Who is enshrined in each hall of the temple?
There are thousands of temples in China. There are many temples where incense has been passed down for thousands of years. Later, many new temples were built one after another, attracting many tourists and pilgrims. Many people lamented the beauty of the temples. There are so many halls, I don’t know how to distinguish them clearly.
General layout of temples
Temples are generally built against mountains. Before entering the temple, the first thing that catches the eye is the stone arch gate and Feng Shui wall. The gate consists of Wuxiang Gate (left) It consists of three gates: emptiness gate (middle) and Wuzuo gate (right), also called the three liberation gates.
The Buddhism Gate: It means observing that there is no self;
The Wuxiang Gate: not attached to the appearance;
The Wuzuo Gate: the continuation of life and death in the future;
Temple Mountain Gate
Go through the Shanmen Hall and enter the temple. There are bell towers and drum towers on the left and right. Some temples do not have bell towers and drum towers.
Temple - Bell Tower
After the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, you will find the first main hall of the temple - the Hall of Heavenly Kings.
In the front of the Heavenly King's Hall is the smiling Maitreya Buddha. The early Maitreya statues were all in Bodhisattva attire, with a crown on their head and a necklace (Buddha costume strung with pearls). They had a delicate face, a slender figure, and were in a cross-legged posture (sitting with their feet crossed). And what we see now is The image of Maitreya comes from the Five Dynasties period.
After the Five Dynasties, in Fenghua Yueling Temple in Liang Mingzhou (today's Ningbo), there was a monk named Qizi. His name was Long Tingzi. He was very short and had a big belly. He often carried a cloth bag with a stick, often with 18 pieces. Children were playing around it. In many places today, there are many children on Maitreya statues, called 18 children.
Folk story, it is said that during the Five Dynasties and later Zhou Dynasty, there was a man named Dou Yujun in Yanshan Mansion. His five sons were all excellent in character and academics, and passed the imperial examination one after another, so they were called "Five Sons in Imperial College", and the fifth son Maitreya was also Based on this, there is also a folk saying about praying for a son to worship Maitreya.
Wuzi Dengke Maitreya Porcelain
Because this monk was carrying a cloth bag, they all called him Budai Monk, and his prediction was very accurate. In 916 AD, when Buddhist monk Budai passed away, he sat on a stone in the corridor of the east wing of Yueling Temple and recited a verse:
Maitreya is the real Maitreya, and he has thousands of clones. Tens of billions
It is always shown to the world, but the world does not know it
From this, people believed that he was the incarnation of Maitreya. Since then, the statue of Maitreya has become the current image of a big belly. .
Behind Maitreya in the Heavenly King Hall is the Dharma protector Namo Dharma Protector Veda Bodhisattva, holding a demon-conquering vajra. There are several ways to hold the vajra:
One is The two-handed Vajra is touching the ground to subdue the demon;
One is to clasp the hands and the Vajra is placed across the arms;
The other is to put the left hand on the waist and the right Vajra to the ground to subdue the demon;< /p>
Another method is to hold the vajra in the right hand and display the Dharma seal in the left hand;
It is said that Veda was once a handsome young man. He went to the garden to water the garden every day, and the flower god in the garden offended the sky. Tiao fell in love with Veda.
Weituo was sent to Leiyin Temple in the West to study Buddhism. The Tathagata gave him a bright lamp, and the wick was the little flower god. The little flower god came out of the wick and told Wei Tuo about their past, but he became a protector. The little flower god couldn't remember his past. The little flower god was very sad, so he went to the Buddha to complain and asked to turn it into a flower. The Buddha agreed.
The little Flower God knows that every spring night, Wei Tuo will come to collect the dew on the flowers to make tea for Buddha. The little Flower God is waiting here for Wei Tuo's arrival. Every time Wei Tuo comes, the Little Flower God He opened some flowers for Veda to take a look at, and the flowers bloomed by the little flower god were epiphyllums. Since then, there has been a folk legend that the flowers appeared briefly and became Veda.
In addition to Maitreya Buddha and Skanda Bodhisattva, the Heavenly King Hall also has the four heavenly kings.
Buddhism-Four Heavenly Kings
The Heavenly King of the Eastern Kingdom, protects the Eastern Shengzhou, lives in Mount Xumi. The silver hammer is white, wears armor, and holds a pipa or Ruanqin. Legend has it that the seven bamboo groves are Xian Ruan Ji's nephew Ruan Xian was named after his good playing of this instrument. He was the main music god, indicating that he wanted to use music to convert all living beings to Buddhism.
The King of Growth in the South protects Nanfangbuzhou and lives in Mount Xumi. He is blue in color, wears armor, and holds a sword in his hand, which symbolizes wisdom. The sword of wisdom cuts off troubles.
The Western Guangmu Heavenly King protects Xiniu Hezhou and lives in the Crystal Mountain of Xumi Mountain. He is red in body and wears armor. He has a dragon or snake wrapped around his hand and a pearl in the other hand to express his unchanging heart. .
The King of Heaven in the North, who protects Luzhou in Beiju, lives in the Golden Mountain of Mount Sumeru. His body is green and he wears armor. He lies on a silver rat in his left hand and holds a treasure umbrella (or a treasure flag) in his right hand for shelter. In the world, avoid the harm of demons and gods to protect the people's wealth.
