The gate of Zhenjue Temple (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

On November 24, 2020, the reporter walked into this temple to pay homage. He enjoyed the cultural monuments in the temple and deeply felt the architectural style of the Jingang Throne Tower in the Five Towers Temple and the unique charm of the stone carving art and culture exhibition in the temple.

Introduction to the Stone Carving Art Exhibition (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Walking into this ancient temple, you can one after another admire the east and west stele corridors, the ruins of the main hall, the tomb stone and temple tombstone carving area, the Jinshi Academy, the Jinshi Corridor, the King Kong Throne Tower and indoor and outdoor stone carvings.

Walking into the Five Pagoda Temple (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The above-mentioned cultural relics in the temple are mainly composed of two parts: open-air display and indoor display. The "open-air display" consists of stone carvings, merit stele, epitaph, calligraphy stele, temple stele, guild stele, etc.

Indoor exhibition hall (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The interior hall of the Stone Carving Museum displays "Zhenjue Temple Data Display","Man and Stone-A Brief History of Stone Carving Display","Beijing Area Stone Carving, Open-air Exhibition of Stone Carving", etc.

Outdoor stone carving exhibition (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Through these collections in Wuta Temple, the development history of stone carving culture from primitive society to the Ming and Qing Dynasties is displayed, and from one aspect, it reproduces the development process of human civilization.

Jinshi Corridor (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Tracing the history of the Five Pagoda Temple, it is recorded that the Five Pagoda Temple was built in the ninth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty (1473) and was named the "King Kong Throne Tower of Zhenjue Temple". According to historical records, in the early years of Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, Indian monk Bandida came to Beijing from the Western Regions and presented five golden Buddhas and the specifications of the Indian-style "Buddha Gaya Tower", or the Vajra throne.

Jinshi Academy (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The King Kong Throne Tower originated from an architectural form in ancient India, where five towers were built on a tower base. The Vajra throne represents the altar of the Vajra tribe of Tantra. The five pagodas represent the five Buddhas of the Vajra Realm. In the middle is the Tathagata Buddha, in the east is the Aji Buddha, in the south is the Baosheng Buddha, in the west is the Amitabha Buddha, and in the north is the Bukong Achievement Buddha.

A closer look at the King Kong Throne Tower (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

After the founding of the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong rebuilt the Five Pagoda Temple twice to celebrate his mother's birthday. After the first renovation in the 16th year of Qianlong, it was renamed "Dazhengjue Temple" to avoid the name of Emperor Yongzheng's "Yinzhen". Although there is the background of imperial construction and the glorious history of celebrating the longevity of the Empress Dowager, the mother of Qianlong, by the early 20th century, except for a blue and white stone pagoda-the King Kong throne and two accompanying ancient ginkgo trees, the rest of the buildings have almost disappeared.

Stone inscriptions of the tomb (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Coincidentally, there are only 6 remaining in the country known as the Five Pagoda Temple: 3 in Beijing, namely one each in the Five Pagoda Temple, one in Biyun Temple and one in Huang Temple; the other 3 are in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia; one in Guandu Ancient Town, Kunming, Yunnan; and the other in Guanghui Temple, Zhengding, Hebei.

The stone statue on the stone tower (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

However, there are not many buildings similar in shape to Beijing's Five Pagoda Temple, among which the Five Pagoda Temple in Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia is more similar. The reporter also visited the Five Pagoda Temple in the southeast of the old city of Hohhot City on April 19, 1994, during a gathering of customs in Inner Mongolia in the last century.

Photo taken at the Five Pagoda Temple in Inner Mongolia (Photo: Jiao Jian)

The Wuta Temple in Inner Mongolia was originally named the King Kong Tari Pagoda. Because there are five square Tari Pagoda on the tower base, it is named the Wuta Temple. The tower was built during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty and is about 16 meters high. The tower bodies are all made of glazed bricks. The lower level of the tower body is the Diamond Sutra engraved in three languages, and the upper level is thousands of small gilded Buddhas. The carving is exquisite, exquisite and beautiful. It is a brick tower. Today, the Five Pagoda Temple has become one of the landmark buildings for tourism in Inner Mongolia.

King Kong Throne Tower (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The King Kong Throne Tower in Beijing's Five Towers Temple is the most complete ancient building in the temple and the biggest attraction. The tower body is covered with exquisite carvings, and years of oxidation have made it ancient and yellowed. The Five Pagoda Temple does have five spires. The tower body can be entered and there are exquisite Buddha statues inside, which is cool and transparent.

View the tower from the side (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The King Kong Throne Tower consists of two parts: a throne and a stone tower. The inside of the King Kong Throne Tower is made of bricks and the outside is wrapped in white jade. The throne is a 7.7-meter high platform made of bricks and white jade. It is divided into 6 floors, which are closed in 0.5 meters from bottom to top layer. The appearance is solemn. The lowest floor is the mizao, and the upper floor is 5 floors; each floor is a row of Buddhist shrines, and each Buddhist niche is engraved with a sitting statue of a Buddha.

View the tower from the front (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

On the platform on the top of the throne, there are 5 square stone towers with dense eaves: the central tower has a 13-story height and is about 8 meters high, symbolizing the Buddha of Piluzha; the small towers at the four corners have 11 floors each, about 7 meters high. The Buddha symbolized by the 5 towers is called the Five Buddhas. Each tower is assembled from thousands of pre-chiseled stones.

Photo taken by visiting the Five Pagoda Temple (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

A ticket gate is opened in the center of the north and south of the throne. There are 44 stone steps in the tower that spiral upwards and lead to the upper platform of the throne. The stage is also covered with a round glass cover below. Buddha statues, Sanskrit and religious decorations are engraved on the base and body of the tower. The Central Pagoda is engraved with a pair of Buddha footprints, which means "Buddha traces all over the world." The proportions of the various parts of the King Kong Throne Tower in the Five Pagoda Temple are evenly proportioned, giving people a solid and unshakable impression.

Eight Diagrams Incense Burser Carving Cloud Crane (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The building materials used in the Jingang Throne Tower of the Five Pagoda Temple are bricks and bluestone. The interior is brick and the exterior is stone. The throne of the King Kong Tower is carved with exquisite Sanskrit, which is very rich in content. There are 1561 seated statues in the five directions, as well as figures such as Bodhisattva, Heavenly King, and Arhat, as well as mounts of Buddhas in the five directions, lions, peacocks, golden-winged birds, elephants, horses, etc. shapes.

Ancient trees are towering and resplendent (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

In addition, the two huge ginkgo trees outside the Jingang Pagoda in the Five Pagoda Temple are 600 years old. The ancient towers and the ancient trees complement each other. The breeze blows, and the golden scene on the ground complements the splendid architectural style in the temple. It shines under the sun, showing the majestic momentum of the royal temple. Calm down and daydreaming here makes people feel the breadth and depth of traditional Chinese ancient architectural art. (Photo and text: Feng Ganyong)