Brahma Temple, Sutra Building and Park in Mantou Mountain

I have passed by Hangzhou Mantou Mountain countless times, but I have never explored it in depth. In fact, I have long wanted to explore the Brahma Temple and the Brahma Temple Sutra Tower there. Taking advantage of the bright sunshine in the afternoon, the family tour group packed up and set off.

It is 3.7 kilometers from the gate to Brahma Temple, from west to east, after passing three traffic lights, it takes about 50 minutes to walk. This is for young people, we estimate it will take more than an hour. Of course, you can take the 190 bus and cut the time in half, but the ambitious goal of walking 8,000 steps a day will obviously be compromised. So let's go. Later, after on-site measurement, we found that a single trip is 6,000 steps.

The road at the beginning is easy to walk. The road in front of Da Zifu Temple is very wide and smooth. In particular, there are many small teahouses hiding behind street trees along the way, and their faces are only revealed when you pass by. You can see that there is no one inside through the ajar door, but the daylight is flowing in and the windows are bright and clear. If you have friends here to chat quietly, it will be very pleasant to spend an afternoon.

The Mantou Mountain we visited is actually just an isolated small slope. Because it looks like a steamed bun, it is called Mantou Mountain. The "Picture of Riverside Villas on the West Lake in Hangzhou" 300 years ago already had the mark "Steamed Bread Mountain". But what the common people talk about is the "old basic theory": because 170 years ago, "Changmao" attacked Hangzhou from here and used fragrant steamed buns to lure the hungry Qing soldiers who were defending the city to surrender, so in order to commemorate the "Steamed Buns" "Broken city gate", he called this place Mantou Mountain.

There is a national reference climate station in Mantou Mountain. I don’t know if it is still there now. Anyway, when I was young, I heard that the Hangzhou Meteorological Observatory was on the mountain. I also heard that coffins and bones from various guild halls in the eight prefectures were stored here, waiting for relatives to claim them. The company with the largest storage business was called "Siming Guild Hall", which later became the predecessor of Hangzhou Funeral Home. Therefore, although the funeral parlor has long been moved to Longjuwu, the "Siming Guild Hall" always makes me panic when I think about it.

It may have something to do with the "Simian Guild Hall". There have been reports of supernatural incidents in Mantou Mountain, with people with noses and eyes. They said that at that time, an employee of the home appliance warehouse drank a small amount of wine at night and fainted when he heard something from the neighbor next door. A little girl's voice came from deep in the empty room, "Grandma, come here, I'm going to be drunk (sound: niang contagious)." Over and over again, the man was so frightened that he fled home before dawn the next day, and never dared to go near Mantou Mountain again.

While walking and stopping along the way, I saw the "Brahma Temple Road" sign near the 190 bus stop. Go straight in without any distracting thoughts.

"Brahma" in India is the Brahman god of creation sitting on a peacock (some say it is a swan). He, Vishnu and Shiva are also called the three main gods. His wife is Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom. Therefore Brahma is also often regarded as the god of wisdom. However, among the tens of thousands of Hindu temples in India, there are very few temples dedicated to Brahma. On the contrary, there are many prestigious Brahma temples in China.

There is one in Xiamen at the southern foot of Dalun Mountain. The Brahma Temple in Xiamen was built in the first year of Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty (AD 581). It is a branch of the Linji Sect of the southern sect of Zen Buddhism, and has produced numerous eminent monks in the past dynasties. The famous Master Hongyi also often went to "hang orders".

The word "pending order" is also frequently used today, but it refers to the electronic trading of the securities market, where investors send stock buying and selling instructions to the entrusted trading system through telephone, computer, etc.

