Zhongyue Temple is located at the foot of Taishi Mountain in the south of Songshan Mountain, 4 kilometers east of Dengfeng County. It is bordered by Huanggaifeng in the north, Pan Yu in the west and Chaoling in the east, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with exquisite layout, grand scale, magnificent red walls and yellow tiles, with a total area of 1 100000 square meters. It is the highest temple in Zhongzhou and the largest and best-preserved ancient architectural complex among the Five Mountains. Such a magnificent, elegant and solemn temple is rare in the whole country.
They seem to be a group of historical old people, standing quietly, telling visitors about the splendid ancient civilization of China. After more than 2,000 years of vicissitudes, generations of Zhongyue Temple have worked tirelessly to build it and it has been well preserved so far.
Zhongyue Temple, formerly known as Taishi Hall, was built in the Qin Dynasty (22 1-207 BC) and is a place to worship Taishi Mountain God. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in history made great contributions to the construction of a unified multi-ethnic country. However, due to the limitations of the times, he was keen on the theory of fairy alchemists in his later years and longed to be a fairy like the legendary Xuanyuan Emperor. In the first year of Yuanfeng in the Western Han Dynasty (BC 1 10), when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty visited Songshan Mountain to offer sacrifices, a miracle happened: the officials who followed him heard a voice shouting "Long live" on the mountain. In fact, this is a scam set by alchemists to win the favor of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty and vote for him. However, in his later years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who was overjoyed and longed for longevity, was very happy, so he ordered temple officials to build more ancestral halls, banned the felling of trees on the mountain, and sealed the ancestral halls as sacrifices with what was harvested on the mountain, further consolidating the status of Zhongyue Temple. At the same time, Taishi Mountain, also called "Songshan Mountain" for short, is officially tied with the original four famous mountains in China and called "Zhongyue".
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, after three relocations, the temple site was named Zhongyue Temple, which was managed by Taoism from then on. Zhongyue Temple was further developed in the Tang Dynasty. In the first year of Long Live Tian Tong (AD 696), Wu Zetian boarded Songshan Mountain to seal Zhongyue and named Zhongyue God, and changed Songyang County to Dengfeng County. Wu's "soft spot" for Zhongyue Temple has made it famous in all directions. During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, imitated the story of Emperor Wudi's ancestral hall, and carried out large-scale decoration and expansion of the temple, which was the heyday of Zhongyue Temple and laid a solid foundation for it.
Song Taizu's golden makeup idol and the crown and dress of Luna have been passed down to this day. Later, he painted murals and planted pines and cypresses everywhere, constantly adding luster to them. At the end of Yuan Dynasty, due to the war, the temple collapsed seriously. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Zhongyue Temple was renovated many times, especially during the Qianlong period. According to the construction method of Beijing Qing Palace Museum, Zhongyue Temple was completely renovated on a large scale. We also set up an appropriate Taoist Committee to take charge of Taoist affairs in the county. Since then, the Zhongyue Temple has been reflected by the sun, and the layout of Jiege Li Anyun and Liang Huadong is similar to that of the Forbidden City. In the fifteenth year of Qianlong (A.D. 1750), on the first day of October, Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty (that is, Qianlong) went to the Zhongyue Temple to offer sacrifices. That night, I wrote two poems about Chen Yue Temple, one of which was: "Awesome and upright, magnificent and rejuvenated in Beijing. Come and look forward to the weather, and the fruit will celebrate your life. As I have wished for many years, Chen Zi prayed for her old age. Suddenly I heard the rhyme of the crane, and I suspected that a fairy would come to pick me up. "
Zhongyue Temple was "favored" by emperors of past dynasties, which can be seen. The main buildings in the temple, from south to north, from low to high, are Zhonghua Gate, Yaocan Pavilion and Tianzhong Pavilion. There are Tianzuo Town Square, Chongsheng Gate, Huamanmen, Jijun Gate, Ji Jun Square, Main Hall, Bedroom Hall and Imperial Book Hall, weighing * * *1. In the northernmost part, Huanggaiguan is the terminal. Standing in the pavilion, you can overlook the panoramic view of Zhongyue Temple and verdant mountains. On both sides of the central axis are Taiwei Palace, Vulcan Palace, Zushi Palace, Shenzhou Palace and Xiao Lou Palace. There are more than 400 temples, pavilions and corridors, which are magnificent. There are many ancient cypresses, steles and precious cultural relics in the temple.
