Seek the route from Chengwai to Dongyue Temple Fair.
Bodhisattva "grows" in the ground
"grows" out of Dongyue Temple
Speaking of Dongyue Temple, I have to mention Dongyue Temple. As the birthplace of the temple fair, Dongyue Temple is a temple built with Dongyue the Great as the main Buddha. It was first built in the Middle School of Yuan You in the Northern Song Dynasty and has a history of nearly a thousand years. In the meantime, it has been repaired many times, including two repairs in the fifty-third year of Kangxi and Meng Dong in the year of Daoguang Guimao (October 1843), and the inscriptions engraved are still there today.
According to legend, Emperor Dongyue is the god who lives and dies, and is in charge of ghosts. According to the Book of Filial Piety, "Mount Tai, the heavenly emperor Sun Ye, is the god who summons people's souls. Everything in the East begins, so we know the length of human life. " According to the five elements, the Oriental A, B, Yin and Mao Mu. Wood, the life and death of all things, that is, the life of people. For this reason, Emperor Dongyue, like the "King of Earth Hidden" and "Yan Luowang", was also widely respected. Dongyue Temple has a great influence in the surrounding areas. On holidays, people will come here to make pilgrimages to protect the safety of the year. The incense is flourishing and there are more people, which gradually forms a temple fair.
In the interview, the reporter also learned that there is still a legend about the construction of Dongyue Temple. During the period of Yuan You in the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a very rich man in the local area. His family wealth was comparable to that of Shen Wansan in Zhouzhuang of the Ming Dynasty, but he was very stingy, but he was very superstitious. There happened to be a smart local man who always wanted the miser to spend some money. One day, when a wise man passed by the rich man's field in Dongyue, he saw that the geomantic omen here was excellent. So he went home and took a small bag of soybeans and a long wooden Buddha statue with a ruler. He quietly came to the ground, dug a pit by hand, put the soybeans under the pit, covered them with a layer of mud, and then put the Buddha statue in, covered them with soil and compacted them, so that there was no flaw at all outside.
I don't know how long it took, but it suddenly began to rain, and the soybeans in the ground swelled quickly after absorbing water, which pushed the Buddha statue out of the ground and looked like it was growing on the ground. This strange thing happened to be discovered by the rich man's long-term worker. The long-term worker flew back to the rich man's house and shouted, "My Lord is not good, there is a bodhisattva in your field." The rich man didn't believe it, so he went to the field with the long-term workers. At first glance, it was really like this. On the same day, the rich invited Mr. Feng Shui to ask for directions. After seeing it, Mr. Feng Shui also thought it was a rare treasure, and suggested that the rich should build a temple on the spot to give the Bodhisattva a place to live. So the rich gritted their teeth and began to build temples. I didn't want the people to listen to that rumor at that time, and they also donated money, so the largest temple within a hundred miles was built at that time. Because the wise man buried the woodcarving statue of Dongyue the Great at that time, the newly built temple was called Dongyue Temple.
Bodhisattva grows in the ground, and an Dongyue Temple grows. Although this is only a beautiful legend, it is still talked about by local people today. They told reporters that thanks to this wise man, there was such a temple in the local area, which promoted the development of local religious culture.
Rebuilding the original site
Reproducing the splendor of the temple fair
According to Shipai Town Records, "The foundation of Dongyue Temple is eight acres, and the northwest wall is ten feet long. The main temple in the temple, the Shengdi Temple, has a height of more than ten feet and is covered with gold. On the left and right sides in front of it are the four donkey kong. On both sides of the main hall are ten halls, where there are instruments of torture, such as oil pans, grinders, sharp knife mountains, etc., to persuade people to be kind. In the east and south of the main hall, there are also the Tibetan and Repairing Pharmacist Hall, the Dizang Hall and the Guanyin Hall. In addition, there are a mountain gate, a public hall, six Buddhist temples, three monks' houses and a stage for worshipping the gods. The huge scale and majestic form of Dongyue Temple make it the most famous religious shrine in Changkuntai (Changshu, Kunshan and Taicang). Unfortunately, the ancient temple was demolished during the Cultural Revolution, leaving countless regrets to the local people.
In 1994, with the approval of the higher authorities, the current Dongyue Temple was rebuilt on the original temple site with donations from local people from all walks of life. Feng Fengying, who is 7 years old this year, used to be an accountant in the temple. The old man told reporters that the local people also made great efforts to rebuild the temple. The leaders of the village went door-to-door to raise money, and the people also actively helped each other and finally raised more than 1, yuan.
