2016年最新版广东省英文南华寺导游词

1、introduction - the cao gate- the hall of heavenly kings - the skyamuni hall - the vegetarian hall - the scripture house - the sixth patriarch hall - the lingzhao pagodathe nanhua temple(ladies and gentlemen :we are now on our way to a buddhist monastery -the nanhua temples.you may have visited some

2、other buddhist temples elsewhere in china,but i can assure that no knowledge of chinese buddhism is complete without a visit to the nanhua temple because it is the ancestral home of chan buddhism,which is the dominant buddhistsect inchina.also,the temple ims posing old structure ,its buddhist statue

3、s that are made of real human bodies ,and its pervading religious atmosphere,are sure to strike you as more than worth a visit .what ms ore,it is located in a quiet and serene hill-side ,absolutely secluded from the busting world .you will find it great to forget all the worldly troubles - though no

4、t for long-and feel closer to mother nature.)introductionthe nanhua temple is situated 24 kilometers to the south of shaoguan city proper.it is a 1500-year-old buddhist monastery dating back to 504 ad during china s southern andnorthern dynasties period.buddhism wad introduced into china from india

5、in 67 adduring the eastern han dynasty(25 -220ad).in the course of its long-term coexistence and mutual permeation with confucianism and daoism, it gradually evolved into many branches in china and, down to the 7 th century during the tang dynasty , chan buddhism became the dominant sect of chinese

6、buddhism after hui neng preached his chan buddhist doctrine and established the south sect of chan buddhism .hui neng buddhist doctine spread throughout the country and was disseminated to japan ,korea ,south east asia and even to america and europe ;therefore the nanhua temple has been reputed ad t

7、he“ ancestral home” of chan buddhism andoccupies an important place in the history chinese buddhism.hui neng was born into a poor farmer s family in xinxingcountry of guangdong province in 638ad during the reign ofemperor taizong of the tang dynasty .he never learned to readand write but wad born a

8、buddhist genius .at the age of 24 he became a disciple of hong ren ,the fifth patriarch of chan buddhist sect , and was first assigned to work as an odd -jobber in the temple .eight months later ,the fifth patriarch,considering himself getting too old , ordered that catch of his disciples should han

9、d in a piece of buddhist libretto ,by which he would choose the best as successor to the patriarchate . his eldest disciple ,shen xiu by name , was determined to win .he wrote : ” mybody is a pipal tree and mu mind is as clear and clean as a mirror ;i will often wipe them to keep them away from dust

10、 . ” tphaetriarch was not satisfied with his libretto , saying that it was not the point and was just“ walking with oone foot in and the other still out of the buddhist house ” .huineng also objected to shen xiu isdea : ” thepipal is not an actual existence and neither is the mirror ;since nothing i

11、s existence where can the dust rest on ?” thefifth patriarch thought highly of hui neng bs uddhist nature and so secretly passed the buddhist vestment and alms bowl on to hui neng,which was a symbol that hui neng would become the sixth patriarch of the chan buddhist sect.hui neng had stayed and prea

12、ched buddhist doctrine in the nanhua temple for 36 years (677-713ad).he passed awayin 713 ad and his dead body was made into a buddhist statue,which is still enshrined in the temple now .you may wonder what and how hui neng s chan buddhist doctrine is.according to buddhist dogmas,sufferings and mise

13、ries exist everywhere in this world and evils are caused by people s desire and attachment . life , as well as time , is cyclical and all beings are subject to the sufferings of changes in different incarnations. the soul may endure many lies but the conditions of the new life depend on the behavior

14、 of the soul in its previous body.if an individual ignores opportunities for right thinking and right action, in its next life it will have to pay for its past mistakes.therefore ,in order to escape the wheel of life and to escape from suffering and misery ,human beings must eliminate all desires an

