Most of the towers we see have a triangular shape with a wide bottom and a sharp top, but Wenfeng Tower is not like this. The plane of Wenfeng Tower is octagonal, with an umbrella shape and a five-story structure. It is rare in tower structures, so do you know why it is built in this shape?
1. Why is the plane of "Wenfeng Tower" octagonal? "Wenfeng Pagoda" has an octagonal plane and is derived from Bagua. Therefore, the octagonal shape is the result of the integration of Buddhist culture with Confucian and Taoist culture, and is an important manifestation of the sinicization of Buddhist culture. First of all, we can see from the history of the Sinicization of Buddhism that the octagonal pagoda is the inevitable result of the Sinicization of Buddhism. Buddhism originated in India and was introduced to China from the Eastern Han Dynasty. The pagoda also originated from India and was introduced to China along with Buddhism.
The Indian pagoda is semicircular. When it was introduced to China, it was combined with the traditional Chinese pavilion-style architecture. Before the Tang Dynasty, the pagoda was a wooden pagoda. After the Tang Dynasty, it became a brick-wood structure or a masonry structure. Before the Tang Dynasty, their shapes were mostly quadrilateral and hexagonal, with few octagonal shapes.
After the Song Dynasty, pagodas were mostly octagonal, and some were hexagonal. The changes in the shape of the pagoda reflect the history of the sinicization of Buddhism. The octagonal pagoda shows that Buddhism has been sinicized. Why is it said that the octagonal pagoda reflects the Sinicization of Buddhism? We can see this from the octagonal two-story pavilion-style Bagua Pagoda in the northwest corner of the original Tianning Temple (now the northwest corner of Dennis Mall).
The Bagua Pagoda is octagonal, divided into four main positions: east, west, south, and north; and four corner positions: southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast. There are bricks on all sides, and the two-story wall bricks are concavely built with Bagua symbols. The east is Zhen Gua, the west is Dui Gua, the north is Kan Gua, the south is Li Gua, the southeast is Xun Gua, the southwest is Kun Gua, and the northwest is Gua Gua. The Qian hexagram and the Gen hexagram in the northeast show the order of the eight trigrams and are a product of Taoist culture. The four directions of "Wenfeng Tower" also reflect the order of the Bagua. The shape of the pagoda is integrated with the Eight Diagrams of Confucianism and Taoism.
Secondly, the sequence of Buddhist stories embossed on Wenfeng Pagoda reflects the orientation of the Bagua, and also reflects the integration of Buddhism and Chinese culture. The order of the Bagua was arranged in ancient times with south as top and north as bottom, which is completely opposite to the modern top, north and bottom south.
The reliefs on the first floor of "Wenfeng Pagoda" are also oriented with the south facing up. Directly in the south is the third Buddha, with Sakyamuni Buddha in the middle, Amitabha Buddha and Maitreya Buddha on the left and right, and Sakyamuni Buddha in the middle. Buddha sits in the middle facing south. Kun is in the southwest, and it is late summer and early autumn, when all things are growing and approaching maturity. The Buddha sculpture is for Sakyamuni Buddha, showing that the Dharma is widespread and flourishing. Directly in the west is Dui, Dui is gold, it is Yue, it is autumn, and the Buddha sculpture represents the birth of Prince Siddhartha.
The resplendent birth of Buddha will be celebrated all over the world, which will surely bring joy. The northwest is Qian, which is between autumn and winter. Yin and Yang compete with each other. The Buddha sculpture performs asceticism and endures hardships for Prince Siddhartha. Due north is a ridge, which is water, which is a danger and a trap. The Buddha sculpture is Guanyin Bodhisattva, who represents the ancient rescuer of suffering and distress. The northeast corner is Gen, which is both the end and the beginning of all things. The Buddha sculpture is Sakyamuni Buddha sitting on his seat, and the flying heavens are listening peacefully. Directly east is the earthquake, the earthquake is thunder, it is spring, all things are sprouting, and the relief is the Nirvana of Sakyamuni Buddha.
