雙語科技百科(工程建築) 第81期:懸空寺
Xuankong Temple
Xuankong Temple, located 5 kilometers south of Hunyuan town in Shanxi Province; is perched on the cliff of Mount Hengshan. It is one of the key cultural relics sites under state protection and the only temple in existence featuring the cultures of the three Chinese religions, i. e. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. First built in the late Northern Wei more than 1400 years ago, Xuankong Tem-pIe was taken as the Taoist altar when the Northen Wei Dynasty moved the initial Taoist altar in Pingcheng (now Datong City) southward there. The ancient craftsmen built this temple in accordance with the Taoist requirement of "not hearing the sound of cock crowing and dog barking". lt was later renovated in the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Xuankong Temple, about so meters above the ground,developed the traditions and siyles of architecture in our country. The architectural features of the temple can be summarized in three characters, that is, "Qi" ( surprising) , "Xuan" ( hanging) and "Qiao" ( ingenious). What is " surprising" is "its design and location selection. In a small basin in the deep valley, the temple hangs in the middle of the cliff, the top protruding part of which, like an umbrella ,protects it from the erosion of the rain. Besides, the surrounding mountains reduce the time of sunshine streaming into the temple. The favorable geographical location is one of the important reasons Xuankong Temple can be well preserved. " Hanging" is another feature of the temple, which, with a total of 40 halls, was proppeded up by ten bowl-mouth-thick wooden beams on the surface. In fact, some of them do not bear any load at all. The temple, with its centre of gravity actually in the hard rocks, took as its base the beams partially inserted into the cliff in the light of the principle of mechanics. The "ingenuity" of the temple can be displayed in its corformity with the local conditions in the building process. The craftsmen, taking full advantage of the natural state of the cliff, arranged and built the various parts of the temple, making the layout and design of the plain architectural structure for the ordinary temples ingeniously realized in the three-dimensional space. There are in the temple over 80 Buddha statues. Xuankong Temple has gained for its mystery and ingenuity a reputation in the history of ancient and modern architecture. We could not help expressing our admiration and surprise for its audacity, ingenuity and dauntlessness, not only in the design methods but in the architectural conceptions. Li Bai, after visiting Xuankong Temple in the 23rd year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (735) , wrote the two characters "Zhuang Guan" ( meaning magnificent and imposing) on the cliff. The great traveller in the Ming Dynasty, Xu Xiake, once called the temple "a great scenery in the world".
懸空寺座落在中國山西省渾源縣城南5千米處，北嶽恆山的絕壁之上。是全國重點文物保持單位，是國內僅存的佛、道、儒三教合一的獨特寺廟。懸空寺始建於1400多年前的北魏晚期，北魏王朝將道家的道壇從平城，今大同南移到此，古代工匠根據道家“不聞雞鳴犬吠之聲”的要求建設了懸空寺。後金、元、明、清各代均有修繕。懸空寺距地面高約50米，懸空寺發展了我國的建築傳統和建築風格，其建築特色可以概括爲“奇、懸、巧”三個字。值得稱“奇”的是，建寺設計與選址，懸空寺處於深山峽谷的一個小盆地內全身懸掛於石崖中間，石崖頂峯突出部分好像一把傘，使古寺免受雨水沖刷。四周的大山也減少了陽光的照射時間。優越的地理位置是懸空寺能完好保存的重要原因之一。“懸”是懸空寺的另一特色，全寺共有殿閣40間，表面看上去支撐它們的是十幾根碗口粗的木柱，其實有的木柱根本不受力，而真正的重心撐在堅硬岩石裏，利用力學原理半插飛樑爲基。懸空寺的“巧”體現在建寺時因地制宜，充分利用峭壁的自然狀態佈置和建造寺廟各部分建築，將一般寺廟平面建築的佈局、形制等建造在立體的空間中，設計非常精巧。寺內有佛像80多尊。“懸空寺”以其玄妙的特點譽滿古今建築史。無論是從宅的設計構思，還是它的建築構想，它的大膽、它的奇巧、它的無畏都可以說是讓人驚慕不已，慨嘆不盡！唐開元二十三年(735)，李白遊覽懸空寺後，在石崖上書寫了“壯觀”二字，明代大旅行家徐霞客稱懸空寺爲“天下巨觀”。
