■Precious Zhang

During the Ming Dynasty, most emperors believed in Taoism, so there were many royal Taoist temples in Beijing at that time, such as: Lingji Palace, Xianling Palace, Chaotian Palace and Dagao Xuandian. In the following hundreds of years of history, in addition to the Dagao Xuan Hall is still alive, other Taoist temples have gradually evolved into alleys, which remain in people's memory.

The Great Light Hall and the Light Hutong

Emperor Jiajing was the emperor who built the most ancient royal buildings during the Ming Dynasty. In the 36th year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1557), the three major halls of the Forbidden City caught fire, and the Jiajing Emperor rebuilt the three major halls. When he repaired his mausoleum Yongling in the Ming Tomb, its scale was second only to the Changling Tomb, and he also repaired other existing ancestral tombs. Prior to this, he had also built a number of temple altars.

In the past, the sacrifice of heaven and earth was in the Great Worship Hall (Temple of Heaven Prayer Hall), Jiajing believed that it was not in line with the "Zhou Rite" to sacrifice heaven and earth together, and the sacrifice of heaven and earth should be separated. Therefore, in the ninth year of Jiajing (1530), he aimed to build an altar of earth (Fang Ze altar) outside the gate of Anding, and sacrificed to the ground on the summer solstice. The Great Worship Hall was renamed the Great Enjoyment Hall again, and the mound altar was built in the south of it, which is the Temple of Heaven here, and the day of the winter solstice is dedicated to the heavens. In the same year, the Temple of the Sun (Temple of the Sun) was built outside the Chaoyang Gate in the eastern suburbs, and the festival was held on the day of the spring equinox. In the western suburbs of Fucheng Gate outside the construction of the Moon Altar (Moon Altar), on the autumn equinox day to worship the moon. In the eleventh year of Jiajing, he divided the existing mountain and river altar to the west of the Temple of Heaven into the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of the Earth, and later built the Tai Sui Altar and the Xiannong Altar. In the ninth year of Jiajing, he also built the temple of the emperors of the past dynasties in Fuchengmen (west of the West Si Guangji Temple). In the thirteenth year of Jiajing, the emperor's palace was built, and in the fifteenth year of Jiajing, the Jinhai Shrine was built on the east coast of the Beihai Sea (later changed to the silkworm altar worshiped by the queen) and so on.

The Great Gao Xuan Hall is a place dedicated to Jiajing to make Jiao offerings. It is located in the northwest outside the Forbidden City, west of Jingshan. The Great High Hall sits in the north and faces south. In front of the gate, there are three archways and two Xi Li Pavilions in the south and east and west, all of which were demolished in the fifties of the last century to expand the street. And the archway on the south side of the street (by the Forbidden City tube river) was rebuilt at the beginning of this century, and the south side reads "Qianyuan Zishi", and the north side reads "Dade Risheng". The Dagao Xuan Hall basically maintains the original pattern today, and is a key cultural relics protection unit in Beijing, which is under the management of the Palace Museum.

When it comes to the Great Gao Xuan Palace, we can't help but talk about the Great Light Hall in the west of Fuyou Street. The Great Guangming Hall is in the south of Xi'anmen Street, the west of the north exit of Fuyou Street, and the east and west sides of Guangming Hutong today, which no longer exists. The Great Light Hall was originally the Longfu Palace of the Yuan Dynasty royal family, where the princes lived. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was the Yongshou Palace of the Yan Wangfu when Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, was the king of Yan in Beijing. In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1557), the Great Light Hall was built. According to the "Old News Examination under the Sun": "The Great Light Palace, the door is eastward, Dengfeng, Guangfu, Guanghe, Guangning, the double gate is called the Jade Palace, Zhaoxiang, and Ningrui. The front hall is the big light hall, the left Taishi Palace, the right Taichu Palace. There are also Xuan'en Pavilion, Fangzhi Pavilion, Yiyang Pavilion, and Wanxian Pavilion. The back door is called Gaoji, Zuo'an, and You'an. In the middle is the Taiji Palace, the East Tongzong Palace, and the West General Road Palace. ”

Its Emperor Hall, Jide Palace, Shou Shengju, Fu Zhen Xi, Lu Xian Room five houses, destroyed in the 30th year of Wanli (1602). There is Tianyuan Pavilion behind the Great Light Hall, which is similar to the Temple of Heaven and is a circular hall built on a round platform. It was rebuilt in the eleventh year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (1733). In the 38th year of Qianlong (1773), it was rebuilt. The Great Light Hall is dedicated to the Jade Emperor, the Taiji Hall is also dedicated to the Sanqing, the Tianyuan Pavilion is dedicated to the Doumu Hou Tubao Guang Yuanjun, and there are three star halls on both sides of the Taiji Palace, and the Tzu Chi Palace. In the north of the Great Bright Palace, the stone pile mountain, the name is "Rabbit Mountain", that is, the mountain is the meaning of the Moon Palace. There is a fairy road on the mountain that can be climbed to the top, there is a big hole on the top of the mountain, which can be cultivated, and the mountain can participate in the Beidou. In "Yandu Miscellaneous Songs", he described the scene of the year: "Pointing to the Hall of Light, Renshou Palace back then." The rabbit mountain is gone, and the grass grows and is red." It can be seen that the Great Light Hall at the end of the Qing Dynasty was basically destroyed. Nowadays, the site of the Great Bright Palace is now the compound of the State Council Organ Affairs Administration, and a section of the large brick courtyard wall is still retained in the northwest, because it is being demolished in the west, this large brick wall is exposed, and some scholars believe that it is the courtyard wall of the Great Bright Palace. Now Guangming Hutong is because of the Great Light Temple. The current pattern mountain alley is the site of Rabbit Mountain.

