Archaeological Excavation of Fawang Temple in Songshan Mountain

Located directly below the tower foundation, Tower Palace No.2 of Fawang Temple is divided into four parts: the trail, the palace gate, the tunnel and the palace, with a total length of nine meters (there are three closed doors and walls in the tunnel). ) Found some Tang Kaiyuan Bao Tong copper coins on the trail.

There is a fake stone gate in front of the palace, the semi-circular lintel is decorated with patterns, and a maid is carved on the left and right doors, with a double bun on her head and a plump figure, holding utensils and standing opposite each other. The lines are beautiful, smooth and lifelike.

There is a humanoid sitting statue on Mount Sumi in the north of the underground palace, and the painted cassock is still recognizable. Although this bony figure is a little broken, you can still see the outline of the whole person, such as sitting cross-legged with your hands on your chest.

It is extremely rare to find a statue wrapped in bones in the underground palace, which definitely shows that Tower 2 is a tower to commemorate the merits of eminent monks. In Buddhism, there are generally two forms of burial of eminent monks. The most common way is to cremate along Sakyamuni, and then put the ashes in an altar and put them in the underground palace. The other is the form of sitting, usually a monk. It is said that the monk is dead, and sitting there will not fall down. The so-called making China is the perfection of the monk's merits and demerits. Monks like this will put their real bodies there when they are buried, paste a layer of mud on them and wrap them up as a burial system. This is the bone envelope that was formed later.

This bone-wrapped clay sculpture is the only true statue of a monk in the Tang Dynasty in Henan Province after scientific excavation, which has high archaeological and religious research value.

More than 20 cultural relics such as bronzes, porcelain, pottery, jade, stone tools, mussels and glassware. In the underground palace of Tower 2 of Wang Dafa Temple, it was cleared and unearthed. Although the amount is not large, it is almost no problem.

The gilded bronze furnace unearthed in the underground palace consists of a furnace cover and a furnace body. The height of the furnace is 38 cm and the diameter of the furnace cover is 50 cm. The overall shape is heavy and steady. The whole body is decorated with golden patterns, including peony patterns, lotus patterns and Yunlong patterns, as well as various auspicious animals, such as Ganoderma lucidum in the mouth and Xiangyun in the foot, with different shapes. Although it has been buried underground for thousands of years, it still shines. When the gilded copper furnace was unearthed, there was still residual charcoal ash in the furnace. Its purpose is to "burn incense and worship Buddha".

There is also a bronze relic with a strange shape, a slender neck and a bulging abdomen. It is only a dozen centimeters high and can be placed in the palm of your hand.

There are many porcelains in the unearthed cultural relics. Among the ten pieces of white glazed porcelain, there is also a black glazed porcelain, which is very eye-catching. It is said that the black glazed porcelain fired in the Tang Dynasty is rare, and its quality level is not valued by people, but this black glazed porcelain unearthed in the underground palace is amazing.

Black glaze is also one of the best black porcelain in Tang Dynasty. It is beautiful and short, with the roundness and atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty, and the glaze color is very bright and very rare.

Five black bowls of different sizes were unearthed in the underground palace. They are similar in shape, fetal quality and color, like a set of utensils. This kind of bowl is made of lacquer, which is used as a container for food. It was only popular in the Han Dynasty. Most people can't afford this kind of paint bowl. Ordinary monks use pottery. This painted bowl must be used by a monk.

Compared with ceramic bowls, lacquer bowls are light, strong and not easy to break. Monks often take it around for alms. Over time, the cloak used by monks became a symbol of power, which was passed down from generation to generation. This kind of paint should be spread on the ground layer by layer, and it takes at least a dozen layers to make a paint bowl. The lacquered bowls unearthed will not belong to the Tang Dynasty or the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It should have been handed down from the Han Dynasty. Used by eminent monks in past dynasties, it spread to the Tang Dynasty and may finally enter the underground palace.

The excavation of Wang Dafa Temple No.2 underground palace lasted more than two months and achieved fruitful results. People are amazed at the exquisite cultural relics unearthed in the underground palace: although the number of cultural relics unearthed in the underground palace is small, more than 20 pieces have been rated as national first-class precious cultural relics, accounting for more than 90% of all unearthed cultural relics. This kind of situation is quite rare in archaeology.

On the last day, a jade box with the image of an ancient maid was unearthed, with a bird's head in a high bun and a flute. It's strange and imaginative. The whole is not big, only about five centimeters long, and the underground palace is covered with rotten wood dust. No wonder it hasn't been discovered before. The jade box is beautifully made and the lines are very smooth. The carved feathers, the bun on the head, and the shapes of the characters are all standard Tang Dynasty crafts, and the lines are quite delicate. The lines on the hair are green and the hair is black, but these colors are all inside the line, not outside the line, which proves that the production is quite elegant. This kind of craft is only available in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After consulting Buddhist classics, scholars finally figured out the name of this jade box with a head and a bird's body, formerly known as Jialing Pingjia Box. "Headbird" is a divine bird in the Himalayas. It is regarded as a beautiful bird and a beautiful bird by Buddhist scriptures for its beautiful voice. In the image of Buddhist scriptures, it is a bird with a head, flying in the paradise of the western world, making heaven full of joy. This bird in the underground palace of the Fawang Temple, as a box of Buddhist relics, shows that the Buddha is still in the western heaven and in the paradise of the western world.

Scholars have made textual research on the unearthed situation in Pingga, Jialing, China, and found that in June 2009 alone +065438+ 10, there were many bird-shaped objects unearthed in Xixia Mausoleum in Ningxia. However, they are ceramic components on the tomb house, which means that the soul of the emperor will always be in Nishida Zero Mountain. Accordingly, scholars believe that the purpose of Jialing Pingjia Box is nothing more than a jade coffin dedicated to relics.

Jade coffins are quite sacred, and can only be used by the palace nobles and the supreme Buddha. Ordinary people, dignitaries and monks are not qualified to use them. This is the etiquette system of feudal dynasty, which is determined by Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist regulations. It is no accident that it appeared in the underground palace of the Great Fawang Temple, and its position determines that it is a jade coffin containing Buddha relics.

The appearance of Jialing Pagoda Box confirmed the glory of Wang Dafa Temple as one of the earliest Buddhist temples built when Buddhism was introduced into China. A thousand years later, the reappearance of Buddhist sacred objects in the Dafawang Temple is as significant as rebirth for this ancient temple. During the Huichang period, Wuzong carried out the policy of destroying Buddhism throughout the country, tearing down temples and Buddha statues, and all monks and nuns returned to the secular world, and those who did not obey were killed. At that time, another famous temple in Shaanxi Famen Temple was pushed to the ground. After Huichang Fa Nan, there was no mention of the relic in the records of Dafawang Temple. It is speculated that the relics enshrined in the stupa of the Great Fawang Temple were probably destroyed by the disaster.