Camel Bell Ancient Road —— A trip to fahai temple at Modaokou

It has been two months since I moved to Shijingshan Mokou. I heard colleagues talk about fahai temple, a model of Cuiwei Mountain, and especially mentioned fahai temple's murals. I yearned for it, so I specially spent half a day visiting fahai temple.

I entered from the west entrance of Camel Bell Ancient Road, and then walked east along the main street of the ancient road. Now the renovated houses are very modern, but the pattern of houses, the direction of hutongs and the present situation of doorways can still feel the prosperity and excitement of ancient times as a thoroughfare.

About 200 meters to the east, I saw a newly-built Gu Men on the north slope. When climbing the stairs, I saw the instructions for entering the park at the entrance of Tianyi Tomb. Because I don't know much about Tian Yi's tomb, I went to Baidu specially. It turns out that this is the best-preserved eunuch cemetery in China.

Tian Yi Tomb was built in the thirty-third year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1605). It includes the tombs of Tian Yi, the most popular eunuch in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, and dozens of other eunuchs in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty, this tomb was abandoned and nobody cared about it. When a monk came here, he loved the scenery of the cemetery and was afraid of being destroyed by greedy traitors. He asked Emperor Kangxi for approval to build a "Kindhearted Temple" in the east of the cemetery, named "Dongqu", and put Yi Tian's tomb in the temple as "Xiqu". Because there is a huge stone incense burner in front of the temple, the "stone incense burner temple" got its name. Cixiang Temple has two halls and three pagodas for observing the world, with meditation halls on both sides and a small door connected with Tian Yi's tomb.

Coming out of Tianyi Tomb and continuing eastward, I saw one or two well-preserved houses with ancient architectural style, and the steps were piled with stones, which witnessed the age. The two doorways at the door have also fallen off, mixed with dust, and they are particularly declining. The word "auspicious" is written on two rafters with all the paint on the door, reflecting the already unrecognizable couplet on the door, as if telling us about that past.

Not far ahead, turn a small corner and you will pass by the ruins of street buildings. Now the ruins of street buildings are protected by iron fences, and the spotlights on them should be turned on at night. It is conceivable that this is another night scene of the camel bell ancient road.

About 65,438+000 meters eastward, the street suddenly opens up, and to the north is a wide and straight cement road, which should be the road leading to fahai temple. Go north along the wide road, and the terrain gradually rises. It was about ten o'clock in the morning and the sun was shining, but the nasty winter wind still made me shiver.

On the east side of the road is a park built on the mountain, with all kinds of fitness equipment and rest places. There are also antique shops on both sides of the road, probably because it is remote and there are not many customers in the shop. I entered through the side door of the park and climbed up the mountain along the path. There will be many open spaces without vegetation where these paths diverge. Most of the residents in the open space are playing Tai Chi, and a sturdy young man has set up a stereo and is ready to sing loudly. Sing a song in the wind, quick!

As we approach fahai temple, we will pass a small cement bridge, which is the only way to fahai temple. The water under the bridge should be the water of Yongding River diversion canal. I don't know when the aqueduct was built, because there is no ancient bridge, so I think it should not take long to get to this canal.

After crossing the bridge, continue northbound along the main road for about 100 meters, turn right at the end, look up at the northwest mountain, and you will see the main entrance of fahai temple. The red walls and yellow tiles of "fahai temple" symbolize the specifications and style of the royal temple.

Climb the stairs, step into the ticket office and buy a ticket for 100 yuan to visit the murals, and then enter the mountain gate. The mountain gate is not very majestic, not as tall and majestic as expected, and there are cloisters on both sides to go up to the main hall. The strangest thing is that a Cooper actually grew on the wall outside the mountain gate, which is quite strange.

The buildings in fahai temple are symmetrical with the central axis, and there are four courtyards, which are stacked according to the mountain situation. The central axis of the building is the Four Heavenly Kings Hall, the Ursa Major Hall, the Pharmacist Hall, the Tibetan Scripture Building, the bell and drum tower with two wings, the second hall of Galand's ancestor, the Buddha-protecting King Kong Hall, the Buddhist Selection Hall, Yuntang and other buildings.

The mural is in the main hall of the Ursa Major Hall, so there is a time limit for the visit, and there will be a professional commentator to follow. Our batch started at 10: 40, and it's still early to see them, so I chose to go to another museum first.