Lingji Palace and Lingjing Hutong

In Xicheng District, there were two royal Taoist temples in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty in the old days, and one was the Lingji Palace located in the Lingjing Hutong. The other is the "Manifestation Palace" located in the bright alley on the south side of the west side of the brick tower alley.

Lingji Palace was built in the fifteenth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1417), when Zhu Di, the Emperor of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, had a serious illness, and he was unconscious all day long. One day, he had a dream in which he saw two generals, Xu Zhizheng and Xu Zhige, two generals in the fifth generation, and he offered a prescription. After Zhu Di woke up, he recovered after taking the medicine according to the prescription.

Emperor Yongle believed in Taoism very much, and in order to thank these two immortals, he built a magnificent Taoist temple in the west of the palace city, and gave it the name "Lingji Palace". In the palace, there are two statues of Xu Zhizheng and Xu Zhige, and they are respectively named Yuque Zhenren and Jinque Zhenren. Later, he was renamed Zhenjun.

Regarding the two Xu brothers, there were indeed two of them in the fifth generation. They were the sons of Xu Wen, the prime minister of the Southern Fujian Kingdom of Wu (now Fuzhou, Fujian) during the Five Dynasties. After Xu Wen's death, Xu Wen's adopted son Xu Zhihao usurped the throne, established the country as the Southern Tang Dynasty, and named the two Xu brothers as kings. The latter two led troops to eliminate the thieves on Aofeng Mountain in Qingpu, Fuzhou, so that the people could live in peace. In order to thank the two, the people built the Lingji Palace on Aofeng Mountain to worship the two of them as Lingji real people.

Why did Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, say that he dreamed of the Xu brothers? Because Zhu Di took the throne of his nephew, and Zhu Di believed in Taoism, and when he said that he dreamed of the Xu brothers, he meant that his throne was helped by immortals. Because the Lingji Palace in Beijing was built by the emperor's order, the ministers in the court had to go to worship every year. Now the Lingji Palace in Beijing no longer exists, and the Lingji Palace in Qingpu County, Fuzhou is not only magnificent, but also the incense is also very prosperous. Nowadays, there is a couplet in front of the mountain gate of Qingpu Lingji Palace: "If you want to see the Beijing Emperor's Palace (Beijing's Lingji Palace), first look at Qingpu Lingji Palace." ”

According to the Ming Dynasty's "Imperial Capital Scenery and Things": "The west of the imperial city, the ancient wood forest. Spring is e'e, summer is quiet, autumn and winter Cen Cen Ke Ke. There is no sound of the wind, and there is no daylight. There are Biwa Yellow Ridge, Time Ridge and Time Corner, Lingji Palace". It can be seen that the scale of Lingji Palace is grand and the building is majestic. The temple is an ancient pine towering sky, and the environment is beautiful.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were many literati and writers who wrote poems about visiting the Lingji Palace. For example, Fei Hong, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, once wrote "Lingji Palace", and the poem Yun: "The horses are trapped in the spring, and the majestic fairy palace is shocking." The teeth are high and the total graffiti is golden, and the temple site is repaved with jade. Li Dongyang's poem "Sixteen Rhymes of Lingji Palace in Winter": "Outside Beique Kunlun, there is a suspicion of this road. Penglai moved to the old country, and the earthly world came out of Yaochi. ”

In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (1642), there was a letter to Zuo Mao saying that these two real people were rebellious ministers and should not be bowed down by the imperial court, and asked Lingji Palace to be surrounded by tents and no longer open. As a result, the Lingji Palace gradually declined. In the sixteenth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1811), the Tianlijiao peasant rebel army led by Lin Qing attacked the Forbidden City. After the Republic of China, in order to commemorate Lin Qing, people used Lin Qing's homonym "Lingjing" to call the alley where Lingji Palace is located "Lingjing Hutong". Lingji Palace is located in the east and north of the current Lingjing Hutong, and the foundation of Lingji Palace was dug out during construction in the past.

