The saying "First there was Tanzhe Temple, then there was Youzhou City" has been around since ancient times, and there are relevant historical records. If this statement is correct, No, we must first understand how Jiafu Temple became Tanzhe Temple.
There are various legends about the origin of the name of Tanzhe Temple. One folk legend is that when the founder, monk Huayan, was expanding Jiafu Temple, he would come to Tanzhe Mountain to sit upright every day, meditating without eating or drinking. Chanting sutras. A local rich man saw the old monk exposed to the scorching sun and asked him what he was doing. Huayan replied: "Please give me a piece of land to build a temple." The rich man asked: "How much land do you want?" The master replied: "As long as the carpet under me covers the land, it is enough." The rich man saw the old monk. The sitting mat was only two feet square, so I readily agreed. Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, the old monk threw his sitting rug into the air. The sitting rug grew bigger and bigger, covering the southern foot of Baozhu Peak. Seeing this scene, the rich man knew that the master's profound Taoism could bring him blessings, so he willingly donated the land to the old monk. Monk Huayan opened a mountain and built a temple on the basis of Jiafu Temple. After the temple was completed, it was named " Later, it was called "Tanzhe Temple".
Another legend is that when monk Huayan traveled around and practiced Zen, he came to the foot of Baozhu Peak and found a small temple called Jiafu Temple. Stay in the temple. Although the Jiafu Temple is somewhat dilapidated, the surrounding scenery is pleasant. There is a large pool in front of the temple called Qinglong Pool. It is an eye of the sea and can lead directly to the East China Sea from the bottom of the pool. There lives an old dragon in the pond, who manages the movement of clouds and rain on this land. Monk Huayan lectures and preaches in Jiafu Temple every day, and the audience is huge. The old dragon in Qinglong Lake also swims to the lakeside every day to listen to Monk Huayan's sermons. As time went by, Lao Long was influenced by the Buddhist principles taught by monk Huayan and wanted to meet Huayan and become his master and disciple. On this day, when Monk Huayan was sitting by the Qinglong Pond and preaching to everyone, the old dragon stirred up several waves in the pond, scaring the listeners away, but Monk Huayan remained motionless. Seeing that the time had come, the old dragon showed his true form, explained the whole story, kowtowed and saluted. Seeing that Lao Long was so sincere, Hua Yan explained that he planned to build a large temple on the foundation of Qinglong Pool and asked Lao Long to "give up his house" and move to another place. Lao Long nodded repeatedly when he heard this. That night, the sky suddenly became windy and rainy, huge waves surged into the sky in Qinglongtan, lightning flashed and thundered, and the old dragon soared into the sky and flew north.
After dawn, people were surprised to find that the Qinglongtan, which was still a thousand feet of black water yesterday, had turned into a flat land, and a pair of huge colored glass pillars slowly protruded from the ground. The owl comes to kiss. It turns out that these are a pair of dragon sons of the old dragon. In order to protect the safety of the master and the temple, the old dragon asked them to turn into glass owl kisses and stay to protect the temple. Later, the monk Huayan led the monks and lay followers to carry out extensive construction work. They built a Mahavira Hall on this flat land and placed a pair of dragons on both ends of the ridge on the top of the hall. The famous Tanzhe Temple was built in this way. In order to commemorate the land given up by Lao Long, and because Baozhu Peak was covered with mulberry trees, people changed the name of Jiafu Temple to Tanzhe Temple.
Regarding these legends, more people believe that they may have been created due to people's love for Tanzhe Temple. So how many name changes did it go through from Jiafu Temple to Tanzhe Temple?
According to existing historical records, when Tanzhe Temple was first built, it was named Jiafu Temple. During the Long Live Tongtian reign of Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty, the temple was expanded and renamed Longquan Temple. At that time, it was renamed Dawanshou Temple. In the first year of Tianshun reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the old name was restored to Jiafu Temple. During the Kangxi and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty, large-scale reconstruction was carried out and it was renamed Xiuyun Temple. The Qing Dynasty was when Tanzhe Temple was most prosperous, and it had reached the scale seen today. Most of the buildings in the temple today are relics from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Interestingly, this thousand-year-old temple has been renamed many times. The name of the temple has not been officially named Tanzhe Temple in all dynasties, but now it is called Tanzhe Temple. , what is the reason for this? It is said that it got its name because there is a dragon pond behind the temple and a mulberry tree in front.
According to this theory, there should be many Zhe trees in Tanzhe Temple, but why are there so few left now? According to records, it turns out that there is a "Zheshu Qianzhang" on the hillside. This tree is full of treasures. Its rhizomes can remove wind and dampness, activate blood circulation and relax muscles, and can treat rheumatoid arthritis. The bark of Zhejiang can nourish the kidneys and cool blood. The medicine is called "Zhemu". "White bark"; the stems and leaves can cure boils, and the fruits can clear away heat, cool blood, and activate collaterals; the wood can be used to make exquisite furniture, and it is also said that the bark can cure women's infertility. This caused people to compete to dig out, and later only a few plants were left in front of the temple, which finally withered. However, in recent years, the local government has replanted new seedlings to satisfy the tourists. The day is not far when Tanzhe Temple will live up to its name.
At this point, it is certain that Tanzhe Temple was built in the Jin Dynasty, and the name has been basically verified. Then the history books record that “there was Tanzhe first, Then came Youzhou", and there is a popular proverb among the people that "first came Tanzhe Temple, and then came Beijing City". What is going on?
Today’s glorious city of Beijing was called Ji or Jicheng in history books from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but some also called it Youzhou. This is because the traditional concept is that the world is divided into nine states, and the northern region is collectively called Youzhou, but this is just a geographical concept that appears as an administrative division. During the Warring States Period, because the Yan State controlled the area around today's Beijing, this area was also called the Land of Youyan. The city of Beijing was developed and rebuilt on the basis of the capital city of the Yuan Dynasty.
In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, followed the advice of General Batulu and Han scholar and counselor Liu Bingzhong. On the grounds of "big desert", the capital city was built in the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan (1276), which was more than 800 years later than the Jin Dynasty. Prior to this, the Liao Kingdom used Youzhou as Nanjing in 916, nearly 500 years later than the Jin Dynasty. Even the era of Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty was more than 400 years later than the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, the relationship between Tanzhe Temple and Beijing city mentioned in the folk proverb is true.