The Hanging Temple, also Hengshan Hanging Temple, Hanging Monastery or Xuankong Temple () is a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

built into a cliff ( above the ground) near Mount Heng in

Hunyuan County Hunyuan County is a CPRC, county under the administration of Datong City, in the northeast of Shanxi province, China. History During the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history, present-day Hunyuan County formed part of the Baidi people, Ba ...

, Datong City,

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

Province, China. The closest city is Datong, to the northwest. Along with the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer

precipice In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are co ...

but also because as a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple it also contains references to the other two of the three Chinese traditional philosophies or religions (三教):

Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

, and

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

. The structure is kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The main supportive structure is hidden inside the bedrock. The monastery is located in the small canyon basin, and the body of the building hangs from the middle of the cliff under the prominent summit, protecting the temple from rain erosion and sunlight bake.

History

According to legend, construction of the temple was started at the end of the

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

dynasty by only one man, a monk named Liaoran () in 491 AD. Hanging Temple, located in Hunyuan County, Datong City, Shanxi Province, China, is a temple integrating Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. It has a history of more than 1,400 years. The entire temple was built into a cliff face on the west side of Jinxia Gorge, approximately 75 meters (246 feet) above the ground. It relies on 27 wooden beams to support all the main temple buildings. The temple is also reinforced with iron chains and beams to enhance its stability. From a distance, it looks like it is hanging in the air. As early as Tuoba Tao, the third emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, he proposed to build temples in the north. Emperor Taiwu once "abolished Buddhism" and "destroyed Buddhism", but later repented and "promoted Buddhism" and "promoted Taoism". During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Chinese Taoism was divided into northern and southern Taoist temples. Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Yuanhong saw the majesty of the Buddhist temples in Luoyang and wanted to build Buddhist and Taoist temples in the north. He came up with a unique idea, found a Taoist priest, and ordered to build a "Xuankong Temple" on the cliff halfway up Mount Hengshan, which could not reach the sky or the ground.

Conservation

Due to its precarious location and exposure to the elements, the Hanging Temple requires regular maintenance and conservation efforts to ensure its structural integrity and preservation. In September 2015, the China Cultural Heritage Administration officially approved the project for the restoration of paintings and oil decorations in the Hanging Temple, and the overhaul project of the Hanging Temple scenic area began. It was not reopened to the public until May 2016.

Overview

The entire 40 halls and pavilions are all built on cliffs which are over from the ground. The distance from north to south is longer than from east to west and it becomes higher and higher from the gate in the south to north along the mountain. The temple can be divided into a northern and southern section.

Northern section

The northern section contains: * Wufo Hall - The Hall of the Five Tathagatas * Guanyin Hall - Hall of the

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

Guanyin Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

* Hall of Three Religions (). The Hall of Three Religions mainly enshrines

Buddhist deities Buddhism includes a wide array of divine beings that are venerated in various ritual and popular contexts. Initially they included mainly Indian figures such as devas, asuras and yakshas, but later came to include other Asian spirits and loc ...

as well as both

and

. The statues of Śakyamuni (middle), Lao-Tze (left) and

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

(right) are enshrined in the hall. This reflects the prevailing idea of "Three Teaching Harmonious as One" () in the Ming and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

dynasties (1368–1911).

Southern section

The southern part has three floors, it contains the following halls: * Chunyang Palace - for worshiping Lü Dongbin - one of the Eight Immortals of Taoism * Sanguan Hall (Hall of the Three Officials, ) - the largest hall in the temple, in which the "

Three Great Emperor-Officials The Three Great Emperor-Officials (), Sanguan, or the Three Officials are three of the highest ''shen'' in some branches of religious Taoism, and subordinate only to the Jade Emperor (玉帝 yùdì). The Three Great Emperor-Officials are the , t ...

" (the officials of Heaven, Earth and Water) are worshiped with Ming era clay sculptures. * Leiyin Hall (Thunder Hall) - A Buddhist hall dedicated to Buddha Śakyamuni located at the top of the southern section.

Gallery

File:Hanging Temple.jpg File:Thunder Hall.jpg File:Hunyuan_Xuankong_Si_2013.08.30_09-43-06.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-45-22.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-06-14.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-07-13.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-35-58.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-32-34.jpg File:Hanging-temple.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-31-07.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-29-58.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-27-01.jpg File:Hunyuan Xuankong Si 2013.08.30 09-21-04.jpg File:Hanging Monastery near Datong, China 07.JPG File:HangingMonasterySculptures.jpg, File:Datong 320.jpg File:Hanging Monastery 17.JPG File:Hanging Monastery 14.JPG

References

External links

Hanging Temple
Class II Protected Sites in China, fro

Retrieved d.d. January 1, 2010.
History of the Hanging Monastery

Geo Architecture and Landscape in China's geographic and Historic Context
(2016). Book by Fang Wang. Page 102-112. Buddhist temples in Datong Datong 6th-century establishments in China 6th-century Buddhist temples Visionary environments Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shanxi Three teachings {{Buddhist temples in China