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{{short description|Temple in Yixian, Liaoning Province, China}}
{{Infobox religious building
| building_name         = Fengguo Temple
| native_name = 奉国寺
| native_name_lang = zh
| image                 = Fengguo Temple 1.JPG
| alt                   = Several buildings are on an axis in front of one another, with the main hall at the end, partially obscured by the buildings in front.
| caption               = The main axis of Fengguo Temple
| map_type              =China Liaoning#China
| map_caption           =
| location              = [[Yi County, Liaoning|Yixian]], [[Liaoning]]
| coordinates = {{coord|41|32|34|N|121|14|33|E|type:landmark_region:China|format=dms|display=title,inline}}
| religious_affiliation = [[Buddhism]]
| length                =
| width                 =
| height_max            =
| website = <!--  {{URL|}}  -->
| architect = 
| architecture_type = 
| architecture_style = [[Chinese architecture]]
| founded_by = 
| creator   = 
| funded_by = 
| general_contractor = 
| established    = 1020<br />[[Liao dynasty]]
| groundbreaking = 
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| date_demolished = <!-- or | date_destroyed = -->
| footnotes = 
}}
{{chinese
|s={{linktext|奉|国|寺}}|t={{linktext|奉|國|寺}}|p=Fènggúo Sì
}}
'''Fengguo Temple''' ({{zh|c=奉国寺}}) is a [[Buddhist temple]] located in [[Yi County, Liaoning|Yixian]], [[Liaoning Province]], [[People's Republic of China|China]].{{sfnb|Zi Yan|2012|p=74}} The temple was first founded in 1020 during the [[Liao dynasty]] (916&ndash;1125), and grew quite large during the subsequent centuries. Today, only two halls, two gates, and a decorative arch survive. The most important surviving building is the Mahavira Hall, a very large hall that dates from 1020. The hall is notable for containing seven large Buddha sculptures, and other smaller sculptures, all dating from the Liao Dynasty. It has had several names over the centuries, including the "Xianxi Temple" ({{zh|s=咸熙寺|t=|labels=no}}; Liao dynasty), "Seven Buddhas Temple" ({{zh|s=七佛寺|t=|labels=no}}; Liaoning dynasty) and "Dafengguo Temple" ({{zh|s=大奉国寺|t=|labels=no}}; Jin dynasty).{{sfnb|Zi Yan|2012|p=74}}

==History==
Historical records about the history of Fengguo Temple are limited. Most of the history can only be ascertained from the twenty or so stele on the grounds of the temple.<ref name="Steinhardt 87 1997">Steinhardt (1997), 87.</ref>  Replacing an earlier temple at the site called Xianxi Temple, Fengguo Temple was founded in 1020 by Jiao Xiyun, a retired scholar, and its construction was supervised by a monk called Qinghui. In 1107 a monk called Yizhuo worked at the monastery repairing and completing religious images. His work was completed in 1140 at the cost of 10 million cash. [[1290 Chihli earthquake|An earthquake]] severely damaged the temple in 1290, and a son-in-law of a [[Mongolia|Mongolian]] Khan donated money for repairs.<ref name="Steinhardt 88 1997">Steinhardt (1997), 88.</ref>  The mid-14th-century temple is recorded as being quite large, featuring at least three pavilions, one in front of the Seven-Buddha hall and one on either side, a dharma hall, an “abstinence hall”, three different kitchen areas, monks quarters, a bathing chamber, a Ten Thousand Buddha hall and many other assorted buildings. Between 1487 and 1888 the hall was repaired at least seventeen times. The temple was most recently damaged in 1948 when it was bombed, and was only repaired again in the 1980s.<ref name="Steinhardt 89 1997">Steinhardt (1997), 89.</ref>

==Layout==
Originally, Fengguo Temple had a Dharma Hall behind the [[Mahavira Hall]], three pavilions in front, and a gate. One of the pavilions was located along the axis and two more faced each other inwards along the axis. Currently, only the Mahavira Hall survives from the temple's founding.<ref name="Steinhardt 96-97 1997">Steinhardt (1997), 96-97.</ref> 

