Cixiang Temple

The Cixiang Temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty. The name of the temple is because the temple originally enshrined the Cixiang sect founded by Xuanzang, the master of Tang Sanzang. A corner of Pingyao, Shanxi has been preserved, which is extremely rare. The temple is now composed of the mountain gate, Lelou (only the high platform remains), the bell and drum tower, the main hall, the east and west corridor kilns, and the pagoda of the unknown master.

 

The Lingta of the Unknown Master, also known as Lutai Pagoda, was built in the Song Dynasty. It is 48.2 meters high and has an octagonal nine-story pavilion style. The appearance of the pagoda is simple and majestic. On the inner wall of the second floor of the pagoda, there are remnants of early murals of Thousand Buddhas, which were made in the Jin Dynasty and are exquisite. In front of the Lutai Pagoda, there is a 6-meter-high Song Qingli Stele, built in the sixth year of Song Qingli (1046), engraved with "The Preface to the Inscriptions and Prefaces of the Lutai Shengju Temple in Xihe County of the Great Song Dynasty", with elegant and dignified calligraphy, a famous Shanxi master in the early Qing Dynasty When Mr. Fu Shan came to Yousi Temple, he had a lot of praise for the calligraphy on the stele.

 

There are more than 100 square meters of sitting statues and murals of the "Three-body Buddha" in the main building of the main building, all of which are works of the Jin Dynasty, and they are the works of masters; in front of the main hall of the temple, there is an original stone carving of the layout of the Cixiang Temple in the Jin Dynasty, which has been collected by the County Cultural Relics Bureau. . Under the front eaves of the middle hall, there is a "monk pagoda stele" in the first year of Jin Taihe (1201). It is the only one in China that records the dharma titles, honorary titles, and teacher-student relationship of nine generations of monks, and has extremely high research value.

 

Except for the main hall and brick pagoda, which are relics of the Jin Dynasty, the rest are rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. The Lutai Pagoda, the murals of the main hall, and the two monuments of the Song and Jin Dynasties are all rare and priceless treasures in China. Therefore, although the Cixiang Temple is not large, it is still listed The catalog of the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.