Zhongyue Temple is not only a place for worshipping Yue gods, but also an important Taoist temple. Although Taoism rose in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it originated from witchcraft in ancient China, and later inherited the tradition of immortal alchemists since the Qin and Han Dynasties, with a long history. Zhongyue Temple is the earliest Taoist base in Songshan area, which was originally set up to worship Zhongyue God. Taoism respects Zhongyue Temple as the "sixth cave", which they believe is the immortal place of the Zhou Dynasty immortal Prince Jin. Wang Zijin, also known as Wang Ziqiao, is said to be the prince of Zhou Lingwang (57 BC1~ 545 BC). He likes blowing sheng to make noise and swim between Yishui and Luoshui. At that time, a Taoist named Fu Qiugong took him to Songshan. Decades later, someone saw him on the mountain. He said, Tell everyone to wait for me at the top of Gou Mountain on July 7th. That day, I saw him on the crane and walked around for several days before leaving. So later generations built shrines on the top of Gou Mountain and Songshan Mountain to commemorate him. Baiheguan, east of Jijunfeng in Songshan Mountain, has three peaks with cliffs on the left and right sides, which were built in memory of Wang Zijin.
According to the Biography of Taoism, Zhang Daoling, the founder of Taoism, was a monk in Songshan for nine years. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, another famous Taoist priest, Kou, reformed the "Five Daoism" and founded the "New Daoism". On the east side of Junjimen, there is a temple monument of the Song Gaoling in Zhongyue that year. The inscription records Kou Qianzhi's deeds of repairing Zhongyue Temple and preaching, which is the earliest record about this famous Taoist priest.
Since then, many famous Taoist priests have presided over the Dojo here. On the east side of Junjimen, there is also a monument to the five mountains. This 3-meter-high monument is carved with images symbolizing the five mountains, which were carved in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. According to the Taoist classic "The Seven Signs of the Cloud", the true shape of the Five Mountains is the talisman of Taoist evil spirits, and all monsters, insects and tigers can't get close. Today, the Taoist Association of Henan Province is located in Zhongyue Temple, and the temple fairs in March and June of the lunar calendar are very lively every year. This custom in not fade away.
The central axis of Zhongyue Temple is a road paved with bluestone slabs, with a total length of 1.3 Li. From south to north along the central axis, from low to high, there are Zhonghua Gate, Yaocan Pavilion, Tianzhong Pavilion, Peitianzuo Town Square, Chongshengmen, Huamanmen, Junjimen, Gaojunjifang, Zhongyue Hall, Bedroom Hall and Imperial Book Building. On the east and west roads of the temple, there are separate small courtyards, such as Taiwei Pass, Vulcan Palace, Zushi Palace, Xiao Lou Palace, Shenzhou Pass and Wang Longdian. There are nearly 400 buildings in Ming and Qing Dynasties, more than 200 stone carvings from Han Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, and more than 300 ancient cypresses. It is these pavilions and pavilions that constitute the magnificent ancient buildings of Zhongyue Temple.
Outside the Zhonghua Gate, there are two four-corner pavilions separated from Shinto. There is a stone man carved in the pavilion in the 5th year of Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 1 18), which is about 1 m high, flat-topped, with a big face and a big buckle at the waist. He is simple and elegant, although he has been eroded by wind and rain, but his clothes are still very clear, which is a precious material for studying the carving art and clothing in Han Dynasty.