Buddhism talks about reincarnation, death and life, and death means life. To the southeast is Xun, which represents the wind, and the reliefs show the Persian king and queen attending the Buddha and listening to the Dharma, which means that the Dharma spreads as widely as the spring breeze. Using the Eight Diagrams directions to express Buddhist stories shows the integration of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.
Practice has proven that the Bagua-shaped pagoda body is the best orientation for pagoda architectural art. It not only has extremely high practical value, but also has extremely high aesthetic value, and is the highest state of architectural art. The Bagua-shaped "Wenfeng Tower", each hexagram represents a direction, gathers the cosmic information field from all directions, reduces the wind force and has a strong field vibration effect, making it more solid and durable.
For more than a thousand years, it has endured many storms and severe earthquakes, but it has still stood tall, showing an extremely strong spirit. "Wenfeng Tower" rises from the ground, majestic and magnificent. Its perseverance spirit, deliberately deep and unique shape, superior craftsmanship, solemn and harmonious form make people feel the enjoyment of beauty. At the same time, it also It invigorates people and inspires them to work hard.
2. Why was the "Wenfeng Pagoda" built in the southwest of Tianning Temple? Pagoda architecture has a long history in China, with different layouts in each era. The pagodas in the Northern Wei Dynasty were all built in the center of the temple, which was the early layout of Chinese temples. In the Tang Dynasty, large pagodas were generally built in front of the main hall, or on the side of the hall, forming a parallel form with the main hall. In the Song Dynasty, the pagoda was built behind the main hall. According to the "Henan General Chronicle", "the pagoda was built in the second year of Song Zhiping" and the "Wenfeng Pagoda" belongs to the Song Dynasty. Why was it built to the southwest of Tianning Temple?
First of all, we should look at the overall layout of Tianning Temple. The overall layout of Tianning Temple in ancient times is a Bagua diagram, with the mountain gate, Tianwang Hall, Main Hall and Guanyin Hall as the central axis, and the east and west correspond to each other. . The northwest corner is in the direction of Qian Gua, and there is a pavilion-style Bagua Pagoda, which means it is strong and tall. This tower is the only remaining Bagua tower in our city. The southeast corner is in the direction of Xun Gua, with the sparkling Hulu Lake, indicating its low position. The southwest is the direction of Kun Gua, which is where the "Wenfeng Tower" was built.
The "Wenfeng Pagoda" was built in the southwest of Tianning Temple, which reflects the builder's originality and profound cultural accomplishment.
The southwest belongs to the Kun hexagram position, and Kun is the earth. The "Wenfeng Tower" was built in the Kun position, which is the earth on which virtues are carried. It forms a blue sky on the top of the tower, with its feet standing on the earth. It stands tall and towering, connecting the sky and the earth. The connection between heaven, earth and man forms an integrated pattern, reflecting the core idea of ??"The Book of Changes". Kun's virtue is softness and obedience. "Xi Ci" says: "Fu Kun is the most obedient person in the world." "Shuo Gua": "Kun is the earth, and all things are nourished." It points out that the Kun hexagram is soft in nature and obeys the way of heaven, allowing all things to grow. Kun hexagram is located in the southwest, and it is the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. This is the stage when all things absorb sufficient nutrients from the earth and grow vigorously. They have the harmony of heaven and earth and are suitable for the earth.
The "Xici" also states, "The great virtue of heaven and earth is generation." Yin alone cannot give birth, and yang alone cannot grow. Only the combination of heaven and earth, that is, yin and yang, can produce all things. The greatest virtue of heaven and earth is to produce all things. Human beings are the soul of all things and are the most important content among all things. Therefore, the most important thing for the creation of all things is the expansion of talents, all kinds of talents. Huang Bangning, the prefect of Zhangde Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty, wrote an inscription with the words "Wenfeng towering and beautiful", which revealed the secret and pointed out the profound traditional cultural connotation of "Wenfeng Pagoda". "Wenfeng Pagoda" is not just an ordinary pagoda, but also has a profound meaning.
