What is the best time to visit Dabei Temple?

The best time to visit Dabei Temple: As the saying goes, sincerity leads to spirituality. Visiting gods and Buddhas can be done at any time of the year, preferably on the first and fifteenth day of each lunar month.

Dabei Zen Temple is located on the northeast side of the middle section of Tianwei Road in Hebei District, covering an area of ??16 acres. It is named after it worships Guanyin Bodhisattva. Dabei Zen Temple was built in the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty and was rebuilt twice in the eighth year of Kangxi (1669) and the early years of Guangxu. In the 11th year of Tongzhi (1872), Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, built a barracks near the Zen Temple to station the Huai army. A five-story watchtower was built in the southeast corner of the temple, commonly known as Zhenhai Tower, and the Zen Yuan was renamed Desheng Temple for a time. In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900), the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded. The temple was looted and the monks were scattered. In 1940, the east courtyard was expanded to its present scale. In 1954 and 1978, the city government allocated funds for its construction twice. Dabei Zen Temple is a municipal cultural relic protection unit and one of the key Buddhist temples in the country. The Tianjin Buddhist Association is located in the temple. Opened in 1986, it is an important Buddhist activity venue in Tianjin.

Dabei Zen Temple is a famous ancient Buddhist temple. It was built in the Shunzhi year of the early Qing Dynasty and rebuilt in the eighth year of Kangxi. The new temple was expanded in 1940. It is famous for enshrining the bones of Master Xuanzang, a famous monk in the Tang Dynasty. Dabei Zen Temple consists of two parts: the old temple and the new temple. The old temple is an affiliated part of the temple, with the new temple as the main body. Dabei Zen Temple consists of Tianwang Hall, Daxiong Hall, Dabei Hall, Ksitigarbha Hall, Master Xuanzang Memorial Hall, Master Hongyi Memorial Hall and Lecture Hall. The gilt bronze Sakyamuni statue enshrined in the Main Hall was cast in the Ming Dynasty. There are thousands of small Buddhas carved on the lotus seat, which is called the Thousand Buddha Lotus Seat in scriptures.

Dabei Zen Temple is magnificent and has two courtyards, the east and the west. The east courtyard is the main body of the temple, with green bricks and green tiles. It is majestic and consists of Tianwang Hall, Daxiong Hall, Dabei Hall, Ksitigarbha Hall, Master Xuanzang Memorial Hall, Master Hongyi Memorial Hall, etc. The west courtyard is now an auxiliary part, consisting of the Cultural Relics Hall, the Abbot Hall and the Buddhist Association Office.

The Hall of Heavenly Kings houses the statues of Maitreya Buddha and Wei Tuo, and the two sides are decorated with the four heavenly kings. The Main Hall is located in the center. It is 13 meters high and houses the gilt bronze statue of Sakyamuni cast in the Ming Dynasty. The statue is 7 meters high and weighs 6 tons together with the lotus base. There are 9999 small Buddhas carved on the base. The back hall is called the Hall of Great Compassion, and is dedicated to the statue of Avalokitesvara with Thousand Arms and Thousand Eyes. It is 3.6 meters high and was carefully sculpted by teachers from the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in two years. The east side hall houses Master Xuanzang Memorial Hall and Lecture Hall. The west side hall is the Ksitigarbha Hall and Master Hongyi Memorial Hall.

Dabei Zen Temple takes the new temple as the main body of the temple and consists of Tianwang Hall, Daxiong Hall, Dabei Hall, Ksitigarbha Hall, Master Xuanzang Memorial Hall, Master Hongyi Memorial Hall, and Lecture Hall. The old temple is now an affiliated part of the temple, consisting of the Cultural Relics Hall, the Abbot Hall and the Tianjin Branch Office of the Buddhist Association of China.

