Chengdu Streets and Alleys Series (41)--"Urban Zen Forest" in Wenshuyuan Street (1)_Chengdu's Old Streets and Alleys

Urban Zen Forest Wenshu Monastery

Chengdu Street Alley Series (41) - "Urban Zen Forest" in Wenshu Monastery Street (1)

Mentioned in the previous article The street named after the temple left a good story.

I can’t help but think of a street in the city center called Wenshuyuan Street in the north of the city. When mentioning this street, it’s natural to talk about Wenshuyuan. It is a famous urban Zen forest.

Wenshu Monastery, located in the northwest corner of Chengdu, is a famous Buddhist temple in western Sichuan. Its predecessor was the Miaoyuan Pagoda Courtyard in the Tang Dynasty. It was renamed "Xinxiang Temple" in the Song Dynasty and was later destroyed by soldiers. Legend has it that in the Qing Dynasty, someone saw a red light appearing in the temple at night, which illuminated the entire north of the city. People thought there was a fire. Officers and soldiers went to put out the fire, but they found that there were no sparks at all. Only Zen Master Cidu, who came from Mount Emei to Chengdu to rebuild the temple, was sitting quietly in the hut with a calm expression, and above the hut was The sky is filled with red light. Later, the incident became more and more popular, and some people even said that they saw a red light from a distance, and a statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva was reflected in the thatched cottage of Zen Master Cidu!

In the thirty-sixth year of Kangxi (AD 1697), Sichuan governor Jituer, Chengdu prefect Zhang Wencan and others mobilized officials, gentry, soldiers and civilians to donate money to build the temple. After the temple was completed, Zen Master Cidu was appointed as the abbot. Jituer also reported to the court the strange event of Cidu Nai Manjushri appearing as a saint. In the 40th year of Kangxi's reign (1702), Emperor Kangxi personally wrote a plaque with the word "Kong Lin" and the royal books "Diamond Sutra", "Medicine Master Sutra" and "Hai Yue" poem scroll, and gave them to Wenshu Monastery. Today, Emperor Kangxi wrote the word "Kong Lin" in his imperial pen and gave him the imperial seal "Emperor Kong Lin". Emperor Kangxi's calligraphy is still preserved in the courtyard.

Wenshu Monastery faces south and has a construction area of ??11,600 square meters. Wenshu Monastery is a five-level Buddhist temple, including the Heavenly King's Hall, the Three Great Scholars' Hall, the Mahavira Hall, the Dharma Hall, and the Sutra Collection Building. It is solemn, simple and spacious, and is a typical Qing Dynasty building. On both sides are Zen, contemplation, guest, fasting, precepts, chanting halls and ministry rooms, forming a closed courtyard. There are two three-eaves bell and drum towers facing each other. A large copper bell weighing more than 4,500 kilograms hangs in the bell tower. The statue of Guanyin is cast in bronze and can be called a fine sculpture. The statue of Wei Tuo, the protector of the Dharma, was cast in bronze sand by Ben Yuan, the seventh-generation abbot in the ninth year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1829). The craftsmanship is exquisite and the childlike appearance embodies "the appearance of a boy and the majesty of a general." There is also a Burmese Jade Buddha listed as one of the "Eight Temples in Konglin".

It was brought back to Burma by the monk Xinglin in the 11th year of the Republic of China (1922), who went through all kinds of hardships and walked to Burma for alms. In addition, there are more than 300 Buddha statues of different sizes in the courtyard. Whether they are stone carvings, copper and iron castings, or wood carvings and clay sculptures, they all have high cultural and artistic value.

Wenshu Monastery also collects many precious cultural relics and tens of thousands of Buddhist scriptures and documents, such as the "Tongue Blood Sutra" written by pricking the tongue to take blood from the monk Xianzong and other three people; Thousand Buddha cassocks; the Water Moon Guanyin embroidered by the eldest daughter of Qingyang Yuchun with her own hair. The parietal bones of Tang monk Xuanzang stored in the hospital are particularly precious. In 1942, three parietal bones of Tang monks were discovered in Nanjing. One is kept in Nanjing and one is sent to Xi'an because Chengdu is the ordination place of Tang monks. The other is given to Chengdu Manjusri. hospital.

Among the major urban Buddhist jungles in Chengdu, Wenshu Monastery is currently the most popular and visited ancient temple. In history, as one of the most famous Zen forests in the southwest, it has always enjoyed a lofty status. In the past, there was a saying in Chinese Zen Buddhism that "there is the precious light of Manjushri above, and there is the golden mountain and high min below." This shows that Chengdu Wenshu Monastery occupies one of the four most famous Zen forests in China.

Wenshu Monastery is located in the downtown area of ??Chengdu and has all the characteristics of an "urban Zen forest". It is the seat of the Sichuan Buddhist Association and the Chengdu Buddhist Association. It is also a famous place for the printing and circulation of Buddhist scriptures. Because Manjushri Bodhisattva is a symbol of wisdom in Buddhism, a person who is willing to worship Buddha can get the most comprehensive Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist-related texts and audio-visual materials here. The ultimate goal of Buddhist practice is the liberation of wisdom. Therefore, Wenshu Monastery, which is famous for its wisdom, has a lofty status in the minds of good men and women.

The next article talks about my early impressions of Wenshu Monastery.

Post some pictures of Wenshu Monastery

The outer wall of Wenshu Monastery

Buddhist Hall

Buddhist Hall

Sutra Tower (2)

Drum Tower

Guest Hall Corridor

Monks and Monks

Bronze auspicious beast

Stone carving (1)

Stone carving (2)

Thousand Buddha Pagoda

Stele Gallery Inscriptions on the stele (1)

Inscriptions on the stele corridor (2)

Inscriptions on the stele corridor (3)

Small scene of the temple