Scenic Splendor Fills the Hall | Xiaoxitian in Xixian County, Shanxi
【Shanxi's Beauty and Goodness·Xixian·Xiaoxitian Scenic Splendor Fills the Hall】The YYDS of Chinese hanging sculpture art is here, photos cannot show one percent of its beauty, this is the Buddhist pure land—Xiaoxitian located in Xixian County, Linfen City. To witness this splendid hall, you need to climb the stairs. Before you enter the Daxiong Hall, you better polish your eyes or glasses, I'm afraid you'll think you've entered a dream world! The hall is not big, even a bit cramped, those ingenious artworks are right in front of you, enjoy them slowly!
Tips1: The real value of Xiaoxitian lies in the perfectly preserved hanging sculptures in the Daxiong Hall. Most of the hanging sculptures in the hall were painted between the 17th year of the Ming Chongzhen era (1644) and the 13th year of the Qing Shunzhi era (1656), the sculptures inside the hall are dazzling and magnificent, exquisitely moving, after more than three hundred years they remain as clean as new, intact as ever. The hall is filled with colorful sculptures, in addition to the five main statues above the altar, the walls, beams, and even the roof rafters are all painted with thousands of colorful sculptures. These sculptures have different postures and vivid shapes, placing you in the halls and pavilions of a thousand Buddha nations. Some are over 3 meters tall, while others are only the size of a thumb, intricate but not cluttered, orderly expressing the vast world of Buddhism.
Tips2: Inside the Daxiong Hall, there are five interconnected Buddhist niches separated by a four-story pagoda. In the front of the hall, from left to right, 'Medicine Buddha', 'Amitabha Buddha', 'Shakyamuni Buddha', 'Vairocana Buddha', and 'Maitreya Buddha' are seated in the center of the niches, with attendant Bodhisattvas on both sides.
The ten great disciples stand on both sides, with graceful shapes and subtle expressions, vividly portrayed. On the south wall of the hall, Buddhist figures and stories such as the 'Four Directions Three Saints' and the 'Four Heavenly Kings' are sculpted, and on the north wall, stories from Mount Sumeru's thirty-three layers of 'Trāyastriṃśa Heaven', the life of Buddha, and the Jataka tales of Shakyamuni are depicted. On the beams, the eight great Vajra are mighty and majestic, and the walls between the beams are adorned with the resplendent 'Pure Land'; numerous human-faced Apsaras, divine birds, peacocks, parrots, and cranes roam among the misty clouds, and the twelve musical Bodhisattvas perform 'heavenly' songs and dances with light and graceful figures, gentle and pure, moving freely. The entire hall, with its heavenly palaces and pavilions, layered upon each other, shrouded in mist, and decorated with colorful makeup, presents a captivating scene of a fairy palace and Buddhist land.
📝Note tips:
1. It's cheaper to buy tickets online in advance
2. Photography is basically allowed📷
The journey starts with a small yellow car. As the mainstream transportation method to Xiaoxitian, it only costs 70 yuan to go back and forth, which can easily solve the travel problem. The art of hanging in the temple is the protagonist. Every hanging is carefully crafted, brightly colored and simple. It is rumored that it was built during the Ming Dynasty, and the Buddha statue did not provoke dust because of the dust. When I lost my way, I also met a master who lived here for 10 years by chance. We talked very happily, from the history of the temple to the protection of the hanging art, the master's words are full of wisdom and affection, let me know more deeply about Xiaoxitian, but also have a sincere respect for the guardians of this cultural heritage. The whole tour plus lunch, about 2 hours. If you stay more, you can also taste the local jade fragrant pear. As I left, I couldn't help but look back at the land full of stories, and I promised myself that I would visit this place again in the future to continue to explore the unfinished stories and the unfinished beauty.
The wife is very good, super super super recommended! The exhaustion of driving for two and a half hours was swept away at the moment of entering the Xiaoxitian Daxiong Palace. The hall is full of suspension, different postures, and magnificent, making people unable to open their eyes and reluctant to leave.
It is worth coming. I also invited a tour guide and told me in detail. It is indeed very beautiful, but it is very inconvenient to go. It is only necessary to drive a chartered car or report a group. In winter, there is no public group.
Xiaoxitian, also known as the Thousand Buddhas Temple, is located in the western Phoenix Mountains of Jixian City, Linyi City, Shanxi Province. It is a Buddhist Zen monastery, founded by Dongming Zen Master in Ming Chongxu in Ming Dynasty. Initially because of the Buddha statue in the temple of the great male, the name was changed to "small west sky" because of the heavy door title "to the west sky", and to distinguish another Ming Dynasty temple in the south of the city. The construction area of Xiaoxi Tianquan Temple in Jixian County is more than 1100 square meters, and there are many temples such as Daxiong Palace, Wenshu Temple, Puxian Temple, Liangless Temple, Tianwang Temple, Weiqian Temple, Dizang Temple, Bell Tower, Drum Tower, and the cave as the door, dividing the upper courtyard, the middle courtyard and the front courtyard. In fact, two-thirds of the temples are double-storey buildings. The hanging color paintings in Xiaoxi County are unique within days. Xiaoxi Tian in Jixian County is now a key cultural relics protection unit in the country.
Although it is two hours' drive from Linyi City, when you see the large and small colored sculptures in the house, it is simply stunned, it is worth it.