开化寺，高平，山西，中国

开化寺，高平，山西，中国

Kaihua Temple, Gaoping, Shanxi, China

开化寺位于高平市城东北17km的舍利山腰，寺区四周群山环绕，松柏苍翠，风景十分幽美。该寺初名清凉寺，宋改开化禅院，今名开化寺。寺院坐北面南，占地面积2970m2，现存建筑有山门（大悲阁）、大雄宝殿、东西配殿、延宾舍、讲经堂、维摩净室、观音阁、禅堂偏院等，并有碑十几通。2001年6月25日，国务院公布为全国重点文物保护单位。

开化寺初创于北齐武平二年（571），晚唐龙纪、大顺年间（889-891），有大愚禅师就山腰穴室建清凉兰若，宋天圣八年（1030）改额为开化禅院，宋熙宁六年（1073）重建大雄宝殿。宋元祐、绍圣年间（1086-1098）再次兴工，绘制大雄宝殿内壁画。金皇统元年（1141）建观音阁。元、明、清各代，屡有修葺，始成今日规模。寺外东南山坡大愚禅师石塔为五代后唐同光三年（925）建造。现存大雄宝殿及殿内壁画、彩绘，均为宋代原物，观音阁为金元时所建，其余均为明清遗物。

大雄宝殿居于寺内中央，雄健壮观，宋熙宁六年（1073）建。该殿平面方形，建筑在一个高1.19m高的台基之上。殿身面阔3间，进深6架椽，单檐九脊顶。筒板布瓦屋面，琉璃脊兽，屋面施以“青混瓦”。殿前檐明间为格扇门，次间设破子棂窗，背面开板门一道，殿内可前后穿行。我国格扇始于宋辽之际，现存实物除天津蓟县独乐寺辽建观音阁、山西大同华严寺辽建薄迦教藏殿外，此殿亦为北宋建筑的实例。前檐柱为青石抹角方形，柱上刻有施主姓名和年月题记，提供了建殿的确切年代。柱头斗栱五铺作，单抄单下昂，重栱计心造，昂为批竹式。补间斗栱后尾于华栱之上施硕大的头，垫在昂尾之下，这种做法开了后世华契之先例。各栱背面，昂尾均在四椽栿、乳栿或丁栿之下，承托檐面。转角处正侧两面柱头斗栱后尾搭交，45°角线上加施斜栱、斜昂一缝，上承大角梁和仔角梁。殿内梁架彻上露明造，步入殿内举目可见。四椽栿对乳栿通檐用三柱，梁架结构全部为宋制。殿内梁枋斗栱上满绘古钱纹、海石榴、龙牙蕙草等各种彩绘图案，亦为宋制，与宋《营造法式》中的彩绘作纹样极为一致。其中栱眼壁中的彩画尤为精美，是我国古代建筑中保存最完整的宋代彩绘图案。

殿内东、西、北三面墙壁上满绘壁画，面积共88.2m2，是我国保存面积最大的宋代寺观壁画，也是山西仅存的宋代壁画的优秀作品。壁画始绘于宋元祐七年（1092），至绍圣三年（1096）告竣，历时5年，为画匠郭发所绘。内容为佛传故事和讲经说法图。绘画精致，构图严谨；笔力劲道，流畅细密。人物众多，面目清秀；姿势自然，神情各异。整个画面以大红大绿为主，在人物冠饰和界面建筑物上配以沥粉贴金，使整个壁画绚丽多彩和金碧辉煌。其艺术手法之高、画技之精，完全可与同时代精美的卷轴人物画相媲美。

开化寺是现存的宋金时代的早期建筑，具有很高的艺术价值。大雄宝殿集建筑、壁画、彩绘于一室，堪称三绝，是我国古建筑中的瑰宝。 （撰文：常四龙）

Sitting on the mountainside of Sheli Mountain 17 kilometres to the northeast of Gaoping City, Kaihua (lit. "Enlightenment") Temple is set in a picturesque mountainous landscape overgrown with verdant cypresses. Originally known as Qingliang Temple ("Temple of Coolness"), it was renamed Kaihua Buddhist Monastery in the Song Dynasty and is now known as Kaihua Temple. The temple complex preserved today, facing south and covering an area of 2970 square metres, consists of the temple gate (Dabei Pavilion or "Pavilion of Great Compassion"), main hall ("Hall of Sakyamuni"), east and west side halls, Yanbin She (guesthouse), Jiangjing Tang ("preaching hall"), Vimalakīrti Jingshi ("clean house for lay Buddhists"), Guanyin Pavilion, and Meditation Side Courtyard. There are also a dozen of inscribed tablets. On 25 June, 2001, it was included in the list of State Priority Protected Site by the State Council.