Buddhist “pending orders” are not that simple. I checked a lot of information, but the cumbersome and rigorous procedures made me rather sleep in the open air than enter the temple to "register". The set of procedures is very similar to the previous business trips to other places, where you would stay in the hostel of your unit. The "Guang Dan" in Buddhism refers to the wandering monks who stay in various temples and hang their mantles and bowls under the name "Guang Dan". The "single" is six feet long and three feet wide. It is a seat for everyone to sit, lie down, and eat. If the quota is full and no pending orders are accepted, it is called "stop order". The highly respected Master Hongyi probably won't place a "order" by default, but I haven't heard of him ever being "stopped".

We also have a Brahma Temple on the rooftop in Zhejiang, which is built on the mountain and covers an area of ??more than 100 acres. It is earlier than the one in Xiamen and was built in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. There are towering ancient trees, mysterious empty mountains, solemn temples, and endless Sanskrit sounds. In the past, on February 19th, June 19th and September 19th of the lunar calendar, the three birthdays of Guanyin Bodhisattva, there was an endless stream of people coming to the mountain to worship Buddha.

There is also a Brahma Temple in Lizhou, Sichuan. According to current research, Wu Zetian was from Lizhou. Lizhou was changed from Xiyizhou to Lizhou in the third year of Yuanqin of the Western Wei Dynasty (554). Basically, today's Guangyuan, Sichuan Province is the main body, including part of southwest Shaanxi and southeastern Gansu. A Brahma Temple there is a place where Wu Zetian frequently worshiped under the influence of his mother when he was young. Once, Wu Zetian and her family went to Tianzhao Mountain, fifteen kilometers away from Lizhou, to worship Buddha, and they even planted a Wujia cypress. When Miss Wu Zetian ascends the throne, Tianzhao Mountain will emerge from the golden lotus. Wu Zetian felt deeply blessed by Heaven and ordered the money to be used to renovate the Brahma Temple. In later generations, Taoist priests practiced Taoism in the temple and became immortals. This temple was known as the "Golden Summit of Shumen".

The Brahma Temple in Mantou Mountain we are going to today was built by Qian Liu, King of Wuyue in the fourth year of Qiande in Song Dynasty, and was originally named South Pagoda. According to the "History of Wu and Yue", in the second year of Liang Zhenming (916), Qian Liu welcomed the Sakyamuni Relic Pagoda from Asoka Temple in Luan County (today's Yin County) to Hangzhou and built the south tower for collection. In the third year of Qiande (965), a fire destroyed the south tower of the city. King Qian Hongchu of Wuyue rebuilt it and renamed it Brahma Temple.

Su Dongpo, the old mayor of Hangzhou, visited the Brahma Temple in Mantou Mountain and saw on the wall a poem by the Song Dynasty poet Shi Shouguan: "The setting sun is chilling, and the cicadas are chirping, and I return to the temple alone in the forest. The night is not covered by Chai Fei, and the moon is accompanying me." "Only hearing the barking of dogs, I went to Qingluo again." Mayor Su not only did not criticize the accompanying community cadres for the uncivilized scribbling, but instead let them write and write on the white wall on a whim. He Shi said: "But when I heard the smoke outside, I couldn't see the temple in the middle of the smoke. The secluded people have not stopped walking, and the grass dew wets their shoes. Only the moon on the top of the mountain shines every night." The meaning is still not finished, and the "Inscription of Brahma Temple" is mentioned again: I Fifteen years ago, I walked between the north and south mountains with sticks and quinoa and mango shoes. All the fish and birds here know each other, how about all the Taoists! As for the loss, they are all relatively late, but there is resentment. Zizhan Shu.

Unfortunately, due to several demolitions in the past dynasties, this precious heritage and the Brahma Temple disappeared before the Republic of China.

Brahma Temple Road is also clean. On both sides of the houses with white walls and black tiles are drying marinated chicken and shorts and sheets. Several old people were sitting on bamboo chairs facing the sun, playing "hygiene" poker leisurely. If it weren't for the orderly parked cars suggesting that the youthful atmosphere is still surging here, the buildings and old people in front of us would represent the twilight and anticipation of the approaching Spring Festival.

