Looking for the Ten Thousand Buddha Stone Pagoda on Taihu Lake in Song Dynasty
In early autumn, I went to Xijing Bay near Taihu Lake to see pink grass, and visited the rare ten thousand Buddha stone pagoda in Xiuzhen.
The newly built Wanfo Temple enters the mountain gate and has a small yard. Opposite the mountain gate is the newly-built main hall, which is not high. On the east side of Daxiong Hall, there is a hall of ten thousand buddhas, which is also newly built. On the west side of the main hall is the monk's room, which should be the canteen. Wanfo Temple is named after the ten thousand pagodas in the temple. This temple has been rebuilt in recent years after being abandoned for a long time. The 10,000-Buddha Pagoda in the temple and the accompanying ancient ginkgo trees are old things of that year, and the others are stone foundations scattered in the bushes, recording the glory of the past.
Standing on the north terrace of the mountain gate, you can have a panoramic view of the whole temple. I didn't see many pilgrims, so Saner monk just walked away. Meanwhile, Sanskrit was sung in the temple.
Ten thousand Buddha stone pagoda, not high, is located in the west of the courtyard. The monk said that it was originally called "Zen Master Tower". Seen from the outside, this stone tower is very strange. It has neither the majesty of a pagoda nor the cornices. The tower room is dome-shaped, resembling a stone yurt and a Buddhist grottoes in the north. It is different from the common pavilion-like pagodas in the south of the Yangtze River and the Indian Aquarius Pagoda in the White Pagoda of Slender West Lake in Yangzhou.
The Ten Thousand Buddha Stone Pagoda faces Taihu Lake, across the lake to Guangfu Nanshan. This is the tallest building nearby. The tower height11.2m, and the whole body is made of blue stones. The outside of the tower is round, with a stone platform made of the same material below and a stone tower brake above. Stone pagodas and stone platforms are square. Tasha is a stone gourd-shaped vase with a treasure bead at the top.
Up to the stone platform, just to the south of the stone tower, there is a dome door, similar to the tower door of flame. The words "Revival of Ancient Pagoda" are engraved on the front forehead, and the words "Amitabha" are engraved on both sides. There is a pair of couplets on each side of the tower gate, the first part is "Building a Tower for Merit and Wishing All Living Beings", and the second part is "Enlightening Bodhi Mind and Becoming a Buddha".
Entering the stone dome door is the tower room. The tower room is like a circular shaft wall, with a small top and a wide bottom. There is an inscription "Chengjue Jingshe Ji" in the middle of Sumi mountainside, which provides clues for studying the construction age. The words "Wu Deqian, a stonemason in Wumen, made by Kun Zhong" are engraved on the left side, "Yuan Dao Zhi Yuan Tong * * *" is engraved on the right side, and "headdress stirring grass" is engraved on the owl.
How can a square stone pagoda be called "ten thousand buddhas"? The mystery lies in the tower room. Entering the Stone Dome Gate, in the middle of the front is a statue of a stone Buddha about 30 cm high, which is siddhattha gotama. On the surrounding stone walls, there are many small relief Buddha statues, only the size of eggs. The Buddha statues are neatly arranged in a series, with each row of 180 statues and ***60 rows. Sitting on the lotus seat, well-dressed and with recognizable facial features, seems to be sitting around the Buddha, listening to the Buddha's lecture. The name of "ten thousand buddhas" comes from this. Zhao Mengfu, a great calligrapher in the Yuan Dynasty, was full of praise after seeing these Buddha statues, and happily wrote the words "Ten Thousand Pagodas". Now there is a monument beside the tower, engraved with the inscription of Zhao Mengfu.
Ten thousand Buddha stone pagoda was counted in detail during the cultural relics inventory, and there were * * Buddha statues 10800. This is a veritable ten thousand pagodas. The regulation of this tower is unique among similar buildings, and its precious value is self-evident.
The local people think that the water boiled by eating the ashes of Buddha statues is an elixir for treating diseases. Therefore, for many years, the heads of Buddha statues within reach of the tower have been destroyed, but the small buddhas at high places are well preserved.
History always has an intuitive magic. Although the newly-built temples are resplendent and magnificent, the kings of Xiu Xiang are lifelike, and the craftsmanship of Xiangshan School is unique, you can find at a glance that the stone pagodas of ten thousand buddhas are firm and mottled, and the red prayer flags are slightly raised, which makes people calm down for no reason.
I walked around the stone pagoda on the stone platform, and then looked up at the pagoda. I saw that this pagoda is composed of a carved vase, a jar and a photographic wheel. It is said that when sorting out this tower, the "Heavenly Room" was found in Tasha, but it was empty and had already been stolen, leaving only a few pieces of broken porcelain from the Ming Dynasty and a few illegible words.
Pagodas, pagodas, legendary buildings where relics are stored, and all beings come down from pagodas, which are the top gifts for the Buddha. In the era when there are no high-rise buildings, the lonely top of the tower is a lighthouse for ships driving at night, and the spire always points to the boundless sky and an unpredictable mysterious force. Morning bells and drums, Brahma music melodious, pagodas and temples set each other off, soothing one side of the water and soil and washing away those sleepy souls in the world.
Crossing the long river of time, wandering in the long river of time, the changes in Zhenhu Town can be described as earth-shaking, the scope of the town continues to extend, and high-rise buildings have sprung up. There are many high-rise buildings around Wanfo Pagoda, which blocks people's view of the ancient pagoda, but it still cannot change the status of Wanfo Pagoda as a landmark building in Zhenhu Town.
In Shaoxing during the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to solve the long-term flooding problem of Taihu Lake, the Ten Thousand Buddha Pagoda was first built in Xijing Village, perhaps out of reverence for the gods or pious thoughts, so the Buddha Pagoda used to exorcise demons had another meaning of Feng Shui Pagoda. Town Lake, use Tazhen Lake, this seems to be a more reliable source.
But there is another version among the local population. "There is Beijing in the north, Nanjing in the south and Xijing in Suzhou." In people's minds, hometown belongs to their own kingdom, and it is the richness and beauty embroidered by countless town Lakers every year with a needle and a thread. Legend has it that the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty got wind of the purple gas around Taihu Lake at that time, which seemed to show signs of Long Mai. So the court was greatly frightened and decided to build a stone tower in Xijing Village to suppress the dragon spirit. The speaker has a sharp tone, but he always feels a lovely narcissism.
Beside the tower, a thousand-year-old ginkgo tree as tall as a tree crown shelters the ten thousand Buddha stone pagoda with a thick crown, just like two thousand-year-old friends. Perhaps this is the best place for the dead. There are sweet Sanskrit sounds, green hills and clear rivers. It faces Taihu Lake and is closer to the blue sky and white clouds.