The bronze and gilded statue of Shiying Muni enshrined in the Main Hall was moved from Jinghai County and cast in the Ming Dynasty. It is 7 meters high and weighs 6 tons together with the lotus base. There are 9999 small Buddhas carved on the lotus base. The main Buddha in the Dabei Hall is a clay sculpture of the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, 3.6 meters high. It was carefully sculpted by teachers from the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in two years. The temple was once famous at home and abroad for enshrining the ashes of Master Xuanzang, a famous monk in the Tang Dynasty. In 1956, the ashes were transferred to Nalanda Temple in India for enshrinement. Now there is a simulation tower in the middle of Master Xuanzang Memorial Hall, with a statue of the master in its place. Spiritual bones. In this regard, Mr. Zhou Ruchang once wrote a poem: In the Great Compassion Courtyard, incense is burning, and the sound of Zen from the Buddhist utensils echoes around the painted beams. You must know that Master Zang’s remains are here, and his bones were sent to my hometown.

Now, there are hundreds of bronze, iron, stone and wooden Buddha statues from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties in the old temple cultural relics hall. Most of them were collected from Yungang, Longmen Grottoes and other places. Stolen cultural relics older than 1,000 years old and detained by customs have high artistic and archaeological value. The temple has Dabeiyuan Vegetarian House, which serves Buddhists and vegetarian lovers. It is the unique and only religious vegetarian house in Tianjin.

The temple also once enshrined the spiritual bones of Master Xuanzang, a monk from the Tang Dynasty, and presented them to Nalanda Temple in India in 1956. The courtyard has a red door with green tiles, a high Buddhist altar, towering pines and cypresses, and is solemn and quiet. It is one of the key Buddhist temples in the country.

The Great Compassion Temple is named after it enshrines the Great Compassion Avalokitesvara (also known as the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara). The original cypress-carved Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara statue in the temple was destroyed during the "Ten Years of Turmoil". There is now a 3.6-meter-high and 4-meter-wide golden statue of the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara in the back hall of Dabei Yuan. It has a solemn expression and moving appearance. It took Wang Jiabin of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and his assistants two years to carefully construct it in 1984. Designed and sculpted. The new statue combines traditional Buddhist art with modern plastic art. During the design and sculpture process, the characteristics of the Guanyin statues in Xinglong Temple in Zhengding County, Hebei Province and Shuanglin Temple in Pingyao County, Shanxi Province were absorbed to express the image of Guanyin Bodhisattva "rescuing people from suffering" and paying attention to the kindness, kindness, solemnity, gentleness and beauty of facial expressions. Rather than being charming and other characteristics. In the shaping of hands, the practice of showing arms from behind in Qing Dynasty statues was changed, and the method of extending arms from the shoulders and armpits was adopted, making it conform to the perspective of modern aesthetics and shaping so many hands from the body. , each hand has a different posture, holding various magical instruments. It must be organized but not rigid; it must be beautiful but not disorganized. The arms on the left and right sides of the Buddha statue are arranged in a fan-like shape. Each pair of hands forms a pair of hands. Their dynamics change and are connected. It is like a slow motion, dynamic and musical.

Dabei Zen Monastery was famous both at home and abroad for enshrining the bones of Master Xuanzang, a monk from the Tang Dynasty.

When Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Chen Yi paid a state visit to India in 1956, at the request of the Indian government, the bones of Xuanzang enshrined in Dabei Zen Monastery in Tianjin were sent to the Nalanda Temple in India, where Master Xuanzang studied and lectured, for enshrinement. Mr. Zhou Ruchang once wrote a poem: In the Great Compassion Courtyard, joss sticks are burned, and the sound of Zen from the Buddhist utensils echoes around the painted beams. You must know that Master Zang’s remains are here, and his bones were sent to my hometown. The cultural relics hall of Dabei Temple houses hundreds of various Buddha statues made of copper, iron, stone and wood from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Ming and Qing dynasties, which have high artistic and archaeological value.

In recent years, Hebei District is actively planning to build the Dabeiyuan business district based on culture, religion, and tourism, and the Dabeiyuan Phoenix City with a planned construction area of ??130,000 square meters. Some of the proposed place names with Buddhist overtones in the planning blueprint, such as Cihai Bridge, Release Platform, Relic Light Building, etc., are eye-catching.