According to historical records, Weng Zhong surnamed Ruan was a general of the Qin Dynasty. He is brave and good at fighting. After his death, he cast a statue outside the horse gate of Xianyang Palace, which was later used by generations. He called the cast bronze statues and stone statues Weng Zhong. There is an interesting legend about Weng Zhong in front of China. In the 15th year of Qianlong (AD 1750), Emperor Qianlong went to Zhongyue, and a scholar from imperial academy came to Weng Zhong. Gan Long pointed to Weng Zhong and deliberately asked, "Ai Qing, who is this?" Hanlin quickly replied, "Weng Zhong". When Qianlong saw that he described "Weng Zhong" as "Weng Zhong", he wrote a doggerel with a smile and deliberately reversed the last two words of each sentence. This poem reads: "Why did Weng Zhong read Weng Zhong? You see that you usually do less kung fu. " Is it really necessary for Lin Han (Hanlin) to go to Jiangnan to pass the sentence? "
The main entrance of Zhongyue Temple in Zhonghua Gate, formerly known as the "First Square of Famous Mountains", is a wooden archway. On 1942, the Xiandian archway with original brick structure was rebuilt and renamed as "Zhonghua Gate". Inside and outside the door are written four characters, namely "Yi Song", "Dai Ying", "Song Jun" and "Tianzhong", which briefly explains the geographical location of Zhongyue Temple.
In the north of Zhonghua Gate, there is an octagonal pavilion with double eaves, that is, the "Medicine Remnant Pavilion", which is the place where ancient people traveled to worship the Yue God. Yan Fang and Queti carved opera stories on it, with beautiful images and extraordinary exquisiteness. Go through the drug residue pavilion and you will see the paradise pavilion. Tianzhongge is the main entrance of Zhongyue Hall in Ming and Qing Dynasties, formerly known as Huangzhonglou, which was renamed in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. It is five rooms wide, with double eaves and blue tiles, carved beams and painted columns, cornices and upturned corners, and has a unique style. The door is fastened with a tiger's head and guarded by two stone lions outside. It is lifelike and is a masterpiece of sculpture in the Qing Dynasty. There is a stone carving ball with a diameter of 15 cm in the lion's mouth on the east side, and a small lion is pressed by the lion's front hoof on the west side, which is exquisite and unique. After the stone lion, there are three tall pavilions with openings. The platform is more than 7 meters high, with five rooms wide and one room deep. It is covered with green glazed tiles and surrounded by protective walls. Here, tourists can be seen everywhere, with Mu Zi Hill in the east, Wang Chaoling in the west, Pan Yu in the south and Huanggaifeng in the north.
Out of the sky, the pavilion climbed the stairs along the corridor, followed by a wooden structure building with the sky as the town square. Its original name was "Yu Miao Square". In ancient times, Zhongyue was called the land god, which means heaven matches the earth. Three frames were erected and the roof of the temple was luxuriously carved. In the main building, the books are "With Angel Town" and in the left and right buildings, the books are "Yu Temple" and "All Views" respectively. Taking heaven as the town square is the holy gate under the shadow of pines and cypresses. This door is the front door, named after the name of Zhongyue God, "Zhongyue Tiansi Shengbu".
There is an ancient god library in the east of Chongshengmen, which was built in the Northern Song Dynasty. There are four tall iron men around the vault of the ancient gods. Ironman was cast in the first year of Yingzong Zhiping in the Northern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1064). They are 3 meters high and weigh about 3 tons. They clenched their fists and rocked their arms, glared at each other, held their heads high, and their images were magnificent and lifelike. They are the four largest surviving "Iron Keepers" in China, and they are also artistic treasures cast in the Northern Song Dynasty.
On the east and west sides of the aisle in front of Chongsheng Gate, there are three Song Dynasty stone tablets and one Jin Dynasty stone tablet. Because the authors of the four stone tablets were all top scholars at that time, they were called "Four Top Scholars Monuments". The contents of the monument are all about the historical evolution and construction of Zhongyue Temple. Its commemorative system, elegant calligraphy, vigorous and powerful.
