Longxing Temple & the Thousand-Armed Guanyin

Longxing Temple is a renowned Buddhist temple across China. First built in the Sui Dynasty, it was originally named Longzang Temple. The name was changed to Longxing Temple in the Tang Dynasty.

In the second year of the Kaibao reign of the Northern Song Dynasty (969 AD), Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin stationed his troops in Zhenzhou (present-day Zhengding) after a military campaign in Hedong. He paid homage at Dabei Temple west of the city, founded by the eminent Tang Dynasty monk Zijue. There he learned that the original 4-zhang-9-chi-tall bronze statue of the Great Compassion Bodhisattva had been destroyed twice: first during the invasion of the Khitan people in the Later Han Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, and second when Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou ordered the destruction of Buddhist statues to cast coins. Having heard a prophecy that "It shall be ruined when a new regime rises, and thrive again under the Song Dynasty", the emperor issued an imperial edict to recast the golden statue of the Great Compassion Bodhisattva and build the Great Compassion Pavilion inside Longxing Temple in the city.

Construction commenced in the fourth year of the Kaibao reign (971 AD) and was completed in the eighth year (975 AD). Centered on the new pavilion, the temple was extensively expanded along a central axis, forming a grand and imposing architectural complex of the Northern Song Dynasty stretching far from north to south. From then on, Longxing Temple became a celebrated shrine in the Heshuo region and won great favor from imperial families of successive dynasties.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the court repeatedly allocated funds for renovations, and granted farmland, sutras and money for eternal lamps to support the temple’s operations and Buddhist activities. The number of monks grew, the temple facilities were improved, and the temple flourished day by day. The distinguished monk Damba once served as its abbot and donated a thousand taels of silver to renovate the Hall of the Six Great Teachers. Major buildings and Buddha statues were restored by imperial order in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty stayed here many times during their imperial tours, burning incense and praying for eternal reign of the dynasty. Large-scale imperial renovations were carried out twice: from the 42nd to the 48th year of the Kangxi reign (1703–1709), and from the 44th to the 46th year of the Qianlong reign (1779–1781). In 1708, an imperial palace was built on the western side. The temple thus took on a three-part layout: monk quarters on the east, Buddhist venues in the center and the imperial palace on the west, ushering in its heyday. In 1713, Emperor Kangxi granted it the official name Longxing Temple, and praised it as "the foremost sacred temple under heaven".

From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, political corruption, economic decline and constant wars led to the dilapidation of Longxing Temple. In 1858, the imperial palace on the west side was seized by a Catholic church. Halls and pavilions in the central and eastern sections collapsed, and monk cells were damaged and leaky. The number of wandering monks dwindled, and the temple fell into desolation.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Longxing Temple received high attention and scientific protection from the government. In 1961, it was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level by the State Council. Since a special cultural relics management agency was set up in 1953, the state has invested heavily in renovations and expansions, gradually restoring the ancient temple to its former glory.

Covering an area of 82,500 square meters today, the main buildings of Longxing Temple are arranged along a north-south central axis and on both sides. Facing the main entrance in the south stands a tall straight glazed screen wall. Further north across three single-arch stone bridges lie in sequence: the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the ruins of the Hall of the Six Great Teachers, the Mani Hall, an archway, the Ordination Altar, the Maitreya Pavilion, the Rotating Sutra Repository Pavilion, two imperial stele pavilions of Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong, the Great Compassion Pavilion, the Imperial Calligraphy Tower, the ruins of Jiqing Pavilion, the Amitabha Hall, the Dragon Spring Well Pavilion, and finally the Vairocana Hall, which was relocated here from Chongyin Temple in Zhengding in 1959.

The courtyards extend far from north to south in neat layers. The halls and towers vary in height with a clear distinction between major and minor structures. It serves as a vital example for the research on the architectural layout of Buddhist temples in the Song Dynasty.

Longxing Temple embodies the architectural arts of the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as a wealth of exquisite Buddhist cultural relics. The Hall of Heavenly Kings, Mani Hall, Rotating Sutra Repository Pavilion and Maitreya Pavilion, four major buildings of the Northern Song Dynasty, each feature unique structural styles and occupy important positions in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.

The Hall of Heavenly Kings is the first main hall of the temple, featuring a single-ridge hip-and-gable roof and seven beams with central columns. Though renovated in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, its beam framework, bracket sets and construction techniques prove it to be the oldest among the four Song-era buildings.

To the north of the Hall of Heavenly Kings and the ruins of the Hall of the Six Great Teachers stands the Mani Hall, which boasts the highest historical, artistic and scientific value among all existing structures in the temple. Built in the fourth year of the Huangyou reign of the Northern Song Dynasty (1052 AD), it sits on a 1.2-meter-high stone platform, with seven bays in both width and depth, and a double-eave hip-and-gable roof. Its most distinctive feature is four projecting hip-and-gable porches facing outward on each side of the square main hall, forming a cross-shaped floor plan. The integrated structure of the main hall and four porches presents a grand and layered appearance.

The renowned scholar of ancient architecture Liang Sicheng spoke highly of it: "Such layout can rarely be seen today except on the corner towers of the Forbidden City in Beijing; its poetic grace and solemn antiquity bring an indescribable sense of beauty. Especially in terms of three-dimensional design, the layered and imposing Mani Hall represents the pinnacle of craftsmanship and creates a unique style among Chinese ancient buildings."

