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The Sakyamuni Pagoda at Fogong Temple (#)

Les noms des biens figurent dans la langue dans laquelle les Etats parties les ont soumis.

Chine (Asie et pacifique)

Date de soumission : 12/02/1996
Critères:
Catégorie : Culturel
Soumission préparée par :
National Commission of the People's Republic of China for UNESCO
Coordonnées
The Sakyamuni Pagoda at Fogona Temple is located northwest of Ying County, Shanxi Prov.
Ref.: 94

Description

The Sakyamuni Pagoda at Fogong Temple is located northwest of Ying County, Shanxi Province, completely made of wood, it is therefore called the Ying County Wooden Pagoda. The total height of the Pagoda is 67.31 meters. It is the only pure wooden pagoda extant in China. The largeness of the pagoda the exquisite craftsmanship manifested in its construction, and the 900 years of preservation makes it not only the highest among the extant wooden architecture in our country, but also among ancient architecture in the world. The-Sakyamuni Pagoda at Fogong Temple was built during the 2th year of the Liao Emperor Qing Ning's reign (in 1056) by a monk called Monk Tian, who built it by collecting donations under the order of the emperor. At that time the pagoda was the main architecture at the temple, located in the central front part of the temple. Behind it was the hall of the temple. The entire layout of the temple keeps the old style of putting the pagoda in the main position. During the 3th year of the Yuan Emperor Ying Zong's reign (in 1323),when the Emperor passed by Ying County on his way to the Wutai Mountains, he visited Sakyamuni Pagoda. The Ming Emperor held Zu climbed the Pagoda on his way during his northern expedition in the fourth year of his reign (1406), and wrote a plaque "Beautiful and Miraculous Pagoda". Then the Ming Emperor held a banquet and enjoyed himself at the Pagoda in the 3rd year of his reign (1508), he left an inscription "The Miracle of Heaven", which is still hung below the eaves of the third and fourth floor of the Pagoda now. The ground floor of the Pagoda is octagonal with a diametre of 30.27 metres, which is the largest among ancient pagodas. Five floors are detectable from outside the Pagoda, whereas the lower four floors each has an additional hidden floor within, thus the Pagoda is actually nine floors high. The ground floor has overlapping eaves and additional steps. The first floor of the Pagoda has a gate opening to the south. Facing the gate is a statue of Sakyamuni which is about 10 metres tall, at the top is an exquisite caisson, and there are six portraits of Buddha on the wall. On the both sides of the gateway are murals of Vajrapani, Uranus, and disciples. The three paintings of Buddhist devotees on the upper door frame are most exquisite. All these statues and murals are of a Liao Dynasty style. There are two pairs of wooden stairs at the southwest of the first floor, but only one pair for each of the other floors. From the second to the fifth floor, each contains statues and platforms. On the second floor, the platform is square on which stand one Buddha and four Bodhisattvas. On the third floor , the platform is octagonal, very exquisitely made, on which stand four buddhas. On the fourth floor the platform is square, on which stand one Buddha, two Bodhisattvas and two Disciples. One Bodhisattva rides on an elephant, the other on an lion. The original

Kasyapa Buddha among the elephant servant and the two Disciples have been damaged. On the fifth floor the platform is also square, on which stand one Buddha and eight Bodhisattvas. The original appearances of the statues have changed through frequent alterations and additions by later generations. Among them the original Liao Dynasty style of the Buddha and the seats of the two Bodhisattvas on the first floor and the statues of Samantabhadra on the fourth floor, however, are still retained. On the exterior of each floor of the Pagoda, there are wide seats and balustrades. People can walk outside the Pagoda, circuit around it, and have a bird's_eye view of the entire Ying County, Heng Mountain, and Sanggan River. The wooden Pagoda has survived many trials of strong earthquakes through the past thousand years. It was recorded in an ancient document that during the Yuan Emperor Shun Di's reign, an earthquake lasted seven days, but the Pagoda stayed intact. In recent years, the Pagoda has been touched by earthquakes in Xingtai and Tangshan, Hebei Province, and Helinge'erm Inner Mongolia: the Pagoda, however, did not suffer any damage. This shows that the Pagoda has strong resistance to earthquakes, and also reflects the achievement of wood architecture in ancient China. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the People's Government assigned many experts to make surveys and study the Pagoda, and carried out many reinforcement and maintenance projects on the Pagoda. A group of importance and valuable historical relics were found in 1974 when the Pagoda was refurbished, among which are a picture of gathering medicinal herbs and Buddhist scriptures, originals from the Liao Dynasty. The scriptures are Liao Dynasty hand-written copies and wood-block prints, some are over 30 metres long, some came from very early times- the 8th year of Tong He (990), 21st year of Tong He (1003), 10th year of Xian Yong (1071). All are rare relics both at home and abroad, not only valuable for the revision and collation of Buddhist scriptures, but also of great significance to the study of the history of the development of printing in ancient China, and the history of cultural development and exchange within a multi-national country.