The Construction History of the White Pagoda of Jianyang Shengde Temple

Tang built Shengde Temple, and Song built a tower in the temple. There is no temple now, but the tower is still there. According to the records of Jianyang County Records, Land Records and Historical Sites Records, Shengde Temple was built in Tang Xizong during the Ganfu period (874-879 AD). There are three halls at the entrance of the mountain: the Heavenly King Hall, the Buddha Hall and the Thousand Hands Guanyin Hall, but no towers were built at the beginning. In the summer of the third year of Ningzong Qingyuan in the Southern Song Dynasty (1 197), Jianzhou monk Zhang Fang began to raise money to build a tower, and Jiazi was completed in the autumn of the fourth year of Jiatai (1204). The completed tower is located on the central axis of Shengde Temple, sitting west to east, with a square plane and a total height of 37.9 meters. The tower foundation covers an area of 125.5 square meters, formerly known as "Shengyin Tower". In the Mid-Autumn Festival of Jiajing Reform Movement of Shizong in Ming Dynasty (1538), the county magistrate He Bengui donated money to promote public maintenance, and it was completed in Guimao in autumn (1543). During the maintenance, eight iron wind chimes were added, hanging alternately with the original eight copper bells, and an iron tower gate weighing more than 30 kilograms was added to the top of the tower, and the tower body was painted gray. The name "White Pagoda" comes from this.