Religious history and culture of Tiantai Mountain in Chengdu

Tiantai Mountain, called Mengshan in ancient times, is the first of the five mountains in Mengshan, named Dongmeng, and has been called Tiantai since the Han Dynasty. Folk cloud: Tiantai Tiantai, the platform to ascend to heaven. Tiantai Mountain not only has beautiful scenery and peculiar natural landscape, but also is a religious resort with unique cultural landscape in history. The ancient legend and the ruins of the confluence of the three religions are confusing, adding a layer of magical and strange color to this famous mountain, which makes people recall the Millennium and pursue the cultural traces of the distant yesterday.

The name of Tiantai Mountain is related to a myth and legend. In ancient times, Lin Qiong was the settlement of Qiong people, the ancestors of ancient Qiang and Shu. According to legend, Dayu, also known as a tribal leader, was ordered by Shun to control water. Dayu traveled all over the world to control water. In the Qiong people's settlement in Shu, he climbed a mountain and took the mountain as a platform to worship heaven and earth. This mountain is Tiantai Mountain. With the help of the gods, Dayu succeeded in harnessing water after thirteen years. In the ancient Shu period, it is said that King Yufu also climbed Mount Tiantai to worship the gods of mountains and rivers.

In the Han dynasty, only Confucianism was respected, and Confucian scholars set up an altar to give lectures. Juan, a man, was a master of Confucian classics in the period of Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty. He lives in Lin Qiong Baiheshan Academy and teaches Confucian classics. Juan often lives in Tiantai Mountain, and the buried hill is easy to learn. Sima Xiangru, a lyricist, once listened to Juan's lecture at Baiheshan Academy when he was young. I also boarded Tiantai Mountain with Juan and read Yi with my teacher. According to legend, Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun, a talented woman from Lin Qiong, swam to the rooftop hand in hand, embraced and enjoyed each other, leaving a beautiful talk at Qintai Stone.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Yan Junping, a native of Lin Qiong, was good at learning from Huang Lao. He also climbed to the roof, climbed to the top to look at the stars and predicted the future of heaven and earth. He wrote Lao Zi Gui Zhi, which expounded Lao Zi's remarks and became one of the ideological sources of Taoism and Taoism.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling entered Shu and founded Wudou Mi Dao with Lao Zi as the leader. Taoism once dug pits and built altars in Tiantai Mountain to preach.

In the Tang Dynasty, the emperor respected Laozi, and Qiongzhou County ordered Yuan Tiangang to set up temples to worship, so Tiantai Mountain Taoism flourished.

During the Five Dynasties, there was a war in the Central Plains, and many monks and Taoists avoided the chaos in Shu. Before and after this, Shu Lord also advocated religion. Tiantai Mountain has built a Town God Temple, which is a large-scale Taoist temple with strong incense.

Tiantai Mountain began to build Buddhist temples, about the Western Jin Dynasty. Buddha Tucheng, a monk from the Western Regions, came to China to preach the Dharma and set up temples wherever he went. He tried to visit Tiantai Mountain, was attracted by the Vatican on the mountain, and even stopped.

Huizhi, a monk of the Pure Land Sect, also traveled to Tiantai Mountain and stationed in the Chinese Buddhist Temple in Xishan, always taking pictures of Zen in western Sichuan.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Buddhism in China entered a golden age, and Buddhism in Tiantai Mountain flourished, with many temples and pilgrims. The legend of Tang Priest's seclusion has far-reaching influence in Zen forest in western Sichuan.

In the Song Dynasty, Tiantai Mountain became more and more famous, and literati traveled around and left many stories.

Wentong is famous for his erudition and versatility. Su Shi said that he has four unique skills: poetry, painting and calligraphy. During the reign of Emperor Yingzong in the Northern Song Dynasty, he served as a judge in Hanzhou and was in charge of Qiongzhou. He once went to Tiantai Mountain to live in Sanxiu Building. There is a poem that says: people scatter impermanent things and travel in the mountains every day. Love mountains and rivers, high rhyme. Today, Wentong inkstone on the mountain is said to be the place where Wentong painted bamboo.

