Yunju Temple Explained

Yunju Temple
Map Type:China Beijing municipality
Coordinates:39.6081°N 115.7678°W
Religious Affiliation:Buddhism
Country:China

Yunju Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Fangshan District, 70km (40miles) southwest of Beijing and contains the world's largest collection of stone Buddhist sutra steles. Yunju Temple also contains one of only two extant woodblocks for the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka in the world as well as rare copies of printed and manuscript Chinese Buddhist Tripitakas. It also has many historic pagodas dating from the Tang and Liao dynasty.

History

The exact year Yunju Temple was built is unknown; however construction started during the Northern Qi dynasty (550 CE – 570 CE).[1] Around 611 CE, a high priest named Jingwan (? - 639 CE) made a vow to engrave Buddhist sutras on stone steles to insure Buddhism's future survival because of the challenges Chinese Buddhism had recently faced during the anti-Buddhist campaigns of Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei and Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou.[2] Venerable Jingwan therefore set in motion a movement to engrave Buddhist sutras on stone steles that continued for over a thousand years; the last stone sutra stele engraved is dated to 1691 CE --- although by that time, the belief in the impending disaster of the Degenerate Age had subsided.[3] [1] The stone sutra steles varied in size and were engraved on both sides. In addition to text, they were also engraved sometimes with images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as well as Siddhaṃ Letters. The collection of stone sutra steles is also sometimes called the Fangshan Stone Sutra (Chinese: 房山石經). Venerable Jingwan initially vowed to engrave the entire Tripitaka; at least ten titles still survive today.[4] His successors continued his work. One of them was involved in the engraving of the oldest extant copy (dated to 661 CE) of Tripitaka Master Xuanzang’s 649 CE translation of the Heart Sutra.[5] During the Sui and Tang dynasties, donors oftentimes determined which sutra to engrave on the stone stele; hence many sutras were engraved multiple times. Royal patronage began in the Sui dynasty (see below for rediscovery of Buddha relics). During the Tang dynasty, Princess Jinxian (ca. 713 - 755 CE) petitioned Emperor Xuanzong to donate over 4,000 manuscript scrolls of the Buddhist Tripitaka and land to support Yunju Temple's engraving of stone sutra steles. There is still a pagoda commemorating Princess Jinxian's support on the top of Fangshan mountain. During the Liao dynasty, royal patronage attempted to complete the engraving of the incomplete Mahayana sutras and missing Mahayana titles. Also during this time, royal patronage attempted to engrave on stone stele the entire Liao dynasty's Khitan Tripitaka . Because the Sui and Tang dynasty manuscripts on which the Sui and Tang dynasty stone steles were based as well as the printed copies of the Khitan Tripitaka on which the Liao dynasty stone sutras were based have largely disappeared, this makes the Fangshan stone sutras of Yunju Temple a rare treasure house of Buddhist sutras.[6] Since these stone steles were engraved with an eye on fidelity to the original, they can be used to potentially correct later printed Tripitakas. Since Venerable Jingwan's time a total of nine caves were excavated and filled with stone sutra steles, two underground depository rooms were also excavated and numerous temple halls were added and repaired. The most famous cave is Cave No. 5 popularly known as Leiyin Cave . This cave is opened for public viewing and is a large cave covered with stone sutra steles on four walls with an area for Buddhist ceremonies. Formerly a statue of Maitreya, the next Buddha was enshrined here but it was removed by unknown persons during the early 1940s.[7] In the early 1940s, a significant portion of the temple was destroyed; however substantial portions have since been restored.[8] Based on inscriptions on a stone stele found in a refreshment/rest stop pavilion donated by a Ming dynasty Buddhist stating the presence of Buddha relics or śarīra in Leiyin Cave, on November 27, 1981, archaeologists rediscovered the flesh śarīra (of Buddha) donated by Emperor Yangdi of the Sui dynasty dated to the 8th day of the 4th lunar month 616 CE.[9] [10]

Collection

There are also over 22,000 scrolls of rare printed or manuscript sutras kept at Yunju Temple. The Ming dynasty's Yongle Southern Tripitaka (1420 CE) and Yongle Northern Tripitaka (1440 CE) are stored here as well as individual printed sutras and manuscripts.

In total, 1,122 Buddhist sutras in 3572 volumes were produced at the temple consisting of over 14,200 stone steles engraved on both sides.[11]

Yunju Temple also has one of only two extant complete woodblocks of the Chinese Tripitaka in the world: namely the Qianlong Tripitaka (1733). Carved on over 77,000 blocks, it attracts a large number of visitors.[12] [13]

Yunju Temple also has two bone relics of the Buddha (śarīra) available for public viewing.[12]

Layout

There were originally six halls in the temple, arranged from east to west. On both sides of the halls, there was accommodation for guests and dormitories for monks.

The temple contains a total of twelve pagodas from the Tang and Liao dynasties and three tomb pagodas from the Qing dynasty.

