Why is the Confucius Temple called Kong Lin?

Kong Lin is a national key cultural relics protection unit, formerly known as Zhishenglin, and is the cemetery of Confucius and his family. After Confucius died, his disciples buried him in Surabaya, north of Qufu. At that time, it was still a "tomb, not a grave" (there was no high soil uplift). During the Qin and Han Dynasties, although tombs were built very high, there were few cemeteries and only a few forest guards. Later, with the improvement of Confucius' status, the scale of Kong Lin became larger and larger. Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty lived forever for three years (A.D. 157). Lu Hao repaired the tomb of Confucius Temple, built a sacred gate in front of the tomb, built a vegetarian village in the southeast, and swept several households in Wu primary school. At that time, Kong Lin was "only one hectare". It was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties that 600 trees were planted. During Song Xuanhe's reign, stone utensils were built in front of Confucius' tomb.

Kong Lin, Kong Lin is located 2 kilometers north of Qufu County. It is the largest, longest-lasting and most intact clan tombs and artificial gardens in China. The forest walls are all made of gray bricks, three or four meters high and 7.3 kilometers long, covering an area of 3,000 mu. The ancient trees in the wall are towering and the forest is deep. According to legend, Confucius' disciples planted trees in the forest of their hometown, so there are many kinds of trees. In the forest, there are countless graves, stone tablets and stone ants. Besides the tombs and buildings of Confucius, Confucius and Confucius, there are also the tombs of Kong Yiji, Confucius Wenshao and Confucius. In addition to a number of famous Han Dynasty stone tablets being moved into Confucius Temple, there are inscriptions by great calligraphers of past dynasties such as Li Dongyang, Yan Song, Weng Fanggang, He, Kang Youwei, etc., so it has the reputation of forest of steles and is a treasure house of calligraphy art.

Kong Lin's Shendaochang 1 1,000m, with ancient cypresses and cypresses, stands in the middle of the trail, with flourishing branches and leaves, which were mostly planted in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. At the end of the forest road is the "straight Lin Sheng" wooden archway, which is the gate of Kong Lin. From here to the north is Erlinmen, a castle-like building, also known as "Guanlou". Around the city wall, it is 4 meters high and 7,000 meters long. There is a river in the wall, which is the famous holy water-Zhushui River. Not far from the north of Zhushui Bridge is the Music Appreciation Hall. It is the place where incense altars are placed when offering sacrifices to Confucius. There are stone beasts in front of the temple, such as Weng Zhong, Wang Zhu, Wenbao and Jiaoduan. After enjoying the temple, the tomb in the middle is the tomb of Confucius. In front of the tomb, there is a huge monument of "Tomb of Dacheng Wang Zhixuan" carved by Huang in Ming Dynasty. To the east is the tomb of his son "Surabaya Hou" Kong Li; The former is the tomb of Confucius, the grandson of Guo Yishu in Gong Sheng. It is said that this special tomb layout is called "holding children and grandchildren".

On the east side of the tomb of Confucius, there are three pavilions, which are called "living pavilions". They are the places where Song Zhenzong, a saint of the Qing Dynasty, and Emperor Gaozong stopped to pay homage to Confucius. Behind the pavilion, 200 meters south of the tomb, there is the Kaishu site planted by Zi Gong himself and the "Tomb of Zi Gong Lu".

In addition to the tomb of Confucius, the tomb of the wife of the seventy-second generation Sun Kong Xianpei, Yushifang, has a large style and high tomb decoration specifications. This place used to be the daughter of Emperor Qianlong. Because Manchu and Han were unmarried at that time, the emperor betrothed his daughter to Yipin Minister and married the duke in the name of his children, so it was called Yushifang.

There is also a tomb of a famous person, who is the Qing Dynasty dramatist Kong, who is famous for The Peach Blossom Fan. His tomb is located in the northeast corner outside the inner ring. The tombstone reads: "Dr. Feng Zhi, the tomb of Mr. Dong Tang, the foreign minister of the Qing Dynasty in Guangdong". Kong Renshang once took Confucius Temple and Confucius Forest for Emperor Kangxi. Because of his profound knowledge, his vivid explanation won the appreciation of the emperor.