15、d attachments , such as those for money and sex,which are the causes of all evils .the way to achieve this goal may differ with different sects of buddhism.conventionalist buddhists deemed that , in order to escape the wheel of life and to be delivered to the western paradise in the next life , one

16、must follow the buddhist dogmas to cultivate oneself and accumulate beneficence all one lsife .but hui neng made it very simple .he discarded all red-tapes and claimed that , to achieve this goal , one should only practice umbilicularcontemplation , this is , to restrain oneself from any desire and

17、emotions by quietly sitting cross-legged to concentrate one s mind on the umbilicus of one s own , in a posture like that of hisstatue in the temple .the south sect chan buddhists believe that everybody has an inherent buddhist nature ,that is , a peaceful and undistracted state of mind that was ori

18、ginally free from evil intention and anxiety ;that this buddhist nature in his own mind can be realize as long as he gives up all desire and attachment and ,once he has come to realize it , he will instantly become a buddha;and that even a butcher who used to kill living beings everyday can become a

19、 buddhist nature .(later on ,this theory by hui neng was even extended to assert that ,under certain conditions ,a heavy beating with a stick or a sudden loud shout at somebody could also break his obstinacy in mind and make him instantly realize his buddhist nature to become a buddha.)hui neng sdoc

20、trine of “ instantrealization” onloyt hadexerted a great impact on the buddhist circles , making the chan sect the mainstream of chinese buddhist circles, but also had produced a significant influence on china pshilosophical thinking.therefore ,hui neng ,together with confucius and laozi(a chinese p

21、hilosopher in the late spring and autumnperiod and founder of daoism),was known as one of the three sages in china and was once referred to by european educational circles as one of the great thinkers of the world.(we are now getting near to the temple,we ll stay here fortwo hours and our bus will s

22、tay where it will be parking.you can leave your odds and end in the bus but be sure to take your valuables with you.i hope everybody will stay together and keep moving with the group,so that i may tell you something more in detail about the temple.if any of you should get separated from the group, y

23、ou should try to come back to the bus by twelve,so that we could leave on time for lunch in a nearby restaurant .here we are.this is the temple.thank you.)the caoxi gatethis is the main entrance to the temple.the two chinese characters “ cao xi ” on the gate structure ,meaning“ caoin english,are the

24、 name of the gate,which is named after the small stream in front of the temple .according to historical accounts ,in 502 ad during the southern and northern dynasties period , an indian buddhistmissionary passed through here and noticed that the water in the stream was clear and sweet, old trees wer

25、e growing everywhere and the soundings were beautiful .he thought that the place was extremely similar to the baolin mountain in the pure land that was described in the buddhist scripture,so he proposed that a buddhist temple should be built here.emperor wu of the liang dynasty,who was a crazy buddh

26、ist disciple,soon consented to the proposal and bestowed an inscribed board to name the temple as baolin temple.the present name ,nanhua temple , was given by zhao kuangyin,first emperor of the song dynasty , in the middle of the 10 th century.the hall of heavenly kingsthis hall is called the hall o

27、f heavenly king and is the shrine for mile (maitreya)buddha and the heavenly kings .the statue in the middle is mile buddha or the laughing buddha as is often called by the chinese.according to the buddhist scripture ,he will descend to the earth from heaven to take over sakyamuni msissions when sak

28、yamuni bsuddhist power is exhausted in the future, and so he is also known as the futurebuddha.on either side of the hall we can see two statues.they arethe four heavenly kings who are protectors of buddhist doctrines, with each taking care of one side the east,west,north and south. it is thrie join

29、t efforts that ensure harmony ,peace and prosperity of the world. the four objects they are holdind a sword, a “ pipa” (a chinese pluck instrument), an umbrella and a snake combine to mean that buddha will ensure a favorable weather for the crops sa that people may live a happy life. (individually,

30、the one playinga pipa takes charge of the affairs in the east and is associated with harmony,as are all musicians; the one holding an umbrella, which is a symbol of rain that nourishes the crops, is in charge of the northern affairs; the third protector ,holding a snake in his hand and taking charge