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Transl
  2. Shi 1991
  3. CBETA
  4. Web site: Lancaster . Lewis . Rock Cut Canon in China . https://web.archive.org/web/20040624094126/http://ishi.lib.berkeley.edu:80/buddhist/bbrc/fang_shan_canon.html . dead . 2004-06-24 . Later records state that he wished to carve the twelve divisions of sûtras (the entire canon attributed to the Buddha's direct teaching) on the stones..
  5. Web site: http://www.sach.gov.cn/art/2016/9/27/art_723_133778.html . zh:房山石经 《心经》 刊刻研究成果发布 被认为是现存最早版本，为玄奘所译 . 国家文物局 State Administration of Cultural Heritage . Gao you . Fangshan’s Stone Sutra's "Heart Sutra" : Announcement of Results of Research into Engraved Stone Stele - Presumed to be Earliest Extant Copy - Translated by Xuanzang . 2016-09-27 . 2017-10-24 . 而房山石经中唐高宗显庆六年 （661年） 镌刻的 《心经》 是现存最早的版本， 镌刻时玄奘尚在世， 三年以后才圆寂。 这部石经明确题署： “三藏法师玄奘奉诏译”，而且造经功德主来自邻近长安的栎阳县， 距离玄奘当时所在的大慈恩寺不远。同时， 唐高宗总章二年（669 年）镌刻的《心经》， 同样题署“三藏法师玄奘奉诏译”。 此外， 西安碑林收藏的咸亨三年（672 年）弘福寺沙门怀仁集王羲之书《大唐三藏圣教序》 后面的 《心经》， 也题署“玄奘奉诏译”。 由此可以确证： 玄奘翻译了 《心经》， 而且是“奉”唐太宗的“诏”命翻译的。 (tr. to English: …amongst Fangshan Stone Sutra Steles, the engraved stone stele of the Heart Sutra dated to 661 CE is the earliest extant copy of [Xuanzang’s 649 translation of] the Heart Sutra, engraved while Xuanzang was still alive, as he passed away only three years after the engraving. This stone sutra stele explicitly states in its colophon: “Tripitaka Master Xuanzang was ordered to translate”; moreover the merits for engraving the stele came mainly from Yueyang County adjacent from Chang’an (today’s Xian) [this is the home town of the donor Yang Shesheng (楊社生) and his family], which is not far from Daci’en Monastery [where Xuanzang was translating sutras at the time]. Also there is another engraved stone stele of the Heart Sutra [located at Fangshan] dated to 669 CE which also has the same colophon inscription i.e. “Tripitaka Master Xuanzang was ordered to translate.” In addition to these, we have Xian's Stele Forest [stone stele] dated to 672 CE, Hongfu Temple’s [another temple where Tripitaka Master Xuanzang translated sutras] Ven. Master Huairen’s [commission of the (re)engraving of] “Foreword of the Holy Teaching of the Tripitaka of the Great Tang” [written by Emperor [[Tang Taizong]]] [reign 626 CE - 649 CE] and on the reverse the “Heart Sutra” [both] in the collected calligraphic style of Wang Xizhi, which is also inscribed with “Xuanzang was ordered to translate.” Therefore these examples certify that Xuanzang did indeed translate the Heart Sutra and furthermore was ordered to do so by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.. zh-hans).
  6. Dan and Wang 2001, p26
  7. Web site: 佛舍利明起重回雲居寺 . 2009-06-22 . 中国网 China.com.cn . zh-hans . Buddha Relic (Śarīra) Starting Tomorrow to Return to Yunju Temple . 2017-10-24 . 雷音洞內不到40平方米，高不到3米，中間原有一座彌勒佛像，上世紀40年代初被挪走...(tr. to English: Leiyin Cave is about 40 square meters and about 3 meters in height. In the middle there was originally a statue of Maitreya; however it was removed during the early 1940s...).
  8. Liao & Pin (2006), 25.
  9. The date Emperor Yangdi donated/dedicated the Buddha relics was on the 8th day of the 4th month which is the traditional day East Asian Buddhists celebrated Buddha's birthday.
  10. Web site: 佛舍利明起重回雲居寺 . 2009-06-22 . 中国网 China.com.cn . zh-hans . Buddha Relic (Śarīra) Starting Tomorrow to Return to Yunju Temple . 2017-10-24 . 11月27日11時15分，沈書權一行7人在雷音洞開始發掘。……，裏面有一個半米見方的漢白玉石函。“當時我們都十分興奮啊！絕對是寶貝。抬回來打開一看，果然是兩顆佛舍利。”沈書權回憶，他們還特地挑的28日淩晨開函。(tr. to English: November 27th at 11:15 AM, Shen Shuquan together with a group of 7 people were in Leiyin Cave starting to excavate……inside was a 1.5 square meter white jade container. “At the time, we were really excited! It must be a treasure. We bought it back and opened it, and sure enough there were two Buddha relics (śarīra).” Shen Shuquan reminisce, they also especially selected the dawn of the 28th to open the container.).
  11. https://web.archive.org/web/20130205224405/http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5319/
  12. Web site: Connecting China Connecting the World . China Daily Website . 2020-10-29 . zh . 2021-08-09.
  13. The other extant complete woodblock of the Chinese Tripitaka is located in Korea in Haeinsa (see also Tripitaka Koreana)

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