After the completion of Nantai Temple, Cao Dongzong and Mizuno, the 42nd generation of Japanese Buddhist monks, or led a delegation of Japanese Buddhists to Nantai Temple in 1907, bringing more than 5,700 volumes of The Imitation of Ming Sutra by Iron-eyed Monks and 32 Buddha statues of Eight Lords to the temple. At that time, the ceremony of conferring scriptures was regarded as a major event in the world. Since then, Nantai Temple has become a place for friendly cultural exchanges between China and Japan. Unfortunately, during the Cultural Revolution, Nantai Tibetan Sutra, known as one of the four treasures of Buddhist scriptures in China, was set on fire, and some of it was transported to paper mills for recycling into pulp. Mo Bao, a Buddhist sutra, was gone, all the Buddha statues and cultural relics were destroyed, and all the monks left the temple for the countryside. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, Nantai Temple was completely restored. Overseas Chinese Huang and Ouyang Yu, who lived in Thailand 198 1, donated a gold-plated bronze Buddha statue to the Buddhist Temple, adding luster to the ancient temple. 1984, Nantai Temple was officially returned to the monks for residence management by the government. 1987, Master Bao Tan was invited to become the abbot of Nantai Temple, and Fayun, the hero of the famous temple, was resurrected. Bao Tan, the great monk, took it as his duty to revive the Zen style in Nantai, leading the monks in the whole temple to move bricks and grow vegetables on the fence. Tens of thousands of people inside and outside the province believed in Jing Chongde, and the four disciples were generously sponsored by Shan Xin, and the temple was fully restored and rebuilt. First of all, it invested more than 4 million yuan to build temples and monasteries, and purchased Buddhist scriptures, utensils and statues of Buddha. In addition, the mountain gate was rebuilt, and a finger-riding stupa, Laogong Pavilion and auspicious goddess were built. 1996, the temple invested 3.5 million yuan to build a 49-meter-high "King Kong stupa" as a place to worship the stupa and collect the Buddha statues of Eight Lords. The town is famous for its mountains and Weishan Gate. The newly-built Nantai Temple is surrounded by pines and cypresses, lush, tree-lined and breezy. Metasequoia glyptostroboides, which is more than 20 meters high, goes straight into the sky with pinnate needles and dances. Overlooking the summit, clusters of green peaks are like snails and mountains are like black dragons. Just as Zhang, the prime minister of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, said in a poem: "Sleeping in a lonely peak, I don't know where Qingfeng is. Cold bells chime at the beginning of the day, full of circles. Dreams disappear with each other, but hearts don't burn like Yi Deng. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to find Zhu Ling Road, and I'm going to visit Ziyun. " There is a couplet on the head-on stone pillar of the ninth stone step: "There are seven peaks and two peaks, and Xiang Han and Yue Ying are low-minded; The cloud is high and nine thousands of feet, and the moon is round. " Entering the main entrance with the right forehead of "Nantai Temple", there is a sitting Buddha Maitreya, with his chest bare. Behind the Maitreya Temple is the statue of Wei Tuo, the patron saint. The idol is dressed in armor, holding a magic diamond and holding his head high. On both sides of Maitreya Temple, there are four painted statues of the Great King, about three meters high, commonly known as the "Four donkey kong". Some of them hold pipa, umbrella and sword; Some people stand up straight with dragons and silver rats tied to their hands, and do their own jobs. The laity later called the four heavenly kings "four gods", which were their own instruments.