Lu You, a great poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, went to Qiongzhou to stay in Tiantai Mountain, adding new glory to this religious resort.

During the Song Dynasty, Tiantai Mountain reached its peak and became a religious resort in western Sichuan, especially Buddhism. It is said that there are 130 Buddhist temples and 10000 monks and nuns here. From the mountain gate to the peak, it winds for fifty miles, and pilgrims all the way, with unprecedented pomp.

In addition to visiting Buddhist temples and monasteries in the mountains, Lu You also did practical things and good deeds for monks. Lu you learned that Buddhism and Taoism were on the same mountain, and because of different popes, they slandered each other; Monks and Taoists live on the same mountain, and it is inevitable that there will be conflicts of interest, so incidents occur frequently. Lu You wrote a letter saying that he was appointed by the envoy of Sichuan Province to take charge of the Taoist temple and take photos of the rooftop and religious deacons in western Sichuan. Lu You then set up an official residence to personally hear the lawsuit, so the incident gradually subsided and the mountain forest returned to calm. The establishment of housing management is similar to the inquisition, which is commonly known as the monk's yamen. In order to solve the food and clothing problems of monks and pilgrims in Tiantai Mountain, Lu You also presided over the construction of a Tianjie, commonly known as Monk Street. Monk Street takes the street as the city, exchanging needed goods, trading fairly, and the market is prosperous, which is convenient for monks and people. Now monk street has long been lost in the years, leaving slate and stone foundation for future generations to mourn.

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Tiantai Mountain gradually weakened due to war. In the Yuan Dynasty, temples were destroyed, monks and Taoists scattered, and there was no such thing as the past.

During the Hongxi period of the Ming Dynasty, monk Chen Fu reopened Tiantai Mountain to revitalize Buddhism and Tiantai.

The mountain appeared brilliantly again. During the Wanli period, Tiantai Mountain was widely built, temples were expanded and rebuilt, especially Leiyin Temple. Today, Lei Yin Temple and other halls have long since disappeared, leaving only cylindrical halls, steps, reflecting walls and stone divisions. The stone division is vivid in shape and still sticks to his duties in this religious resort. Six times in Jiayin, Wanli and Tianquan, a memorial archway was built in the mountain, with the first Zen forest carved in front of the horizontal forehead and the snow nest scenic spot carved later. It is said that the "First Zen Forest" was inscribed by Emperor Zongshen, and the archway exists especially today.

During the Chongzhen period, there was great chaos in the world. In order to protect themselves, Tiantai monks organized 3,000 monk soldiers, with strict orders and spread everywhere. However, even if there are three thousand monks and soldiers, they will not escape. In the third year of garrison, Zhang failed to close the door and raided Tiantai Mountain from behind the mountain. Monks and soldiers rushed back to rescue him. It was a bloody battle. At the end of the battle, the monk soldiers were defeated by Zhang Bu. Tiantai Mountain suffered an unprecedented catastrophe, temples and palaces were burned, monks and Taoists were killed, and the deceased fled for a while. Alas, a religious resort famous for thousands of years disappeared in an instant.

In the Qing Dynasty, Tiantai Mountain Buddhism was once revived. Although the temple has been rebuilt, its scale is far from what it used to be. According to the full map of the Buddhist temple in Tiantai Mountain of Zhu Xi, most of the Buddhist temples are below the main roof. Where there are mountains and dense forests, there is no more incense.

For more than 2,000 years, Tiantai Mountain, a famous religious mountain in western Sichuan, has gathered three religions in one mountain, spreading academic classics and religious culture. However, the dynasties rose and fell several times and finally fell silent. This is a historical dislocation and a historical necessity. Today's tourists, leaving traces of victory, overlooking the fragments of history, can leisurely feel the world and experience vicissitudes; Increase tourism for the journey, and get civilized information in tourism.