Walking time: 2021.3

Walking method: self-driving

Address: Nanjing Niushou Mountain Scenic Area

Tickets: 98 yuan

Walking routes in the park: East Gate--Foding Front Garden--Foding Temple--Ming Dynasty Cliff Stone Carvings--Niutou Zen Cultural Park--Foding Tower--Foding Palace--Wuyou Gate Square--Foding Front Garden--East Gate

Get down from the Buddha Top Tower and go straight to the mysterious Buddha Top Palace.

The main building of Foding Palace is resplendent in color, and is divided into two parts: a large dome and a small dome. The small dome and large structure are the sacred image of "lotus holding treasures." The overall shape is a Mani shape with a giant lotus throne holding up the top of the Buddha in a bun. The individual shape is the shape of hands folded together. The large dome is shaped like a Buddha's cassock caressing on the small dome.

The base of the small dome is shaped like a lotus throne. The entire lotus throne consists of the Flying Bodhi Gate and 56 Cloud Gate Ruyi pillars symbolizing good luck.

The outer circle of the main building is a water feature, and the mirror image of the water feature creates a lively and romantic effect. The addition of this water feature has made Foding Palace an Internet celebrity photography site.

Before arriving at Foding Palace, I was no longer anxious as I had at first. Instead, I was not in a hurry to enter it and see what was going on. I walked around the periphery of the main building leisurely. Foding Palace is a Buddhist holy place, and Buddhist culture is everywhere in the building. However, the Fuding Palace is still full of Western architectural characteristics.

The outer circle of Foding Palace is a long corridor. Walking in the European pillar-style corridor, you will feel full of Buddhist culture. On one side of the corridor is a continuous arched door opening, and on the other side is a mural embossed showing Buddhist themes. The top of the corridor is a dark copper ceiling, and the center of the ceiling is a white lotus lamp. The strong combination of Chinese and Western has a unique charm. Such a corridor is very suitable for taking photos. It gives the illusion of being in an old European building. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a photographer today, haha!

The Western-style marble arches, large pillars, and Chinese Dunhuang Flying Carvings are beautiful.

Looking at the Hongjue Temple Pagoda on the east peak from the entrance of the cave, a thousand-year-old ancient tower has lasted for hundreds of years, but it is still majestic and full of ancient charm.

Walking out of the arch, the same Hongjue Temple Tower has a different charm

The mountain on the side of the east peak

There are stairs circling the mountain and some newly dug grottoes.

Come to the back of Foding Palace

Come and feel under the "Buddha's robe"

After taking a good look at the appearance of Foding Palace, I entered its inner state. The main building of Foding Palace has 9 floors, three floors above ground and six floors underground. It consists of a Zen temple on the ground and an underground palace on the ground.

At the grand meditation scene, everything in front of me stunned me. Such a fantasy scene in the huge space makes me wonder where I am?

The tall space and exquisite dome are above, which is shocking. Looking up to the sky, the mysterious sky and sky seem to be close at hand, the stars seem to be within reach, and the unity of man and nature, the mysterious and magical Buddhist world.

The internal main body of the Zen Grand Temple is an open oval arched space, with yellow, white and gray as the keynote, laying out the main tone of the world's mountains and rivers. The Salua dome at the top has a pattern of Salua tree branches. The dome uses a fully covered transparent film and lighting to create a hazy and fresh lighting effect.

In the center of the Grand Temple, under the circular dome and above the lotus base is the core of the Zen Grand Temple-the reclining statue of Sakyamuni. The posture of the reclining Buddha is elegant and soft, and the texture of white marble expresses the Buddha's tranquil and peaceful nirvana realm.

The core of the Zen Realm Grand View is Zen culture, which consists of three parts: the Zen Realm Garden where the Buddha was born, the Zen Realm Garden where he became a Taoist and the Lotus Theater in the middle, which together represent the story of the Buddha's life.

Buddha statues, large and small, were in the holes in the surrounding walls.

On the north and south sides of the theater are two Zen gardens. On the south side is the Zen Garden, which symbolizes the birth of Buddha. The overall shape is like a lotus flower, and in the middle is a worry-free tree that lives forever.