Walking past the clean public toilets, walking past a quiet pear paste sugar factory, walking past the lonely ruins and monument of Brahma Temple, you can see two prayer buildings of Brahma Temple in front of you. .

The prayer building of Brahma Temple is surrounded by a circular mountain road. We can only look up at these two once exquisite buildings guarded by towering trees from a distance through the iron guardrail.

The Sutra Building of Brahma Temple carved from Taihu stone is recorded to be 15.76 meters high. It is a treasure that combines Wuyue architectural art and sculpture art. The form and structure of the two buildings are basically the same, facing each other in the north and south, 13 meters apart. They are built layer by layer with components such as base, building body, canopy, waist eaves, mountain flowers and banana leaves, orbs, Yanglian, square columns, and covering lotus. The top of the building is decorated with sun and moon orbs, which are exquisitely carved and decorated with different patterns. The base is Xumizuo, with the third floor. The bottom floor is embossed with "Nine Mountains and Eight Seas"; the waist is embossed with a dragon, which is vivid and majestic; the upper tier has small niches carved around the short columns, and Buddha statues are carved in the niches. The body of the building is engraved with Buddhist scriptures, the left building is engraved with the "Great Buddha's Head Dharani Sutra", the right building is engraved with the "Great Sutra of Self-Assisted Dharani", both buildings are engraved with the inscription of building the building, with the same text.

We found what we thought was the best shooting spot and took photos of the Jingjing Building with our mobile phones. At this time, I realized that my old age was approaching and my bones were a little soft, so I went to the nearby Mantou Mountain Park to take a rest.

Although this park is small, it is interesting. The paths in the park meander along the mountainous terrain, with overlapping Chinese-style corridors and natural Jiangnan courtyards with flowers and plants designed in an orderly manner. If it weren't for some bright red and green quilts thrown on the bushes to soak up the sunshine, the chirping of birds coming from Phoenix Mountain would make the scene in front of us look like the back garden of an imperial city.

While walking on the mountain trail, I discovered a Taihu stone guardrail beside the Chinese-style promenade, surrounding an incomprehensible stone barrier. Weeds blocked the large wooden and stone-like objects in the stone barrier. It took a lot of effort to determine that the large object was a stone based on the lack of vegetation on the object. There are two large artificial holes in the middle, probably for inserting beams and columns. Ever since, Zhang Guanli Dai suddenly remembered a slightly related story.

During the time of Wu and Yue, a wooden pagoda was built in Brahma Temple, but it started to shake after it was built to two or three floors. The craftsmen laid tiles on the tower in an attempt to suppress it with heavy objects, but the shaking still continued. With no other solution, the craftsman asked Yu Hao, a native of Hangzhou, for advice. This Yu Hao was described in Ouyang Xiu's "Guitian Lu" as "the only carpenter since the Chinese dynasty". He had considerable experience in the construction of wooden structures, and was especially good at building multi-story pagodas and pavilions. Yu Hao smiled and taught him how to lay the boards layer by layer and fix them with nails. Sure enough, the tower body was stable.

Mantou Mountain is said to be a Southern Song Dynasty Imperial City Heritage Park, and there must be many stories to be traced. As you walk along, you might step on the place where Long Live Lord walked in the past. Unfortunately, our legs are limited now, and we are still thinking about the vegetables, rice, oil and salt at home, so we pulled ourselves back to 2021 from Wuyue.

On the way, I was still struggling with one thing: Do we have to travel thousands of miles to travel and seek the far away instead of the near, or else we are just like a toad in a well? I have traveled a long way today and gained a lot. Why do I have to go to the other side of the ocean to learn how to make stinky tofu? My good teacher and helpful friend Mr. Jiang Qingqing is committed to studying the history of the Southern Song Dynasty locally. He has made great achievements and published many books. Didn’t I also deal with the situation from the bottom of the well and write endless thoughts?

Mr. Jiang Qingqing is a "white snow in spring", and I am a "lower Liba". Although we have different opinions, our tastes are the same.