What was the scene of Xiangguo Temple in Kaifeng during the Northern Song Dynasty? What role did it play in people's daily lives?

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In the Northern Song Dynasty, with the development of temples, Buddhist music in Daxiangguo Temple also reached its peak stage: on the one hand, the temple organized a large professional band for national ceremonies; on the other hand, , the temple has specially built a professional "theater" for playing Buddhist music, the Vimalakirti Palace, and a "music shed" for general tourists and pilgrims to perform. At the request of the royal family, it became a tradition for the temple to organize and collect Buddhist music repertoire. To this day, Daxiangguo Temple still preserves a large number of relatively complete ancient music scores, endowed with a wide range of representation in traditional music, and has become a typical representative of traditional Buddhist music in the entire Central Plains.

The activities of the Northern Song Dynasty royal family in Xiangguo Temple were the most frequent and pious prayers. Prayer is a request, and retribution is a thank you. First, there is a purposeful prayer, and after it is fulfilled, there is reward.

Praying for rain in Gongguan temples became more common in the Tang Dynasty (pages 106, 446). As for the Five Dynasties, as Bianzhou was promoted to the capital, Xiangguo Temple became one of the important places for the royal family to pray for rain and snow. In December of the second year of Tianfu, Emperor Gaozu of the Jin Dynasty went to Xiangguo Temple to pray for snow (page 1009). Yisi in May of the eighth year of Tianfu and Wuyin in April of the third year of Kaiyun. Emperor Chu of the Jin Dynasty also twice went to Xiangguo Temple to pray for rain (pages 1077, 1114).

After the Song Dynasty was established, praying for rain and sunshine in Xiangguo Temple became more frequent. The relevant information is tabulated below to give an overview - the actual situation should be even worse than this. This can be supported by the large number of prayers and prayers in the Song Dynasty humanities collection. In particular, the activity of praying for good weather should be carried out more than once, because it is not uncommon for "heavy rainstorms to occur during the mid-autumn festival" (Volume 76, page 12a). At the same time, there is also no record of the situation of Hui and Qin sects. As for the way of praying for retribution, Su Song repeatedly mentioned in his draft text that "the emperor sent a certain official to invite thirty-seven monks to open a certain dojo in the main hall of a certain temple for seven days and nights" (Volume 27, pp. 13a-14 b), indicating that it is still similar to the Tang Dynasty - monks were ordered to set up prayer centers in temples. What is slightly different is that the temples in the capital usually require the emperor to come to the temple in person to pay homage, and the ministers will prepare parallel prayers for prayers. However, sometimes the emperor also sends his close ministers to the temple to pay homage on his behalf.

It is said that praying for retribution was the most pious activity of the Northern Song Dynasty royal family in Xiangguo Temple, because often after being troubled by drought or rain, they had no other choice but to turn to the spiritual power of religion. Therefore, in conjunction with this, they often also take measures such as withdrawing from entertainment, eating fast, going to jail, and punishing themselves. For example, in the second year of Jianlong's reign, Taizu prayed for rain and at the same time "issued an edict to withdraw music and order the Taiguan to eat vegetables" (page 2092, above). In the sixth year of Taiping and Xingguo's reign, he prayed for rain and "went to the capital personally to hear the judgments of all the prison officials in the capital, and those who had doubts were often put to death" (page 186b). During the drought in the third year of Qingli, Renzong also "eat vegetarian food in the palace, prayed secretly to heaven, and blamed himself for sins" (page 737). Therefore, after receiving the answer, they are always overjoyed. In the fourth year of Xianping, his prayers for rain were answered, and Zhenzong came to the Xuan Palace. "The imperial clothes were wet, and the cover was moved from left to right, but there was no imperial guard" (page 735). In the third year of Qingli, his prayer for rain was answered. Renzong had already gone to bed. "Suddenly I heard a slight thunder, and it suddenly rose. His crown and belt were exposed. His highness stood. The rain came in a moment, and his clothes were all wet" (Volume 52, page 24B). In addition to going to the temple to express their gratitude, they would also reward meritorious ministers and monks, "banquet the prime minister and ministers" (Volume 30, page 8B), and "give monks money, silk and tea" (page 735a). Even under a highly centralized imperial politics, disasters such as drought and floods that will affect the national economy and people's livelihood are still matters of sincere concern to rational kings. Of course, in the fulfilled prayer activities, they will not only gain physical benefits, but also metaphysical benefits - their identity as the destined emperor can be certified through this.

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