What were the religious buildings of the Tang Dynasty like?

With the support of successive emperors of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism and Taoism reached their peak, and Taoist and Buddhist architecture developed greatly in both quantity and artistic level.

Compared to Buddhism, Taoism is an indigenous traditional religion, and its influence is secondary to Buddhism. But in the Li and Tang dynasties, its status was higher than Buddhism. Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty ordered Taoism to be the first of the three religions, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Even in the imperial examinations, Taoism was respected. The status of Taoism has been greatly improved, the number of people is also growing, and Taoist temples are spread all over the country. Although when Wu Zetian was in power, in order to show his differences with the Li and Tang dynasties, he suppressed Taoism for a time, ranked Buddhism before Taoism, and abolished the regulations that required people to practice the "Tao Te Ching". Later, Empress Wei, Empress of Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, also supported it when she came to power. Buddhism, but from the perspective of the entire Tang Dynasty, Taoism was respected by the royal family for most of the time and was in a supreme position. Therefore, Taoist temples were almost all over famous mountains and cities. The scale of the palace dedicated to Laozi is comparable to that of the royal palace, and it will have a direct impact on the architectural scale and architectural art of Taoist temples in the future. Existing Taoist buildings from the Tang Dynasty include Guangrenwang Temple in Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province and Tiantai Temple in Pingshun County, Shanxi Province. Guangrenwang Temple is the earliest existing Taoist building in China.

The Tang Dynasty respected Taoism, but almost all the emperors of the Tang Dynasty held a tolerant and supportive attitude towards Buddhism, showing the magnanimity of the Celestial Dynasty in its prosperous age. Buddhism entered its heyday in the Tang Dynasty, which was marked by the translation of a large number of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, the gradual formation of many Buddhist sects, and the further development of grotto art. Because it enshrines the finger relics of the Buddha, Famen Temple is regarded as the main place where the royal family worships the Buddha and is highly respected. The imperial court spent huge sums of money, and after several expansions, Famen Temple became the largest, highest-level royal temple in ancient China, with the largest number of sects and monks.

From the position of temples and Taoist temples in the design of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty, we can see that belief in gods, Buddhas and Taoism was placed above human emperors. The Feng Shui treasure land where Chang'an is located is only used to build temple towers to worship gods and Buddhas. One to the east and one to the west, the largest temple and Taoist temple in Chang'an City is located on the high ground of Jiuwu Supreme. During Chang'an's heyday, there were 91 Buddhist temples and 16 Taoist temples. Almost every village had at least one Buddhist temple or Taoist temple for worship from all walks of life.

Looking at the hierarchy of religious buildings from the geographical location: the architecture of the Tang Dynasty was clearly hierarchical, and some temples in Chang'an City of the Tang Dynasty were rebuilt from the main residences of the royal family and nobles, and the shape of the temple buildings was similar to that of the nobles. The shape of the private residence is the same. For example, the Daxianfu Temple where the Small Wild Goose Pagoda is located was rebuilt from the old residence of Tang Zhongzong Li Xian. The main hall of Foguang Temple in Wutai Mountain is the East Hall. It was built in the 11th year of Dazhong in the Tang Dynasty, that is, AD 857. The main hall is seven rooms wide. In terms of shape, it is one level higher than the five rooms of Sanpin Hall; it is dedicated to gods and Buddhas. The temple towers are more noble than the emperor's palace.

In terms of architectural features, the architectural form of Taoist temples is almost the same as that of palaces: far-reaching eaves, larger proportions of brackets, thicker pillars, solemnity and grandeur. With the development of grotto art, the murals of the Tang Dynasty further integrated the expression techniques of the national arts of the Western Regions, giving them a completely new look from content to form. The colors are rich and fresh, the shapes are full and powerful, realistic, the lines are fine and smooth, and the color composition is full and substantial. Wall-wide paintings with magnificent compositions and rich colors appeared. The large number of architectural images and detailed expressions in the grotto murals make up for the lack of physical architectural objects left now. They are image patterns and valuable information for the study of ancient Chinese architecture.