Illustration of the Heavens
Behind the Hall of Heavenly Kings is the Main Hall. The Main Hall is the core of a temple, the main hall, and the place where monks in the temple gather to practice. Generally, the main hall has nine-five bays, which symbolizes the nine-five-year-old. A large tripod will be placed in the middle of the front yard of the main hall, with the name of the temple engraved on the tripod.
In the center of the front hall is a large incense burner for pilgrims to burn incense. There are a pair of flagpoles on the left and right in front of the hall. There is a flagpole on the top of the flagpole. Some also have a pair of carved dragon pillars or a As for the Linglong Pagoda, there are many prayer flags, Huanmen and various magical instruments hanging in front of the Buddha statue in the hall.
Temple - Mahavira Hall
There are seven types of Buddha statues enshrined in the middle of the Mahavira Hall:
1. Mahakasyapa, Sakyamuni Buddha, A. Difficult
2. The left side relies on Manjusri Bodhisattva (wisdom), Sakyamuni Buddha, and the right side relies on Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (principle), also known as the Three Sages of Huayan
3. Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva , Amitabha (Western Buddha), Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva
4. Sunlight Bodhisattva, Medicine Glazed Buddha (Eastern Buddha), Moonlight Bodhisattva
5. The third generation Buddha: Medicine Glazed Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha Muni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha according to their spatial orientation
6. The third generation of Buddhas: the ancient Buddha Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha in order of time
7. The three incarnations of the Buddha: Buddha Shakyamuni Buddha, Dharmakaya Buddha Han Chuan·Vairochana Buddha/Tantrism·Great Sun Tathagata Buddha, Sambhogakaya Buddha Longmen Grottoes Wu Zetian·Lushena Buddha
Buddha: Enlightened
Bodhisattva: On the road to enlightenment and about to be enlightened
After the Mahavira Hall, there are the four halls of the temple: the Dharma Hall, the Zhao Hall, the Sutra Hall and the Lecture Hall. Some small monasteries may not have it.
Temple - Dharma Hall
The four halls are followed by four platforms: music platform, worship platform, high platform and ordination platform. The four have different names, but their functions are similar. Most temples only build one of them.
Connecting the four platforms is the Arhat Hall. Arhat is a disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha, a male monk, also known as Arhat. Some temples also build separate Arhat Halls. There are many kinds of Arhats worshiped in temples. The most common ones are Eighteen Arhats, Sixteen Arhats, and Five Hundred Arhats. Only large temples have dedicated Arhat halls, such as Biyun Temple in Xishan, Beijing, Baoguang Temple in Chengdu, and Longhua in Shanghai. Temple, Xiyuan Temple in Suzhou, etc.
Temple—Arhat Hall
Temple—Five Hundred Arhats
It is said that the 193rd Arhat Qingyun was considered by Su Shi to be the seventeenth Arhat among the eighteen Arhats ——Subduing the Dragon Arhat. His Holiness came to the world in the Kingdom of Lion (today’s Sri Lanka) 800 years after he destroyed the Buddha. He was a famous eminent monk at that time. The ancient Indian demon Bo Xun incited the people of Naji to kill monks everywhere, destroy all Buddhist temples and pagodas, steal all Buddhist scriptures, and hide them in the Dragon Palace. . Later, Venerable Qingyun surrendered the evil dragon and retrieved the Buddhist scriptures, so people called him Arhat who subdued the dragon.
The winding path leads to a secluded place, and the Zen room is surrounded by flowers and trees. Zen room is also called Zen house, Zen residence, and Zen hall. The purpose of Zen temples is "Jhana", which means quiet meditation. The Zen room is usually located at the back of the temple or near the abbot's room.
Temple - Zen Room
The abbot's room, the ancient stone room of Vimalakirti is square, one foot long and one foot wide, so it is called "abbot". Generally, the abbot's room in the temple is on the main axis of the temple. However, the abbot's room of Songshan Shaolin Temple in Dengzhou, Henan is on the central axis, which shows its status.
Temple - Abbot's Room
All the monks in the temple are equal. Regardless of their position, they all eat together and do not eat separately. Therefore, the place where the monks eat is called the "Dazhai Hall". There are often traveling monks or pilgrims in temples. Although the pot in the dining hall is large, it is sometimes difficult to carry it, so it is particularly important to eat in batches.
Henan Songshan Shaolin Temple - Happy Land Suzhai Hall
The last thing to talk about is the Sutra Pavilion. The Sutra Pavilion is usually located in the last courtyard of the temple, and is often a two- or three-story building. The attic on the first floor is used to store scriptures, and there are often auxiliary buildings on both sides of the scripture storage pavilion.
The scripture library of the Sutra Pavilion enshrines the statue of Fu Dashi, which is the statue of Fu Weng, a good and wise doctor in the Liang Dynasty during the Six Dynasties of my country. Because he invented the zàng method of placing shelves for scriptures. In addition to Master Fu, there are also statues of the Three Huayan Saints enshrined in the Sutra Pavilion, and there are also statues of Master Saicheng, the founder of the Ritiantai Sect.
Statue of Master Fu