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| Attraction-The Kaiyuan
Temple |
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Formerly known as the Lotus Flower Temple and
home to around a thousand monks, the Kai Yuan was originally
built, legend has it, after the owner of a small mulberry
grove on this site was visited in a dream by a Buddhist monk
who asked him to erect a place of worship on his land. "Only
if my mulberry trees bear lotus flowers," replied the owner
dismissively-whereupon the lotus flowers duly appeared. In
memory of this, an ancient mulberry in the temple courtyard
bears the sign "Mulberry Lotus Tree". The temple is highly
regarded architecturally, not least for its details which
include a
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kaiyuanTemple
is situated between the magnificent East and West Pagodas.
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hundred stone columns supporting the roof
of the main hall, most of which are carved with delicate musicians
holding instruments or sacrificial objects. The pagodas,
too are carved on each of their eight sides, with two images
of the Buddha, and inside, one of them has forty ancient Buddhist
stories inscribed on its walls.
Kaiyuan temple was built in the year 686 during the Tang Dynasty,
and is most well-known for its two pagodas which flank Daxiong
(Mahavira) Hall. They were originally built using wood and bricks,
but during the Song Dynasty a major reconstruction in stone
was done, a project which lasted for 22 years. Called the East
and West pagodas, they are probably two of the most well-preserved
stone pagodas in China today. |
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Twenty-four
flying apsaras decorate the corridor of the main hall
of Kaiyuan Temple.
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The most impressive parts of these pagodas
are the bas-relief carvings around the niches of each storey,
depicting warriors, lokapalas, guardian deities and arhats.
The artistic style is a mixture of Chinese and Indian styles,
not surprising since at that time cultural exchanges between
China and the outside world were fairly regular. However,
there is another, more practical, reason for the pagodas' unusual
style. When just four of the pagodas' storeys were complete,
the Chinese monk in charge of the construction work suddenly
died. His replacement was a monk from India, and it was under
him that the construction continued until its completion. |
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