Interpretation of Tour Guide Words of Yuantong Temple in Kunming, Yunnan

The place we visited today is Yuantong Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in Kunming and the seat of Buddhist associations in Yunnan Province and Kunming City. The following is my interpretation of the tour guide words of Yuantong Temple in Kunming, Yunnan for your reference. For more details, please click to view.

Dear friends, hello everyone!

The place we visited today is Yuantong Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in Kunming and the seat of Buddhist associations in Yunnan Province and Kunming City. As early as the Tang Dynasty, the ruler of Nanzhao, a local separatist regime in Yunnan, built the Butuo Temple here. "Buttura" is also translated as "Putuo" or "Putuo Jia", which is a transliteration of Sanskrit. It means "light". Legend has it that "Budura" is the name of a Buddhist holy mountain, which is located in the South China Sea of India and is the Dojo of Guanyin Bodhisattva. As we all know, there is also a famous Guanyin Dojo in China, namely Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang, which is one of the four famous Buddhist mountains in China. Built in the Five Dynasties, it was later than Butuo Temple 100 years ago. It can be said that Butuo Temple is the earliest Kannonji in China. However, Buttura Temple is small in scale, built on Pankun Rock, low and humid, and will not last long. In the fifth year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty, that is, 130 1 year, the temple was built in this place today, and it was not completed until the sixth year of Yanyou, that is, 13 19, and it was used for 18 years.

The name of this temple is "Tong Yuan", which still inherits the meaning of Guanyin Dojo. Because "Tong Yuan" is one of the 32 legal names of Guanyin, which means "understanding" and "enlightenment". Yuantong Temple experienced many large-scale maintenance and reconstruction in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, forming today's scale. It is one of the national key Buddhist temples announced by the State Council. 1956, a grand ceremony was held here to welcome the Buddha's teeth. Different temples have different styles, and Yuantong Temple has three characteristics. The first feature is that Butuo Temple, the predecessor of Yuantong Temple, is the earliest Kannonji in China. What are the other two characteristics? I'll tell you when we get to Yuantong Temple. Now that Yuantong Temple is here, let's go in and have a look.

This is the gate of Yuantong Temple. If you look up, the plaque of Yuantong Temple was inscribed by Mr. Qi Gong, a famous contemporary calligrapher in China and a professor at Beijing Normal University. Mr. Qi Gong is a Manchu, and he is also a member of the Qing Dynasty. His last name is Aisingiorro.

In front is the "Tong Yuan Scenic Area" archway. This memorial archway was built by Wu Sangui in the seventh year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, that is, 1668. It turns out that the gate of Yuantong Temple is in this archway. When Wu Sangui ordered the memorial archway to be repaired, he moved the mountain gate to its present position. Look, the wood carving on the upper part of the archway is integrated with the stone carving on the lower part. Dragon rolling in the clouds, liger in the mountains and deep streams, or running or lying, lifelike.

In front is the king's temple. You see, Maitreya, with a big belly, is kind-hearted and smiling at us! There is a couplet in front of Maitreya Buddha in Tanzhe Temple in Beijing: "A big belly can accommodate things that are difficult in the world; Laugh when you open your mouth, and laugh at the ridiculous people in the world. " How can you be unhappy if you have such an open-minded attitude? This Heavenly King Hall is the first important hall of Yuantong Temple, which has the meaning of exorcising evil spirits and showing righteousness. There are four majestic kings in the temple, who hold different musical instruments and are in charge of weather, rain and meteorology. The man with the sword is in charge of the wind, the man with the harp is in charge of the melody, the man with the umbrella is in charge of the rain, and the man with the snake is in charge of the weather. Behind Maitreya is Wei Tuo with a diamond tussah in his hand. Are all dharma protectors in Buddhism. They concentrate on the audience's life of good and evil, and protect the three treasures of Buddhapālita monks. Because of their good security work, the pure land of Buddhism is peaceful and solemn.

Now, we see an elegant courtyard. There is a release pond in the yard. It is not only the lowest point but also the center of the whole temple. There is an octagonal pavilion in the pool. There is a three-hole white marble bridge connecting the two banks on the north and south sides of the pavilion, and there is a water tree cloister around the pool. In this way, the style of Jiangnan garden architecture was applied to solemn Buddhist temples, forming a unique Shui Yuan Buddhist temple, which is rare in the whole country. This is the second feature of Yuantong Temple. You see, this pair of "water music rhymes with ancient times" on the octagonal pavilion; The couplets with "picturesque scenery" perfectly sum up this feature.

Please follow me to the octagonal pavilion. This octagonal pavilion symbolizes the "eight right paths", that is, eight correct paths to heaven. This pavilion is dedicated to the 24-armed Guanyin, also known as the Thousand Hands View. "Thousand hands" refers to the infinite power of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Guanyin Bodhisattva is a majestic female bodhisattva. Guanyin used to be a man, why did she become a woman later? I'll tell you the answer when I get to Tong Yuan Treasure Hall.

Now we come to Tongyuan Temple, the essence of Yuantong Temple. Have you noticed? The main halls of Guangpu Buddhist Temple are all called "Daxiong Hall". Why is it called "Tongyuan Hall"? "Daxiong" is an honorific title for Buddha Sakyamuni, meaning boundless magic and fearlessness. The Buddha statue in the temple is dedicated to Sakyamuni, and Guanyin Bodhisattva is dedicated to Yuantong Temple, so the main hall is called "Tong Yuan Treasure Hall". But now what we see in the hall is the worship of Sakyamuni Buddha. Why? It turned out that during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the main statue of Guanyin in the hall was destroyed. When it was rebuilt in Guangxu, Siddhartha Gautama was shaped for some reason, so the name of the temple contradicted the Buddha statue.

