Where is Lingyun Temple?

Lingyun Temple is a famous scenic spot in Leshan cultural landscape.

Overloaded wine kiosk, looking up, Lingyun Temple has a high gate, eaves and walls, red walls and blue tiles, and is magnificent. There is a huge gold plaque hanging in the middle of the temple gate, and Su Dongpo's book "Lingyun Temple" has four words in the first episode. The couplets on both sides are the river of no return, Buddhism and Buddhism. This couplet is concise, which not only makes people feel the solemnity of Buddhism, but also shows the geographical location of Lingyun Temple. The word "Giant Buddha" is cleverly embedded in it, showing the extraordinary momentum of this ancient temple with a thousand years. In the early years of Tang Kaiyuan (AD 7 13), when the Buddha statue was excavated, the temple characters were expanded. According to Yu Fang Sheng Lan, before Huichang, there were temples on all peaks, which shows that the wind of killing Buddha prevailed before Huichang. However, during the four or five years in Huichang, Tang Wuzong Li Yanyan suppressed the Buddha and ordered the extinction of the Buddha on the grounds that monks and nuns foolishly consumed the world. Only Lingyun Temple is exquisitely preserved. Cen Can's poem "Lingyun Temple in Dengjiazhou" once described Lingyun Temple in this way: there are birds in the temple, and the Qingfeng Mountain backs Zhulou. However, the temples we see today are no longer the original appearance of the Tang Dynasty. Lingyun Temple, built in the Tang Dynasty, was destroyed by Yuan Shundi War. It was repaired twice in Ming dynasty and destroyed again in late Ming dynasty. The existing Lingyun Temple was rebuilt in the sixth year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (AD 1667).

Later, it was repaired many times, especially after liberation, and it kept its present appearance. Lingyun Temple is a triple quadrangle building consisting of the Heavenly King Hall, Mahayana Hall and Tibetan Classics Building, with blue walls and green trees. In front of Tianwang Temple is a towering ancient nanmu tree, and on both sides of the temple are four inscriptions for rebuilding the temple in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The statue in the center of the main hall is a seated Maitreya Buddha with a full belly, commonly known as a big-bellied arhat.

There are four statues of heavenly kings on both sides, with fine eyes and magnificent momentum. Behind Tianwang Hall is Wei Tuo Hall, dedicated to Wei Tuo, the patron saint of wood carving and gold. Passing through Tianwang Hall, it is a hero hall built in Ming Dynasty, and it is the main place for monks to hold religious activities. Sitting in the center of the hall is the three-body image of Sakyamuni (body, body, body), with beautiful shape and solemn expression. Eighteen arhats on both sides have different shapes and are lifelike. On the back of Daxiong Hall is a newly molded Guanyin vase, flanked by Manjusri, Pu Xian, Dizang and Four Bodhisattvas, which were works before the Ming Dynasty.

The last temple in the temple is the Buddhist Scripture Building, which used to be a place to collect Buddhist scriptures in the temple and was newly built in 1930. From its structure and modeling, we can see that the modern architectural style is unique among the temple figures, but it has a unique flavor. The newly-built Shihai Hall downstairs has full-length statues of Haitong Mage, Zhang Qiu and Joan and Wei Gao, the builder of the Giant Buddha, to show their respect.

At present, Lingyun Temple has been turned into the exhibition hall of Leshan Giant Buddha, displaying a large number of objects, documents, pictures and models, showing the 90-year construction history and protection and maintenance history of Leshan Giant Buddha, which fully embodies that Leshan Giant Buddha is worthy of being a world art treasure.