Temple introduction to Ganye Temple
"Shaanxi Tongzhi" records: the temple is located "to the northwest of ancient Chang'an City, where Empress Wu was a nun." Existing in the temple is the inscription "Inscription on the Reconstruction of the Ancient Temple Ganye Temple" written by Fu Zhen, an official of the Qin Dynasty in the 13th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1585). The preserved stele records say that it was the ninth year of Emperor Kaihuang’s reign in the Sui Dynasty, and that on the day of Emperor Gaozong’s death in the Tang Dynasty, he went to the temple to perform incense and attract talented people. Yaosi’s visit found that this temple was suspected of being built in the Sui and Tang Dynasties..."
The temple occupied an area during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It covers an area of about 300 acres. The mountain gate is located in the north of Doujiazhai Village, more than 1,500 meters south of the temple. There are still two stone piers with flagpoles in the fields. Therefore, there is a saying of "riding a horse to close the mountain gate".
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Ganye Temple was rebuilt and its original area was reduced to 1/10, covering an area of 30.9 acres. The other layout remains unchanged. After reconstruction, a stone tablet and a plaque were engraved on each side. The stone tablets are now in the stele pavilion in front of the temple and under the wall. Later, due to war and fire, most of the buildings were destroyed.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the masses donated money to rebuild the main hall. The main hall is built on a foundation with a height of 1 meter, a length of 10.5 meters and a width of 9.5 meters. Sitting north to south, it is 8 meters wide and 7 meters deep. It has a brick and wood structure with carved beams and painted buildings. Later, due to disrepair, only a dilapidated main hall remains.
In Jianguo Cuo, temple cultural relics have been unearthed at the original site of the temple. Among them is a square lotus-shaped foundation stone, which is the seat of Sakyamuni Buddha. It is 0.53 meters long and 0.45 meters high. The inscriptions on the foundation stone are There is an inscription of "Tianhe 2nd Year" in the article, which shows that Ganye Temple existed in the Northern and Southern Dynasties in the 2nd year of Tianhe (567 AD) of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
According to page 14 of Chen Ziyi’s posthumous manuscript "New Collection of Two Lost Records of Chang'an in the Southern Song Dynasty" published by the Shaanxi Provincial Museum: ""Tongjian" clearly states that after the death of Emperor Taizong, the Wu family followed Ganye Temple and became a nun. The annotation of "Chang'an Chronicle" states that Anyefang Jiduni Temple was located in Hancheng, in the west of the Forbidden Garden in the Tang Dynasty. In the autocratic era, this was the ideal place for Anye. There is no other basis for this, and it cannot be attributed to the location of Ganye Temple. Such things are used to create history." It can be seen that the current Ganye Temple Primary School is undoubtedly the site of Ganye Temple during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The statement "Ganye Temple is the Jiduni Temple in Anyefang, Chang'an City, Tang Dynasty" contained in relevant data is actually wrong. People who are familiar with the history of the Tang Dynasty must know Ganye Temple, which is the temple where Wu Zetian became a nun. Before the only female emperor in Chinese history ascended the throne to rule the world, she spent two years in Ganye Temple, accompanied by morning bells, evening drums, and green lanterns. However, this period of history has gradually been forgotten by people with the vicissitudes of time. .
After thousands of years of baptism, today's Ganye Temple is hidden in the Ganye Temple Primary School in Hosuozhai Village, the northern suburbs of Xi'an. Walking into the campus, the tall locust trees and the quaint environment made us immediately feel the unique historical style of the thousand-year-old temple. The reason why the ancient temple was named "Ganye" has to start with Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty is very famous among Chinese emperors for his literary talent and martial arts. He built the canal and conquered Korea. So he felt that what he did was unmatched by anyone in the world. He thought it was a career given to him by God, so he built it. Ganye Temple.
