Where is the Twin Pagoda Temple?

Shuangta Temple is a famous scenic spot in Taiyuan’s cultural landscape.

The Shuangta Temple, a famous temple in the Three Jin Dynasties, is located at the foot of the mountain in the south of Haozhuang Village, southeast of Taiyuan City, about four kilometers away from the city center. Here, there are green trees and red walls, pagodas and Buddhist halls, exquisite niches and pavilions, steles and stone tablets, fragrant flowers, green pines and cypresses, solemnity and tranquility, and an ancient flavor.

The architectural orientation of the Shuangta Temple is contrary to the traditional custom of temple buildings facing north and south for thousands of years in my country. It can be said that it has the Taihang peaks on its back and the Fenshui area in front of it. Being there, with the ancient tower body, you can have a panoramic view of the ancient city of Taiyuan and the fertile fields of the Jinzhong Basin.

Shuangta Temple, whose real name is Yongzuo Temple. It is only because of the two majestic and spectacular ancient pagodas in the temple that soar into the clouds that it attracts people's attention, so it is called the Twin Pagoda Temple by the world. Over time, the real name of the temple has gradually become less visible, while the common name has become a household name and is known to everyone. The word "Yongzuo" of Yongzuo Temple comes from "The Book of Songs, Daya Ji Zui": A gentleman has lived for ten thousand years, Shui Xizuoyin is a sentence, Yongzuo is the abbreviation of Shui Xizuoyin. "Erya Shigu" says: Yong means long; Yong means far away. "Shuowen Jiezi" says: Zuo means Chuan; Zuo means Fu. "Book of Jin Yuefu" says: Yong Zuo is just like Yuan Zuo. It can be seen that the word "Yongzuo" seems to have the meaning of being passed down forever and lasting forever. This is the origin and meaning of the temple’s name.

The Shuangta Temple was built in the middle period of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, between the 25th and 30th years of Wanli (AD 1597-1602), more than 380 years ago. When it was founded, it was not the temple we see today, nor did it reach its current scale. At that time, only one Wenfeng Pagoda was built to supplement Taiyuan's insufficient literary movement, named Xuanwen Pagoda, which is the old tower now located in the southeast corner. As for the few simple temple buildings built close to the tower, they have long since disappeared. At that time, the name of the temple was not Yongzuo Temple, but Yongming Temple. Regarding the reasons for the construction of Yongming Temple and Xuanwen Pagoda, clear records have been made in the Wanli version of "Shanxi Tongzhi" of the Ming Dynasty and the Wanli version of "Taiyuan Prefecture Chronicles".

Not long after the Xuanwen Pagoda and Yongming Temple came into being, in the thirty-fifth year of Wanli (1607 AD), Zhu Minchun, the eleventh generation king of the Jin Dynasty, Jin Mu King, felt that the scale of Yongming Temple and Xuanwen Pagoda was simple and incompatible with the province. The status of the city in Taiyuan was not commensurate with the situation, so he sent a letter to Xiantong Temple in Wutai Mountain, inviting the temple to preside over it. At that time, monk Fudeng, an architect who was quite famous in the country, came to Taiyuan to preside over the expansion project of the Great Pagoda Temple. Monk Fudeng was a famous eminent monk in the mid-Ming Dynasty. Emperor Wanli's biological mother, the empress dowager Li Xuanwen, a devout believer in Buddhism, worshiped him as her teacher and converted to his disciples. After receiving the invitation from King Mu of Jin, Fuden came to Taiyuan. When he saw that the Xuanwen Pagoda in Yongming Temple tilted slightly to the northwest, he suggested to the King of Jin that while expanding the temple, a new pagoda should be built to the left of the old pagoda. The King of Jin adopted Fuden's suggestion and with the help of the Empress Dowager Cisheng, it took 4 years, from the spring of the 36th year of Wanli to September of the 40th year of Wanli (1608-1612 AD), to build three new temple halls. , that is, the main building of the existing Yongzuo Temple hall: the main hall, the Sansheng Pavilion, the two-chamber abbot and the two-corridor auxiliary hall, as well as the new pagoda located in the northwest of the old pagoda, forming a grand view of two peaks reaching into the sky and majestic pavilions.

The scale of the temple planned by Fuden is very grand. In addition to the three existing main halls in the backyard, there are also the Tianwang Hall, the backyard gate courtyard, the front courtyard halls and the mountain gate hall. However, due to old age, weakness, overwork and illness, he was unable to complete his plan. In the autumn and September of this year (the 40th year of Wanli), after completing the new pagoda, he fell ill and returned to Wutai Mountain. Soon after, he passed away at Xiantong Temple in Taihuai Town. This pagoda temple, which was never completed, was renamed Yongzuo Temple, and both pagodas were named Xuanwen Pagoda.