On the central altar inside the hall stand Song-dynasty clay sculptures of Sakyamuni Buddha and his two disciples Kasyapa and Ananda, alongside Ming-dynasty statues of Manjushri and Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas. On the northern inner rear wall hangs a colorful clay sculpture of Guanyin on the Sea Island. The work depicts rolling rock formations, swirling auspicious clouds, gushing springs and rippling blue water, with arhats in meditation and majestic heavenly gods presenting varied postures.

The highlight is the central Guanyin statue, standing 3.4 meters tall. With a delicate and serene face and elegant bearing, she resembles a perfect mortal woman. This humanized image breaks the rigid stereotype of religious idols, marking an extraordinary artistic breakthrough. In 1923, Lu Xun bought a photo of this Guanyin statue at a photo studio in Beijing, treasuring it as a masterpiece of Buddhist aesthetics and placing it on his desk.

The walls are covered with murals themed on Buddhist stories. The Twelve Enlightened Bodhisattvas and Eight Great Bodhisattvas on the east and west inner partition walls were painted in the Qing Dynasty, while all the rest date back to the Ming Dynasty. The four porches feature murals of the Twenty-Four Heavenly Deities. The murals on the outer walls adopt a combined segmented and panoramic composition, vividly illustrating the entire life of Sakyamuni — his birth, renunciation of secular life, ascetic practice, enlightenment and nirvana, collectively titled The Origin of the Buddha.

The outer sides of the east and west partition walls are painted with Western Paradise and Eastern Pure Lapis Lazuli World respectively. Each painting measures 9.36 meters long and 7 meters high, featuring magnificent composition and rich colors. The well-preserved Western Paradise centers on the Three Saints of the West — Amitabha Buddha, Guanyin and Mahasthamaprapta — with more than 400 figures of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, arhats, celestial musicians and divine beings. Based on Buddhist scriptures, the painters used rich imagination and exquisite skills to depict the illusory Western Paradise into a vivid scene. With raised powder and gold foil decoration, the paintings look extremely luxurious.

Facing each other in front of the core Great Compassion Pavilion are the Maitreya Pavilion and the Rotating Sutra Repository Pavilion, both two-storey buildings of the Northern Song Dynasty. The column-reducing structure and permanent column technique adopted in the Maitreya Pavilion, as well as the column-shifting and crossed column techniques of the Rotating Sutra Repository Pavilion, are rarely seen in Song-dynasty architecture. The octagonal wooden rotating sutra wheel in the center of the ground floor of the Rotating Sutra Repository Pavilion is a rare surviving wooden craft relic from the Song Dynasty.

Set off by the two pavilions, the Great Compassion Pavilion stands even more towering and magnificent. Enshrined inside is the bronze Thousand-Armed Guanyin, 21.3 meters high with forty-two arms. It is the tallest and largest existing ancient bronze Buddhist statue in China. Together with the Iron Lion of Cangzhou, Dingzhou Pagoda and Zhaozhou Grand Stone Bridge, it is known as one of the Four Treasures of Hebei.

An ancient Song stele in the temple records the casting process. On the 20th day of the seventh lunar month in the fourth year of the Kaibao reign, three thousand laborers gathered at Longxing Temple to launch this massive project. Workers dug deep to the underground water layer, then rammed the foundation with alternating layers of gravel, earth and stone, lime and soil. A square pit with sides of four zhang was reserved six chi below the ground level, into which seven wrought-iron pillars were erected. Each pillar was assembled from seven iron tubes bound with iron ropes. Molten iron was then poured to fill the pit.

A huge wooden frame served as the inner mould. Workers first made a clay model of the Thousand-Armed Guanyin, then produced inner and outer casting moulds. Finally, the entire statue was cast in seven separate sections using the earth-piling method. The delicate carvings on the stone Sumeru Throne beneath the statue were also crafted by master artisans of the Song Dynasty.

At the northern end of the central axis stands the Vairocana Hall, housing a bronze Buddha statue 6.72 meters high. It consists of three tiers of connected four-sided seated Vairocana Buddhas stacked on lotus thrones, gradually shrinking in size from bottom to top. Each of the thousand lotus petals on the three tiers bears a tiny seated Buddha with varied facial expressions and hand gestures, forming a spectacular scene of "A thousand Buddhas surrounding Vairocana". This uniquely designed statue, superbly crafted, is a one-of-a-kind treasure in China. It was commissioned by Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty and his birth mother, Empress Dowager Cisheng.

More than forty ancient steles are preserved in the temple, recording the vicissitudes of the temple with detailed historical accounts. Among them, the Sui-dynasty Stele of Longzang Temple enjoys the highest value. Famous at home and abroad, it is hailed as the foremost stele of the Sui Dynasty. Its calligraphy is neat, elegant and graceful, inheriting the style of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and pioneering the various calligraphic schools of the Tang Dynasty, holding a pivotal position in the development of Chinese calligraphy.

As a thousand-year-old ancient temple and a treasure house of ancient culture and art, every cultural relic in Longxing Temple shines like a bright pearl. They embody the wisdom of ancient working people and reflect the profoundness of Chinese history and culture. For centuries, the temple has captivated generations of visitors with its timeless artistic charm, and its splendor will continue to shine brilliantly through the ages.