4K quality murals of Fahai Temple, capillaries are clearly visible

My impression of the place name Fahai Temple is that it has good quality and low prices, a wide range of varieties, and the crowded Fahai Temple morning market, especially the Fahai Temple fried cakes. And this Fahai Temple has nothing to do with Bai Suzhen. Fahai means "the Buddha's Dharma is boundless and vast as the sea." I once heard a friend who is an art analyst talk about the murals of Fahai Temple. His eyes were shining and his eyes were as wide as bells, but I didn't take it seriously. I always felt that there was more to the exaggeration. Later, I accidentally found a picture album of "Fahai Temple Murals" at home. I flipped through it and the light and flexible tulle of Shuiyue Guanyin deeply penetrated my heart. Going to Fahai Temple to see the murals was officially put on the agenda.

Last month I saw the good news from the Shijingshan Public *** Cultural WeChat account that the murals at Fahai Temple will be open to the public and reservations will be resumed. There are only 4 places available for each online reservation, and it took me several appointments to get one. There is a limit of 105 people allowed to visit the mural throughout the day.

Since it is not possible to take photos or videos, the following is a description of the situation inside the temple. Please imagine based on the written records:

In order to protect the murals to the greatest extent, the windows and curtains in the temple are closed all year round. Before entering the main hall, tourists put on shoe covers at the door, received a special cold light source flashlight (in principle, one for every two people), and followed the guide into the main hall. In the dark hall, with the help of a little flashlight light, the commentator pointed to the pillars in the hall and asked us to tap them. The sound sounded empty. This was not an ancient shoddy project. What we were knocking on was actually a modern one. Made to protect the exterior wall skin of the pillars made entirely of golden nanmu inside.

The first thing we see is the three Buddhas symbolizing the past life, present life and future. Because the previous three Buddhas have been destroyed and no longer exist, what we see today is a modern product made of boxwood. It is said that the previous Third Buddha was made of golden nanmu and was made of lacquered gold. The shape is very majestic and spectacular. The large light behind the Buddha is very hollow, giving people a feeling of rising clouds and mist. On the wall behind the Third Buddha are three murals of auspicious clouds.

There are five wonders in Fahai Temple, one of which is right above our heads. Looking up at the caisson above the Third Buddha, it is also called the Mandala caisson. It has the shape of a circle on the inside - a circle on the top, and a square on the outside - below, which means that the sky is round and the place is round. It is an octagonal rhombus and one meter high. In the central area of ​​​​Caijing, there are more than 200 pure gold images of Bodhisattva and Buddha, which were made using the gold-plating technology of the time. Under the light of the light, the golden light shines. Caissons are exclusive to the royal family and usually appear in noble buildings, such as directly above the thrones of gods and Buddhas or emperors. Aquatic plants such as aquatic plants, lotus, and lotus are depicted in the caissons because the ancients believed that the caissons contained water in the wells, and most of our ancient Chinese buildings are wooden structures, so they also mean fire prevention on the roof.

Then we saw another one of the five unique features in the temple - murals. The murals of Fahai Temple are the pinnacle of Ming Dynasty murals. First we went to the west wall to attend the meeting. The commentator asked us to focus on the veins of the lotus on the mural. We focused all the lights on the flower. The veins were clear, the petals were pink and transparent, and the whole flower had a naked-eye 3D effect. Three-dimensional and full. It turns out that this is the technique of "stacked blending and baking". This technique of blending layers of dyeing, either lighter or thicker in sequence, generally requires as many as 7 layers of blending. The lotus flower symbolizing wisdom blooms in the sky, and corresponding to it on the ground is the peony, the flower of wealth on earth. The combined meaning is blessing and wisdom.

There is a distinct layering in the meeting map on the west wall. It can be clearly seen that the color of the upper mural is somewhat dull and yellowish, while the color of the lower mural is still bright and clear. This is because the original stone table in front of the mural was once the Xumizuo of the Eighteen Arhats, and its height was below the auspicious clouds. In the past, Fahai Temple was also a place where incense was flourishing. The brightly colored murals below were blocked by Arhats at that time and were not exposed to the incense, so the colors were better preserved.

The murals of Fahai Temple have the painting techniques of the Tang Dynasty and the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty. We turned around and visited the picture of Sakyamuni Brahma worshiping Buddha and protecting the Dharma (on the west side of the north wall), and saw Saraswati (also called Benzaitian), lions, foxes, and leopards. Among them, the faint red capillaries in the fox's ears seem to be still flowing. The hair of lions and leopards is also clearly defined. The lion is in front and the leopard is behind. It also tells us that when we are doing things, we should give first (lion) and then we will get something in return (leopard).

We found that there are many three-dimensional protrusions on the wall of this mural. This is one of the methods of using gold in the murals of Fahai Temple—leaching powder to pile gold. These protrusions are all made of pure gold, and the amount of gold used is quite rare. However, the alchemy technology at that time could not purify the minerals, and there would be particularly typical oxidation characteristics, with red and black marks on the surface.

Murals are basically composed of three basic parts: the supporting structure of the mural (wall or rock wall), the ground layer (also called the base layer, lime layer, mud layer) and the pigment layer (or called screen layer). There are almost no large horizontal cracks in the murals of Fahai Temple. This is also because in addition to the common materials of clay, sand, hemp knife and broken wheat straw, the ground layer also uniquely adds fine cashmere. Cashmere has good warmth retention, tension, pull, and good color fixing effect. After 577 years of baptism, the fine cashmere base layer is still intact and bright.

Next is the treasure of the temple - Shuiyue Guanyin, I am here for it. Water Moon Avalokitesvara should actually be created in China and become the 33rd Dharmakaya of Avalokitesvara.

We see the slender jade hands of Shuiyue Guanyin in the murals of Fahai Temple. The fingers are as soft as onions and as soft as boneless. Then we look at Guanyin’s round and plump feet, which are pink and delicate. This is because of Shuiyue Guanyin’s The skin is first painted with a rouge color, and then a layer of white is painted on top to give it the effect of real skin. Avalokitesvara, a Chinese individual figure draped in light tulle, is the largest, longest and most exquisite work, with a total length of approximately 0.7 square meters. The white gauze hangs from the crown of the figure. The intersection of the two pieces of tulle is the most classic. The pattern of the clothing under the tulle is clearly visible. Look carefully at the small lines inside the tulle. The painting is extremely fine. The tulle is covered with hexagonal diamond-shaped flowers. Each flower is painted stroke by stroke with about 48 gold wires. It is said to have a 4K effect. Not an exaggeration. The outermost side of the tulle is painted with gold powder, which is as thin as spider silk and as thin as cicada wings. You can imagine that the golden light emitted from the body of Shuiyue Guanyin in the previous murals was sacred and noble. There are also painted around Shuiyue Guanyin a parrot spreading Buddhism, a boy who is good at making money, a Suan Ni and the handsome Wei Tuo Dharma protector.

After that, there are the pictures of Sakyamuni Brahma worshiping Buddha and protecting Dharma (on the east side of the north wall) and the picture of attending meetings on the east wall.

In front of the Main Hall is another one of the Five Wonders - two thousand-year-old white pine trees.

In the side hall next to the main hall, there is also the fourth of the five unique features of Fahai Temple - the Fahai Temple Bell

The last of the five unique features of Fahai Temple - "Four Cypresses" The "Yikong" bridge was not found, and time is running out. I plan to look for traces of it the next time I come.

Here are a few visiting tips:

1) Go on a working day. Sometimes there are less than 15 tourists per show, so you can pick up the ones you missed and buy tickets directly on site. Pay attention to the number of shows. Closed every Monday.

2) Arrive at the main hall 10 minutes in advance to gather, store your bags (there is a self-service bag storage area), and do not bring water or food into the hall. No photography, video recording, or audio recording is allowed in the temple.

3) Be sure to bring cash! Bring cash! Bring cash! Mobile payment for tickets is not accepted. Tickets for Fahai Temple are 20 yuan/piece, and murals are 100 yuan/piece (ticket included).