Yang County, Hanzhong City: Walk into Zhiguo Village and visit Zhiguo Temple

In the western suburbs of Yangxian County, Hanzhong, in Zhiguo Village, Xiecun Town, there is the famous Zhiguo Temple. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, there were tall city walls and moats here, forming a group of castle-style imperial temples, which were once known as "famous temples in Han Dynasty". On March 5, 2013, Zhiguo Temple was announced as the seventh batch of key cultural relics protection units in the country -

During the Spring Festival of 2017, my family and I traveled to Sichuan. On February 2, on the way back, when passing through Yangxian County, I visited the Juehuang Hall of Liangma Temple. Then, we came to the nearby Zhiguo Village, facing the gate of Zhiguo Middle School. On the right side was a national key cultural relics protection unit monument with "Zhiguo Temple" written on it.

?

As soon as the car stopped, the door opened and an elder sister came out. After explaining the purpose of my visit, she enthusiastically led me inside to visit. On the wall facing me were written eight bright red characters: "Unite, Endeavor, Seek Truth, and Innovation." Zhiguo Middle School, formerly known as "National No. 7 Middle School", was founded by the Kuomintang. It has a long history of teaching and has cultivated a large number of talents for the society.

After walking not far forward, we turned into the courtyard on the right, where the trees were towering and it was quiet and solemn. The main hall of Zhiguo Temple suddenly appears in front of you, with wing rooms and wing rooms on both sides. The ground is covered with moss, as if no one has stepped on it for a long time; in the glass cover in front of the temple, there are two stone tablets -

Zhiguo Temple was built in the Yifeng period of the Tang Dynasty (676-679), between the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are repairs. At that time, the temple covered an area of ??about 53 acres and was large in scale, with many palaces and cigarette smoke. Nowadays, only the Great Buddha Hall and Sutra Library are left here, which were built in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties; the rest of the wing rooms and side rooms were all built after the Qing Dynasty.

This Great Buddha Hall was rebuilt in the Yuan Dynasty. It faces south and is in the shape of a "convex". It is five bays wide, seven rafters deep, and has a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain. On the ground in front of the main hall, there are the bases of many stone steles. Some stone steles from the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties were once erected here.

The center of the roof is decorated with pavilion-style brick carvings, commonly known as "Ziya Tower". The two ends of the roof ridge are decorated with owl kisses, and there are immortals and animals on the ridge. It is covered with gray tiles, which is simple and elegant. It is said that there are a large number of murals painted on the walls of the temple, mainly featuring images of kings and other figures. Unfortunately, the door is locked and cannot be entered to watch.

South side of the Big Buddha Hall

North side of the Big Buddha Hall

In the left front of the Big Buddha Hall, there is a large iron bell hanging, which is small and inconspicuous. . However, it was cast in the first year of Ming Zhengtong (1436) and is one of the "Eight Scenes of Zhiguo Temple". This place used to be famous for its "High Pavilion Sutra Collection", "Holy Oracle Monument", "Stone Mirror Shining People", "South Courtyard Pagoda", "Kui Tower Looking at the Han Dynasty", "Ancient City Ruins", "Dongting Xiaozhong", "Xiangtai Sleeping" Eight landscapes including "Buddha" are famous far and wide.

The Sutra Collection Building is located behind the Great Buddha Hall. It was built in the 14th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1586). It is 21.7 meters long, 18.3 meters wide and 12 meters high. It is located on a stone platform and is a typical Palace-like architecture. There were originally a collection of 4,178 volumes of various Buddhist scriptures here, and a grand "Sutra Sharing Party" was held every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. Now, these scriptures have been transferred to Yangxian Museum, and the once bustling scene can no longer be seen!

Why does Zhiguo Temple collect so many Buddhist scriptures? According to legend, in the twelfth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1584), Empress Dowager Li suffered from an eye disease that could not be cured after long-term treatment, so she posted a list to recruit talents. There was a monk named "Zhiguo" from Yang County who traveled to Beijing and entered the palace to treat the Queen Mother's illness. After three doses of medicine, the eye disease was cured.

In order to express his gratitude, Emperor Wanli gave Zhiguo a large number of Buddhist scriptures and built this scripture building to store these precious Buddhist scriptures. At the same time, a plaque was written on the imperial letter, with the five characters "Edict to Zhiguo Temple" written on it. Today, Zhiguo Temple has a replica of it hanging under the eaves as it was originally built.

In front of the Sutra Library, there is a "Holy Edict Stele", which was erected in the 16th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1588).

The inscription records in detail the origin of the scriptures stored here. The building contains 678 scriptures (6780 volumes) given by the mother of Ming Shenzong Zhu Yijun, the Empress Dowager Cisheng Xuanmingmingsu, which are national treasures of Buddhist scriptures.