31、 of the affairs in the west, is believed to be able to tame all evil-doers and keep themunder control ;the sword carrier, who looks after the southern affairs, is supposed to be able to bring wind.)the statue behind the laughing buddha is the patron of the temple, wei tuo or veda by name, who is num

32、ber one among the 32 generals under the four heavenly kings.the sakyamuni hallthe sakyamuni hall is situated in the middle of the temple, with the bell tower to its east and the drum tower to its west. inside the hall, three buddhist statue are enshrined. they are 9.31 meters tall and are all gilded

33、 with gold. the statue in the middle is sakyamuni, buddha of the central world and founder of buddhism. the one on his left is known as the pharmacist buddha (called bhaisajya-guru in sabskrit), who is the master buddha of the eastern world and is said to be able to relieve all living creatures from

34、 illness. the one on the right hand side of sakyamuni is amitabha buddga, the master buddha of the western paradise. these three buddha are referred to as the “ three master buddha ” of the three worlds existing in space.(there is another three master buddha in relaton to time: the past buddha calle

35、d randeng in chinese, the present buddha sakyamuni and the future buddha, who is commonly known as the laughing buddha in china.)the colored clay sculpture figures on the walls are the 500 “arhats ” . they are buddhist disciples who have eventually attained consummation in practicing buddhism and ha

36、ve become buddhas.the bronze bell in the hall, weighing over 1000 kilos, wascast 964 ad during the southern han dynasty.the statue at the back of theh three buddhas is able to relieve people from trouble and disater. people in distress only need to pray by silently repeating her name and she will co

37、me to their rescue.the vegetarian hallthis is the dining-hall for the monks. the two chinese characters over the entrance, meaning vegetarian hall, are a facsimile of the handwriting by su dongpo, who was a celebrated writer and calligrapher of the northern so dynasty(960-1127ad). story has it that,

38、 one day when su dongpo came for a visit, the obbot of the temple requested him to have a piece of calligraphy in the temple. but, in their hurry, they couldn t find a big brushpen and had to get him a brush for cleaning cooking pot from the kicchen as a substitute for a pen. so, these two chinese c

39、haracters were writern with a kitchen brush.in the dining-hall ther is a large cooking pot, 1.7 meters high and 2 meters in diameter. it was cast during the yuan dynasty (1206-1368) and was used for cooking rice porridge to give alms to the poor.the scripture housethis building is where buddhist scr

40、iptures are kept and is usually closed to visitors. b eside a collection of seceral thousand copies of buddhist scripture, some other cultural relics are also preserved in it, such as imperial edicts of past dynasties and over 400 wood -carving of arhat figures left over by the northern song dynasty

41、.the sixth patriarch hallthis hall is the shrine for hui neng,the sixth patriarch of chan buddhism. in 713ad, hui neng felt his health exhausted and thougut he was dying soon. on july 1 st in the chinese lunar caledar, he went back to his birthplace in xinxing county, accompanied by his followers. o

42、n august 3 rd the same year, he passed away at night while sitting contemlation in the guo entemple there. after he died, his body was taken to the nahua temple and was made into a statue. his real body statue has been en shrined in this temple for over 1300 years and is now sitting here inside the

43、glass cover in the middle of the hall. the other two statues beside him are also “ real body ” statues. they were dan tian and han shan, abbots of the nanhua temple in times of the ming dynasty.visitors to the temple are always curious about how hui neng s dead body was made into a statue. according

44、 to historical records, the way they did is like this: first, they put the dead body in posture of sitting cross-legged and fixed it with an iron bar on its back to support it from reclining, and then applied lacquer mixed with gypsum powder all over it, layer upon layer, until the coating became 5 -6 millimeters thick. when the coating became very hard when dry, they put it into a big vat and covered it with quick lime. the body fluids slowly leaked out through the hole at th