Journey to Shanxi—Wangu Temple in Yongji

Wangu Temple, founded in the third year of Zhengguang in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 522), has a history of 1500 years. According to the 'Yongji County Chronicles', it was originally named 'Caizai Temple'. After being rebuilt in the Sui Dynasty, it was renamed Wangu Temple, meaning 'eternal for thousands of years'. During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, the court incorporated nearby temples into Wangu Temple, making it a grand and highly revered Buddhist holy land, known as the 'first Zen forest in Zhongtiao'. Tang Dynasty poet Geng Hui left the verse 'Clouds open at midnight, a thousand villages are quiet, the moon rises in the middle peak, ten thousand ravines are bright' here. Poet Liu Shiqi wrote the beautiful lines 'A bamboo path is shaded green, the wind chimes on the tower sound beyond the sky'. There are many Buddhist pagodas in Wangu Temple, the earliest of which, the Duobao Buddhist Pagoda, was built in AD 522 and is the earliest Buddhist pagoda in Chinese tower architecture. There is also the 'Beamless Hall' built against the cliff on the east side of the ancient pagoda, facing west. It was designed by the architectural master and monk Miaofeng, who took a unique approach and built it entirely with bricks, with the top forming a dome-shaped caisson. The most eye-catching is the three huge hemispherical domes inside the second floor of the Wuliang Hall, which are cleverly decorated with imitation bracket arch bricks, setting a precedent for the use of brick caisson and bracket arch decoration in religious buildings. The application of this elongated hemispherical dome load-bearing roof technology in religious buildings has well inherited China's traditional brick arch technology, forming a gorgeous bracket arch decorated dome caisson, elevating bricklaying technology to an extreme state, and its preservation to this day is astonishing. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tips: The admission is free, compared to other popular temples, it is more quiet here, and the ancient relics are well preserved. It's worth spending half a day to a full day for a detailed visit. The cats kept by the monks in the temple are also very quiet and friendly, very cute. The opening hours in summer are 6:30 am to 7:00 pm, and in winter are 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.