As you can see, the three-body Buddha is enshrined in the main hall now, which means that Muny's three different bodies have been explained, namely Dharma Body, Body Report and Body Report. The application room is a dharma body, the one on the right is the applicant body, and the one on the left is the applicant body. Three-body Buddha also shows the course of ordinary people who are wise and diligent in practicing Buddhism, and inspires the majority of believers to concentrate on practicing. Ye Jia and Ananda stand on both sides of Damocles. Ye Jia is the great disciple of the Buddha, and Ananda is the second disciple.

The double pillars in front of the Three-body Buddha surround the green, yellow and two dragons shaped in the Ming Dynasty. The tap reached the Buddha as if listening to a sermon. Erlong plastic workers are exquisite and vivid. According to legend, it is the masterpiece of Nan, a master of clay sculpture in Sichuan. The back of the Three-body Buddha is dedicated to the "Three Saints of the West", and in the middle is the founder Amitabha, also known as the "Infinite Life Buddha" and "Enlightenment Buddha". On the right is big prince, who didn't win, and later became Guanyin Bodhisattva. She is merciful and helps all beings; On the left is the second emperor Nemo, who was later turned into a bodhisattva. He shines with wisdom and light, and they help Amitabha lead all beings to the paradise.

Having said that, I will tell you how Guanyin changed from a man to a woman. Guanyin was once a man's body. A long time ago, Guanyin was mostly a man's body, and Guanyin in Dunhuang murals even had a beard. Later, Guanyin was widely worshipped in China. Under the influence of Confucianism, many women want to have boys, but the eager women are ashamed to kneel in front of a male bodhisattva to tell their worries, so more and more Guanyin statues have become dignified female bodies. Look at the two walls of the hall. Twelve round sleepers sit on the lower floor. They are twelve bodhisattvas, who have been fully enlightened through diligent practice of Buddhism. There is another saying that, except Manjusri Bodhisattva riding on the two ends of a green lion (the three princes and three heavenly kings of Amitabha) and Samantabhadra riding on a white elephant (the four princes and four heavenly kings of Amitabha), the other ten statues are all Guanyin statues, which show the successful practice of Guanyin and more strongly confirm that Yuantong Temple was originally from Kannonji. The middle layer of the two walls is the twenty-four heavenly realms, and the upper layer is the Tianlong Babu, who are the gods who protect the Buddha country.

Now, let's go to the bronze Buddha hall. The bronze Buddha Hall was built in 1985, specially for welcoming the bronze statue of timely Muny presented by the Buddhist Association of the Kingdom of Thailand. This bronze Buddha statue is 3. 13 meters high and weighs 4.7 tons. Its slim figure shows the hardships of Buddha's cultivation. There are four colorful paintings painted on the two walls of the temple, which respectively reflect the whole process of the Buddha's becoming a monk, gaining enlightenment and dying. The word "Bronze Buddha Hall" on the plaque in front of the temple was inscribed by Mr. Zhao Puchu, a famous calligrapher and president of the Chinese Buddhist Association.

Under the cliff behind the bronze Buddha Hall, there are two caves, namely Tiger Seal and Valley. It is said that there are mosquitoes and dragons in the cave, which often causes floods. Juezhao, the founder of Panlong Temple in Jinning, built a mosquito-chanting platform and stopped the mosquito dragon. Sun Arm Weng, the author of Grand View Louchanglian, once lived here in a thatched shed, calling himself "the old man who cursed jiaozi" and made a living by divination. There is a path near the mosquito curse platform called Caizhi Path. The stone wall next to it is carved with the portrait of Taoist Zhang Sanfeng, which reflects the universality of the integration of Buddhism and Taoism in Yunnan temples.

Now, we go to the east of the temple to visit a Lamaism worship hall. The Buddha statue enshrined in this annex is modeled after the main statue enshrined in the main hall of Guihua Temple in Zhongdian, the largest Lama temple in Yunnan, with Sakyamuni Buddha in the middle and Zong Kaba, the founder of the largest sect of Lamaism, on the left. He advocated religious reform and established the leading position of Gelug Sect in Lamaism. On the right is Ma Ning, another sect of Lamaism, whose founder, Master Lian Peanut, played a certain role in the process of Lamaism defeating the local primitive religion.

After visiting these three Buddhist temples, the third feature of Yuantong Temple becomes clear, that is, Mahayana Buddhism (also called northern Buddhism, which means traveling by car), Hinayana Buddhism (also called Southern Buddhism) and Tibetan Buddhism (that is, Lamaism) are integrated as far as possible. Mahayana Buddhism, which emphasizes universal salvation, is widely spread in China. Hinayana Buddhism only pursues self-liberation, which is unique to Yunnan, China. Tibetan Buddhism spread in Tibet, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Yunnan and other places. You don't have to go to many places now. Go to Yuantong Temple to get a panoramic view of the temples of the three major Buddhist sects and get a preliminary understanding of the different religious styles of the three major sects. I'm afraid this is rare in China and even the world.