Xianyou Temple and Dharma King Pagoda in Zhouzhi, Shaanxi

According to legend, the love story of Qin Mu Gong's daughter Nong Yu and Xiao Shi took place here. Nong Yu was good at playing the flute and was well versed in music since childhood. It was named Xianyou in ancient times. Xianyou Temple was first built in the 18th year of Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty (598 AD) and was originally called "Xianyou Palace". Later, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered the eminent monk Tong Zhen to build a pagoda in Xianyou Palace to house the Buddha's relics, and renamed it Xianyou Temple. During the Dazhong period of the Tang Dynasty, Xianyou Temple was expanded into three temples. In the sixth year of the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty (1441), it was restored and expanded again and renamed Puyuan Zen Temple. The temple was destroyed by war in the late Ming Dynasty. In the second year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1663), the temple was rebuilt and renamed Xianyou Temple. The existing main hall of Xianyou Temple is from the Qing Dynasty, with clay Buddha statues inside. There are paintings of two generals, Heng and Ha, on the east and west walls of the front eaves. There are ear rooms on both sides of the main hall, and more than 20 side rooms on the east and west sides. In front of the hall there is a large iron bell from the Ming Dynasty. In the northwest of the main hall is the Dharma King Pagoda built in the Sui Dynasty. 20 meters to the north of the Dharma King Pagoda, there is a Ming Dynasty Lama-style water-forcing pagoda built with stone strips, with a square pagoda base and an inverted bowl-shaped pagoda body. 40 meters east of the main hall, there is a stone Lama-style ordinary pagoda with a square stone base and an inverted bowl-shaped tower body, and the pagoda top is basically intact. In the first year of the Yuanhe reign (806), Bai Juyi passed the imperial examination and was appointed as the lieutenant of Zhouzhi County, where he wrote his masterpiece "Song of Everlasting Sorrow". The Dharma King Pagoda is located about 60 meters northwest of the main hall of Xianyou Temple. The entire shape is simple, solemn, exquisite and beautiful. It is a brick pagoda built in the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD). The tower has seven floors and is 35 meters high. Its base is square with a side length of about 8.7 meters. The eaves of the Dharma King's Pagoda are made up of thirteen layers of brick stacking and reverse stacking. There is a vaulted door on the south side of each layer of the tower body, and the pagoda top has been destroyed. The tower body gradually decreases in height layer by layer, with stepped eaves, and its shape is a dense-eaves tower. There is an underground palace under the Dharma King's Pagoda, which was accidentally discovered when the pagoda was moved. There is a double-sided engraved stone tablet and a stone casket in the underground palace. Inside the stone casket is a gilded bronze coffin, and inside the coffin is a light green glazed bottle. The glass bottle has a straight neck and thick belly, is about 4.6 cm high, with an outer diameter of about 1.3 cm and an inner diameter of about 0.8 cm at the mouth of the bottle, and an outer diameter of about 2.7 cm at the belly of the bottle. The bottle is exquisite and translucent, with a hazy green color, which seems to have an exotic charm. The Dharma King Pagoda of Xianyou Temple is the only extant brick pagoda from the Sui Dynasty in China. It is of great significance for the study of Sui Dynasty pagoda architecture and the history of Buddhist development. National Key Cultural Relics