National Treasure Ancient Architecture - Fengguo Temple

Fengguo Temple, located at No. 18 Dongjie, Yixian County, was first built in the ninth year of the Liao Kaitai period (1020). It was a royal temple built by Emperor Shengzong of the Liao Dynasty, Yelü Longxu, in his mother Empress Dowager Xiao's hometown. Initially named Xianxi Temple, it was renamed Fengguo Temple during the Jin Dynasty. Fengguo Temple, along with Dule Temple and Shanhuasi Temple, is known as one of the three major temples of the Liao Dynasty in China. In 1961, it was selected as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units and is one of the four 'National First-Class' in Liaoning Province. In 2012, it was included in the 'China World Cultural Heritage Tentative List' and recorded in the UNESCO 'World Heritage Tentative List'. Fengguo Temple is the only surviving example of the complete layout of ancient Buddhist temple architecture in China. It was praised by Liang Sicheng as a 'millennium national treasure, supreme national treasure, and rare treasure'. During the Liao and Jin periods, the temple had a grand scale, reaching its peak in the Yuan Dynasty. Unfortunately, by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, only the Mahavira Hall remained, which has been preserved to this day. The Mahavira Hall of Fengguo Temple is the largest surviving Buddhist hall in ancient China and is listed among the 'Eight Great Wooden Structures of the Liao Dynasty' in China. The Mahavira Hall is built on a 3-meter-high platform, with a five-ridge single-eave hip roof. It has nine bays in width, 48.2 meters long, five bays in depth, 25.13 meters wide, and 21 meters high, with a building area of 1829 square meters. Inside the hall, there is the world's oldest and largest group of colored clay Buddha statues. From east to west, they are Kasyapa Buddha, Krakucchanda Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, Vipasyin Buddha, Visvabhu Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, and Sakyamuni Buddha. All seven Buddhas sit on Sumeru thrones, each over 9 meters tall. The central Vipasyin Buddha is the tallest, with a total height of 9.5 meters. The 'Seven Buddhas of the Past' (Sakyamuni Buddha and the six Buddhas before his enlightenment) are uniquely enshrined together, with Sakyamuni Buddha among them, making it unique in the Buddhist world. Each Buddha has two attendant Bodhisattvas standing on either side, each 2.5 meters tall, totaling 14 statues. The Bodhisattvas are depicted in various poses, some looking up, some looking down, some standing obliquely, and some looking straight ahead, each stepping on a lotus flower. Their dignified and lifelike appearances are striking. At the east and west ends of the Buddha altar, there are statues of Heavenly Kings, each 3.5 meters tall, standing with a staff, looking majestic and powerful. Behind the Vipasyin Buddha, there is a statue of the reverse-seated Guanyin, rebuilt in the 31st year of the Ming Wanli period (1603), standing 3.8 meters tall. Besides Sudhana and the Dragon Girl, there is also an eagle and a clean bottle, hence it is also called 'Eagle Bottle Guanyin', a rare male Guanyin statue in China. In addition, there are murals on the east and west walls of the hall. Although most have been damaged, some outlines are still faintly visible. The beams and brackets inside the hall are decorated with thousands of square meters of Liao Dynasty paintings and exquisite flying apsaras. On the east and west sides of the hall, there are more than ten steles recording the history of this thousand-year-old temple. Fengguo Temple integrates elements of ancient Chinese wooden architecture, sculpture, painting, murals, stone carvings, steles, and plaques, making it a temple of ancient architecture for cultural relic enthusiasts. This weekend, I finally fulfilled my wish to visit the ancient sites of Yixian and Beizhen, gaining a lot and feeling that the trip was worthwhile.