Adjacent to Maitreya Hall is the Ursa Hall of Nantai Temple. In front of the temple, there is a danyong, planted with arhat pine and magnolia. There are three Buddha statues in the temple, which are on the platform of the eight treasures golden lotus. The golden light is dazzling and the wonderful phase is solemn. Sakyamuni Buddha in the middle, Pharmacist Buddha on the left and Amitabha Buddha on the right. The Buddha statue is about three meters high, with a plump face, kindness and majesty, each protecting his right shoulder and drooping eyes, which makes the whole hall look extremely solemn. On both sides of the main hall, eighteen statues of Luo Liuxiang are clay sculptures in turn. In the resplendent shrine, the bodhisattva "Yang Zhi Guan Yin" sits, with a willow tree in his right hand and a white jade vase in his left. Guanyin statue is beautifully shaped, crescent-eyed, slightly open, loving and serene. Guanyin Bodhisattva left and right waiters auspicious, dragon girl two images, innocent, pure and lovely. There is a 49-meter-high seven-level pagoda in the temple, which stands at the top of the emerald green. The towering King Kong stupa has also been completed. There is a tower training in the book at the main entrance: "Cross the sand and rob the accumulated wealth, and meet the relic floating to the auspicious holy land of Yongzhen." The Buddha's sorrow is unpredictable and spread to Futian. " Brilliant mountain. The Zen style in Nantai revived prosperity. Passing through the stupa tombs, there is a big stone slope, which is round and ridged, and people can't go up. So later generations chiseled out hundreds of stone steps, like the steps on the stone wall, hence the name "Natural Lamp". In the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Yuan Tuan once carved three characters of "entering the road slope" on the slope stone. There was a cliff under the stone ladder and a stone fence with chains on it. There is a "Taurus stone" next to the stone slope, on which the footprints of Taurus were once printed. In the autumn of the tenth year of Zheng De in Ming Dynasty (15 15), Xia Liang, the tourist capital, carved a poem on the stone cliff of Taurus, saying, "Take a yellow crane with your hand and step on the back of Taurus. The world is unknown, and the clouds have been treating each other for a long time. "
During his imprisonment in Tian Liang (502 years), Hai Yin, who was nearly 90 years old, talked with Sanzuhuisi, and they "met". They broke the situation that Taoism unified Hengshan Mountain in Nanyue in the past, created a new world of Nanyue Buddhism, and the dharma vein flourished, thus making Lian Zong, Lv Zong and Zen Buddhism enter Nanyue one after another. Especially after Zen settled in Nanyue, its founder Huineng, the sixth ancestor, took Nanyue as the activity center. They spread Buddhism widely, from south to north, to all parts of the country, as far away as Japan and South Korea, becoming the two most famous legal systems of Zen: Nanyue and Qingyuan. They hoped to move the Buddhism to Wei Yan, and only Yan Yan spread the fame of the altar of clouds and smoke, then Dongshan sold it for a good price, and the third spread the silence of Cao Shanben, forming the famous Cao Dongzong. Another dharma vein is Daowu, which preaches Longtan belief, followed by the declaration of virtue and goodness, and Xuefeng is upright. Xuefeng Gate is divided into two branches: one is to create Yunmen Sect for Yunmen Yan Wen, and the other is to write a biography of Luohan Guichen for Master Xuansha, and Guichen preaches a cool and refreshing literature and an eye-opening Sect. From Nanyue and Qingyuan, there are five schools: Luyang, Lin Ji, Cao Dong, Yunmen, Fayan, Huanglong and Yang Qi. This is the "five families and seven cases" of Nanchan. Because these five schools belong to the sixth ancestor Huineng Nanzong, they are called "one flower with five leaves" in the history of Buddhism. The "Five Leaves" all come from Nanyue, the dharma vein breeds overseas, and Buddhism spreads all over the world, so it has the reputation of "Five Leaves Flow" in the world. Since the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty. There were so many "Five Leaves" legalists that people at that time praised them for "being in the world and being in the cave for a long time." Therefore, the forehead of Fuyan Temple hosted by Huairang is engraved with "the court of the world", and the stone forehead of Sinantai Temple is engraved with "the source of the world". Nantai Temple is the ancestral temple of Cao Dong, the source of Cloud Gate, the performance of three religions, and the reproduction of Buddha's heirs and Wanlong. Due to the gloom of Nantai Ancient Temple, Sanskrit chanting, incense and Buddhism flourished. Buddhists from Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia frequently come to Nantai Temple to worship their ancestors. And domestic Buddhists also come to Nantai, or practice Zen, or stay in monasteries for retreat. During the period of the Republic of China, a famous modern poet and monk, Master Jing 'an, and a Taoist priest with the name of Eight Fingers Toutuo came to Nantai Temple to give lectures and spread virtue. In addition to Jing 'an giving lectures in Nantai, other famous monks in modern times, such as Ling Tao, Juzan and Mingzhen, led all the monks in Nantai Temple to participate in the "Nanyue Buddhist and Taoist Salvation Meeting" and joined the anti-Japanese national salvation movement during their stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
The Nanyue Buddhist and Taoist Rescue Association was established in May 1939 under the call of the United front policy of the China Production Party to resist Japan and save the nation. Bao Sheng, the abbot of Shangfeng Temple, is the president, and Kong Ye, the abbot of Shengsheng Temple, Wu Zhen, the abbot of Nantai Temple and Liu Guangdou, the abbot of Sanyuan Palace, are the vice presidents. Yan Wen is the dean, Juzan is the propaganda director, Mingzhen is the clerical director, Manci is the purser and the secretary. After the establishment of the association, more than 70 young and middle-aged monks and a few Taoist priests were first convened to hold military training courses. After the training, the Buddhist Youth Service Group and the Buddhist Mobile Working Group were organized to go to Changsha and Xiangtan to carry out anti-Japanese and national salvation propaganda activities. They posted slogans and distributed leaflets along the way. Among the slogans, there are slogans such as "When a traitor was born under the national law, he died in hell", which combined Buddhist teachings to promote national integrity. Their activities caused a sensation, and the people called them "monk soldiers". Tian Han has a poem praising: "Monks are naked, but they dare to make trouble with the world." Zhou Enlai wrote an inscription for it: "Get on the horse to kill thieves, get off the horse and learn from Buddhism." The National Anti-Japanese War, edited by Zou Taofen, and the Xinhua Daily in Chongqing both introduced the activities of saving the nation by monks. Hong Kong Esperanto magazine also translated the Articles of Association into Esperanto and published the full text. The voice of Nanyue Buddhist Salvation Society spread all over the world, inspiring patriots at home and abroad like the roar of Buddhist lions, and embodying the great efforts of "human Buddhism" to awaken, realize and learn from the world.
