You are the april day of the world

Chapter 26 Miscellaneous Notes on Pingjiao Architecture (1)
Architecture is the language of the world. When you set foot on a strange land, perhaps the first thing you talk to is the architecture on this land.It will tell you the history of this nation and the spirit of beauty unique to this country in a unique style of a nation. It is more real than the image written in history books, and has more cultural connotations. into your soul.

There are a lot of architectural relics in the four suburbs of Beiping in the past 300 years. Occasional outings, you can see interesting ancient buildings.Among them, although there are ancient relics from the Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, most of them are the relics of the Ming and Qing Dynasties; some are prominent "scenic spots", some are depressed "traces"; The tribute of poets, or the appreciation of painters.

In the eyes of architectural aesthetics, these beauties can arouse special feelings, and besides "poetic" and "painting", they also make him feel a kind of "architectural" pleasure.This may be an arrogant statement-but what is "architectural meaning"?
We can find a more reasonable definition or explanation.

Whether the stubborn stone will nod, we dare not argue, the question is afraid that physicists will be involved, but after the hands of master craftsmen and years of research, some stones do contain vitality.Natural materials have been constructed by human intelligence, and then baptized by time, and become the sum of art, history and geography, so that it can not but arouse a special spiritual integration and spiritual feeling of the appreciator. This may be considered reasonable. .

No matter which majestic ancient city tower or a crumbling corner of the temple foundation, the soul is telling, even singing, the unbelievable changes in time; from gentle stories of children to bloody killings.The "meaning" they give is indeed "poetry"

with "drawing".But the architect must solemnly declare that there is still a "meaning" beyond the "poetry" and "painting".Eyes are in contact with a structure produced by people's intelligence and life. In the light and shadow, the harmonious outline is covered with layers of vivid colors given by the wind and dew; His building has collapsed" with the emotion of mourning the rise and fall; accidentally found one piece, only one piece, extremely delicate carvings, the handwriting of an unknown craftsman, may I ask the sharp feeling at that time, even if we don't call him "architectural meaning", we also We have to temporarily create an equally arrogant term for him, don't we?

Architectural aesthetics cannot be snobby.A famous name, especially one praised by Qianlong's imperial pen and stele, is not necessarily a treasure; an unknown hero who is lost in the wild grass with few people is not necessarily an unknown hero.Judging a person by its appearance may not work, but "judging a building by its appearance" is a good attitude.There are quite a few ancient buildings in the suburbs of Beiping that can be judged by their appearance.After photographing and cataloging, or researching its origin, or guessing its past from the legend of the village elders-it can become a career for an architect to fight against injustices for ancient relics, and a more interesting summer vacation pastime.And his reward is the harvest of infinite architectural ideas.

Plane of the Temple of the Reclining Buddha
Speaking of being oppressed by imperialism, there is nothing more wronged than the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.Monk Zhikuan, the abbot of the Reclining Buddha Temple, chatted with us by chance the year before last, and told me in a tone of "sighing and hating Yu Huanling" how his former teacher, the old monk, signed a contract with the Youth Association for one hundred yuan per year For the rent, most of the temple was leased for 20 years, just like the treaty of Jiaozhou Bay and Liaodong Peninsula.

In fact, it was all because the Buddha had been sleeping for hundreds of years and never woke up. At this critical moment, he still didn't wake up to give the old monk a good blow, so that he would wake up early and organize a Buddhist Youth Association Xishan summer group.Although it may not be able to influence modern youths with Buddhism, it can at least prosper Shou'an Mountain... Yes, that mountain is called Shou'an Mountain... How can we wait until this year's small subsidy from Wutai Mountain to repair the dilapidated temples!
We don't have to blame the old monk, and we don't have to blame the YMCA...in fact, we should also thank the YMCA.If there were no YMCA, how many people today would know where to go in a mountain nest like the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.Most of the people who went to school in the north—especially Beiping—had been to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.When summer comes, students from all over the world, male and female, would not like to spend the summer, climbing mountains, swimming, riding donkeys, how leisurely you are.It is said that the annual summer festival always fulfills the wishes of many lovers. Unexpectedly, Sakyamuni, who is sleeping, can also perform the duties of the old man under the moon in his dream. It is really boundless Buddhism.

On the road from Yuquan Mountain to Xiangshan, near Beixin Village, there is a fork that suddenly turns north and uphill, which is the avenue that leads you to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.The temple faces south, and a mountain barrier surrounds the north side of the temple, so a part behind the temple gradually rises up to the foot of the mountain.