Kaihua Temple was first built in the 2nd year of Wuping period (571) during the Northern Qi Dynasty. In the years of Longji and Dashun period (889-891) in the late Tang Dynasty, a Buddhist master, Dayu (lit. "Great Fool") by monastic name, built the Aranya (Sanskrit, "temple") of Coolness on the basis of a cave-house on the mountainside. In the 8th year of Tiansheng period (1030) in the Song Dynasty, it was renamed Kaihua Buddhist Monastery; in the six year of Xining period (1073) in the Song Dynasty, the main hall was rebuilt. In the years of Yuanyou and Shaosheng period (1086-1098) in the Song Dynasty, a decoration project was launched to paint murals inside the main hall. In the first year of Huangtong period (1141) in the Jin Dynasty, Guanyin Pavilion was built. The Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties saw many repair projects before the complex reached today's scale. The Dayu Chanshi Pagoda ("Pagoda of the Buddhist Master of Great Fool") standing on a mountain slope to the southeast of the temple was built in the 3rd year of Tongguang period (925) in the Later Tang Dynasty of the Five Dynasties. The main hall and the murals as well as the coloured paintings inside were all originals of the Song Dynasty. Guanyin Pavilion was built during the Jin and Yuan dynasties. The rest structures were all built in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The magnificent main hall, standing prominently in the centre of the complex, was built in the 6th year of Xining period (1073) in the Song Dynasty. With a square plan, the structure sits on a 1.19-metre-high base. Three bays wide and with a six-purlin framework, it features a single-eave roof paved with tubular qing-hun tiles and decorated with glazed beasts on nine bridges. Latticed doors are employed at central bay under front eaves and grille-like windows at the secondary bays. In the back, there is a slab-door exit which allows through passage from front to back. Latticed doors were originated at the turn from the Song to Liao dynasties. Besides two Liao Dynasty structures, i.e. Guanyin Pavilion of Dule Temple in Jixian County, Tianjin, and Bojia Jiaocang Hall of Huayan Temple in Datong, Shanxi, this structure built in the Northern Song Dynasty is among the very few using latticed doors that have been preserved. The front-eave columns made of bluestone, roughly square with rounded corners, bears inscriptions indicating donators' names and the dates of the

donations, which shed light on the specific time of the hall's construction. Each bracket set at the capital of a column consists of fivepu-zuowith single overhanginggongand single ang in doublecrossed horizontalgong. And the ang features a "flat beak" or bevelled head. At the back of each bracket set between columns, a gigantic ta-tou (end of a timber trimmed into a folding line) is placed on the projecting bracket to support the ang tail. This is the original form ofhua-xieor "Chinese pegs" widely used in later times. At the back of each bracket set, theangtail is invariably placed beneath a 5-purlin beam or eaves-beam or T-beam as a supporting member of the eaves. At the corners, the tails of the neighbouring front and side bracket sets intersect. A slanting arm (xie-gong) and a slanting ang are employed at an angle of 45 degrees to support "senior-hip-rafters" (da-jiao-liang) and "junior-hiprafters" (zi-jiao-liang). All the beam framework was exposed to view inside the hall. Each roof frame consists of a four-purlin beam and an eavebeam, which are supported by three columns. The roof frames are of the Song style. On the beams and bracket sets inside the hall, various coloured patterns including the motifs of ancient coins, pomegranates and coiling grass are painted—they are also of the Song style and consistent with the descriptions of coloured patterns in the Ying-zao Fashi or Treatise on Architectural Methods compiled in the Song Dynasty. The coloured paintings in the apophyges (gong-yan, lit. "bracket eyes") are especially exquisite. They are the best-preserved colour-painted patterns of the Song Dynasty on ancient Chinese architecture.

The east, west and north walls in the hall are coated with murals, whose total area amounts to 88.2 square metres. These are not only the greatest of its type in size in all the Song Dynasty temples preserved, but also the only group of Song murals preserved in Shanxi. They started to be painted by an artist named Guo Fa in the 7th year of Yuanyou period (1092) in the Song Dynasty and were completed five years later, i.e. in the 3rd year of Shaosheng period (1096). Representing Buddhist-

themed stories and the Buddha preaching the Law, they are exquisite and well-composed. With vigorous, smooth strokes, the painters had managed to depict a host of handsome-looking figures in natural postures and with varied expressions. Red and green are the predominant colours, but the technique of embossed painting and gold foil painting has been applied to hat ornaments and borders on the structure so that the murals convey a general impression of splendour and magnificence. As works of art, they absolutely can compare with contemporary scrolled figure paintings.

As a temple complex of the early Song and Jin dynasties that has been preserved, Kaihua Temple has great artistic value. As an epitome of architectural art, mural and colour painting, the main hall is a rare treasure of ancient Chinese architecture.