The Palace of the Manifestation and the Distinctive Alley

In the bright alley in the west and south of the west brick tower alley of Xisi South Street, there is also a famous Taoist temple in the Ming Dynasty: the Manifestation Palace. Therefore, the alley is called the homonym of the manifestation "distinct". The distinctive alley is north-south, starting from the three-fence alley in the south and reaching the brick tower alley in the north. Nowadays, the western part of the brick tower alley and the bright alley, as well as the adjacent Sanmun alley (the mountain gate of the Manifestation Palace), have all disappeared.

The Manifestation Palace was built in the eighteenth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420), and there was a Taoist priest Zhou Side who practiced the spirit official law, claiming to know the blessing and the blessing first. Because Zhu Di believed in Taoism, he built Tianyou Temple for it, and during the Ming Dynasty, because the Chenghua Emperor also believed in Taoism, it was renamed Dade Xianling Palace.

During the Ming Dynasty, the building of the Manifestation Palace was magnificent, and the ancient cypress was lush. In particular, there is a strange cypress in the palace that is well-known in the capital, and it is one of the seven strange trees in Beijing at that time. According to the Ming Dynasty's "Emperor Jing Wulu", in the Ming Dynasty, the "Seven Strange Trees of the Beijing Division" were: the Temple of Heaven "Qian Yu", the Manifestation Palace "Broken Branch Cypress", the two "Pines" of Baoguo Temple, the two "Ancient Sola Trees" of the Reclining Buddha Temple, the Pingpo (apple), Begonia, and Naizi (Shaguo) of Weigong Temple. Among them, there is a poem that describes the "broken branches and cypresses" of the Manifestation Palace: "The Manifestation Palace folds the branches and cypresses, and the thunder is draped with a branch, and the screen is left in the middle, and it is folded but not different, and it is verdant for two hundred years." Another note: "A hundred years ago, the night rain thunderclapped. Xiao saw that Bai Chui was a screen when the door, and he knew that the gods were hidden...... And the cypress is not withered. ”

In the "Imperial Scenery and Scenery", there were also many literati and writers in the Ming Dynasty who wrote poems about visiting the Manifestation Palace. For example, Xinyang He Jingming's "Over the Manifestation Palace": "If you don't go to the Xuangong Palace for a long time, Taoyuan will make this trip." Xingzhi Yao water is near, sitting and watching the red night. There is a sentence in Xuyi Li Yangong's "Spring Day with the Public Collection of the Manifestation Palace": "The rattan statue comes to the East China Sea, and the Jinhe admonishes Beiluan." Bai Chui taught his younger brothers, and the palace told the emperor Tian'an. ”

The incense was the most prosperous in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, because Emperor Jiajing believed in Taoism and reached the level of going mad. The Palace of the Manifestation was destroyed by a fire during the Jiajing period.

Chaotian Palace evolved into a number of alleys

Lingji Palace and Xianling Palace were both built in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. During the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, a larger-scale Chaotian Palace was built on the north side of the Fucheng Gate. The scale of Chaotian Palace is rare in the world. At that time, the scope of Chaotian Palace was from the north of the current Fuchengmen Nei Street to the north of the China Children's Center on Ping'an Street. East from the Fusui Jing Street area, west to the north of Fuchengmen wall root.

According to "The Old News of the Sun": "Chaotian Palace is in the northwest of the imperial city, and the Tianshi Mansion of Yuan is also. "It was built in the seventh year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty (1432) and completed in August of the eighth year of Xuande. It was rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty. The construction of Chaotian Palace in Beijing is modeled on the construction of Chaotian Palace in Nanjing, and there is an inscription in the palace to explain it. The Chaotian Palace in Nanjing is well preserved.

Beijing's Chaotian Palace Gate is three gates, namely: Zichen, Chaotian, Xuandu, and the main gate is in the center. The main hall in the palace is the Sanqing Palace, which is for the Sanqing. Tongming Hall is dedicated to the Jade Emperor. There are also nine halls such as Puji, Jingzhi, general system, treasure, etc., and there are all kinds of gods and goddesses in the palace. In the palace, there are two ancestral halls, one bell and drum tower, five stele pavilions, etc., and there are other emperors and queens who rest and serve the main hall when they are lucky.

Pine and cypress are widely planted in Chaotian Palace. At that time, it was the largest Taoist temple in the country, and it was the seat of the Taoist temple (in charge of Taoism in the country). Its scale is so large that there are poems: "The Forbidden Northwest is famous in the sky, and there are 3,000 huge buildings with heavy eaves." A fire broke out on the night of June 20, 1626. Because the palace is located in the northwest of the capital, although it is June, the northwest wind is very strong at that time, and the fire is very strong when the wind blows. At that time, the fire-fighting facilities were backward, and only relying on the large vat in the palace to hold water to fight the fire was equivalent to decoration. Overnight, all thirteen halls burned down. The alleys at the entrance of the palace, the two and three alleys in the current Fu are the Chaotian Palace area of the year. The Lu Xun Museum is located in the three alleys at the entrance of the palace. The area around the current official garden is the garden of Chaotian Palace in the past, and the name of the official garden is also due to the garden of Chaotian Palace.