Kong Xiang Temple is the burial place of Han Hong, the ancestor of Buddhism. In recent years, Chinese and foreign monks often come here to seek their roots and ask their ancestors. The ancient Kongxiang Temple used to be a Buddhist shrine, and it is still a splendid cultural shrine.
According to the records of Shaanxi in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, when Buddhism was introduced to Shaanxi in 58-75 A.D., Kong Xiang Temple was built in Yongping years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which has been more than 1900 years. It is a Buddhist holy place in the same period as Baima Temple, the first ancient temple in China.
Kongxiang Temple is the burial place of Dharma, the ancestor of early Zen Buddhism. He is famous for giving his life for the law and establishing Zen. According to historical records, after giving a lecture at Shaolin Temple, the founder of Dharma went to Ding Lin Temple at the foot of Xiong 'er Mountain for five years, and died in December of May 36, the second year of Datong, Liang Wudi, at the age of 150. Monks are very sad, such as bereavement. According to the Buddha's ceremony, the first ancestor master was buried in Ding Lin Temple, and the Faring Pagoda and the Dharma Hall were built. Xiao Yan, a native of Wudi, A Liang, personally wrote "Preface to the Ode to the Dharma Patriarch in the Southern Dynasties" to commemorate the founder of Dharma. Later, on the way back from the Western Regions in the first year of Yuanxiang, the envoys of the Eastern Wei Dynasty met Master Dharma and returned to the Western Regions with a stick, and immediately reported to the emperor. When the emperor heard about it, he ordered the excavation of the Dharma Tomb, only to find that the master had become a Buddha, so he renamed Ding Lin Temple "Kongxiang Temple".
According to relevant historical records, Dharma is the prince of the third incense king in South Tianzhu (now India), and his surname is Chatelai. He was ordered by Prajna Paramita, the twenty-seventh ancestor of the Western Heaven, to cross the sea in the first year of Liangtong (AD 520) and landed in Guangzhou. Liang Wudi believed in Buddhism, so he welcomed Dharma to the capital Jinling (now Nanjing). The two men had different understandings of Buddhism and broke up in discord. Dharma resolutely left Jinling, crossed the Yangtze River by reed raft, and came to Ding Lin Temple at the foot of Xiong 'er Mountain, where he became the abbot according to law and gave lectures to the people. The dignitaries and ordinary people who came to listen to his speech were in an endless stream. He is called "the sage of the west and the living Buddha of the east", so Ding Lin Temple is famous all over the world. Later, Master Dharma gradually realized that the Tao is not deep, and to achieve the realm of "dharma and I are empty", it is necessary to cultivate self-cultivation, so he went to Shaolin Temple, a Buddhist holy place, to practice for nine years.
In the second year of Datong, Liang Wudi (AD 536), Dharma died while giving a lecture at Qian Sheng Temple in Yumen, Luoyang, at the age of 150, and was buried in Ding Lin Temple in Xiong 'er Mountain. After hearing the news, Liang Wudi personally wrote an article to erect a monument, praising the boundless merits of the Master in establishing Zen Buddhism. The history of this monument is over 1460 years. Although it has been eroded by wind and rain, the inscription is still recognizable. The year after Dharma's death, Master Ji 'an built this tower and named it "Jue Yuan Empty Tower". The existing tower was built in the fifth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (AD 1372). Blue brick structure, seven-level pagoda, two-story pedestal, about 12 meters high. The tower is octagonal and the pagoda is Aquarius-shaped. In the first year of Yuanxiang in the Eastern Wei Dynasty (AD 538), Emperor Xiaojing renamed Ding Lin Temple as Kongxiang Temple.
The newly unearthed inscription "Fenyang Wang Zhi Temple Table" in Kong Xiang Temple is120cm high, 60cm wide and15cm thick. ***26 lines, full of 44 words. The head of the tablet is round, and the double-line seal script is "Fenyang Wangding Hall Table". This monument was built in September of the 12th year of the Tang Dynasty (AD 858). This monument was built by the descendants of Guo Ziyi, the king of Fenyang. The main idea of the inscription is that when Guo Ziyi put down the Anshi Rebellion, he went to the worship of Dharma shrine in Kongxiang Temple and made a wish that if Zen Master Dharma blessed and put down the rebellion, he would serve the court and give him special honor. Sure enough, nine years after the Anshi Rebellion was put down (A.D.165438+October 772), Guo Ziyi wrote to the imperial court, demanding that the temple be rectified.
Half a year later, the imperial court awarded "The Buddhist monk Dharma should be posthumous title Jue Yuan, and the temple forehead is an empty temple, and the tower forehead is an empty tower ..." On this basis, the temple was renamed as an empty temple by Li, and Dharma was added as the Buddhist monk and Tamata was an empty tower. The excavation of Wang Zhi Temple Table in Fenyang still has important historical value for studying the history of Buddhist culture and the origin of Zen. It also provides more precious materials for studying the rise and fall history of Zen Buddhism and Kongxiang Temple, the relationship between Guo Ziyi and Kongxiang Temple, and the geographical evolution of Kongxiang Temple. In the third year of Tang Tianbao (AD 748), Guo Ziyi was ordered by the emperor to rebuild Kongxiang Temple, and he personally served as the chief engineer. After the project was completed, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty named Dharma "Jue Yuan" and Tamata "Kongguan". After the Tang Dynasty, Kong Xiang Temple has been repaired and expanded for generations. The main buildings in the temple are the mountain gate, the Heavenly King Hall, the Ursa Major Hall, the Thousand Buddhas Hall, the Water and Land Hall, and the White Guanyin Pavilion. In the south, there are Thamathat, Dharma Hall, Turret, South and North Monastery, etc. There are more than 400 temples, covering more than 50 acres. About 50 meters southwest of the temple, there is a famous mountain pagoda forest in western Henan. Covering an area of more than 30 acres, there are more than 400 pagodas. The layout of the whole temple is neat, with ancient steles standing in the forest, morning bells and drums, and cigarettes around.