Hua Sanmen, named after Taoism's "one gasification and three purification", is the past gate of Zhongyue Temple. On the west side after Sanmen, there is a tablet pavilion without words. There is a stone tablet of Qing Dynasty in the pavilion. There are only lines and lace on the tablet, but no words, so it is called "no word tablet". This monument means that the virtue of Yue God is too great to be described in words, so an empty stone was erected as a memorial.
To the north of huasanmen is jijunmen, which is also called "general gate" because there are two oak trees with a height of one foot and four feet on each side of the middle gate. It is the mountain gate of the central courtyard of Zhongyue Hall. This gate was built in the Dading period of Jin Shizong (1161189), destroyed by fire in the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. On the left and right are the east and west gates. At present, it is a rest hall with green glazed tiles, five in width and six in depth. The beams and arches in the hall are painted with elegant and simple advanced color paintings, with pink gold thread and green painting. On both sides of the door are clay statues of two samurai, 4.5 meters high, holding axes and cymbals, which are magnificent.
There are many precious cultural relics near the military gate, as well as Weibei, Tang Brown, Songzhuang, Golden Lion and ancient temples. In front of Ji Jun, there is a monument to the Temple of the Song Gaoling of Zhongyue, which was carved in the second year of Tai 'an, Wen Chengdi, Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 456). It is the oldest stone tablet in Songshan area, with a height of 2.82 meters, carved from all the stones. The inscription is the biography of Kou Qian, a famous Taoist priest in Song Dynasty. The font structure is neat, and the style is simple and smart, like the ancient Han tablet. This is extremely valuable information for studying Shu Wei's calligraphy and the religious history of Zhongyue Temple. Kang Youwei listed it as the first of the top ten historical sites in the north, calling it "heavy strangeness". Now most of the handwriting has peeled off, leaving only a few hundred words at the beginning and end.
On both sides of the tunnel in front of Ji Jun is April Hall. Clockwise, the Jijunmen are Dongyue Hall, Nanyue Hall, Xiyue Hall and Beiyue Hall in turn, and Zhongyue is Wuyue. The ancients called Zhongyue Temple the palace of the land god, and the five elements of the earth were respected. Therefore, Zhongyue is the first of the five mountains, accompanied by Siyue Temple, which shows the religious concept that "the five mountains exist and the five elements are complete".
On the lower east side of the steps outside Junjimen, there is a monument to the Five Mountains, which was carved in the thirty-second year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1604). According to the location of the five mountains, the monument is engraved with a picture of the five mountains, and the legend of the five mountains is engraved under the picture. The true shape map of Wuyue is a pictographic monument representing Wuyue, which is drawn according to different characteristics such as "Huashan stands upright, Taishan sits, Beiyue walks, Nanyue flies, Zhongyue lies".
Gao Songfang stands at the gate, also known as the "gate to meet the gods". There are three squares, upper and lower floors, and the forehead book is "Gao Song Third Runner-up". The main building and the second floor are decorated with nine-color and seven-color archways, covered with yellow tiles, carved beams and painted buildings, with exquisite and beautiful shapes, which are fine wooden structures in the Qing Dynasty.
Through Takamatsu Ji Jun Square, on the high stone railing platform, there is the main hall of Zhongyue Temple, the Jijun Temple, or "Zhongyue Temple", which is the largest building in the mountain. This hall is nine rooms wide and five rooms deep, with a double eaves, yellow glazed tiles, rafters flying arches and ceiling beams, all painted in the most noble and ethereal colors of the Qing Dynasty. The main hall of this specification, second only to the main hall in the Forbidden City and the imperial tomb, is 1 times that of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the early Qing Dynasty, there was a plaque with the word "Ji Juntang" in the Song Dynasty.