Entering the Bell and Drum Tower, I saw a huge ancient clock, which was cast in the 12th year of Ming Dynasty (1447), with a height of1.75m, an extension diameter of1.2/m, a lip thickness of 0.095m and a weight of1068kg. It is made of clay bronze. In terms of casting technology and exquisiteness, this clock can be compared with the Yongle Bell of Juesheng Temple in Wang Zhiyi, the four largest clocks in the world.

On the outer wall of fahai temple Bronze Brahma Bell, 20 bodhi leaves are arranged in a garland shape, like an umbrella cover, and distributed directly below the bell knob. The names of 20 buddhas and bodhisattvas are cast on the lower side of each bodhi leaf. There are 13 lines of Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures above and below the leaf ring of Bodhi leaf, 1 line above the leaf ring of Bodhi leaf, and the rest 12 lines below the leaf ring. Sanskrit scripture * * * about 1500 words. There are 25 groups of Chinese titles cast in Sanskrit scriptures. Under the Sanskrit mantra, at the waist of the bell, there is the words "Give fahai temple Daming orthodox Ding Mao to be cast on a sunny day in April". In the lower part of the bell waist, there are 1 154 names, and more than 3400 words are cast.

At the top of the clock, a pair of lifelike buildings were cast on the handle. Their two tails are intertwined, which makes them interesting and integrated, and looks like a powerful person.

In the south pavilion of the temple, there is an ancient drum tower plaque, which is beautifully carved. The crack in the middle of the plaque seems to tell tourists about the history and origin of fahai temple Bell and Drum Tower.

Go up around the Hall of Ursa Major and step into the Hall of Pharmacists. As soon as I entered the door, a grand Guanyin picture of Shuiyue came into view. Later, it was explained that the murals in this temple were imitations of the murals in the Hall of Ursa Major. The figures are beautifully shaped and the murals are colorful, which is amazing.

The Sutra Pavilion, which was blocked by roadblocks, should not be open to the public, so when I left the pharmacist's hall, I was going to enter the main hall to see the murals and listen to the narrator tell us the reason and shock of the murals.

The last group of tourists who turned to the main hall just came out. They should come in groups, including Tibetan lamas and several young descendants. After coming out, they repeatedly praised the exquisite murals, which made me want to go in as soon as possible.

While waiting, I took pictures everywhere. In front of the main hall stood two huge white pines, with lush crowns more than 30 meters high and white scales mottled. These two Pinus bungeana trees in fahai temple were planted in the Ming Dynasty when the temple was built, and have a history of more than 560 years. They are like two silver dragons guarding the main hall. People call them "White Dragon Pine". These two white bark pines are famous pines in Beijing, and their white stems and green crowns are in harmony with Daxiong Hall. Pinus bungeana has been regarded as "White Dragon" or "Dragon" by the people of China since ancient times, and it is mostly planted in palaces, gardens, tombs and temples.

When the time came, we put on our shoes and followed the narrator into the Heroes Hall. As soon as you enter the door, everyone needs to take a cold flashlight and open the curtains to enter the darkness. Just remember that taking pictures and recording are not allowed in the hall. So you can only watch it with a cold flashlight, which is also to protect historical sites, especially murals, which are very fragile cultural relics.

The commentator spoke very carefully, and we were all savoring the peerless murals with enduring colors for hundreds of years. I don't pay much attention to Buddhist allusions and stories, just observing the painting techniques, color composition and three-dimensional figures of the royal painters in Ming Dynasty. I have to say that no matter from the details or from the overall symmetrical layout to the production of three-dimensional gold paintings, it is really ingenious and can be called a big hand.

Look how many episodes there are. First, a young man took out his mobile phone and secretly took pictures, which was stopped by me and a tourist in time. We feel very comfortable because public welfare has always existed around us. Secondly, the murals in the wall column should be caused by historical earthquakes or other geological movements, just in the position of a Buddhist figure, but the wonderful thing is that the cracks just avoid the face of the Buddhist figure, and the face of the figure is still intact, which has to be said. Third, there are several nail holes in the wall of the mural in the north. According to the commentator, this place should be used as a school building and barracks during the war. People living here nailed several holes in the mural wall for the convenience of hanging clothes, which caused permanent and irreparable losses. Through the nail hole, you can see that there is a thin layer of plush filler inside the wall, which is convenient for painting and coloring on the wall. This reminds me of Mr. Liang Sicheng's regret and helplessness that he failed to stop the demolition of the old wall of Beijing.

After reading it, everyone was shivering with cold, but everyone's face showed satisfaction and pride. This is the crystallization of China's ancient wisdom and the transmission of craftsman spirit, which is a chapter that our generation should strive to write and record.