If I had known about the Huayan Temple in Datong, I wouldn't have gone to Kyoto and Nara
The principle of dependent origination, the ancient temple in the clouds, embodies the Huayan Sutra.
To get to the ancient city of Datong, navigate to Qingyuan Gate and walk 500 meters to arrive. The off-season ticket price is 40 yuan, and during peak season it's 50 yuan. Group ticket purchases require one person's ID card.
Huayan Temple is located in the southwest corner of the ancient city of Datong, founded in the seventh year of the Liao dynasty's Chongxi era (1038 AD). The temple faces east and is laid out along two main north-south axes, with over 30 individual buildings including the mountain gate, Puguangming Hall, Daxiong Treasure Hall, Baojiao Scripture Depository, and Huayan Pagoda. The temple complex covers an area of 66,000 square meters and is one of the earliest and best-preserved Liao and Jin dynasty temple complexes in China. It was declared a national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council in 1961.
Historical records show that the Huayan school of Buddhism was prevalent during the Liao dynasty. Emperor Daozong personally wrote a ten-volume praise for the 'Avatamsaka Sutra' and had the entire 'Khitan Tripitaka' of 579 volumes carved and printed. These were placed in the Baojiao Scripture Depository of the Great Huayan Temple in the Western Capital, and stone and bronze statues of various emperors were 'reverently installed' within the temple, making the Great Huayan Temple a royal ancestral temple. By the end of the Liao dynasty, seven or eight out of ten temple buildings had been destroyed by war. The Jin dynasty rebuilt the temple on the same site, and by the early Yuan dynasty, it was still a grand temple in the clouds. During the Xuande and Jingtai years of the Ming dynasty, the temple was extensively renovated, Buddha statues were re-sculpted, and it flourished once again. From the mid-Ming dynasty onwards, the temple was divided into upper and lower sections, each with its own mountain gate and distinct layout, hence the terms 'Upper' and 'Lower' Huayan Temple. The temple suffered further damage in the early Qing dynasty, and although repairs were made in the early years of Emperor Kangxi's reign, its former glory was not restored. In 2008, Datong City launched a famous city revival project. Based on the records of the 'Golden Stele' in the temple, a huge investment was made to carry out large-scale renovations of Huayan Temple, restoring the grandeur of the Liao and Jin period.
This northern Buddhist temple, which flourished during the Liao and Jin dynasties in the Western Capital, houses buildings, statues, scripture depositories, murals, flat ceilings, and caisson ceilings. With its long history, vast scale, and exquisite craftsmanship, it is known as the Liao and Jin Art Museum.
The main hall, Daxiong Treasure Hall, was originally built in the eighth year of the Liao dynasty's Qingning era (1062 AD) and was rebuilt on the same site in the third year of the Jin dynasty's Tianjuan era (1140 AD). It is nine bays wide and covers an area of 1,559 square meters, making it the largest Buddhist hall from the Liao and Jin period still in existence in China.
The Baojiao Scripture Depository was built in the seventh year of the Liao dynasty's Chongxi era (1038 AD). It is five bays wide, and inside, along the walls, there are 38 small wooden scripture cabinets arranged in a multi-story style, as well as five 'Heavenly Palace' cabinets. The craftsmanship is ingenious and exquisite, and it was praised by the famous architect Liang Sicheng as a 'unique treasure in China'. The central Buddha altar in the hall is adorned with 31 clay sculptures from the Liao dynasty, which are considered masterpieces of Liao sculpture. The smiling, clasped-hands bodhisattva is particularly lifelike, and the historian Zheng Zhenduo praised it as the 'Venus of the East'.
The Huayan Pagoda is the second-largest pure wooden mortise-and-tenon structure pagoda in China after the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda. It stands 43 meters tall with a golden disc on top and a lotus pond below. Particularly notable is the Thousand Buddha Crypt beneath the pagoda, which spans nearly 500 square meters and is made of 100 tons of pure copper. It houses the relics of high monks and a thousand Buddha statues, shining with golden splendor. It is unique in the country and exemplifies the perfect combination of tradition and reality.
A sudden heavy rain washed down Huayan Temple, but also for a few days to Datong travel down the temperature, the rain Huayan Temple has a taste, people can have an inexplicable quiet and peaceful. Huayan Temple is worth walking slowly and quietly watching, whether it is the two different eras of the kiss at the top of the Grand Xiong Pagoda, the murals of the whole wall in the temple, or the Shelly collected in the Huayan Pagoda Palace, it is worth watching and exploring.
Huayan Temple is a very worth visiting attraction, the precipitation of history and culture, and the classics that cannot be replicated. Especially the Thousand Buddha Land Palace, which is nearly 500 square meters under the Huayan Pagoda, was built with 100 tons of pure copper, and was the largest copper-made land palace in China when built. The four main Buddhas and 448 small Buddhas are worshipped on the four walls of the earth palace, plus more than 1,000 statues of relief Buddhas on the walls and tower columns. The crystal Shelly pagoda in the center of the earth palace welcomes the Buddha's high monk Shelly. The reliefs recorded the experience of Sakyamuni's life with patterns, such as "Birth under the tree", "The heavens and the people to give clothes", "Deyu Shamen", "Miao Zhuan Falun", etc. Huayan Pagoda for the high monk Sheli and the thousands of Buddha statues, magnificent, the only national, is a perfect combination of tradition and reality.
Huayan Temple is a temple with a long history and deep cultural heritage. The architectural style is unique and magnificent. Although it rains, it seems to be in a fairyland. The patient explanation of the interpreter makes us understand the wisdom of ancient historical buildings and humanistic craftsmen.
To Datong, there are two attractions to go to, one is the Yungang Grottoes outside the city, and the other is the Huayan Temple in the city. Huayan Temple was built in Liaozhongxi seven years (1038 AD), named after the Buddhist classic "Huayan Sutra". I have been to many monasteries, but Huayan Temple gives me the feeling of not being solemn, but quiet and atmospheric. Walking in the temple, you can temporarily forget the helplessness of the dust, and the heart is very quiet.
The base of the Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty architecture, the mud-plastic Ming Dynasty, the murals of the Qing Dynasty, the first temple to enter the door early in the morning, the first Daxiong Palace to enter, the largest Daxiong Palace in China, a person, goose bumps are up, the roof kiss, the bucket arch and the algae well are quite a look, Buddha statue, The mud plastic is also quite exquisite, and the deformed Guanyin is also the first time I saw this shape. Liang Sicheng's research on Huayan Temple at the time was not unreasonable, and he did not post photos of Buddha statues.
It is worth going to Huayan Temple, built in the Sui Dynasty, the scenery is beautiful and surrounded by mountains and rivers. In ancient times, there were streams in the north and south. The water grass was rich. The cypress, flowers and trees, and the pine were towering in the sky. Every March 20 temple fair, the drums were singing, the head was moving, and the commercial activities were prosperous. It was a famous Buddhist resort in ancient times.