The birthplace of the Buddhist lineage!Guoqing Temple is the holy place of the Tiantai sect of Chinese Buddhism
Guoqing Temple in Tiantai County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, was built in the Sui Dynasty, and Lingyan Temple in Jinan, Qixia Temple in Nanjing, and Yuquan Temple in Dangyang, and is known as the "Four Great Temples of China".
It is not only the birthplace of the famous Tiantai sect of Buddhism in China, but also the birthplace of the Tiantai sect of Buddhism in Japan and Korea.
Zhiyi, a great monk of the Sui Dynasty, founded the Tiantai sect, hoping to build a temple and become its official ancestral court, but due to lack of funds, the project could not be carried out for a long time.
In 597, Zhiyi left behind the testament of "If you don't get the temple completed, you will die without regrets".
Yang Guang, the king of Jin, obtained the bodhicitta of the Venerable Zhiyi, read the Buddhist scriptures written by Zhiyi, and was deeply influenced by it, and ordered Wang Hong to build this temple, which was named after this temple.
Yang Guang ascended the throne in 604, called Emperor Yang of Sui, and later because of the righteousness of "building a temple is the Qing Dynasty in the world", Tiantai Temple was renamed "Guoqing Palace".
Over the years, the fortunes of the temple tend to change over time.
The same is true of Guoqing Temple, which, like other temples, has endured two catastrophes.
Li Yan (8490-846), the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, implemented a series of measures to "exterminate the Buddha", the so-called "Huichang Fa Difficulty", that is, 884-846 AD, that is, Huichang.
Guoqing Temple, in a huge disaster, suffered an unknown fire, and the Sui Pagoda was severely damaged.
The Guoqing Palace was rebuilt in the middle years of the Tang Dynasty and has been destroyed and rebuilt many times.
Guoqing Temple underwent large-scale renovation in 1734 in the twelfth year of Yongzheng, which became the most glorious period in its development history.
When the time came to the 60s, ridiculous stories kept coming.
In this absurd catastrophe, the cultural relics and ancient buildings that have survived the baptism of time have been completely destroyed, and Guoqing Temple is no exception.
In 1973, in response to Prime Minister Zhou's concern, a special fund was allocated to rebuild the temple.
There are three uniques in the Guoqing Temple: Sui Tower, Sui Mei, Wang Xizhi's single book "goose" and so on.
Wuhua Tower" is a "Wuhua Tower" built by Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty in order to repay the Zhiyi Master for obtaining the Bodhi precepts, and the existing residual height is 594 meters, 4.4 meters, six ridges and nine steps, is an ancient tower with a higher altitude in Zhejiang Province.
It was originally a hollow building made of masonry, but in a fire, the roof and roof were burned down, so there is such a gap.
The Sui pagoda is unique in architecture, except for the brick tower wall, the Buddha is exquisitely carved, and there is no general spire top, standing in the tower, you can face the blue sky.
However, the entrance is sealed and the inside is not visible.
The top of the tower is damaged, there are many weeds, and there are many dangers, so please do not go to the top of the tower to watch when the wind blows.
On the right side of the Daxiong Treasure Hall, there is a plum tree, which is now called "Sui Mei", which was planted by the hands of Master Zhang An, the fifth patriarch, it has a history of more than 1,300 years, and is the earliest plum plant in China.
As far as they know, in the sixties of the last century, this plum blossom did not bloom, and those soldiers who wanted to destroy the Guoqing Temple thought that the plum blossom was dead, so it could survive.
In February 1972, when Nixon visited China, the plum plant miraculously blossomed into a white plum branch with a fragrant fragrance.
The "goose" written by Wang Xizhi himself is also widely circulated in the Guoqing Temple.
In the 9th year of Xianfeng, in 1859, Tiantai Huading Mountain unearthed a stone tablet with the word "goose", which was engraved with Wang Xizhi's handwriting, but only half was left.
After several years of hard work, the Tiantai master Cao Lian pieced it together into a complete jade plate and was transferred to the Guoqing Temple.
In the Lanting Scenic Area of Shaoxing City, Wang Xizhi's "Goose Pond" and the "Goose" in the Guoqing Temple, which "goose" is more attractive?
Lanting is also the hometown of Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface".