The thousand-year-old ancient city of Huangzhou (now Huanggang) is located on the northern bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, in the eastern part of Hubei Province. It has rich natural landscapes and cultural relics and is an important part of Yangtze River culture.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Dongpo wrote the famous "Red Cliff Fu" in Huangzhou. In the Ming Dynasty, with the wish of "pen complementing nature", Qingyun Tower rose from the ground in Huangzhou, becoming the "Chu Wenfeng" overlooking the world. Over the past 450 years, Qingyun Tower has witnessed the changes of times in eastern Hubei and has become an important cultural landmark in the area.

Recently, the exhibition "Chu Wenfeng - Qingyun Tower and Huanggang Cultural Thread" hosted by Anguo Temple in Huanggang, Hubei Province was exhibited in the exhibition hall of the temple. This exhibition takes Anguo Temple and Qingyun Tower as the starting point to sort out the cultural development of Huanggang (ancient Huangzhou) area.

Huangzhou Qingyun Tower

Qingyun Tower, also known as Huangzhou Wenfeng Tower, is located on the Bowl Peak in the southeast corner of Anguo Zen Temple. It is located in the Xun Gua direction of the county city and faces the West Mountain of Ezhou across the river. It has become a major scenic spot in the ancient city of Huangzhou. According to the records of the prefecture and county annals, in the second year of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1754), county gentry Li Shifang and Huang Shiyuan initiated fundraising and built the Qingyun Tower. Their purpose was to suppress floods and promote cultural prosperity at the same time.

Exhibition site

Exhibition site

On the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the completion of Qingyun Tower, Anguo Temple held the "Chu Literary Peak - Qingyun Tower and Huanggang Cultural Context" exhibition to commemorate it. Thepaper.cn learned that this exhibition takes the development of Anguo Temple, Qingyun Tower and the historical and cultural context of Huanggang as the starting point, and is divided into five units: "The Source of Zen in the World", "The Place of Peace of Heart", "Pen Supplements Nature", "The Sincerity of Great Doctors" and "Home, Country and the World", telling the development process of Huanggang as a major town of Jingchu culture.

The "Sinicization of the Pagoda" section uses 1,999 postcards of ancient pagodas from the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China collected by Anguo Zen Temple to create the image of the Qingyun Pagoda, looking back on its 450-year history. These old postcards with various ancient pagoda styles as the theme not only preserve the image data of historical relics, but also show how the pagoda has transformed from a religious building to a comprehensive carrier of multiple art forms such as architecture, sculpture, and painting in the historical process of Sinicization.

Qingyun Tower

Old photo of Qingyun Tower

The pagoda, as a form of architecture, originated in ancient India. It is called stupa in Sanskrit, also known as stupa, stupa, and dousuba. It was originally used to enshrine the Buddha's spiritual relics. According to the "Book of Wei: Records of Buddhism and Taoism", Buddhism was introduced to China during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty. After Emperor Ming died, he was buried in the Xianjie Mausoleum, and an Indian pagoda was built inside. Pagodas, as a new form of architecture, were also introduced to China. Early pagodas had a distinct Indian style, but over time, pagodas were combined with traditional Chinese architectural forms such as pavilions, and gradually developed into various forms of pagodas, including attic pagodas influenced by traditional Chinese attics, dense eaves pagodas, covered bowl-style pagodas, and Vajra throne pagodas.

The exhibition site shows the rubbing of "Rising to the Sky" and the stone lions of Taiping Bridge at Anguo Zen Temple.

(Right) Component of a Ming Dynasty Zen master’s stone pagoda, grey stone, Ming Dynasty, inscribed: “Reopening the throne of Zen Master Shoujing of Shanning Gong”; (Left) Component of a pagoda of Zen Master Yongfenghai, the 34th generation of the Linji orthodox lineage of Anguo, 1687, inscribed: “The 26th year of Kangxi, year Dingmao”.

Qingyun Tower is a pavilion-style stone pagoda with an octagonal base and eight gates set according to the directions of the Eight Diagrams. The main gate is inlaid with a stone plaque of "Quan Chu Wenfeng", which is intended to express the cultural status of Huanggang for thousands of years. The fifth floor is inlaid with a stone carving of "Pen Supplements Creation", which is intended to show that the pagoda with a pen shape will bring cultural prosperity to Huanggang. On the inner side of the Xun Gate of the tower, the four characters "Qingyun Zhishang" are inscribed, implying that the luck of the climbers is flat and ascending to the clouds. There is a Chinese stork tree on the top of the tower, shaped like a giant umbrella, which will not wither in severe drought or frost, and is lush and green with shade.

Pagoda pattern guide

A rubbing of the calligraphy of Qi Xiezao: "Pen Supplements the Creation"; the inscription reads: Written by Qi Zao of Shouyang in the first month of the 28th year of Daoguang. The stone plaque "Pen Supplements the Creation" hangs above the Qianmen on the fifth floor of Qingyun Tower.

Huangzhou Cultural Context in Literature

Huanggang in eastern Hubei is an important birthplace of Chinese Zen culture. During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the fourth patriarch of Zen Buddhism, Daoxin, and the fifth patriarch, Hongren, stayed in Huangmei, and spread the Xuanzong school throughout the world. While advocating the Zen style of giving equal importance to farming and Zen, they also carried forward the Zen method that emphasizes the awakening of the mind and nature, forming the world-famous "Dongshan Method". From then on, Chinese Zen was formally established and became a successful paradigm of the sinicization of Indian Buddhism in history. The two masters Huineng and Shenxiu sought the Dharma in Dongshan, each with their own style, and founded the Southern Sudden School and the Northern Gradual School, which later gave rise to five Zen schools.