The temple is built on the mountain, facing south and north. It consists of three parts: front yard, backyard and pagoda yard, covering a total area of ​​30,000 square meters. The pagoda courtyard now has twin towers, a main hall and an apse hall. There are existing buildings in the backyard such as the Main Hall, Sansheng Pavilion, Pai Tang, and Abbot. The main hall and the east and west auxiliary halls in the temple are all in the shape of Wuliang Hall and are built with blue brick carvings to imitate wood structures.

Sansheng Temple, formerly known as Guanyin Pavilion, is three rooms wide, 16.75 meters long and 9.7 meters deep. The brick-carved caisson at the top of the center is considered to be a representative work of the brick carving art and architectural art of Shuangta Temple. In the middle niche is a painted sculpture of Master Guanyin. The statue is 2 meters high, with a plump shape and smooth lines. It is a masterpiece among colored sculptures in the Ming Dynasty.

The twin pagodas are located at the highest point of the Shuangta Temple, both in the southeast of the temple. They are named Xuanwen Pagoda. Both towers are octagonal with 13 floors and are approximately 54.7 meters high.

It is built in the style of a brick pavilion. The surface of the tower imitates the wooden structure. Bricks are carved into brackets, squares and eaves and rafters. There are steps inside the tower that can be spiraled up to the top floor. The two towers are 60 meters apart. The tower is 54.85 meters high, with thirteen floors. The bottom floor is 7 meters high. It is octagonal and has a masonry structure. The surface of the tower is decorated with exquisite brick carvings, bucket offerings, colored glaze and cornices. The cornices are inlaid with various birds, animals, flowers and figures. The top of the tower is of octagonal shape. There is a ladder in the tower, and you can climb to the top floor and look out the window, and you can clearly see the scenery of Taiyuan.

Throughout the ages, the twin towers of Yongzuo Temple have attracted the attention of the world and are known as the wonders of Jinyang and the symbol of Taiyuan. The local chronicles of the past dynasties have listed the Lingxiao Twin Pagodas as one of the eight scenic spots in ancient Taiyuan City. Their influence was so great that the original name of the temple, Yongzuo Temple, was rarely known and was replaced by the Twin Pagodas Temple.

The Lingxiao Twin Towers are the tallest existing ancient buildings in Taiyuan. The two towers are like twin sisters, complementing each other and attracting every interview and guest passing through Taiyuan. The Twin Towers of Lingxiao also have a beautiful and touching nickname: Twin Peaks of Writing. The Lingxiao Twin Towers have also amazed many politicians, thinkers, poets and poets involved in Taiyuan in history. Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, once eulogized him; Li Weizhen, one of the seven major literati in the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty, once recited poems for him; Mr. Fu Shan, a famous thinker and artist in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, once painted for him; a famous general of the People's Liberation Army of New China General Yang Chengwu once spoke for him; there are too many to mention.

For hundreds of years, most people have cherished the Lingxiao Twin Pagodas of Yongzuo Temple as art treasures and cultural relics that were created at the same time and have the same attributes. However, looking at its story and studying the reasons for its creation, it is not the case. These two twin sister towers, one is the Wenfeng Pagoda built earlier, and the other is the Relic Pagoda built later. Not only were they not built at the same time, but their properties are also fundamentally different. The so-called Wenfeng Pagoda originates from the Feng Shui Pagoda of Kan and Jiayan, that is, a superstitious landmark and appreciation building built by local gentry in feudal society to supplement the terrain defects of the place and revitalize regional culture. Although its shape is based on Buddhist pagodas, it has nothing to do with the Buddha's teachings and Buddhism. The relic pagoda is a sacred object of Buddhism. It is a religious building that enshrines Buddha's relics, stores Buddhist scriptures, and is viewed and worshiped by Buddhist disciples. This is exactly the difference between Yongzuo Temple and Lingxiao Han Pagoda, which are so close but far different in nature.

Relic Pagoda

The original name of the Relic Pagoda is Xuanwen Pagoda (the same name as Wenfeng Pagoda), because it was built by Master Miaofeng (ie Monk Fudeng) during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Supervised the construction, and there are Buddha relics hidden in the pagoda, so it is also called Xuanwen pagoda, or relic pagoda. The stupa is located at the north end (northwest corner) of the pagoda courtyard, so some people call it the North Pagoda based on its orientation.