Nantai Temple is very famous, and Buddhists at home and abroad admire it. This is not only an ancient temple with a long history in the Six Dynasties, but more importantly, during the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, a famous monk, Shi Shiqian, was born in the temple. He is an important figure of Qingyuan School, one of the two major schools of Nanzong.
Stones move, so people call them stone monks. According to the Song Dynasty's "Biography of Monks and Five Lantern Festival", it is said that Zen Master Huineng from Gaoyao County, Duanzhou (700-790 AD) heard that the sixth ancestor came to Caoxi, Shaozhou (now Shaoguan, Guangdong) and went to school. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was ordained in Luofu Mountain in the 16th year of Kaiyuan (AD 728). Later, I worshipped Qingyuan's thinking as a teacher and passed on its laws. In the early years of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty moved to Hengshan Mountain in Nanyue to be ordained, and set up an nunnery on the east stone of Nantai Temple, sometimes called a "stone monk". And Yi Dao Jackson in Jiangxi is world-famous. Legend has it that there are child prodigy chess and Cao 'an songs, which have been taken as daily compulsory courses by monks in Cao Dongzong. In the sixth year of Tang Zhenyuan (AD 790), he died as a "boundless master" and the name of the tower was "Wuxiang". There are 21 disciples, including Youdaosi and Pei Yan. They preached Buddhism and founded Cao Dongzong, Yunmen and Fa Yan. Among them, Cao Dongzong is more prosperous, forming Nanzong Zen, which has become the largest and most influential mainstream in the history of Buddhism in China, with legal heirs all over the world. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin Ji and Cao Dong were introduced to Japan. Cao Dongzong in Japanese Buddhist circles has always regarded Nantai Temple as his ancestral home. Therefore, it is called "the court of the world". After the stone was removed and died, the body was buried in a niche. Buried under Nantai Temple, it is the only Tang Dynasty tomb in Nanyue.
Nantai Temple was abandoned after it was founded in the Tang Dynasty, and it was not restored until the first year of the main road in the Song Dynasty (AD 1 165). In the early Ming Dynasty, the temple was deserted. During the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, Yuan hindered the reconstruction of monks. In the early Qing Dynasty, the temple was abandoned again. Some monks took the opportunity to divide the temple property and build a small temple next to the Yuemiao Temple at the foot of the mountain, claiming that the Nantai Sect was decent. During Guangxu period, the monk Yun Dan and his disciples in Hengyang saw the authenticity of the old and new Nantai, saying that "it's good to meditate and humiliate the Buddha", and they made up their minds to revive the authenticity of Nantai. In the 16th year of Guangxu (AD 1890), the former site of Nantai Temple was discovered. More than 18,000 donations were raised, and construction started in the 28th year of Guangxu (AD 1902), which lasted for four years. In the second year, the temple was completed (A.D. 1905). The scale of the temple is huge, exceeding the scale built in previous dynasties. After the founding of New China, Nantai Temple is still a key temple for monks in South Vietnam to pay equal attention to agriculture and Zen. 1982 Nantai Temple was approved by the State Council as a national key open temple. 1987, Bao Tanrong became the abbot of Nantai Temple. When the times were prosperous, the country was prosperous and the people were safe, and the fate was unique, abbot Baotan led his disciples to practice, repair temples, carve Buddha statues, install vessels, run schools, promote agriculture and Zen, and remove rules. Now Nantai Temple has once again become a famous temple in the East and a pearl in the south of the Yangtze River.