On the north side is a Zen Garden that expresses the Buddha's enlightenment. In the middle is a Bodhi tree that never widens. On the ground, black and white sand and gravel are used to symbolize the chaos of the world and the purity of the Buddha's light.

Each piece of large mural sculpture, including wood carvings, stone carvings, bronze carvings, and lacquer paintings, is exquisite in three-dimensional and also describes Buddhist stories one by one.

I went to the underground palace with the visual impact of the Zen Grand Temple. The underground palace of Niushou Mountain is a name that is heard in my ears like thunder. Today, I realized that the underground palace is just an image of ordinary people. Because it is an underground space of Qianfoding, it is vividly called the underground palace. Only when I came here today did I realize that the underground palace has its "official name" Thousand Buddha Hall and Thousand Buddha Corridor. There is a special place for distributing shoe covers in the corridor. Only by wearing shoe covers can we enter a more mysterious space.

Take the elevator one floor down. In the space where the elevator goes down vertically, there are clouds on both sides of the escalator. Ride an elevator full of auspicious clouds and carvings slowly down, layer by layer, and the lights on both sides are like being in the starry sky.

Standing here and looking up, I feel as if I have turned into a meteor and streaking across the stars. In fact, as a small person, my short life is not like a meteor. It is already very brilliant to have a ray of light.

Go down to the fifth underground floor-the Buddha Hall floor in one breath. The sixth level of the Buddha Treasure Layer is used to worship the real relics of the Buddha. It is closed to the public on ordinary days.

I am amazed by the luxury and exquisiteness here.

Buddha's light shines everywhere.

Passing through Buddhism, one after another

The little girl's eyes were full of piety. When people come to such an artistic conception, they have a Zen sense of nature.

In addition to exquisiteness and luxury, every design here should have a Buddhist origin. Unfortunately, my talent and learning are shallow, and I can only be amazed by the exquisite appearance, exquisite craftsmanship, and overall luxury, rather than being able to understand it deeper.

The beautiful painting at the top is also meaningful, right?

After passing through the Buddha statues in the Thousand Buddha Hall, we arrived at the Thousand Buddha Hall. If the Zen Grand Temple has given me unimaginable surprises, I can use the word shock here. A little stunned and lost his composure, and suddenly entered the world, wandering between reality and illusion. I live in a mysterious and unique Buddhist world.

The entire space of the Thousand Buddha Hall, with red, yellow and dark gold as the main colors, is dome-shaped. The four Buddhist world paintings on the roof of the sky perfectly blend into the Buddhist background and the Buddha's light of thousands of paths. The overall plan of the main hall is elliptical, covering the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of the underground palace in space. The most eye-catching purpose in the center of the Thousand Buddha Hall is to dedicate the Buddha's crown bone relic Holy Tower. The tower is 21.8 meters high and its shape is based on the shape of the gilded Qibao Ashoka Pagoda of Dabaoen Temple. It is taken from the inverted Mount Meru central column in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, symbolizing the pure and solemn Huazang world. Four 1.2-meter-high jade carved Buddha statues are set around the Shili Pagoda. The pagoda, the golden Buddha dome, and the dense Buddha grotto. This place is simply a treasure trove! There are countless Buddha statues, large and small, with their hands folded, smiles, looks peaceful, or plump and solemn. There are Buddhas and Bodhisattva in every space in the entire hall. Whether you look up, look up, or look back inadvertently, you can see one of them.

The craftsmanship of the relic Pagoda is superb. The entire body of the tower is forged with a tin bronze cast body and the surface is gilded with gold. The interior decoration of the tower uses dozens of traditional crafts such as sculpture, chisel carving, silk enamel, crystal glaze, and gemstone inlay, combined with laser projection and other technical means to integrate Buddhist theory and art.

The Shili Pagoda consists of three parts: the pagoda, the pagoda body and the pagoda base. The core of the Da Tata Sha is the crystal Muni Pearl. Below the pearl is a golden-winged roc with a pearl on its head and a garret in its mouth. The tower is divided into two parts: the upper part is an inverted conical thirteen phase wheel; the lower part is a cloisonne covering bowl. The tower seat is also divided into two parts. The upper tower hall is in a square octagonal shape with Buddhist auspicious patterns carved on it; the four corners of the tower hall are dedicated to bronze statues of the four great kings. Below the tower seat is a circular lotus platform composed of 84 lotus petals.

