Lingyan Temple is located at the foot of Lingyan Mountain at the northern foot of Mount Tai. Lingyan Mountain is one of the twelve branches of Mount Tai, and the main peak is Fangshan Mountain (formerly known as Fangshan Mountain, named after the flat top and wall cutting) at an altitude of 668 meters. Lingyan Temple is located in a treasure mountain. Surrounded by mountains, cypress and sandalwood are beautiful. The ancient buildings are hidden in the mountains, far away from the hubbub, solemn and serene. No wonder Wang Shizhen, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, said that "Lingyan is the most secluded place on the back of Mount Tai".
After visiting Lingyan Temple, Bai Juyi wrote a poem: "The Millennium Temple near Guanwa Palace has thick water and light clouds. It is said that spring is more melancholy, and a monk returns from the depths of a hundred flowers. "
Lingyan Temple was founded in the Eastern Jin Dynasty with a history of 1600 years. It continued to flourish in the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, with a profound Buddhist heritage. Since the Tang Dynasty, it has been called the first of the four famous temples in China. Its remaining buildings in Tang and Song Dynasties have a long history, and 40 colorful arhats are even known as "the first sculpture in China". In history, many emperors visited Lingyan Temple when they traveled east to Mount Tai. Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty traveled east to Jizhou, and after visiting Daiyue, he specially visited Lingyan Temple. Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian were stationed in Lingyan for ten days, and Emperor Qianlong visited Lingyan eight times during his southern tour. He once named the Eight Scenes of Lingyan and wrote poems for them every time, leaving 64 poems.
After several ups and downs, most of the early buildings have disappeared. Most of the existing temples in Lingyan Temple were built after the Song Dynasty, and there were many reconstructions in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but many elements of the Song Dynasty were retained.
Daxiong Hall is the main place for Buddhist activities of monks in temples today. It was built in the Song Dynasty and is now a relic of the Qing Dynasty. Its architecture still uses the lotus-covered column base and octagonal column of the Song Dynasty.
Wuhua Pavilion was built in Song Dynasty, rebuilt in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and later destroyed by fire.
During the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, the Thousand Buddhas Hall was founded by Hui Chong, a monk, and rebuilt in the Song and Ming Dynasties, and in the fifteenth year of Wanli. It is now the building of Amin dynasty.
Bizhita is a landmark building of Lingyan Temple, which is an octagonal nine-story pavilion-style brick tower. It was founded in Song Chunhua for five years and completed in Jiayou for two years. It took 63 years to complete, and the project was huge, complicated and magnificent. Judging from the location and structure of the building, it is a typical Song Dynasty style.
The tomb tower forest is the cemetery of eminent monks in past dynasties, and there are relics of the Northern Wei, Tang and Song Dynasties, Jin, Yuan and Ming Dynasties in the tower forest. There are 0/67 existing tomb pagodas/KLOC-with walkways in the middle and Zuta of Northern Wei Dynasty (Statutory Tomb Pagoda of Monks) at the northern end of the walkways.
The three-body buddhas enshrined in the Thousand-Buddha Hall are, from left to right, Sakyamuni Buddha in the west, Peluzena Buddha in the middle and Rushena Buddha in the east. The Buddha statue is elegant and dignified.
The essence of Lingyan Temple's cultural relics is 40 painted Lohan clay sculptures sitting around the Thousand Buddhas Hall, of which 32 were created by Song Zhiping in the third year (1066) and 8 were fabricated during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Lohan is an intermediate stage of Buddhist practice. He broke all addiction, but he has not yet entered the heaven. Therefore, when artists create arhat statues, they don't stick to the traditional model of Buddha statues, but pay more attention to realism and keep the secular atmosphere and life interest. Everything is lifelike, including wrinkled old people, young people, listeners, meditators and even a crying person. Their expressions, clothes and actions are almost one-sided.
1982, cultural relics were found in the body cavities of some arhats, including a clay sculpture with silk viscera and ancient coins in the abdominal cavity. The words "leveling for three years" were found on the inner wall of a clay sculpture, which confirmed the forming age of Luohan statue. A relatively complete arhat was also stripped from the body cavity of western 1 1 arhat.
These lifelike arhats seem to reproduce real life and have always been valued by scholars and scholars.
Liang Qichao praised the clay sculpture of the Thousand Buddha Hall as "the first sculpture in China" and wrote an inscription.
Liu Haisu wrote after his visit: "Lingyan clay sculpture is the best in the world, with flesh and blood and lifelike." Great.
He Jingzhi wrote, "It is better to draw a god with a vivid expression, a pen of inspiration and a person." . Forty arhats in Lingyan, each evokes a poem to talk about.
It was only found in the excavation and cleaning of the foundation relief of Bizhita 1985. There are five reliefs on each side, and there are 37 existing ones. The content is the story of Ashoka's conversion, which is a rare and precious material and has attracted the attention of academic circles. At present, there is only one well-preserved pagoda base with similar theme in China.
The mountain is not high, but the spring is in the spirit. Lingyan Mountain is not only a grotesque cave, but also many famous springs that are inexhaustible all year round, which decorate the famous mountains with vitality. There are three springs in Lingyan Temple, namely Zhuoxi Spring, Mazu Spring and Tanbaoquan (two kilometers east of the temple), which are listed as seventy-two springs. There are also Shuanghe Spring, Ganlu Spring and Quanfei, which are listed as famous springs in Jinan.
There is no light to protect the color of the clay sculpture in the Thousand Buddha Hall, so it is forbidden to take pictures. The photos of Lohan clay sculpture in this paper are remake from the book Lingyan Temple published by Cultural Relics Publishing House, and some materials are also from this book. Please indicate the reprint).