The newly rebuilt Dongyue Temple covers an area of 6 mu, with 32 large and small houses. The apricot yellow flagpole of Dongyue Emperor is towering on the inter-temple site, and Wannian Baoding is separated in the courtyard. The red carp in the release pond is free and unfettered, and the bronze bell of Anmin is simple and dignified. Dongyue Hall, Guanyin Hall and Leizhen Hall are glittering; There are as many as 86 immortals in all walks of life, among which the first one is Dongyue Emperor, who is covered with gold and is as high as three or four meters; There are also Jade Emperor, Guanyin, Earth Treasure King, Fengbo, Rain Master and tripterygium wilfordii. Dongyue Temple is now managed by Tang Fuyuan, the Taoist Association of Kunshan City. The temple also has cashier full-time financial management. Every donation in the temple is strictly recorded. Except for maintaining the daily expenses of Dongyue Temple, the rest will be handed over to the Taoist Association to support social welfare undertakings.
Tang Fuyuan told reporters that there is also a white marble Guanyin in the Tang Dynasty in the temple. She returned to Dongyue Temple after living in Japan for more than 5 years, adding a magical color to Dongyue Temple. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, Guanyin in white was brought to Japan. In 1997, Kazuo Ikeda, the collector of Bodhisattva, invested in Shipai, bacheng town, and I have lived in Shipai for a long time. After hearing that there is a Dongyue Temple here for nearly a thousand years, I left the white Guanyin in Dongyue Temple. Dongyue Temple is more fragrant because of the addition of this white Guanyin with considerable origin. Every year, on the birthday of Emperor Dongyue, it even attracts tourists from surrounding cities to form a temple fair with tens of thousands of people.
Temple Fair Becomes a New Stage for Folk Culture
Zhu Wenlin, an insider, told reporters that before the reconstruction of Dongyue Temple, Dongyue Temple Fair was only a grand ritual activity. With the development of economy and the need of people's communication, temple fairs are gradually integrated into market trading activities while inheriting sacrificial activities. At this time, the temple fair was named "Temple Market" and became an important form of China market. With the needs of social development, temple fairs have gradually increased recreational activities, and visiting temple fairs has become an indispensable part of people's holidays. In recent years, Dongyue Temple Fair has become a more distinctive and influential temple fair, and a new stage for displaying local folk culture, enjoying a good reputation in Suzhou, Kunming, Taichang and Shanghai.
Xiao Chen, who has participated in the Dongyue Temple Fair several times, told reporters that today's Dongyue Temple Fair can be said to be one of the most lively days in the local area. On the morning of the same day, good men, women and tourists from Changshu, Kunshan and Taicang flocked to Dongyue Temple one after another. The meeting was held shoulder to shoulder, with horns, gongs and drums, bamboo and silk, and laughter. Business vendors even set up their stalls near Dongyue Temple, and everything was complete.
Various folk performances have become the highlight of the temple fair. Dragon dances, box fights, flower baskets, etc. moved into the temple courtyard after a busy street. The local people took turns to play, setting off one climax after another, attracting thousands of people to stop and watch. Among these teams, the most eye-catching ones are undoubtedly the dragon dance teams. Nowadays, the local dragon dance team has expanded from the original six to nine. At every temple fair, these dragon dance teams spontaneously formed by ordinary people will never be absent. Not only will they worship Dongyue Emperor in sequence, but they will also hold various performances in front of the temple. The once stage for worshipping God has now become a stage for various folk art lovers to compete for performances. Not only local people, but even people from Changshu and Taicang will come to perform their own specialty programs. "As long as there is nothing urgent, everyone will come to attend the temple fair. Even the old people in their 7 s are scrambling to go out and participate in performances." Tang Fuyuan told reporters, "For the sake of safety, they are not happy to let them not participate in the performance!"
Of course, today's temple fairs are not only activities for the elderly, but also more and more young people. During the interview, Tang Fuyuan told reporters that many young people in some dragon dance teams take time out of work to train, even if they take time off, they have to participate in temple fairs. "With the integration of fresh blood, we believe that Dongyue Temple will be better and better." He said.
Since 1994, Dongyue Temple Fair with local characteristics and rich folk culture has been held almost every year, and the number of participants has been increasing. Recently, the bacheng town Municipal Government also funded the expansion of Dongyue Temple and provided all kinds of support and assistance during the temple fair. "This kind of activity is also rare in Kunshan, which provides people in the festival with a rich and colorful literary life, which enables people to enjoy spiritually and creates conditions for Bacheng to enhance its popularity." The person in charge of bacheng town said so. Get off at Chaoyangmen subway station and go eastbound for 2 meters.