Beijing weather: sunny

With whom: Friends

Accommodation: Weiming Courtyard Hotel

Comments: Very good. The room is clean and the beautiful women at the front desk are also very enthusiastic. I have been in Beijing for 5 days and 4 nights. It is a good courtyard house for the elderly and children. Breakfast is abundant. Check it every day and milk before going to bed. Anyway, it's very good. Just a little suggestion. You should install a screen screen on the small window of the toilet. The room is a bit stuffy but there are mosquitoes when opening the window, so I hope the store can improve it and stay here next time I go to Beijing.

Zhihua Temple is located at No. 5 Lumicang Hutong, southwest of Chaoyangmen Subway on the Second Ring Road. It is the home temple of the eunuch Wang Zhen (the initiator of the Tumu Castle change, see Baidu Encyclopedia for details) during the Yingzong period of the Ming Dynasty. It is called the Imperial Grace Zhihua Temple. "Imperial gift" means the name of the temple granted by the emperor, and "intelligence" means the wisdom of Buddha to spread all living beings. The architectural remains of the Ming Dynasty that were rated as the first batch of national security units in the 1960s.

Treasures of Zhihua Temple:
1 Living fossils of ancient Beijing music
2 Ming-colored murals of the Reclining Buddha Temple
3 The Tibetan hall is caisson, the rotating wheel is hidden, and the ticket gate is decorated with wood carvings
4 In the Ten Thousand Buddha Pavilion, the colorful sculpture of Ananda and Kasyana leaves is made of powder, gold, and gold.

As a Ming Dynasty building, Zhihua Temple can be preserved completely in Beijing for hundreds of years. According to volunteer commentators, it was lucky enough to avoid several bad luck. The first time was a civil official in the Qing Dynasty who was angry because Zhihua Temple was the notorious eunuch Wang Zhen of the Ming Dynasty. He proposed to Emperor Qianlong to remove the inscription on Wang Zhen on the merit tablet. From then on, the incense of Zhihua Temple was also defeated and was not repaired. However, it also eliminated the possibility of Ming Dynasty buildings being cleaned after they were repaired in the Qing Dynasty, thus completely retaining the complete temple of the Ming Dynasty. The second time was because Zhihua Temple was used as a warehouse of the former cultural relics management department and was not destroyed during the period. Today, we have the honor to see the original appearance of Zhihua Temple in the Ming Dynasty, with brightly painted caisson wells and golden nanmu turned into scriptures. It was passed down. However, in the 1930s, two huge carved dragon caisines in Zhihua Temple were sold to the United States and have not been able to return home.

Tour order: Mountain Gate-Bell and Drum Tower-Stone Carvings-Main Hall Zhihua Hall-West Side Hall Tibetan Hall-Wanfo Pavilion-Guanyin Pavilion

In its heyday, Zhihua Temple had more than 20,000 square meters, but now it remains 10,000 square meters and has three courtyards. The gate gate is the imperial gift to Zhihua Temple in the inscription of Emperor Yingzong. The imperial gift means the name given by the royal family. The difference between the word imperial construction (i.e. royal construction) and the meaning is different. This means that such a large-scale temple was built by eunuch Wang Zhen with his own money.

Zhihua temple

Wang Zhen, an eunuch of the Si Li Supervisor (please refer to Baidu Encyclopedia), not only had a fortune but also power in the ruling and opposition, but also built his own temple on the edge of Beijing's Imperial City. The golden nanmu was transformed into scriptures. The main building of the Ten Thousand Buddha Pavilion was built with royal regulations on the roof of the palace with double eaves and three-crossed and six-sided window lattices. There were also plaques and inscriptions in Zhihua Temple that were inscribed by Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty and his son Xianzong, all of which marked his weight in the hearts of the emperor. Although the world believed that he was the chief culprit in the change of Tumu Castle. However, Yingzong and his son did not blame the change of Tumu Castle on Wang Zhen's bewitching as the world believed. Instead, they regarded Wang Zhen's death as loyalty to the imperial power and praised Wang Zhen highly.
The Bell and Drum Tower inside the gate is also a relic of the Ming Dynasty. In the bell tower here, you can hear the powerful and distant recording of ancient Ming Dynasty bells and look up at the hanging copper bells. The drums in the Drum Tower are displayed in the Zhihua Hall, retaining the colors and patterns of half a century ago.

One of the treasures of Zhihua Temple is Beijing music. The playing method and score of this music have been passed down from mouth to mouth. It has been 27 generations and has more than 500 years of living fossils of ancient music. It is a specimen for studying ancient court music and Buddhist music. There are two performances here every day. There are videos of musicians on Douyin, which can be listened to by interested friends. I don't know much about music. From the music played today, I feel that this ancient music is not the low, distant, and slow and repetitive Buddhist music that we imagined should be. It uses more sheng, pipes, and flutes to show high-pitched and cheerful tunes. The musical instruments of Beijing music are different from folk instrumental music and are unique to temples. For example, sheng and flute were passed down from the Song Dynasty, while the Jiuyin Yungong is a unique instrument specially designed for temples.

Zhihua Hall, where Beijing music is played, is the main hall of Zhihua Temple, which is equivalent to the Daxiong Hall of other temples. There are worshiped here for the third generation Buddha, namely, the ancient Buddha of Diandeng in the past, now Sakyamuni, and in the future Amitabha. Among them, Sakyamuni Buddha's left hand meditation seal and right hand devil suppression seal. These three ancient Buddhas are slightly smaller in size and are not the original Buddha statues of this hall. The Buddha statues of Zhihua Temple were placed in Dajue Temple in Xishan, where Qing Dynasty statues are sitting. It is a restored Buddha statue of the Great Compassion Hall behind the original Ten Thousand Buddha Pavilion. The roof of this temple is empty because the Panlong caisines here are huge and exquisite. They were sold by the temple to cultural relics smugglers in the 1930s and are now collected by museums in the United States.

