Hongluo Temple is located on Hongluo Mountain in the northern part of Huairou County, Beijing, about 10 kilometers from the county seat. The temple was first built in the Yonghe four years of the Jin Dynasty (348), more than 1,600 years ago. The original name of the temple was "Daming Temple", which was renamed "Guoguo Zifu Temple" during the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty (1436-1449). Because the temple is located under the mountain there is a "pearl spring", according to legend, deep in the spring there are two big red-colored snail, every sunset snail will spit out red light flame, so the mountain named "red snail mountain", the temple is commonly known as "Red Rayon Temple".
The temple covers an area of more than 100 acres. The main building for the gate, the Hall of the Heavenly King, Maharajah Hall, Zen Hall, as well as by the east and west of the four halls and chanting room composed of the center of the courtyard. Bamboo forests in the courtyard, has been more than 600 years, for the Beijing region's most bamboo forests, the Kangxi Emperor once visited the temple to enjoy the bamboo. There are also two ginkgo trees in the courtyard, which have lasted for thousands of years, and they are both male and female, and are full of fruits. Especially unique is the courtyard of the wisteria send pine, every late spring and early summer, strings of rattan flowers along the strange shape of the dry years of flat-topped pines climbing up, the entire temple incense oxygen pungent, so that visitors linger. The temple has been a sacred place for Buddhism for generations, and was once an important place to train abbots and abbots for other temples. Since the Tang Dynasty, the incense has been extremely prosperous, and monks from Japan and Southeast Asia often come here from far and wide to pray for scriptures. Surrounded by mountains, the temple is densely wooded, covering the sky and the sun, and looks like a sea of forests from afar. There are many plants here, there are all kinds of trees more than seventy kinds of plant species up to seven hundred varieties, is a natural botanical gardens. Temple west of the Pearl Spring, the water depth of three feet, strings of water bubbles constantly emerging from the ground, in the sunlight like colorful pearls. According to Liu Dong and Yu Yizheng's "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" of the Ming Dynasty, Hongluo Mountain was originally known as "Hongluo Rugged", formerly known as "Yulan Mountain", and also called "Baogin Mountain". The Red Snail Rugged Mountain is divided into upper, middle and lower three rugged areas: following the Nine Dragon Valley, the degree of eight rugged areas, looking at the two peaks side by side in the distance, the people of the time called it "Cloud Club Gate", which is the lower rugged area; from this upward walk for more than a mile, there is a dragon pool of water out of the stone passes along the trail ladder climbing up to the "Red Snail Cave", the cave rock Ancient color, some people drink its water, thunderbolt suddenly, people suspected that this is a dragon cave, this is the rugged; and then half a mile up, there is the Red Snail Temple temple, the temple next to a giant pine, the top of the tree round four, five feet, can be half of the temple shade its next, when the temple monks in the exposed roots of the tree under the protection of the surrounding barricade stone, which some people call "pine wind", from this to the right there is a cave of the Goddess of Mercy, curved and can sit, deep and Langlang. The cave is curved to accommodate sitting, deep and clear, and here is the upper rugged area. Yuan Hongdao, a famous writer at that time, wrote a poem entitled "The First Entry into the Hongluo Rugged Cave", which reads: "Chiseling the sky out of the ancient sky, the artist is poor in carving and revealing. He redeemed the souls of the ancient world and created a ghostly work of art. The frosty rocks penetrate through the spots, and the stone bones are horrified by the clear anger. Throughout the ages, the sculpture has never lived."
Hongluo Temple was created in Jin, from the Tang, Xing in Ming, Sheng in the Qing Dynasty, during the Republic of China, the Cultural Revolution, although the robbery, can still sleep and rest, proving that the vitality of Buddhism is strong. Today, Hongluo Temple is surrounded by ancient trees, springs and tranquil environment, which is not only suitable for Zen worship, but also for healing and summer vacation, which is good for both the world and the world. Inside the temple, there are bronze bells, inscriptions and other cultural relics all over the place, and there is also the tomb of Fan Wenzheng, a Qing courtier, and the tomb of a royal nun at the end of the Qing Dynasty nearby, which is really a scenic spot for Buddhist culture in the outskirts of Beijing.
Chinese Buddhism Pure Land Sect (Lotus Sect), out of the thirteen masters, among them, the twelfth generation of Chewu masters and the thirteenth generation of Yin Guang masters, have been in the Red Snail Temple preaching, served as a higher abomination, for the spread of Buddhism to make great contributions. To this day, there are relics of their relics hidden in the temple.
Master Jisheng (1747-1810) was a native of Fengrun, Hebei Province, with the common surname of Ma, and the characters of Chewu and Nadang; his name was Jisheng and Mundong, and he was the twelfth generation of the Pure Land Sect.
