Daxiantong Temple in Taihuai Town is the largest temple in Wutai Mountain. Built in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is one of the earliest Buddhist temples in China. In the 11th year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 69), Emperor Hanming invited Indian monks from the Western Regions to take photos of Morton and Zhu Falan, and built the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, Kyoto. This is the beginning of the construction of Buddhist temples in China. This year, Mo Teng and Zhu Falan came to Wutai Mountain to learn about the holy land, immediately took a fancy to the geomantic omen of Wutai Mountain, and told Emperor Han Ming to break the civil temple here, which opened the first page of the Buddhist history of Wutai Mountain.
They chose Wutai Mountain for a reason. First of all, Wutai Mountain was called Liang Qing at that time. According to the Buddhist sutra Huayan Sutra, Liang Qing in the east is the Dojo of Manjusri Bodhisattva, which is well documented. Secondly, after seeing the terrain of Wutai Mountain, the two eminent monks thought it was very similar to the Indian spirit Jiu Feng, and it was also the place where Sakyamuni gave lectures to his disciples. Thirdly, it is said that there was a stupa in Wutai Mountain before the arrival of two eminent monks. Thus, the cornerstone of Wutai Buddhism-the first temple of Wutai Mountain-Dafuling Nine Temple (now Xiantong Temple) was established, and even the mountain was called LingJiu Feng.
The temple covers an area of 8 hectares (120 mu) and has more than 400 buildings of various types, most of which are relics of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Seven tall buildings are arranged on the central axis, which is very imposing.
Daxiong Hall, with double eaves, is magnificent and spacious, covering an area of about 670 square meters (one acre and two cents), which is the highest among the five halls, with wood carving and painting, solemn and magnificent. The Buddha statue in the temple is tall and magnificent. Most of the major sacrificial activities of Wutai Mountain were held in this temple. At that time, all the temples will be attended by monks.
Infinite Hall is a masterpiece of China's masonry art. It is 20 meters high, 28 meters wide and 16 meters deep. From the outside, there are seven two-story buildings, but there are three brick kilns with domes in the hall, which are unique in shape, beautifully carved and magnificent in momentum, also known as the beamless hall.
In front of the high hall behind Xiantong Temple, it is a pure metal building assembled by bronze castings, named "Xiantong Copper Hall".
According to legend, before and after the death of Mu Zong in Ming Dynasty, the young master was young and ignorant, and Li Liang, the imperial relative, staged a palace coup and seized Jiangshan, so he beat Queen Li Yanfei and the young master in the cold palace, hoping to kill the descendants of Ming Dynasty. This young master is the later emperor Wanli. Minister Xu and Li went to the cold palace to pay their respects, and Queen Li was angry and anxious. When necessary, she gave the young master to Xu Heyang to take away and let them take good care of him. Later, the young master became emperor and punished the treacherous court official. In order to thank my mother, I decided to build a bronze temple for Queen Li in Wutai Mountain. According to records, this bronze temple was built by a respected Buddhist monk in Pingyang, Shanxi Province in the Ming Dynasty. After the two towers (Wenxuan Tower) with a height of 13 were built in the south of Haozhuang Village in Taiyuan City, the Twin Towers Temple (Twin Towers Temple) was built, and Emperor Wanli ordered to "preach" in Xiantong Temple.
The bronze hall was built in the thirty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1609). The hall is 8.3 meters high, 4.7 meters wide and 4.5 meters deep. It is one of the only three bronze halls in China. The other two are Mount Putuo in Zhejiang and Mount Emei in Sichuan. But as far as its architectural art and aesthetic feeling are concerned, those two are not as good as this bronze temple. The bronze temple in Emei Mountain has already been burned out in the war.
The appearance of the bronze hall is a double eaves on the top of the rest mountain, which is divided into two floors, with six doors on the upper floor and eight doors on the lower floor. The lower end of each door leaf is cast with patterns of flowers, pines and cypresses, birds and animals. Long Hudou, The Match of the Dragon and the Phoenix, The Magpie Climbs the Plum, and The Jade Rabbit Worship are lifelike in shape, and the top of each door fan has exquisite flower patterns with different shapes and exquisiteness. The "two dragons playing with pearls" and "two phoenix rising in the morning" on the front beam are even more vivid. There are copper railings about 1 m high around the second floor, and 24 doors have various patterns. Bronze vases with dragon patterns on both ends of the temple ridge are radiant and dazzling.
In the center of the hall sits a bronze manjusri statue with beautiful shape. There are thousands of small bronze Buddha statues on the four walls of the temple.