The stupa has an octagonal plane and has 13 floors. The lowest floor has a side length of 4.6 meters and a total height of 54.78 meters. It is a typical pavilion-style hollow brick tower. The base of the tower is made of sand and stone strips, which is simple and solid. The body of the tower is made of blue bricks of the same color, ground and seamed. The brackets, cornices, rafters, rafters, and columns (vertical columns) on the tower are all cut and milled from blue bricks to imitate the wood structure. The 13-story tower eaves are all painted in peacock blue. The glazed tiles create a crystal-clear and beautiful edge. Under the eaves and fangs on the first floor of the pagoda, in the space between the brackets, there is an inlaid brick word Amitabha. The font is like a streamer, layered on top of each other, beautiful and well-proportioned. These words not only indicate that the pagoda is a pagoda, but also cleverly fill in the flat space between the brackets. It is truly unique.

The brick-imitation wooden brackets on the 17th floor of the tower are the same as those of the Dahua Palace in both shape and structure. They are five-step double-winged, with raised eaves, rafters and flying tops, forming the eaves of the tower. As the tower body rises and the tower floors rise, the height of each floor gradually decreases, and the bracket shape also becomes smaller, reaching more than 8 floors. The body contour is streamlined and very beautiful.

The eight corners of each floor of the stupa are engraved with decorative lotus eaves columns carved with bricks. Between the vertical columns, there are brick railings connecting them. Above the vertical columns, there are brick carved columns. The corners, mantels, Chinese panels, etc. are engraved with delicate and realistic grass patterns and cloud patterns, which greatly enhances the decorative nature of the outside of the tower. This kind of architectural carving not only has rich patterns and fine carvings, but also profoundly reflects and represents the artistic style of brick architecture in the Ming Dynasty. It can be called an outstanding work of brick-imitation wood architecture in the Ming Dynasty.

There are two doors on the bottom floor of the stupa, one facing the southeast and the other facing the northwest. Climbing up the steps from the east gate, you are faced with a stone Buddhist niche. The statue in the niche was destroyed by the war. Continuing to climb, you will enter the stairs between the outer and inner walls of the tower; spiraling up, you will be close to the top.

Standing on the top floor of the tower, relying on the ancient tower body, you can overlook the whole city of Taiyuan and witness the scenery of Jinyang. It is indeed as Mr. Guo Moruo said: Looking from a distance, Taiyuan is majestic and the rice fields on both sides of the Fen River are abundant. The emerging industries are high-tech and large-scale, and the talents who come after them dare to become popular. No wonder Li Bo, a man of the Ming Dynasty, wrote a poem with deep emotion after climbing to the top of the tower: The towering blue dragon holds the universe, and the endless purple air spreads across the forest. I came here to pick up the stars, only then will I realize how wide the world is. If you enter the west gate of the tower, it will be completely different from the east gate. There are no steps up here, and you can reach the bottom of the stupa in just a few steps. Here you can admire the architectural style and craftsmanship of the hollow brick pagoda of the Ming Dynasty, with an empty core, forming layers of tower chambers, and fully appreciate the internal structure of the pagoda with pavilions and pavilions. At that time, you will have a new and specific understanding of the superb construction technology of the working people at that time, giving you the enjoyment of beautiful knowledge.

The Tasha on the top of the stupa is made of copper and iron. The brake seat is a Xumizuo in the shape of an overturned lotus and is made of pig iron. The top of the temple is in the shape of a copper vase, mounted on a rosette base.

Wenfeng Pagoda

Standing side by side with the stupa, this ancient and simple brick tower located in the southeast corner of the pagoda courtyard is Wenfeng Pagoda. Wenfeng Pagoda is also called Xuanwen Pagoda and Xuanwen Pagoda. It is called Wenfeng Pagoda because it was originally built to supplement the terrain of Taiyuan City, which is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, which is not conducive to the development of culture. It was used to create beautiful mountains and rivers and create a prosperous cultural movement. Mr. Zhang Yuhuan and Mr. Luo Zhewen, experts on ancient pagodas in my country, have made clear conclusions on this point. As for the local people or local chronicles calling Wenfeng Pagoda the old pagoda or the south pagoda, that is because it came out earlier than the stupa and its location.