The text explains the "Relics of the All Saints": According to ancient records, after Sakyamuni Buddha's nirvana 2500 years ago, he left behind different types of relics of the Buddha's true body such as Buddha's teeth, Buddha's fingers, and Buddha's crown bones. These relics of the Buddha are regarded by believers as sacred relics and compete for worship, among which the Buddha's crown bone relics are the most precious.

In the Thousand Buddha Hall, I no longer felt my heartbeat, but I was so amazed that I couldn't help myself. What word should I use to describe everything here? Exquisite craftsmanship, beautiful, solemn and mysterious, extremely luxurious, and the Buddha's light shines... No word or group of words can describe the emptiness and nothingness of the language here. Let me hold my breath!

Around the Thousand Buddha Hall, there are 8 lotus petal-shaped Buddhist shrines around the wall. Each Buddhist shrine houses a different shaped pagoda, called the "Eight Spirit Towers".

The space between the shrines is filled with various treasures

There is a circular corridor on the outer edge of the Thousand Buddha Hall-the Thousand Buddha Corridor. The Ten Thousand Buddha Corridor covers three underground floors in space. The entire passage of the Ten Thousand Buddha Corridor is divided into 12 spaces, separated by wood carvings and floor covers. Each floor is composed of several thousands of Buddhist niche walls and different forms of murals. The overall structure is according to the way the twelve zodiac animals are matched with the eight original Buddhas.

Each space imitates the scene of Dunhuang Thousand Buddha Cave, with dense small Buddha statues placed, giving rise to the name of the Ten Thousand Buddha Corridor. The original Buddhas of each zodiac sign are arranged on different walls. Between the left and right walls of the original Buddhas are lacquer paintings of Indian Buddhist stories and gem paintings of twenty days. The story of the mural is rich in content and moving in plot. Through superb artistic skills, it perfectly combines Buddhist culture and art, bringing us a visual feast and also bringing us enlightenment and awareness of life.

thousand hands Guanyin

Various moon beams can be seen everywhere in the wood carving decoration of the Ten Thousand Buddha Corridor. The mouths of the two dragon heads on the left and right of this dragon-shaped beam open and close one another. The dragon head is carved with patches of cloud patterns. The dragon seems to be riding on the clouds, giving people the mysterious feeling of seeing the dragon's head but not seeing the tail.

Looking up at the carved beams and painted buildings on the roof, it is exquisite. The statues inlaid on the walls are exquisite and beautiful.

The decoration of every part is exquisite.

Every detail is refined.

Some details are cumbersome

Some details are concise

Walking forward step by step, I feel that the beauty is more and more profound. Looking at it carefully, every place is extraordinary for the craftsmen.

Go up to the Buddhist ritual level

The Ten Thousand Buddha Corridor on the Buddhist Ceremony Level is still filled with various Buddhas and Bodhisattva. Forgive my ignorance. I can't tell them apart or name them. I can only appreciate them from their materials and demeanor. In such an artistic conception, it is awe-inspiring. In fact, in addition to the feelings brought to me by this artistic conception, I was also amazed by the large-scale momentum and the ubiquitous luxury.

There are also various materials for worshiping Bodhisattva, including Shiwan ceramics, wood carvings, Dehua white porcelain, colored porcelain, melted gold, melted silver, crystal, glaze, etc.

crystal clear

The "treasure of the town building" on this floor-the statue of the fourth photo Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva's body is hung with precious gems such as gold, silver, glass, red beads, and agate. It is vivid, bright and colorful, making it a national treasure.

What is even more surprising is that the observation deck on this floor is connected to the relics hall, so standing here, the overall structure can be clearer. In fact, the Thousand Buddha Hall runs through the third underground floor, and the Thousand Buddha Corridor is a layered circular corridor around the Thousand Buddha Hall. Therefore, you can view the Thousand Buddha Hall from this perspective on the fourth floor of the Buddha.

