Reflections on the View of longxing temple

Reflections on Guanlong Xingjiang Temple

Longxing temple, located at the foot of Huxi Mountain in the northwest corner of Yuanling County, is the oldest existing academy in the world. The architectural decoration art of Longxing lecture hall group is extremely rich and colorful, especially the hollowed-out stone lotus seat in Daxiong Hall, which is exquisite. It is said that it was made in the Ming Dynasty, which is rare in China. In ancient times, lecture halls were set up to impart knowledge. Each lecture hall has a room between buildings and trees, which is equivalent to the classroom in schools now.

"The History of Ming Di in the Later Han Dynasty" said: "Fortunately, Confucius and his seventy-two disciples were in charge of the royal lecture hall and ordered the Crown Prince to recite scriptures. "Later, the place where Buddhist scriptures were passed on was also called lecture hall. Yang Xuanzhi's "The Hall under Construction in Luoyang Tibetan Orchid Collection" in the Northern Wei Dynasty said: "The front hall is a Buddhist temple, and the back hall is a lecture hall. "The main lecture hall in the temple is for monks to explain Buddhist classics to Buddhist disciples or good men and women. Longxing temple in Yuanling was built to teach Buddhism in the second year of Emperor Taizong's Li Shimin's accession to the throne. The reason why the temple was named Longxing is a metaphor for the rise of imperial industry.

"Preface to Shangshu" said: "The Han Dynasty prospered and set up schools. In the ninth five-year plan, the flying dragon was in the sky, and the sage was in the position of the son of heaven, so it was called Longxing. " It can be seen that Emperor Taizong's plan to build a temple in the south of the Yangtze River and name it Longxing has profound political significance. He hoped that through the spread of Buddhism, the barbarians in the southwest who believed in impermanence would be influenced, and enlightenment and stability would be realized, so as to stabilize the court's rule over Jiangnan, make the country better concentrate on suppressing all ethnic groups in the frontier and anti-Tang forces, and ensure the rapid rise of imperial industry in the Tang Dynasty. This is a wise move. Therefore, longxing temple was the earliest Buddhist college in the Tang Dynasty. Later, it was not until the sixth year of Xuanzong Kaiyuan (7 18) that Li Zheng Academy was established. In 725, it was renamed Jixian Academy, which was built 90 years later than Longxing Lecture Hall. Take Yuelu Academy, Egret Academy, Shigu Academy, Yingtian Academy as an example. It was founded in the eighth year of Song Kaibao (973), 345 years later than Longxing Lecture Hall. Prior to this, no academy in the world was built significantly earlier than Yuelu Academy.