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| Asoka Temple |
| 2005-03-26 10:08:09 |
 Asoka Temple is situated at the southern foot of Mount Pushan in north-eastern Yinxian County, 5 kilometers from Tiantong Temple in the southeast and 20 kilometers away from downtown of Ningbo. As a famous temple of Chan sect of Buddhism in China, Asoka Temple has an important role in the history of Buddhism in China and in the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges. As a temple that keeps the exquisite stupa with the Sykyamuni's sarira and, the temple enjoys a very high reputation among Buddhist believers both at home and abroad.  It was said that in 486 BC, after his nirvana, Sykyamuni's body was cremated by Anan and other disciples of Sykyamuni's and from the remains were found 84,000 colorful beads, brilliant and solid, which were called sarira. Asoka, King of East India, who felt sinful for the wars he had launched to seize the throne and for the death of so many people whom he had killed in the wars, decided to atone for his crime. He had 84,000 stupas built in a night and dedicated a sarira of Sykyamuni's true body in each stupa. After finishing the stupas, he had them kept in "eight auspicious and six special places". In 278 in the West Jin Dynasty, Hui Da (whose original name was Liu Sahe), a monk, set out to look for the stupas. He traveled from north to south, covering numerous mountains and rivers. When he came to Wushiao, Mount Pushan, Ningbo (now Daqian town, Beilun), he heard the sound of a ringing bell from the underground. He began to prostrate himself in worship. After reading scriptures for three successive days and nights, a small dazzling stupa came out of the ground before him. In the stupa was a bell and the sarira of Buddhist's head bone. Hui Da built a temple on the spot to enshrine the stupa and worship it. The reappearance of the sarira began to be known far and near. As sarira was the treasure of Buddhists' countries, the sarira enshrined in Asoka Temple was treasured by almost all the emperors of different dynasties in China. In 539 AD, in the North and South Dynasties (420-589), Emperor Xiao Yan, who was a devout Buddhist, issued an imperial verdict of protecting the stupa by three thousand soldiers. However, in 845, Emperor Li Yan of the Tang Dynasty issued a verdict to ban Buddhism in the country and the sarira in Asoka was confiscated and taken into the government stack. When it was returned to the temple in 850, 8000 monks of the Asoka Temple held a big ceremony to welcome the returning of the stupa and enshrined it in the Lin'an Hall of the Temple. In 1175 of the South Song Dynasty, the sarira received great respect and was taken to the emperor's palace to be enshrined. In 1276, the First Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, issued a verdict to receive the sarira to Dadu (now Beijing), the capital city to be enshrined. He not only went to Yuta Temple himself to pay tribute to it, but also "summoned together 100,000 people in different countries to Dadu and set up 16 altars to enshrine it". It was after several months that he returned it to Asoka Temple and issued an order: "Every county and prefecture must pay tribute to it and lead it into the city when it passes by." This was the highest honor sarira had ever received. Asoka Temple is a place of interest well known for its ancient buildings, gardens, cultural relics and attractive environment. The architectures of the temple are broad in scale at the foot of Mount Mao, covering 80,000 square meters with a building area of 24,000 square meters. Before the temple is the penholder-like Mount Yuji, which is also like five phoenixes flying towards the temple. Thus there is such a saying, "Tiantong Temple is a place like nine dragons playing with a ball, and Asoka Temple is a place like five phoenixes flying towards the sun". The temple is symmetrical in its layout. Along the central line there are the gate of the temple, second gate of temple, Aruda Pond, Devaraja Hall, Mahavira Hall, Sarira Hall, Preaching Hall, Scripture Repository. Along the left there 361 houses, including Yunshui Hall, Maofengcao Hall, Shicuilou the Founder's Hall, Cheng'en Hall, Abbot Hall, Shengkui Building, Monks' Cell. Along the right there are 264 houses, including Songguang Room, Bell Building, Sarira Room, Xianjue Hall, Dabei Room. Suggested Itinerary The Front Gate--Wangong Pond--Hall of Heaven Kings--Mahavira Hall--Sarira Hall--Preaching Hall and Scripture Repository--Buddha's Footprint Rock--Upper Pagoda and Lower Pagoda (Written by Li Xiaowei) |