Buddha Level 3-Buddha Level

The Buddha Gata layer collects and displays many works of art for the world to observe, mainly including the eight Bodhisattva Bodhisattva, the four major Bodhisattva Bodhisattva, the four famous mountains, short stories of Zen theory in Buddhism, and verses.

There is a film and television hall on this floor

This space has rows of bookshelves where books can be flipped through and chairs for leisure and rest.

service Desk

I came to the film and television hall to watch a recurring video introducing the Thousand Buddha Palace on Niushou Mountain. In fact, I was just a layman watching the excitement. I was surprised by the exquisite luxury here and the building itself. Only after watching the film did I know the history of this place. All these ins and outs also knew the status of this place in Buddhist culture. If you come to Niushou Mountain, you must patiently watch this video here.

Combining various crafts with Buddhist culture

The "Niushou Mountain Art Works Original Exhibition" is being held here

The layout of the exhibition hall is also full of Zen

Words and sounds praising the beautiful scenery of the ox head

This is the "Buddhist Yin of Zen Yuan" that expresses the autumn scenery of the ox head

The ink painting "Buddha Light of Heaven" showing the spring scenery of the ox head

"New Appearance of the Ox Head" shows the summer scenery of the Ox Head.

Back to the Ten Thousand Buddha Corridor

Buddha Level 2-Buddha Level is now closed.

Returning to the ground, I feel like I have seen the sky and earth again. The mountains and trees in front of me are so real.

The shops next to each other in the corridor at the exit are all quite distinctive and have a variety of cultural and creative products.

Zen culture is everywhere

Looking up at this "cassock", it has a natural arc curve.

On one side of the Buddha Top Palace, there is a "Buddha Top Cliff" under the large dome. The cliff of Manjusri Holy Mountain.

The entire cliff is divided into two levels: upper and lower. The upper level is based on the shape of the northern grottoes, with thirteen grottoes carved from natural boulders. The lower level is mainly composed of various shallow and deep embossed and scripture stone carvings. The upper and lower levels are combined into a giant bergamot, which is extremely solemn.

The underground palace of Niushou Mountain is unique and should be unparalleled in the world! I couldn't bear to leave immediately, so I walked around it and looked back and forth again, just waiting to gather with my friends.

My friends 'feelings are the same as mine. They had known about the underground palace of Niushou Mountain long ago, but seeing it still brought us shock. The saying goes,"The ox heads in spring, and the sunset in autumn" is too one-sided. Niushou Mountain is not just spring, it has culture, skills, technology, art, Buddhism... I am even more amazed by why I thought of building an underground palace at such a depth as the sixth floor underground. A friend who was traveling with the company gave a detailed introduction. Niushou Mountain turned out to be an iron mine. Her father worked in Niushou Mountain during his lifetime. She was still young at the time and didn't have a deep impression. Her brother grew up in this area when he was a child. A mine pit more than 60 meters deep was formed by digging iron ore. Niushou Mountain Park used this abandoned iron ore to build this underground palace. He suddenly realized that everything has a cause and effect.

While discussing, several people left Foding Palace still unfinished, and went down the open-air escalator to Wuyoumen Square.

Above the Wuyou Gate is the Buddha Top Tower.

The murals in the Worriless Gate reproduce the scene of Prince Siddhartha being born under the Worriless Tree. The prince pointed to the sky with his right hand and his left finger to the ground.

Gate of Buddha Top Holy Land Area

Minibuses carry tourists down the mountain. Presumably, they are like us, leaving here with gains, satisfaction and the desire to come again.

Niushou Mountain's majestic Foding Palace, the towering Foding Pagoda, the quiet and secluded Hongjue Temple Pagoda, the relaxed Foding Temple, and the Niutou Zen Cultural Park, which exudes natural Zen interest, jointly present a variety of feelings. Niushou Mountain. Every road, palace, tower, leaf here, every place is a masterpiece of craftsmen! Niushou Mountain far exceeded my expectations. I left with excitement, amazement, and full of satisfaction. I want to say to everyone I know: This is worth a visit!