple, in the words of the old man: "Except those who can't go, Guanyang people will catch up with the" February 8 ". Yuntai Temple is a sacred place in Hunan and Guangxi. There are thousands of vendors and believers in Hunan and Guangxi, and sometimes there are four or five thousand people in Jiangyong County. They always arrive early. There were more than 32,000 people in Guanyang during the Song Dynasty, and more than 128,000 people in the 38th year of the Republic of China. In the past, it was estimated that 70,000 to 80,000 people rushed to "February 8".
There is such a grand temple fair in a small border county, not only in Gui Xiang and Lingnan, but also in Buddhist holy places all over the country. Yuntai Temple is one of the three famous temples in Lingnan.
After the Revolution of 1911, there was a wave of temple destruction all over the country, and Yuntai Temple did not escape this robbery. At this time, the temple fair in this place has gone from bad to worse, and it has been transferred to Huangniu Village of Huang Guan Town Government year by year. On February 8, 2006, I saw a broken wall and two stone tablets of Yuntai Temple lying quietly on the desolate Yuan Ye, which made me shudder.
"February 8" was originally to commemorate the Buddha Sakyamuni becoming a monk. When Master Dongyuan died at the age of 800 in early February, it was the day when Quanzhen Master of Quanzhou Xiangshan Temple, who was 166 years old and moved to Yuntai Temple several times to spread the Pure Land Method, was born. Legend has it that the most spiritual way to worship Buddha on this day is to buy durable farm tools, so "February 8" became a grand temple fair to commemorate the birth of Shoufo.
According to historical records, the real name of Buddha Shoufo is Quanzhen, the common surname is Zhou, and Quanzhen ranks third among brothers. He was born in the 16th year of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty (AD 729), and it has been 128 1 year since 2065438. Born in Zhouyuanshan, Yuancheng Water Town, Zixing City, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, his father and mother Xiong family left their parents at the age of 16. At the age of 20, he went to Beijing with Taoist Zen master to visit Tang Xuanzong. At the age of 27, he arrived in Xiangshan, a Buddhist holy place in quanzhou county (formerly known as Xiangyuan County), in April of the first year of Tang Suzong to Germany (AD 756), and founded Pure Land Institute to spread Buddhism. Because of his virtue and longevity, he was honored as "Buddha with infinite longevity" by people near and far. In Guo Jing Yuan Dynasty (A.D.111), Song Huizong was named "Master of Solitude". In memory of him, Shi Jingtang, the great ancestor of the Jin Dynasty after the Five Dynasties, was named after Quanzhen Buddha, and Xiangyuan County was changed to Qing Xiang County, located in Quanzhou, which has been in use ever since. In the fifty-second year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi Michelle Ye personally wrote "Timing and Printing". In the ninth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Xianfeng conferred the title of Quanzhen Master as "the Buddha with Infinite Life", enjoying the reputation of "Amitabha Buddha in the West and Infinite Life in the East", comparable to Sakyamuni. Most Buddhist temples all over the country worship the Buddha statue of Lord Shoufo, and some places have specially built the Shoufo Temple, and Yuntai Temple is one of them. It can be seen that the Quanzhen Master of the "Infinite Life Buddha" has a very prominent position in Buddhism.
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From: March 8, 2002 1 1:45 Nanfang Daily