Now let's go in and look at some of its main buildings. This is the Heavenly King Hall, which was rebuilt in 1925. We see that its architectural structure is a wooden frame structure. Now we see the laughing Buddha Maitreya, who is a sitting work of art. He is made by using the unique craft of Fujian Province, "bodiless lacquerware". First, he has to make his clay body out of mud, and then he has to paint it with gold paint for thousands of times. This kind of handicraft is not only beautiful and strong, but also not afraid of fire, so it is very popular among tourists. The Buddha predicted that he would inherit the Buddhism of Sakyamuni Buddha after 5.67 billion years, so people called him the future Buddha. This is the Four donkey kong, which was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. This is a reshaped golden body. Their duty is to protect the world. We see that their weapons and images are different. This is the king of the east and the king of the south. This is the King of the West, and this is the King of the North. The instruments they hold have different meanings: sword, front, and metaphor for the wind; Pipa, implying tone; Umbrella implies the meaning of rain; Dragon, with the meaning of Qinglong, implies shun. "Good weather" is all the best, and the country and the people are safe.
We saw one of the horns of these four heavenly kings hanging in the air. Do you know what this is all about? There is a legend about this: Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was born in a peasant family. When he was a child, his family was very poor and he was often hungry, so he went to the temple to be a little novice monk and was responsible for cleaning. When he swept to the Temple of the King of Heaven, he saw that the corners of the four kings were not clean, so he asked the four kings to lift their feet. Because Zhu Yuanzhang was the only thrill, the kings were not good. As a result, after cleaning up, the little guy heard the bell for dinner, so he ignored what was in front of him. So as long as anyone can order the four heavenly kings to put their feet back, who is the only thrill? This is just a little joke. Then let's take a look at the back. This is Wei Tuo, the God of Heaven. He was once one of Ba Shen, the king of growth in the south. It is said that when the Buddha was kneading the rock, an evil spirit stole the Buddhist relic of Sakyamuni. Wei Tuo went through difficulties and chased it back. So now we see him wearing a armour and holding a diamond pestle to protect the Buddha and ward off evil spirits. Wei Tuo's different instruments indicate the system of this temple. If the diamond pestle on Wei Tuo's hand is on, it means that the temple is a descendant temple, and foreign monks are not open, so they can only eat two meals at most and cannot stay. If Wei Tuo's diamond pestle is placed horizontally on his arm, it means that the temple is made of ten jungles, and the monks can get free accommodation; If Wei Tuo's left hand rested on her hips and his right hand held the diamond pestle over his forehead, it means that the temple should properly charge foreign monks. Nanputuo Temple was originally a hereditary descendants' temple, and Wei Tuo's vajra was on the ground. After it was changed to the ten-square jungle system, the vajra was not placed horizontally on the arm of the hand, but it remained the original. According to the rules of the ten-square jungle, the monks traveling in clouds can be exempted from accommodation.
Now we come to the big courtyard paved with granite behind the Temple of the King of Heaven, which is called "Cheng" in architecture and is divided into bell tower and drum tower. "Morning bell and dusk drum" is a temple system, which rings the bell every morning and evening. Hearing this bell can relieve people's 18 kinds of troubles. The bell tower is dedicated to the Bodhisattva Tibetan and the drum tower is dedicated to the Bodhisattva Galand.
We're going on the tour. This is the Hall of Daxiong. Why is it called "Daxiong"? That's the supreme respect for the Buddha. We saw this couplet in front of the door: "After the beginning of the Tang Dynasty and Kaiyuan, the dawn was increased by Xiamen Island to Taiwu"; This couplet makes it clear about the age and geographical location of the temple, which existed in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that the Chen family was the first to develop on the island. In the Five Dynasties, it was called Sizhou Courtyard, and in the early Song Dynasty, it was called Endless Rock. Later, it was changed to Puzhao Temple and Puzhao Courtyard. Because it is dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva with Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang and is located in the south of Putuo Mountain, it is called Nanputuo Temple. The Hall of the Great Hero is basically made of granite, which is simple and dignified. It has the traditional architectural style of China, with upturned cornices and flying grass dragons. It looks very delicate and dexterous, and it also incorporates Taoist thought. The main hall is dedicated to three buddhas, with Sakyamuni Buddha in the middle, Pharmacist Buddha in the east and Amitabha Buddha in the west. Their lotus seats are all engraved with biographies of Sakyamuni and stories of Tang Sanzang's Buddhist scriptures.
On both sides of Sakyamuni stood the venerable Jia Ye, the great disciple, in the east, the venerable Ananda, his Tang brother, in the west, and Guanyin with thousands of hands and eyes in front. It can be said that there was a deep bond between Guanyin Bodhisattva and the people, and the legend of her was said by the whole world: (In ancient times, there was an old man who was suffering from acute eye diseases, so it was useless to seek medical advice everywhere. Finally, he needed the eyes of others to guide him. As a result, his eldest daughter and second daughter were unwilling to use their own eyes as medicine to attract his father to treat his eyes, but his youngest daughter did not hesitate to give her own eyes in exchange for her father's light, and as a result, she moved the world. Sakyamuni Buddha gave her thousands of eyes so that she could look at all the sufferings of the world and protect the world with thousands of hands. There is also a wooden fish under the seat of Guanyin Bodhisattva, which is mainly used to refresh the monks when they read 1. There are also three Buddha statues behind the Hall of Ursa Major, which are called the "Three Saints of the West". Amitabha is in the middle, Guanyin Bodhisattva and the Great Trend Bodhisattva are on the left and right.
What we see now is the Great Hall of Compassion, one of the main buildings of this temple. The two bodhi trees in front of the temple are so clean that they don't even knot cobwebs. It was under the bodhi trees that Sakyamuni Buddha was cultivated into a positive fruit. The Great Hall of Compassion was originally a brick-wood structure, which was burned down in 1928 due to excessive incense. In 1962, it was overhauled, and the theme was changed to reinforced concrete, which kept the bucket arches stacked but did not bear gravity, and was used for decoration. The temple is 2 meters high, with triple cornices, cleverly decorated with colored paintings and tight structure, which is called spider web. Four Guanyin Bodhisattvas are enshrined in the temple, with two-handed Guanyin on the front and 48-arm Guanyin on the other three sides. Each arm has different objects, representing different sad wishes. People often doubt the gender of Guanyin. Is it male or female? Door-to-door is a clever explanation of this couplet: Bodhisattva has no orientation, and compassion is Guanyin. In fact, there are many famous artists who painted Guanyin in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but all of them did not paint women's images. However, after the Song Dynasty, Guanyin became a female body, and until the Ming Dynasty, it was probably that Guanyin had a "bodhisattva heart" in harmony with women's characteristics, so it was portrayed as a female image and it was handed down.
On the last side is the Buddhist Scripture Pavilion in the main hall, which was built in 1936. The building of this Buddhist Scripture Pavilion is very distinctive, with the charm of merging Chinese and western styles. The upper floor has a rest-mountain roof, while the lower floor has a Western-style structure. The upper floor has Buddhist Scripture and the lower floor has a Dharma Hall. If you want to know more about Buddhism, you can visit it.
Nanputuo Temple is also famous for its Minnan Buddhist College, which was founded in 1925. Now the Buddhist College has become a key college for monk education.
Well, that's all for the introduction of Nanputuo Temple. Thank you for your cooperation.