At the front, facing the visitors, is the first archway of the temple, which is still in front of a cypress-lined road.What the archway looked like at the beginning, we can probably imagine that although the predecessors did not necessarily do better than us, they probably were much more generous than us about this archway anyway.The existing one is very polite to say that it is not pleasing to the eye. I don’t know which monk turned it into a sour fate. On the broken foundation, four small pillars were erected, and a few boards were nailed horizontally on it, so it is called it. Make archway.Is this a direct manifestation of economic decline, or an indirect manifestation of the weakening power of religion?I can't answer right now.

Go up along the two rows of ancient cypresses, and suddenly reach the top, only to see another bright glazed archway in front of you.White marble Xumizuo, three white marble round door openings, yellow and green glazed pillars, banners, buckets, and eaves tiles.If you believe an architect's soliloquy, "That's the Qianjiajian way".As for "Old News under the Sun"

It is recorded that the Tathagata Pagoda, which is the gate in front of the temple, has disappeared.

Inside the glazed archway, there is a white stone bridge, passing over a small half-moon-shaped pond.On the north side of the pool and beside the bridge, there are exquisite stone railings. Now only half of the north side remains, and the south side has been replaced with cement plastered brick railings.This pond is said to be a "release pond", and the fish in it are all "released".The pool in front of the Buddhist temple is originally a part of the Buddhist temple, so we don't need to make a fuss about it.But there is a bridge on the pond, although it can be seen everywhere now, but its origin is not necessarily very ancient.On many temple ponds, those without bridges account for the majority.As for the half-moon shape of the pool, it is also a relatively recent approach. Most of the ancient pools were square.Most of the ponds are used for releasing animals and raising fish.But Mr. Liu Shineng told us that there is a Luzong temple near Nanjing, which uses the mountain stream as the Crescent Moon Pool. The monks kneel by the pool to eat every fast, no matter the wind or snow, and wash their dishes in the pool after eating.Fortunately, the monks in the Temple of the Reclining Buddha are not as ascetic as Luzong, otherwise the release pool would not only be unable to release animals, but it might even become a dirty puddle.

Opposite the bridge is the mountain gate.Outside the mountain gate, on the left and right sides, are the Bell and Drum Towers, which used to be very dilapidated, but they were suddenly greatly repaired this year.Even the copper bells lost under the corner beams were welded with No. 21 white lead iron, and the oil was painted in red and green colors, as bright as the domestic toys in Dong'an Market.

The mountain gate is usually closed, and people who walk in and out of the mountain gate come in and out through the doorway next to the mountain gate.After entering the entrance, there is a Heavenly King Hall facing you, in which there are four heavenly kings—that is, the Four King Kongs—two standing opposite each other in the east and west. Wei Tuo.

Going further in is the main hall, and in front of it is the platform, on which (during the autumn harvest) is covered with old golden corn, which seems to be specially designed to color the old hall.There are five main halls for three Lama-style Buddha statues.It is said that there was also a reclining Buddha in the main hall, and Yongzheng also saw it. It is a Zhantan Buddha statue, something from the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty.However, during the reign of Qianlong, the Buddha probably woke up, and he didn't know where he went.Only the one in the apse was left, who has been sleeping until now and has not woken up.

From the front archway to the back hall, it is built on a central line.This is not uncommon in the plane of the temple, but what is unusual is that from the left and right of the mountain gate, there are verandahs facing east and west, and then turning north. Fold things again and return to the left and right sides of the apse.There are nineteen corridors in the east and west (including the mountain gate or the apse), and forty corridors in the north and south (including the abbot's supporting hall), forming a large rectangle.Although there are the Heavenly King Hall and the main hall standing in the middle, they are not like ordinary temple halls. It is rare to divide the whole temple into several entrances in the "sihetou" style.

On this point, Mr. Liu Shineng said in the survey of Zhihua Temple in the last issue of this magazine: "Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, there have been known as the Seven Halls of Jialan. However, each sect has slight similarities and differences, and in the same sect, due to the regional environment, mutual enhancement Save..." Now in the middle courtyard of the Reclining Buddha Temple, except for the final apse, there are seven halls in the front. Although I dare not say that this is an example of seven halls, we can use this to get a glimpse of the system.

This kind of layout was very common in the Tang and Song dynasties, as was the case for the Kalan paintings on the walls of Dunhuang, and there are also examples from the Asuka Heian period in various parts of Japan.In the area of ​​Beiping (I haven't studied it in detail elsewhere), there is only one Tang-style plane left.Therefore, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, which everyone is familiar with, passes through the veranda of the Temple of the Reclining Buddha where many people have "lyed" on canvas beds. There is a new reason, which is worth paying more attention to in the future.

(End of this chapter)