The Ministry of Rites made a copper seal and seal impression of "Huangmei County Monk Association Record", 1382;
Inscription on the side: Recorded by the Monk Association of Huangmei County. Made by the Ministry of Rites on an auspicious day in December of the 15th year of the Hongwu reign.
Seal: Recorded by the Huangmei County Buddhist Association.

(Left) Inscription on the stupa of the deceased abbot of Xing'an Mountain, bluestone, Yuan Dynasty; (Right) Inscription on the tomb of the deceased master, Monk Lu Gong, of the founding master, Monk Xiaofeng, bluestone, Yuan Dynasty The stele "Inscription on the stupa of the deceased abbot of Xing'an Mountain" is an inscription on a stupa erected to commemorate the deceased master Xing'an of the Yuan Dynasty. It records in detail the family history, native place, Buddhist name, life events, spiritual achievements and contributions of Monk Xing'an to the Buddhist community; "Inscription on the tomb of the deceased abbot, Monk Lu Gong, of the founding master, Monk Xiaofeng" records the life events and contributions of Monk Xiaofeng of the Southern Song Dynasty.

The rise and development of Zen culture in East Hubei has also injected the spirit of enlightenment and innovative ideas into the culture of the entire Hubei region. Zen can not only be used in the jungle, but also in the halls of high places, in the streets, and in the rivers and lakes. In ancient times, there was the style of Dongpo and the ambitions of the two Cheng brothers. In recent years, there are the national scholar Xiong Shili, the scholar Tang Yongtong, the writer Wu Chengen, the poet Wen Yiduo, the doctor Li Shizhen, etc., all of whom have a connection with the Zen traces in East Hubei.

The Anguo Zen Temple, where the exhibition is held, was first built in the third year of Tang Xianqing, and has a history of more than 1,300 years. In February of the third year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Dongpo was exiled to Huangzhou because of the "Wutai Poetry Case". With no relatives and nowhere to live, he found the Anguo Zen Temple in the south of the city in the difficult and desperate situation of life. He often came here to listen to the morning bells and evening drums, meditate, and wrote many immortal poems and essays. And Anguo Zen Temple has become the "first place for Dongpo's Zen enlightenment" because of these articles of Dongpo.

Statue of Bodhidharma, lacquer, 1980s

The scroll of the Dharma transmission by Elder Xuyun, ink on paper

Jingde Chuandeng Lu (10 volumes), thread-bound edition

Inside page of Jingde Chuandeng Lu

Historically, Huanggang was located in a remote area with a relatively simple city. However, it became a famous city and became famous for a time because of the presence of many famous officials and scholars such as Du Mu, Wang Yuzhen, and Su Shi. Han Qi, a famous prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, came to Huanggang to live with his brother when he was young. He studied hard in the later Anguo Zen Temple and became a pillar of the country from Huanggang.

Written by Su Shi in the Song Dynasty, fragments of "Poxian Collection" from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, selected and commented by Li Zhi in the Ming Dynasty, in sixteen volumes.
This book is a compilation of several representative articles from the Complete Works of Dongpo selected and annotated by the Ming Dynasty writer Li Zhi.

The fragment of the collection of "Peiwenzhai Poetry Selection" compiled by Yang Xuan and others in the Ming Dynasty and the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, 1707, the fragment of the edition printed by Yangzhou Poetry Bureau collected five poems, all of which are about gardens in ancient paintings. Among them is the poem by Su Shi and Li Boshi about the garden of his brother Lianggong's old house.

The rise of this region began in the Ming Dynasty, which is known in history as "the spread of Chu culture to the east". The symbol of "the spread of culture to the east" is the prosperity of education in Huanggang Prefecture and the heyday of the imperial examination. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the people of the prefecture successively opened Han Weigong Academy, Suiyang Academy, Jiang Gong Academy, and Yangming Academy in Anguo Zen Temple, which shows the prosperity of the literary style. Infiltrated by the social trend of respecting teachers and valuing education, even in the turbulent late Qing Dynasty, while the imperial examination education continued, the trend of studying abroad was prevalent, and a large number of Huanggang students became the pillars of the country. The students under the Qingyun Tower are talented and beautiful, "only Chu has talents, and the eastern part of Hubei is the best", and the profound cultural resources and humanistic groups constitute the cultural heritage here.

Cheng Zhizhen's "Remembering Mr. Dongpo at Red Cliff" in running script, 1868

(Left) A page from the Ming Dynasty edition of Huanggang Wan Yueji’s Articles; (Center) Li Kaiqun’s own poem in running script, ink on paper; (Right) Yingshan County Central National School transcript

Yao Jinqi's letter to Jun Su, letter

In addition, Huanggang is located at the junction of Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, with mountains and rivers connected, dense forests and rich Chinese herbal medicine resources. Su Dongpo once praised the medical skills of Huanggang Qishui famous doctor Pang Anshi. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many famous doctors emerged in Huangzhou Prefecture. In the history of modern Chinese revolution, Anguo Zen Temple also served as a strategic contact point in the eastern Hubei region, writing a special historical glory.

Note: The exhibition "The Complete Cultural Peak of Chu - Qingyun Tower and Huanggang Cultural Context" is hosted by Anguo Zen Temple and will serve as a permanent display in the temple.