In the main hall filled with incense, there is the sound of wooden drums and the melodious chants of Buddha. The monks with their eyes closed and their palms folded were solemnly reciting sutras to save all sentient beings. On the playground, thousands of contemporary "Shaolin lay disciples" shouted loudly. Women selling Buddhist beads entice tourists with their eloquent words. Unscrupulous monks with ulterior motives aim at tourists' pockets, planning scams and traps. The golden Buddha sitting upright in the main hall, with his eternal tranquility, dignity, kind eyebrows and wise eyes, is watching the today and tomorrow of Shaolin Temple in the rolling dust.
The Shaolin Temple is located on the north bank of Shaoxi River in Dengfeng, Henan Province. The temple is grand. From the mountain gate to the Thousand Buddha Hall, there are seven courtyards, with a total area of ??30,000 square meters. The main entrance of the mountain gate is a three-bay, single-eaves hilltop building. It is located on a 2-meter-high brick platform, with hard mountain-style side doors and splayed walls on the left and right. The overall configuration is high and low, which is very impressive. On the forehead are the three characters "Shaolin Temple" written by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. The writing style is vigorous and powerful, handsome and elegant. It adds to the splendid scenery.
There is a pair of stone lions in front of the mountain gate. The male and female face each other. They were carved in the Qing Dynasty. Upon entering the main gate of Shaolin Temple, Maitreya Buddha is enshrined in the niche. He has a big belly and a big smile. He is known as the "Big Belly Buddha" and "Everyone is Happy Buddha". Behind the shrine stands a wooden statue of Wei Tuo, holding a magic stick. He is the guardian deity of Shaolin Temple.
After passing the mountain gate, there is a long corridor, with a forest of steles shaded by green pines and cypresses on both sides of the road. There are more than 20 stone steles from various dynasties here. There is also a long corridor on the east side of the road. In the corridor, there are more than 100 famous steles from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. The steles are like a forest and are known as the forest of steles.
The Bodhidharma Pavilion is a single-eaves verandah-style building behind the abbot's room. According to legend, it was the place where the second ancestor Huike stood in front of the Broken Arm Buddha, waiting for Bodhidharma. The East Side Hall is located on the west side of Bodhidharma Pavilion. It was rebuilt in 1983. There are stone statues of "Namo Amitabha" and "Dharma Face Wall Shadow Stone" in the hall.
Going out of the Shaolin Temple, not far to the west is the largest existing pagoda forest in China, covering an area of ??about 21,000 square meters. These ancient pagodas are the tomb pagodas of the Shaolin Temple monks after their death. There are more than 230 large and small, tall and low towers. These pagodas are the residence of the souls of the Shaolin Temple monks. Under each pagoda, there is a story and a name. There is a monk. The names of the monks during and after their lifetime are weathering lonely here together with the blue bricks and the years. Ancient pagodas have different architectural styles due to different construction ages. They are elegant in shape and exquisite in stone carving art. Most of the pagoda inscriptions involve the exchange of ancient Chinese and foreign cultures and Shaolin martial arts. It provides real historical materials for the study of ancient Chinese masonry architecture and carving art. .
Go north about 1,000 meters from Tallinn and you will arrive at Chuzu Nunnery. It faces ravines on three sides and connects to Wuru Peak at the back. The scenery is elegant and beautiful. It is the oldest and most valuable wooden structure building in Henan Province. It was built to commemorate Bodhidharma facing the wall. There are exquisite reliefs on the eaves pillars, inner pillars, carved stones under the walls and around the altar. There is a statue of Bodhidharma in the shrine of the main hall.
Go southwest from Shaolin Temple to Mount Bowl. There is a Buddhist temple on the top of the peak, which is the Second Ancestor Temple. According to legend, Huike, the second ancestor of Zen Buddhism, studied Buddhism with Bodhidharma. After breaking his arm and receiving the True Transmission of the Clothes and Bowls, he recuperated here. There are four wells in front of the hall, which are said to have been dug by Huike. These four wells are very close to each other, but the water tastes are different. They are called "Zhuoxijing". The locals also call them "the four wells of bitter, spicy, sour and sweet".