3. Why does "Wenfeng Tower" have an umbrella shape and a five-story structure? "Wenfeng Pagoda" is an umbrella-shaped five-level pagoda with dense eaves and pavilions. Its unique shape is rare at home and abroad. From the first floor of the tower upward, each floor is taller than the previous floor. Looking from the bottom up, it looks like an open umbrella. Because this peculiar shape is so rare, for more than a thousand years, people did not understand its meaning. They only knew it was what it was, but not why. In fact, as long as you understand the nature of Wenfeng Pagoda, the meaning is not difficult to understand.
Wenfeng Pagoda is both a Buddhist pagoda and a literary pagoda. From a humanistic perspective, the levels of the tower can represent both era and talent, and can represent both the quantity and quality of talent. The implication is that from ancient times to the present and into the future, there will be more talents year by year, more and more from one generation to the next, higher and higher levels, more and more talents, wider and wider levels, and higher and higher levels. It shows the sincere hope and sincere prayer of the people of Anyang for more and more talents.
Why is Wenfeng Tower built with five floors? The content here is very profound. First of all, we need to understand the meaning of the word "five". The character "五" is written as "" in Oracle bone script. Xu Tian said in "Shuowen Jiezi": "The ancient prose Wu is like this." Duan Yucai noted: "The ancient prose is like the shape of yin and yang at noon." The word "five" is written as "" in "Shuowen", Xu Tian explained It is "from two." Duan Yucai also noted: "Yin and yang meet at noon between heaven and earth." "Two images of heaven and earth". The so-called "from two," means that the radical "from two" means that the "one" on the top of the five characters represents heaven, the "one" on the bottom of the five characters represents earth, and the "×" in the middle represents the intersection of yin and yang.
Yin and Yang intersect at noon and midnight throughout the day and night. During the day, there is yang in the morning and yin in the afternoon, intersecting at noon. Before midnight it is yin, after midnight it is yang, yin and yang intersect at midnight. "×" is called "Yao" in the Book of Changes, which means the intersection of Yin and Yang. Hardness and softness push each other, and change occurs in it. It means that when changing, it is the opportunity for various talents to use their strength.
"Five" is an odd number in the "Book of Changes", odd is yang, and even is yin. Five is a Yang number. "Xici": "The sky is one and the earth is two, the sky is three and the earth is four, the sky is five and the earth is six, the sky is seven and the earth is eight, the sky is nine and the earth is ten." One, three, five, seven and nine are the number of the sky, and five is in the middle and is the number of the sky. In, it can be understood as neither early nor late, just at the right time, which is the best time. It can be said that the time of heaven and earth are favorable, and it is the time for young people to work hard.
For more than a thousand years, "Wenfeng Tower" has gathered information from the universe, gathered the essence of culture, established a ruler for all things, and placed the dreams of life. Its majestic image of standing tall and towering has been firmly printed in every Anyang In people's hearts, it inspires the people of Anyang to brave the wind and waves, fight tenaciously, and constantly create new brilliance.
The interpretation of "Wenfeng Pagoda" in "The Book of Changes" enables us to see the deep traditional cultural connotation from the appearance of "Wenfeng Pagoda", and deepens our understanding and understanding of "Wenfeng Pagoda". Understanding of traditional Chinese culture. Although it is only a superficial interpretation, it makes us realize that "The Book of Changes" is not just "divination", but the root of traditional Chinese culture. "The Book of Changes" is not mysterious and unpredictable, but it accompanies us in our lives, and "common people use it every day without knowing it." "The Book of Changes" originated in Anyang, and Anyang is full of the brilliance of the thoughts of "The Book of Changes". "Wenfeng Pagoda" is a reflection of the culture of "The Book of Changes" and a concrete manifestation of traditional Chinese culture.
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