There is a 3-meter-high platform in front of the main hall, surrounded by stone railings, and there are three stone steps on the front of the platform. The middle steps are divided into two roads, and there is a vertical ribbon-shaped "Imperial Road" stone between the two roads, which is embossed with exquisite patterns. The upper section is "Dulong Zhan", the middle section is "Shuanglong Play Pearl", and the lower section is decorated with "Crane Groups Making Lotus". Below the platform, there are two exquisite stele pavilions on the left and right, namely "Imperial Pavilion" in the east, Imperial Pavilion in the 15th year of Qianlong (A.D. 1750) in the west, Imperial Pavilion in the 48th year of Qianlong (A.D. 1783) with cursive characters and arrow-shaped gestures on it.
Walking into the Zhongyue Temple, the first thing that attracts people's attention is the Panlong algae well on the painted ceiling, which is composed of exquisite small bucket arches. Panlong lives in the middle of the well, and there are pearls in Longkou. Locals call it "Old Dragon's Pan Nest", which is a group of precious works of art. The carving art of caisson is extremely exquisite, and the tendrils of the dragon hold their heads high, winding up, delicate and lovely, and unfolding creatively.
There is also a vivid fairy tale about caisson: once upon a time, when Zhongyue Temple was being built, an old carpenter in rags came. The foreman looked down on him for fear of damaging the materials, so he only gave him a Bergen knot and told him to get on the pole. The old man cuts and cuts every day, and no one cares what he does. A few days later, he smiled and said to the foreman, "Do you like it?" The craftsman thought: What can a cedar knot do? What's worth seeing! It must be that the old man didn't want to work here, but there was nothing to see, so he followed the old man. From a distance, cypress acne still exists. Walking up to him, the craftsman kicked him on the head with his foot, and with a bang, the cypress pimple turned into a dragon algae well, just facing the hall. He hurried back to find the old man and then disappeared. Later, it was said that Luban skillfully built the Panlong algae well.
In the center of the main hall is a large and gorgeous shrine, and a horizontal plaque with the words "High Third Runner-up" is hung on the cabinet. There is a 3-meter-high statue of the heavenly king in the niche, surrounded by statues of old and young envoys and tea boys. There is a 6-meter-high general standing with a hammer on the outside of the niche, with Fang Bi on the left and Fang Xiang on the right. It is the largest clay sculpture in Songshan area. On the wooden frame in the corner of the East Hall, a 1,000-kilo iron clock cast in the first year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1573) hangs. On the back wall of the shrine in the main hall, there is a "Kan" tablet with the word "three" engraved in yin. Legend has it that there is a flaming mountain west of Huanggaifeng in the back of Yue Temple, which belongs to the water image in the Eight Diagrams. This monument means to put out the fire with water.
At the back of the temple, there is an independent courtyard, and the main building is the Yue Sleeping Hall. It is a building built on the mountain, with a yellow tile roof and a flying arch, seven rooms wide and three rooms deep. It is said to be the residence of the Emperor and Empress of Zhongyue. Ming Xianzong was rebuilt in the 16th year of Chenghua (1480) and in the first year of Qianlong (1736). There are statues of "Heavenly King" and "Tian Fei" in the shrine. There are two big "dragon chairs" carved with rosewood at both ends. There is a sleeping statue of the king on the couch, carved with sandalwood on the east couch and colored clay on the west couch.
Get out of the bedroom and climb the stairs to the Imperial Book Building. The last temple of Zhongyue Temple, formerly known as "Huang _ Dian", is a place for storing Taoist scriptures, which was built in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Later, when Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty visited Zhongyue, he wrote inscriptions and calligraphy in this hall, so it was also called "Imperial Bookstore". Now it is a yellow glazed tile building in the form of hard mountain hall, which was built in the Republic of China. Houses built on both sides of the mountain are places to store sacrificial vessels.
Out of the back door of Zhongyue Temple and along the winding winding winding mountain path, you can reach Songshan Mountain in the first year of Huang Hanyuanfeng. When Liu Che visited it, he saw that Huang Yun covered its top, which indicated good luck, hence the name "Huanggaifeng". The existing Qing-style octagonal double-eaved yellow tile glazed pavilion and triple stone pillars are quaint and unique, overlooking the panoramic view of Zhongyue Temple.
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