Shanghai
La pagode et le temple de Long Hua
Juin 2000
Shanghai Shanghai Chine chine pagode bouddha temple Longhua
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| La pagode, vue du temple, ne présentait pas un aspect très typique - c'est dommage d'aller à ShangHai quand il y a des travaux. La Pagode et le temple, dont on voit ici la porte d'entrée de l'intérieur, se trouve dans un quartier en pleine reconstruction moderne traditionnelle. | ||
Habituellement la grande pagode est située à l'intérieur du temple dans les temples les pus anciens. Cela a changé sous la dynastie des Tang qui ont favorisé la construction de ces pagodes à coté des temples.
Located on the Longhua Road at the south of the city, Longhua Park is famous for the ancient Longhua Temple, Longhua Pagoda, the Evening Bell-Striking Ceremony and the peach blossoms. First built in 242 AD, which is during the period of the Three Kingdoms, Longhua Temple is the oldest temple in Shanghai for its long history of over 1700 years. Because of the several destructions by the wars, most of the buildings in Longhua Temple were reconstructed during the reign of the Emperor Tongzhi and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. Besides its long history, Longhua Temple is the largest temple in Shanghai. It occupies an area of over 20,000 square meters (five acres) and the architectural proportion is about 5,000 square meters (one point two acres). Along the 194 meters long (637 feet) axis are the Maitreya Hall (Miledian), Devajara Hall (Tianwangdian), Mahavira Hall (Daxiongbaodian), Three Sages Hall (Sanshengdian), Abbot's Hall (Fangzhangshi) and the Sutras Keeping Hall (Cangjinglou) which keeps the three treasures of the temple including the Dazang sutras, the gold seals and the Buddhist statues. Accessory halls on the two sides are the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, both of them are furnished with the same hexagonal windows and the curved eaves. The whole courtyard was built strictly in the style of traditional Buddhist symmetry and it's in accordance with the Chinese concept of beauty. A venerable copper bell which is two meters in height, one point three meters in diameter and weighs five tons (11,023 pounds) is placed on the three-storied Bell Tower. The Evening Bell-Striking Ceremony on 31st December is regarded as one of the eight great attractions of Shanghai. Welcoming the New Year in the melodious, heavenly sound of the bell is an interesting and memorable experience. The seven-storied, 40.4 meters high Longhua Pagoda stands in front of the Longhua Temple, the brick body and the wooden staircases make up the main structure of the Longhua Pagoda. Each storey is smaller than the storey below, and all the levels are encircled by balconies and banisters. Bells on each corner of the octagonal eaves make cheerful and lively sounds as the wind passes by. Longhua Pagoda has been rebuilt several times, but the style of the Song Dynasty still remains to today. In late spring, when the peaches in Longhua Park are in full blossom and the temple fair (on the 3rd March, lunar calendar) is under way, large numbers of tourists and pilgrims will come and the Longhua will become a place of great hustle and hustle.
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Le temple MAITREYA |  |
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| The first hall is the Maitreya Hall. Overhead is a horizontal tablet with three Chinese characters, "Longhuasi " (Longhua Temple) ,which were inscribed by Zhao Puzhu, charman of the Chinese Buddhdists' Association. |  |
The two three-storied buildings with upturned eaves are the bell and drum towers rebuilt in 1894 during the reign of the Qing Emperor Quangxu. The bell tower on the east side houses a giant bronze bell, two meters high and 6,500 kg. in weight. When the bell tolls at night, people in a distance of a few miles can hear it. "Evening bell at Longhua" is one of the eight great attractions in Shanghai. At night on every New Year Eve, the ceremony of "Striking Longhua Bell" is conducted here. |
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| On entering the hall we come face to face with the statue of a fat and smiling monk with bared stomach, he is Bidhisattve Maireya His smiles are contagious; you smile with him and forget all you worries Maitreya. His smiles are contagious; you smile with him and forget all your worries. Maitreya is senskrit and it means "the benevolent " and he is the future Buddha, a successor to Buddha Sakyamuni. However, the bodhisattva we see here is a Chinese bodhisattva, an incarnation of Maitreya. It is said that he was a monk in the Five Dynasties (907-960) named Qizhi, who always carried a wooden staff with a cloth sack on his shoulder. He often went around town and through the busy streets to beg alms. He laughed and smiled all the time, looking as happy as ever, hence he became known as the "cloth sack monk". In 916 the monk came to Fenghua in Zhejiang Province and sat on a millstone in the east corridor of Yue Lin Temple and there he passed away, leaving a message that he was the incarnation of Maitreya. Later, people regarded him as the incarnated Bodhisattva Maitreya and sculptured his image to be enshrined in the first hall of a Buddhist temple. |  |
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Le temple des dieux du ciel |  |
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Le royaume des rois des cieux contient deux grandes statues. Celle faisant face au grand hall représente Bodhisattva Skanda. Il était l'un des huit généraux du roi du sud, et était reconnu pour son incroyable courage parmi les 32 généraux des rois du ciel. Selon la légende chinoise c'était celui qui gardait les terres sacrées; c'est donc lui qui est le gardien de tous les temples. Ses mains reposent sur une massue magique qui peut vaincre le démon et éliminer toutes les craintes. |
| L'ouverture actuelle de la Chine fait que lors de cette visite les moines avaient réintégrés le temple et que des cérémonies y étaient célébrées. |  |
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Le parc des martyrs de la
révolution de Long Hua.
La ville de Shanghai au loin, avec ses grattes ciels, apparaît comme un dernier pied de nez... |
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