by Wang Fuyi, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

1. The history

Huayan Temple was built in the Liao Dynasty, and functions not only as a Buddhist temple, but also as a political and military location. The race of qidan (契丹) believed in the ghosts and gods, so the temple is located in the west and faces to the east. Its platform is high because of its military function. A century after the Liao Dynasty, the temple was in its prime time, and the buildings that remain are from this era.

In the year of 1122, the army of Jin took of the city of Datong, and the temple is destroyed. In the year of 1140, the temple was rebuilt by the shaman Tongwu (通悟), and after the master’s death, his disciples continued to rebuild the temple. Although the temple in the Jin Dynasty is smaller than it was in Liao, it remained important in northern China.

Between the end of Yuan and the beginning of Ming, the temple was destroyed again because of war. At the year of 1370, the temple was reorganized by the government.

At the Qing, the temple was destroyed by the war, but rebuilt by the Huayu (化愚).

2. The structure

The Huayan temple is made of two parts: the higher one and the lower one, and the gate of the higher one was built at the Qing Dynasty, and the platform of the main hall was built in Liao and Jin. At the sides of the hall, there are two gates, the one is the quadrate, and the other is circle. The quadrate one represents the Avatansaka Sutra’s philosophy is so profound, and the circle one means the non-obstruction of principle and phenomena and the non-obstruction of phenomena and phenomena. There are the vertical written couplet placed along either side of a doorway, each one has the profound meaning, making us think of our life.

The main hall is build on the platform with the height 4 meters, and at each side of the platform, there is the pavilion. t the front of the main hall, there are two horizontal inscribed board. The one is “大雄宝殿” in the year of 1427, and the other is “调御丈夫”. The latter one is the one of ten names of Buddha, meaning that the Buddha can make the men do the good things.

The main hall is rebuilt in 1140 according the history, and it locate in the west and face to east, with its length 55meters, width 29.2 meters, height 27 meters. There are 32 statues built in Ming Dynasty, with the 5 main Buddha statues in the middle of the main hall. There are 10 statues at each side of the main hall, with the height 2.8 meters, and the 20 statues face to the 5 Buddha, meaning the respect to the Buddha.

The ceiling of the main hall is built in Ming, and re-built in Qing. There are 1012 small ones with the pictures of dragon, phoenix, crane and so on.

At the side walls of the hall, there are 21 pictures, with the height 6.4 meters, the length 153 meters, the area 979 meters, and the figures in the pictures get to 5000.

The old Huayan Temple will benefit the people as it did in the past.