From the perspective of architectural features, although the Wenfeng Pagoda came out slightly earlier than the stupa, they must be both works from the mid-Ming Dynasty and have many similarities. For example: the planes are all octagonal, and they are all thirteen-story buildings, with only a 2 centimeter difference in height. According to measurements: Wenfeng Pagoda is slightly lower than the stupa, with a total height of 54.76 meters. Moreover, the structure and shape of the brackets, as well as the cutting and masonry of the eaves, rafters, columns and canons can be said to be similar. These all reflect the distinctive characteristics of being products of the same era. However, they also have many differences that cannot be ignored, that is, Wenfeng Pagoda has no pagoda base, only one door, no Buddhist niche, no Amitabha inscription, and the eaves of the pagoda are not trimmed with glazed tiles. Here, let’s not mention that the shapes of the two pagodas are not the same. Even the main body of the pagoda is also very different. The upper and lower diameters of Wenfeng Pagoda are almost the same, basically straight up and down, with no obvious points. It is linear in shape; however, the upper and lower diameters of the stupa are very different, with obvious convergence, especially more prominent above the seventh floor, making the entire tower appear arc-shaped and streamlined. These large and small differences undoubtedly reflect the differences in shape, craftsmanship and style between the designers and builders of the two towers.

As soon as Wenfeng Tower came into being, the tower body tilted slightly to the northwest. There are definite records about this in local chronicles of the past dynasties, and it became the inspiration and reason for Fuden to build the pagoda. Over the years, many rumors and many people who are very knowledgeable about architecture have said that Wenfeng Pagoda tilted slightly to the northwest. This was because when the tower builders first built the tower, they considered the tower's high position and the location of the east mountain. The front edge is easily affected by the northwest wind, so the tower body is deliberately tilted slightly to the northwest to offset the resistance of the northwest wind to the tower. If it is indeed true as the rumors say, Wenfeng Pagoda has been tilted to the northwest since its birth, and it has not fallen down for four hundred years. Doesn't it illustrate the careful design and superb construction craftsmanship of the craftsmen at that time?

Steles and carved stones

Shuangta Temple currently collects and protects more than 260 valuable steles and carved stones. Except for a small part of these steles that are original to the temple, most of them are scattered and lost treasures collected from various places in Taiyuan after the Cultural Revolution. Among these steles and inscriptions, there are calligraphy inscriptions by famous calligraphers Wang Xizhi, Zhang Xu, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Su Dongpo and others. There are stone carving treasures from the Ming Dynasty, famous works of the Three Jin Dynasties, and more than 180 pieces of the famous "Baoxiantang Collection of Ancient Dharma Calligraphy" from the Qing Dynasty; there are 36 pieces of "Ancient Baoxiantang Dharma Calligraphy" from the Qing Dynasty; there are the drunken stone carvings of the great writer Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty. There are 3 passages; there are 4 passages of stone carvings of Zishi Cuiyan by Qi Junzao, a famous calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty; there is also the Jinxi Yinjun family motto stele with unique description content, etc. These ancient steles and tablets are a treasure trove of calligraphy by famous calligraphers from all dynasties before the Qing Dynasty. They include all kinds of calligraphy styles: Zhen, Cao, Li, and Seal. They are not only cherished by the calligraphy community and people from all walks of life who love calligraphy. , and it is also very popular with people who come here for sightseeing and sightseeing.

Ming Dynasty Peony

In Yongzuo Temple, in front of the Main Hall, there are Ming Dynasty lilac trees and Ming Dynasty peony trees, which are famous in Taiyuan. Today, there are still peonies planted in the middle of the Ming Dynasty that are in full bloom in the world. They have lasted for 350 or 60 springs and autumns and are known as Ming Dynasty peonies. The century-old Ming Dynasty peony in the Twin Towers Yongzuo Temple is called Zixiaxian. It is rooted in the square flower bed in front of the main hall of the temple. Recently, the Shuangta Temple Cultural Management Office has introduced and cultivated nearly a thousand peonies based on the peonies of the Ming Dynasty. In terms of varieties, there are about 30 species. In terms of color, they are red, pink, yellow, white, and purple. , green, and ink, it can be said that the nine colors are complete. Nowadays, at the turn of spring and summer, during the more than 20 days before and after the beginning of summer, the ancient temple's twin pagodas stand tall and tall, and new flowers bloom. The entire Buddhist temple is gorgeous, with reds and purples competing for beauty and fragrance. Tourists from home and abroad crowded in and out, vying to admire the flowers, and surrounded themselves among the colorful peonies, forming a custom painting of a sea of ​​flowers and crowds of people enjoying flowers during spring outings.