The three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple are composed of one big tower and two small towers. This tower is also called Chihiro Tower. The distance between Chihiro Tower and the two small towers is 70 meters.
Chihiro Tower is 69.13m high. It is a square hollow brick tower with dense eaves and grade of 16, which belongs to the typical architectural style of Tang Dynasty. The inner wall of the tower is vertical up and down, with wooden stairs. You can climb to the top of the tower and enjoy the panoramic view of Dali ancient city from the observation hole. Chihiro Tower stands on a two-story platform. On the east-facing zhaobi in front of the tower, you can see these four powerful stone-carved Chinese characters, each with a height of 1.7 meters, written by Mu Shijie, the grandson of Mu Ying, Duke of Guizhou in the Ming Dynasty. There are two reasons for writing these four words: one is the flood in Dali history, and the evil dragon is at work. Therefore, the dragon must be treated first to control water, but the dragon only respects the tower and fears Dapeng. Therefore, as long as there are Dapeng golden-winged birds on and under the tower, dragons will not dare to do evil, and floods will of course be reduced. Another way of saying it is that in the Ming Dynasty, Dali, located in the frontier, became its territory. In order to fully express the intention of sticking to this territory, it is more appropriate to "carve a monument" on the towering tower foundation.
It is generally believed that the construction of Chihiro Pagoda began in the period of persuading Fengyou in Nanzhao (AD 823-859). Legend has it that there are many ways to build Chihiro Tower, one of which is called "Burying Soil Method", that is, from the tower foundation, every time a tower is built, it is buried with soil, and the mound is pressed into an inclined soil platform, which greatly facilitates the transportation of building materials and the construction of the next tower. When the tower was capped, the slope of the earth platform had been extended for several miles, and then the soil layer of the buried tower was dug away layer by layer until it was completely exposed.
Among the three towers, the two smaller towers in the north and south are the same in height, both of which are 42. 19 meters, each with 10 level. They are a pair of octagonal brick pagodas with dense eaves. Above eight floors are solid, below eight floors are hollow. The outline is like a cone, which belongs to the typical architectural style of Song Dynasty. According to relevant historical records, the North-South Pagoda was built in Duan Zhengyan and Duan Zhengxing in Dali (A.D.1108 ~1172). Now, the two small towers we have seen have deviated from the vertical line and have a worrying tilt, but you don't have to worry because they have been tilted for more than 400 years.
If we look up at these three towers carefully, we can easily find that there are arched niches on all sides of Chihiro Tower, which is usually called a small pavilion dedicated to gods and buddhas. There are Buddha statues in the two opposite niches, and the other two niches serve as windows and holes leading to the center of the tower. As for the south and north pagodas, there are pagodas with different shapes on each floor in all directions, and the pagodas on each floor are decorated with relief. The three towers in Chongsheng Temple are all even, while the towers in other places are generally odd.
The three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple have experienced thousands of years of wind and rain, sun and rain, and more than 30 strong earthquakes since their completion. Among them, during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, most houses in the ancient city of Dali collapsed, and Chihiro Pagoda cracked like bamboo, but it miraculously recovered to its original state ten days later. In the 1925 earthquake, 99% of the houses in urban and rural areas collapsed, but Chihiro Tower only knocked down the top hall. This is undoubtedly a miracle for the three towers built directly on the soil foundation without the stone foundation.
After the completion of Chongsheng Temple and Three Pagodas, the temple was well preserved until the Ming Dynasty. According to historical records, its scale is seven miles, three pavilions, nine halls and seven floors, with more than 890 houses and 1 1400 Buddha statues. In Dali, there are nine kings who are monks and abbots of Chongsheng Temple. During the Dali period when Buddhism prevailed, no matter the people were rich or poor, every household had a Buddhist temple; No matter men, women and children, you can't let go of a few pearls, so Dali is known as the "Buddhist country". Chongsheng Temple is also called "Buddha Capital", that is, "Brahma Temple in the south is better than Cangshan Ershui Temple, and Cangshan Ershui Temple is better than Chongsheng No.1 Temple", and the three pagodas, Hong Zhong, Yutong Guanyin, Taoist Temple, Buddha Monument and Sansheng Golden Statue in the temple are regarded as five treasures. Until the Ming Dynasty, Li Yuanyang organized the reconstruction of Chongsheng Temple, and the five treasures in the temple were still well preserved. Xu Xiake once wrote in Diary of Yunnan Tour that the bell in the temple was cast in the twelfth year of Nanzhao (AD 87 1): "The bell is extremely large, with a diameter of more than ten feet and a thickness of one foot, and its reputation can reach 80 miles." Therefore, "Zhong Zhen Buddha Capital" once became one of the sixteen scenic spots in Dali. The rain copper Guanyin in the temple is solemn and quiet, with a thin waist and barefoot, and its shape is exquisite. According to legend, this three-foot high Guanyin was cast in a temple. By the time of casting, copper had been used up. At this time, there was a copper rain in the sky. People collected these pearls from the copper rain to cast Guanyin, hence the name Yutong Guanyin. The giant bell in the temple was destroyed during the reign of Tongzhi in Xianfeng, Qing Dynasty, and Yutong Guanyin was destroyed during the ten-year Cultural Revolution. The time when Taoist plaques and Buddhist plaques were destroyed is unknown. At present, the bell tower and Yutong Guanyin Hall in the temple have only been rebuilt in recent years. The recast clock was designed by Beijing Guzhong Museum according to historical data and cast by Nanjing Chenguang Machinery Factory. The clock is 3.86 meters high, 2. 138 meters in diameter and weighs 16.295 tons. At present, it is the fourth largest clock in China and the largest clock in Yunnan. ?
1961March, the three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple were announced by the State Council as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. From 1978 to 198 1, National Cultural Heritage Administration allocated 430,000 yuan to repair and strengthen the three towers for three years. In this maintenance and reinforcement, there are two important discoveries: first, the footings of the three towers are not stone foundations, but soil foundations; Second, more than 680 precious cultural relics such as Buddha statues and Buddhist scriptures have been cleared up, which is the richest and most important batch of cultural relics discovered so far in Nanzhao and Dali periods. These cultural relics have become physical materials for studying the history of Nanzhao and Dali. During Nanzhao and Dali, Tibetan Buddhism, Indian Tantric Buddhism and Zen (Central Plains) and other religious cultures met and merged in Dali.
The magnificent three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple also gave birth to a reflection park of three pagodas in the 1980s. The park covers an area of 27 mu, with a water area of 10 mu. The park faces south and is backed by the three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple, one kilometer away. It is named after the pool water in the park can clearly reflect the three towers. The buildings in the park include couplets reflecting the houses of the Bai people, marble pavilions engraved with poems, and overflow pavilions with shadows in the water. There are many exotic flowers and herbs in the park, such as camellia, osmanthus, rhododendron and so on. Visitors who are in the reflection garden of the Three Pagodas, or chanting couplets, or watching the flowers bloom, or gazing at the Three Pagodas in the water, or taking photos as a souvenir, are inevitably complacent and even linger. The reflection of the three towers is not only wonderful in sunny days, but also wonderful in the moonlight at night. ?
The three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple and the reflection garden of the three pagodas complement each other and become an important cultural landscape that best represents the image of Dali.