The reason why Ganye Temple is famous is that it is related to Wu Zetian. In the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637), the 14-year-old Wu Zetian entered the palace and became a talented person (positive fifth grade) of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. He doted on her very much and gave her the nickname "Wu Mei", but soon left her alone. Wu Zetian worked as a talented person for 12 years, but her status was never improved. When Emperor Taizong was seriously ill, Wu Zetian established a relationship with Emperor Taizong's son, later Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi.
After the death of Tang Taizong in the 23rd year of Zhenguan (649), Wu Zetian and some of her childless concubines entered Ganye Temple as nuns. However, she and the new emperor Tang Gaozong Li Zhi have always been disconnected. After Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty came to the throne, his concubine Xiao Shufei was a favorite. In the second year of Yonghui, the queen summoned Wu Zetian into the palace in an attempt to "fight fire with fire." Wu Zetian was 26 years old this year. After Wu Zetian returned to the palace, she quickly defeated Concubine Xiao Shu and gained Gaozong's favor. She was promoted to Zhaoyi (second rank) the next year and gave birth to her first son Li Hong. From this, she began her career of struggle and became the only orthodox female emperor in Chinese history. Cutting off her hair can be said to be Wu Zetian's lowest period, but it was also her latent period.
Although she fell into a miserable and helpless life of worshiping the Buddha like other concubines, she was still able to survive, maintain contact with Emperor Gaozong, and gain his love, which shows how deep her scheming was at this time. But what allowed her to accumulate so much strength in just 2 years and get herself out of trouble? This is a thousand-year mystery. The following is the unofficial history of Liujia Ridge.
In 649 AD, Wu Meiniang entered Ganye Temple in despair and met Chen Shuozhen, a southern nun who was practicing here. At that time, Chen Shuozhen had already entered the secret religion (ie Manichaeism, Guangming Sect), and she herself Their respective cultivations are also unrelated to each other.
One day on the street, Chen Shuozhen fought off the teasing of some exaggerated children for Wu Meiniang. The relationship between the two quickly improved and they often talked all night long. So Chen Shuozhen introduced Wu Meiniang to the ancient Huizhou Tai Chi Feng Shui Dragon Vein---Three The capital of the emperors, among which the main peak of Mother Mountain in ancient She County is called Chuangjian (the modern ship-resting tip), which has natural stone statues of Nuwa and Fuxi, as well as the statues of Mi Fei (stones from Houluoshui, Jingguang Goddess, Maitreya Xinshengjing) , the basis for such a woman to ascend the throne must be given to Chen Shuozhen and the emperor's blood here in Fuchuan Mountain). It is a place where immortality and enlightenment are achieved. If you want to get ahead, this is the altar of heaven. And took the opportunity to teach Wu Meiniang all the teachings of the secret religion - Manichaeism. Soon, Wu Meiniang secretly converted to Manichaeism and became a Manichean. According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas - the Second Southern Classic, the ancient name of this place is: Yushan. , is the birthplace of Dayu and the place where his father Gun was killed. Fuchuan Mountain is the sacred mountain in the southeast. It consists of 6 mountains, namely the East and West Liangmu Mountains, Zhan Mountain, Bai Mountain, Jiulong Mountain, and Jinzi Mountain. It is called Liujia 48 Tang. , is the heaven and earth protected by six armored gods and five Ding gods. It is surrounded by Tiewei Mountain on the outside and Xumi Mountain in the middle. It is also called Xumi Tower. It is called Wannian Tower by Chen Shuozhen. There are ten natural stone gates in one canyon and nine natural stone gates in the canyon. It is locked, and the last one is the empty door, the Shence Gate, the last threshold to become an immortal. It is said that on the day of Qixi Festival, an auspicious image will appear. "The stone gate is not locked for nine days, and the Tianmen is not closed at night." The South Gate of Heaven is opened. , the stone gates of the human world are not closed, this is the place where immortals can truly become immortals. Fairies are extremely tempting to Wu Meiniang, so a more daring person is to cross the sea, sneak down to the south of the Yangtze River, and come to Fuchuan Mountain, a holy place where immortals can be described by Chen Shuozhen. ---Xunxian, there has always been an ancient legend of "goddess rescuing the ship". Because seven fairies came down to the top of the shipwrecked ship (now called Zhuozhoujian), the top of the mountain was covered with alpine meadows. There was not a stone or a tree on it. There are many kinds of fairy grass. The local proverb: The stone gate is not closed, and only immortals can emerge but not officials. She wants to keep her beauty forever, so she wants to use fairy grass. The difference between immortality and Taoism is: immortality is beautiful, Taoism is long-lasting. , what Wu Meiniang wanted first was beauty and immortality. She hoped that the future emperor would pamper her. This was in line with the biggest wish of a talented woman at that time.