There is also a Ming Dynasty drum in the hall. Originally stored in the Drum Tower, the surface of the drum is painted with twelve golden dragons, implying good weather for twelve months of the year.

There is also a painted mural on the back of the Buddha statue. This was cut and placed here in the original Reclining Buddha Temple in the North City. The original Reclining Buddha Temple has been demolished. This mural is a typical Ming Dynasty painting with pink and gold. The picture shows King Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and the Ten Kings of Hades. King Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's mount is a white divine dog. It is unbelievable to be called a dog. Because this is a divine dog, also called Diting. It is an auspicious beast with a tiger head, a single horn, a dog's ears, a dragon body, a lion's tail, and a unicorn's feet. It looks like a dragon but not a dragon, a tiger but not a tiger, a lion but not a lion, a unicorn is not a unicorn, and a dog is not a dog. For example, in the Analects of Confucius believed that Zi Lu's words were consistent and that "a piece of speech could break prison." The dragon's body is auspicious, the tiger's head indicates wisdom and courage, the dog's ears are good at listening, the lion's tail is patient, and the unicorn's feet are flat and stable and use goodness as a treasure. It is a symbol in people's imagination. It is also known in society as the "Nine Unlike"(excerpt). In addition to the Bodhisattva and his mount, there are also the threatening Bodhisattva Elder Min, his son and the ten great kings who look like ancient civil servants. The characters are dignified and elegant, the lines are elegant and smooth, and the colors are bright and gorgeous after hundreds of years. This mural fully demonstrates the integration of Buddhism as a deeply rooted belief in the people and traditional Chinese culture. The Taoist King of Hell and the Buddhist King Ksitigarbha appeared together, and the King Ksitigarbha was cultivated by the Silla people of the Tang Dynasty. Just like Wu Zetian, the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha, is this King Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva a domestically produced Bodhisattva?

The unpretentious western wing of Zhihua Temple is called the Tibetan Hall. The Tibetan temple is the treasure of Zhihua Temple. Beijing's only collection of Ming Dynasty scriptures. There are three places in Beijing to transfer scriptures, namely the Summer Palace, Yonghegong and Zhihua Temple. The other two are from the Qing Dynasty. Zhuanjing Zang is built of golden nanmu. This wood is characterized by its strength, durability and timeless. It is extremely rare. It is a royal wood.

Zhuanjing Zang is an octahedral prism, with nine rows and five columns of Buddhist scriptures drawers on each side. The surface of the drawer is carved with a lotus statue of a sitting Buddha. The drawers are arranged in the order of thousands of characters so that monks can search for scriptures. The top and octagonal prism of the Buddhist scriptures drawer are carved with six-sided wood carvings. On the top are the roc, the golden-winged bird and the dragon girl. On both sides are the Capricorn holding the treasure flower. On the prism, from top to bottom, are the boy, the god sheep, the lion and the elephant. The craftsmanship is complex and exquisite, and the image is beautiful.

At the top of Zhuanjing Zang is the Piluzhana Buddha (the Dharmakaya Buddha of the Three-Body Buddha) sitting on multiple lotus petals. The caisson in the Tibetan Temple is the only caisson preserved in Zhihua Temple. Layer upon layer of arch are advanced, with the center and the bottom of the circle. The feature is that painted symbols are used to symbolize the Dharma name of the Buddha. The symbol in the center corresponds to the Piluchana Buddha. I can't remember anything else. The knowledge of cultural relics in Zhihua Temple is particularly well popularized. There are detailed illustrations in the hall of specific contents.

caisson

In the exterior of the Ten Thousand Buddha Pavilion (i.e. Tathagata Hall), the roof of the hall with double eaves and the second floor use three-crossed and six-sided ribbed windows, which are all of the imperial palace specifications. The four pillars on the first floor are all slightly tilted inward. The spiral painting under the eaves is a design feature of the Ming Dynasty. Compared with the spiral painting in the Qing Dynasty, it is more diverse and lively and natural.

Sakyamuni Buddha in the Ten Thousand Buddha Pavilion and lotus flowers with multi-layered lotus petals are the characteristics of Buddha statues in the Ming Dynasty.

The statue of Ananda and Kasyapa was dressed in brightly colored Song style and elegant clothes, which was elegant and elegant.

Dragon-patterned sleeves with powder and gold

Gold silk cloud pattern with red background

This is also the Buddhist Sutra Building of Zhihua Temple. There are a total of 9999 Buddha statues decorated on the surface of the Buddhist Sutra drawer. Together with the one Buddha that symbolizes one Buddha in the heart of people, there are 10,000 Buddhas in total.
There are also Buddhist scriptures drawers and three Buddha statues on the second floor of the Ten Thousand Buddha Pavilion, which are not open to the public now.

In the courtyard of Zhihua Temple, the original pines and cypresses have been sold away, and the white pears, crabapple, and cloves from the common people's homes have blossomed here decades ago, and they are red and seductive in the early winter bloom season.

Thanks to the staff of Zhihua Temple for protecting and displaying the exquisite cultural relics here, the performances of the 27th generation of ancient music artists, and also thanks to the volunteer teachers for their wonderful explanations, allowing culture to spread and history to be passed on. In order not to forget the knowledge learned during this tour, I recorded it with travel notes to enhance my memory and relayed the wonderful explanations of the volunteer guides. The description is far less than that of Zhihua Temple. If you have the opportunity, you still have to listen, see, and feel the wonderful charm of Zhihua Temple.