Master Jisheng was well versed in the sutras and history, and at the age of 23, he became a monk and studied the sutras of Yuanjue, Dharma Flower, Rangyan, and Vajra. In the fifth year of the Jiaqing period, he went to Hongluo Temple to establish the Pure Land Taoist Center, and was then called the first person in the Dharma Sect. The master specialized in the Pure Land as a pleasure, always lecturing and advising people to recite the Buddha's name. Scholars from all directions gathered and his reputation spread far and wide. North Korea and other Southeast Asian monks also traveled thousands of miles to come to seek the scriptures to learn the way, so that the Red Snail Temple reputation spread far and wide, and the incense flourished day by day. The world into called: "the sea Pure Land first push red snail", the inter wake is also worshiped as the twelfth generation of the Pure Land Sect ancestor. His disciples organized the "Mengdong Zen Master's legacy" has been handed down to the present day.
Jiaqing 15 years December 17, "the inter wake up the master sitting in the west, hand knotted Maitreya seal, peacefully passed away. Offerings for seven days, face like life, and full of compassion, white hair becomes black, light and moist Sundowner. Two seven into the niche, three seven tea Vi, was relics more than a hundred. The disciple honored the teacher's last order to invite the spirit bone in the Pudong Pagoda.
April 1993, Huairou County Cultural Relics Administration cleaned up the basement of Pu Tong Hall, found the inter wake up the master relics hitch. After further cleaning, found thirteen relics and three teeth. From then on, the red snail treasure - inter awake ancestor relics reappeared in front of the world, for people to worship.
Guru Yinguang (1861-1940) was commonly known as Zhao, a native of Heyang, Shaanxi. His name was Shengliang, and he was also known as the Monk of Constant Shame. The master "first read the book of Cheng Zhu, by the influence of its Buddhism, sick eyes several lost their sight, and then heard the Buddhist scriptures, and began to realize the former wrong". At the age of 21, he became a monk. He studied diligently and read the Fajin and Longshu Pure Land texts, from which he realized that reciting the Buddha's name is the way to free oneself from birth and death, and then he devoted himself to practicing the Pure Land, with a mind that never left the Buddha's side.
In the twelfth year of the Qing Dynasty, he became the abbot of Zifu Temple (Hongluo Temple) on Hongluo Mountain. During this period, in-depth study of the scriptures; wonderful understanding of the Buddha's heart, Taoism advanced. Therefore, he added the "Ten Essentials of Pure Land" and other writings. In the nineteenth year of Guangxu was invited to go to the south of Putuo Mountain Fayu Temple, the collection of scriptures to read Weiwei, in-depth study of the Buddhist classics, motivation and refinement, the number of "often ashamed of the puppet monks" to self-motivation. In 1932, he moved to Zhiguo Temple in Suzhou and completed the revision of the four famous mountains of Putuo, Wutai, Omei and Jiuhua. Later, he went to Lingyan Temple, established a Pure Land Taoist Center, and founded the "Honghua Society Circulation of Dharma Treasures". 1937, in Lingyan Temple, he refused to be a Buddhist monk, rejected the world, and preserved the national integrity.
In October 1940, the Master passed away at Lingyan Temple, and was honored as the thirteenth master of the Pure Land Sect. He is the author of "The Theory of Resolving Doubts in the Floating Land" and "Theory of the Inadvisability of Mixing Religions". His disciples compiled the "Yin Guang Venerable Master's Notes" and "Yin Guang Venerable Master's Words" have been handed down to the present day.
Hongluo Temple has not yet been returned to the Buddhist community and is temporarily managed by the Cultural Relics Bureau.
The current administrator, Master Haifeng, whose surname is Ma, Dekui, and Dharma name is Haifeng, was born in 1920 in Hafeng Huan, Huabei Town, Huairou County, Beijing.
When he was 11 years old, he became a monk at Fa Zang Monastery, which was located at Si Jiayu, Yan Lou Lake, and the temple is no longer in existence. 19 years old, he received the full precepts at Guang Ji Monastery in Beijing, and in 1940, he traveled to Hong Luo Monastery, where he stayed at the Zen Hall for one year and served as Abbot of the Monastery, for more than a year.
In the first month of 1941, he left Hongluo Temple and went to Guanghua Temple in Beijing, and after one year, he returned to Fa Zang Temple. 1947, when the land reform was carried out, the temple was closed, and he returned to the village of Heping Huan, and worked as a farmer. During the period of farming, he worked as a village literacy teacher and director of amateur theater troupe. 1988 Huairou County Cultural Relics Bureau took over the Red Snail Temple, which was listed as a unit of cultural relics protection, and developed tourism business. In view of Master Haifeng's special experience, he was brought back as a staff member of the management office, mainly engaged in public relations and tour guide work.
Master Haifeng had some attainments in Buddhist studies and was healthy, responsive and talkative. Over the decades, the trials and tribulations of life in both the monastic and secular worlds have given him a deeper understanding and appreciation of society and life, as well as an open-minded personality, and he has also developed a hand at calligraphy with some merit, and his Dharma postings have been circulated both at home and abroad.
Master Haifeng knows the history of Hongluo Temple and the surrounding landscape very well, and he also loves it very much, and he has done a lot of meaningful work for the temple to flourish again.