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ARTICLESYunyan Temple: As the Mountains Collapsed and the Earth was RentFeng Li, Chief Editor of Culture Monthly of Fortune TimesThose who have been to the Mount Doutuan in Jiangyou share a common impression—only in fairyland can you see the landscape like in Doutuan—it must have been the immortals that constructed and live here! And only those who have been there can feel the overwhelming grief behind the report on its devastations. Mount Doutuan, also known as Mt. Tuan, is located on the east bank of Fujiang River which is 20 kilometres north to Jiangyou. There is a story about the name of this mountain: in Tang dynasty, DOU Tuan the Zhubu (a kind of local magistrate) of Zhangming (part of modern Jiangyou) greatly admired and appreciated the fresh, unique and secluded nature here, so he abandoned officialdom and dwelled in the mountain. Another explanation is that the name came from its shape which resembles the round granaries on local farmlands. Doutuan is famous in Sichuan for its unique appearance and beautiful forest and gullies. People honour it as "the only scenery and the best mountain around the world". The mountain has deep and serene ancient paths, verdant woods and magnificent rocks which seem like painted screens. Three isolated peaks form a triangle on the mountaintop; they are all higher than 100 metres, straight and cliffy, connected by iron chains. There is one ancient temple built in Tang or Song dynasties on each of the peaks, namely Douzhen Hall, Lu Ban Hall and Dongyue Hall (The Hall of East Sacred Mountain). Among these three peaks only the one with Dongyue Hall is accessible via its mountain pass; passengers have to walk through a pair of chains to the other peaks and walking in high sky is a scaring and stirring experience for most people. Picturesque mountains like this are always appreciated by Buddhism and Taoism. Mount Doutuan has all these religious buildings such as Buddha Cave for Buddhism and Starlight Cave for Taoism, which makes it sacred. The Yunyan Temple mentioned in the report on earthquake is not far from these peaks. It is divided into two parts: the east part is Buddhist and the west Taoist. With the three isolated peaks at its back, the temple faces the Old Town of Jiangyou (modern Wudu of Jiangyou) and there are cliffs to its east, mountains and forests to its west. Standing in front of the temple, you can feel its magnificence; then turning back, you can get a good view of the scenery around it. Yunyan Temple was first constructed in Tang dynasty but burnt down during the war in late Ming dynasty and was rebuilt in the third year of Yongzheng of Qing dynasty (1725 AD). Despite the damages and rebuildings through Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, Buddhism and Taoism exist together in the temple. Poet Li Bo once travelled here and outside the main gate of the temple he left one of the best known poem lines, "Feller and farmer come into and out of the painted screens". The construction pattern of Yunyan temple which preserved to the present is the same as other Buddhist temples—south-facing, with the main gate, the Hall of Scholar-saint and Warrior-saint, the Devajara Hall (Hall of the Heavenly Kings), the Mahavira Hall (or Daxiongdian) and Zangjinglou (Buddhist Library) on its axle wire and side chambers, reading rooms, meditation abodes and parlours at both sides. The grand building group occupies considerable land.
The main gate of Yunyan Temple was rebuilt in the eighth year of Qianlong of Qing dynasty (1743 AD). The whole gate is 7.35 metres high and 11.5 metres wide and has three openings with the tallest one in the middle. It is built in the double-eaved Xieshanding style with stone lions in front. The timber structure of the gate is decorated with patterns and portraits. The roof is covered by glazed tiles with the ridges and the corners in special shapes. The gate has a Bian (a kind of Chinese stele hung on entrance of building) with three golden characters "Yunyan Temple" by famous calligrapher YU Youren. Right outside the gate, stand two masts each 11 metres high and with a diametre of 29 centimetres. Each of the masts has four characters "风调雨顺" (May the weather be favourable or may everything be favourable) "国泰民安" (May the country be peaceful and the people well-off) at the height of 8 metres. The masts match the gate so well that makes the temple classical and elegant. The Hall of Scholar-saint and Warrior-saint rebuilt in the seventh year of Qianlong of Qing dynasty (1742 AD) is the second building of Yunyan Temple. It has the statues of GUAN Yu (the Warrior-saint) and Wenchang (Scholar-saint), hence the name of it. There had been Jinshui bridges and grant ancient cypress trees outside it but these were all destroyed during the Culture Revolution. They were re-established in 1989 and basically kept the original style. Devajara Hall is also known as The Hall of Heavenly Kings named after the statues of the Four Heavenly Kings in it. Rebuilt in the forty-first year of Kangxi of Qing dynasty (1702 AD) in the style of single-eaved Xieshanding with three openings, the hall is 8.5 metres high and 14.2 metres wide and has some relics from Song and Yuan dynasties on its beam mount. The floor is covered by quadrels and the ceiling is made into caisson and decorated with frescos from Ming dynasty. On the altar is a statue of smiling Maitreya; alongside the walls are the statues of the mighty and ferocious Four Heavenly Kings. Outside the hall stand two sweet osmanthus trees, one of the variety thunbergii and the other latifolius; they smell sweet throughout the year. Mahavira Hall is the main building of Yunyan Temple. It is built in single-eaved Xieshanding style with a height of 10.2 metres and a width of 14 metres. Outside the hall were stela pavilions alongside the road and the steps leading to the hall are in the same style as the steps in palaces and decorated with relievos of dragons. The columns in the front porch are adorned with dougong (bracket sets) in the shapes of dragon or elephant. The door is decorated with the pattern of dragon and the other sides are made of furnace bricks with decoration of glazed craftworks. In the hall was a shrine of Shakyamuni with two of his disciples beside him and Eighteen Arhats along the two sides of the wall. On the sides of doors was a pair of antithetical couplets by the famous calligrapher XIE Wuliang and the refined and meaningful couplets make the solemn hall more mysterious and abstruse. West to the Mahavira Hall is the Feitianzang Hall which is one of the rare buildings from Song dynasty and the oldest wooden building in Sichuan. In the hall is the only Taoist sutra library from Song dynasty in China—Feitianzang which was made according to the theory in Yingzaofashi (the oldest Chinese book on architecture preserved nowadays). The body of the structure is supported by a big pillar which rooted in earth and stick into the beam mount. The whole structure seems like octagonal pagoda with four floors and decorated with more than 200 wooden statues in different size and postures. The whole body of Feitianzang is 10.8 metres high and more than 800 years old with a diametre of 7.5 metres. It is a rare and priceless ancient woodcarving which is unique in the world. Until the Sichuan earthquake in May this year, it could have still been turning when pushed. Alas! The nature and the earth are cruel and emotionless. At 14:28 on 12/05/2008, the buildings on Mout Doutuan were destroyed in a few seconds—the Hall of Jade Emperor, the Hall of East Sacred Mountain, Douzhen Hall, Chaoran Pavilion, Devajara Hall and the Spring Altar all collapsed in the calamity. After investigations by the Administration of Culture Heritage of Yunyan Temple, several aftershocks happened and made more damages. Due to the continuous aftershocks, this is a report to be continued. Up to now, the fairyland of Doutuan disappeared and only left ruins and sorrows. The Report on the Situation of Yunyan Temple after the Earthquake on 12 May 2008:
The Administration of Culture Heritage of Yunyan Temple of Jiangyou 18/05/2008 |