However, miracles are in the future, and miracles are coincidences in dreams. Fengchuan Mountain is not only a resort for immortality and enlightenment, but also a holy land with the dragon veins of Huizhou. Chen Shuo really lured the wolf into the house, such an extremely smart man This woman must be more knowledgeable than Chen Shuozhen's country girl. She has served the emperor in the palace and has begun to understand the art of the emperor. The mountains and rivers of Fuchuan Mountain are amazing with the natural dragon veins. In addition, the "Dayun Sutra" records that the Pure Light Goddess gave birth to a daughter. Entering the world and becoming the emperor, the empress' ambition was implanted in Wu Meiniang's heart. Chen Shuozhen's imperial ambition also inspired Wu Meiniang's determination.
One day, Chen Shuozhen took Wu Meiniang to the four-sided Avalokitesvara statue at the 8th level of the "Nine Locks of the Stone Gate" to worship and make wishes. When Wu Meiniang came to the front, a rainbow suddenly hung horizontally and a phoenix flew over. All the beasts cheered, and the stone statue transformed into Wu Meiniang, and walked down the immortal platform with a smile. Chen Shuo really blamed Wu Meiniang for getting on top of the immortal's head, and was not polite at all. But after taking a closer look, he saw that it was still the stone statue, and Wu Meiniang beside him was panting. , this time, Chen Shuozhen felt a little uncomfortable. He wanted to brag about the magic of this fairy head, so he hurriedly paid homage and led Wu Meiniang down the pass, and then walked to the Jialantai (now called Zaotai) in the seventh level. Village, a thousand-year-old Mingjiao ancient village, has mysteriously disappeared, but the houses, stone roads, ancestral halls, etc. are still there). On the wall of 800 Arhats here, there is the eye of the Guangming Church, which is said to be the eye of heaven and earth (the earliest existing Guangming sect in China - - One-eyed natural moment in the Tang Dynasty), representing the god of the sun. This eye means Wojiet's omniscient and sacred eye that can detect everything in the world. Wu Meiniang was even more convinced that the emperor had God's will. Therefore, Wu Meiniang secretly made up her mind to thoroughly understand the "Dayun Sutra" and realize the secret of Huchuanshan.
Here, Chen Shuozhen and Wu Meiniang became sworn sisters and promised to help each other in the future.
However, time is running out, Wu Meiniang must rush back to Ganye Temple as soon as possible, bid farewell to Chen Shuozhen reluctantly, and still return to the track of pure worship of Buddha. However, at this time, Wu Zetian's mood has changed drastically, and she has changed. Feeling relieved, he began to design his own path to becoming an emperor. First, he must win the favor of the new emperor and return to the emperor, as can be seen in the following poem:
"Ruyi Niang" (Wu Zetian's original name is Ruyi)
Looking at Zhu Chengbi thinking a lot, looking haggard and fragmented, I remember you.
If you don’t believe it, I often shed tears recently when I open the box and check out the pomegranate skirt.
This poem "Ruyi Niang" was written by Empress Wu Zetian in Ganye Temple. The main idea of the poem is: I am confused and confused, and all the red things are seen as green. Why am I so haggard? Just because I think about you all day long. If you don’t believe that I cry silently every day because I miss you, just open the box and look at my pomegranate red dress, which is covered with mottled stains of my tears.
This poem was written with sincerity. It is said that after the great poet Li Bai saw it, he couldn't help feeling relieved and felt that he was not as good as Wu Zetian.