"Tomorrow I will visit Zhongyue, and tonight I will stay in Shaolin. The heart will be quiet in the Six Zen, and the temple will be deep in the mountains. The ancient wind will leave the sound of the trees, and the earth will cast its shadow in the evening. I should teach you how to sing in the rain of half a rock, and let me chant outside the window at night. "Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty once crossed the Luoshui River west to Shaolin Temple and stayed overnight in the Shaolin Temple, leaving behind this poem. But I could only fulfill my dream of visiting the Shaolin Temple once in a hurry, and then hurriedly left this tourist-filled Songshan scenic spot...
I saw the decadent Shaolin at that time. The walls of the temple have peeled off, and the gates and pavilions have lost their luster. Only the three characters "Shaolin Temple", a treasure of Emperor Kangxi's royal pen, stand out after all the wind and rain, demonstrating the emperor's favor for Shaolin.
When we arrived at Tallinn, the sun had begun to set in the west. The setting sun shone on the quiet Tallinn, surrounded by green pines and cypresses, showing a solemn solemnity.
In my imagination, Tallinn is the resting place of eminent monks of all ages. It should be a solemn and quiet place. But in Tallinn, what I felt was not tranquility, and what I heard was not the clear chirping of birds, but the constant noise from the inferior speakers in the hands of tour guides. Maybe the tour guide's explanation can help people understand the historical allusions, but who can guarantee that you will remember those explanations in your heart when you leave the scenic spot? Thinking of this, I simply left the crowd of tourists and the noise of the trumpets, walked alone into the depths of Tallinn, and began to look for the quiet atmosphere I imagined.
Looking around the entire Tallinn, its area and number seem to be very different from my imagination, and I can't help but feel a sense of loss in my heart. The messy stone tower has carried thousands of years of vicissitudes, and has become a bit dilapidated and scattered, especially lacking the mystery and solemnity in film and television works. Small vendors in twos and threes shuttle through Tallinn. If there are no duty officers patrolling the field in front of Tallinn, they can walk out of Tallinn in a big way and sell various souvenirs such as beads, bracelets, and ornaments to tourists. When the duty officers come, they He scurried into Tallinn as quickly as a mouse, and then relentlessly sold them to tourists in Tallinn.
Sumu Tallin has turned out to be a "guerrilla" place for vendors and officers to play cat and mouse. I can't help but be a little disappointed, but the prices of their products are indeed much lower than those of the stalls on the road. This also caters to people like me who usually want to buy something. The perseverance and patience of people who tear a dime in half to use it also moved me very much. If our staff at all levels have one-third of their patience and persistence in serving the people, our society will not worry about progress, and our people will not worry about disharmony.
By chance, we found a newer stone pagoda behind Tallinn. The body of the pagoda was actually carved with airplanes and ships. We couldn’t help but laugh. These eminent monks were still in the dust of the world and boarded a modern ship. . The tour guide hurriedly explained that there are also modern stone pagodas in the pagoda forest. The country once required that no new stone pagodas be built. However, after the temple's unremitting efforts, it is now possible to continue to bury modern highly respected eminent monks and abbots. Our monks are also advancing with the times and reforming They also have to share the achievements of opening up and modernization.
The pagoda forest of Shaolin Temple is the tomb of eminent monks of all ages. There are more than 230 ancient pagodas since the Tang Dynasty. It is the largest pagoda forest in China. The pagodas have various structures such as brick, stone and masonry mixture, and the shapes are also different, including square, rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, circular, etc. There are many styles and different shapes. There are single-story single-eaves pagodas, single-story dense-eaves pagodas, Indian stupa pagodas and various Lama pagodas. The tour guide said that there are 2 Tang pagodas, 2 Song pagodas, 10 Golden pagodas, 46 Yuan pagodas, and 148 Ming pagodas. The rest are mostly Qing pagodas or of unknown eras. All of these pagodas house monks from past dynasties. After the death of famous and prestigious monks in the Buddhist world, their ashes or bones are placed in the underground palace, and a pagoda is built on top to show their merits. The height, size and number of layers of the pagoda are also based on the monks' Buddhist attainments during their lifetime. It is determined by the depth, prestige, and merit. There are seven levels at the highest and three levels at the lowest. They are graded. Under the guidance of the tour guide, we carefully studied the calligraphy and sculptures that can be seen clearly in the Tallinn.