The present-day temple also has four other structures of note laid out on the north–south axis, all built during the [[Qing dynasty]] (1642–1912). Beginning in the south, there is an outer gate followed by an inner gate. Next, a decorated archway stands in front of the Wuliang Hall, a small three-bay hall that is directly in front of the Mahavira Hall.<ref name="booklet">Pamphlet, 3-4.</ref>

===Main Hall===
[[File:Fengguo Temple 3.JPG|thumb|150px|A statue of Vipashyin in the main hall]]
[[File:Fengguo Temple 2.JPG|thumb|200px|The [[Mahavira Hall]]]]

The Main or [[Mahavira Hall]] ({{lang|zh|{{linktext|大雄|宝|殿}}}}, ''Dàxíong Bǎodiàn'') is very large for a Chinese timber hall, measuring nine by five bays. It faces south on a {{convert|3|m|ft|adj=mid|-high|spell=in|sp=us}} platform and measures 55.8 by 25.9 meters. In front of the three central bays extend a yuetai (stone platform) measuring 37 meters east to west and 15 meters north to south. Two structures dating from the Qing Dynasty stand on the yuetai: two kiosks and a stone incense burner. There is also a small yuetai at the back of the hall. Steinhardt suggests that this yuetai formerly served as a link to the no longer extant Dharma Hall.<ref name="Steinhardt 89 1997">Steinhardt (1997), 89.</ref>{{sfnb|Zi Yan|2012|p=75&ndash;76}}   

The main hall contains seven large sculptures of Buddhas from past ages, a rare arrangement in Buddhist temples.<ref name="Howard 381">Howard (2006), 381.</ref> The Buddhas are raised on an 87&nbsp;cm high platform, with each of the seven inner bays holding one sculpture.<ref name="Steinhardt 89 1997"/> In addition to [[Sakyamuni]] (the Buddha of the present age), the six other Buddhas represented are [[Vipashyin]], [[Sikhin]], [[Visvabhu]], [[Krakucchanda]], [[Kanakamuni]] and [[Kassapa Buddha|Kashyapa]].<ref name="Howard 381"/> Each of the seven Buddhas is flanked by two bodhisattvas, and a guardian king faces the south entry at each side of the altar. Behind the seven Buddhas, facing the back door, is a statue of [[Guanyin]].<ref name="Steinhardt 89 1997"/>{{sfnb|Zi Yan|2012|p=75&ndash;76}}

Only 20 interior pillars are used within the hall. There are four rows of columns in the hall, but an entire row (apart from the end pillars) has been eliminated in front of the Buddha statues, so as not to impede viewing. The bracket sets on the outside of the hall are all seventh rank, the highest.<ref name="Steinhardt 91 1997">Steinhardt (1997), 91.</ref>  The main hall is the earliest Chinese building that uses [[Bracket (architecture)|bracket sets]] in between columns instead of just simple [[strut]]s.<ref name="Steinhardt 92 1997">Steinhardt (1997), 92.</ref>  The structure of the hall uses more than 30 types of timber pieces in between the column tops and the roof.<ref name="Steinhardt 93 1997">Steinhardt (1997), 93.</ref>{{sfnb|Zi Yan|2012|p=75&ndash;76}}

==The Present==
In 2013, Fengguo Temple was placed on China's tentative list for [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]] consideration, along with the [[Pagoda of Fogong Temple]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Wooden Structures of Liao Dynasty—Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County，Main Hall of Fengguo Monastery of Yixian County|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5803/|date=2014-04-22}}</ref>

Although Fengguo Temple is not explicitly mentioned by name, in [[Jung Chang]]'s best-selling autobiography ''[[Wild Swans]]'' the author tells how her grandparents first met there, in a "casual" encounter arranged by her great-grandfather in 1924.<ref name="jungchang">{{cite book |author=Jung Chang |author-link=Jung Chang |title=[[Wild Swans|Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China]] |edition=3 |location=London |publisher=HarperCollins Publish |year=1993 |isbn=0-00-637492-1 |quote=''In Yixian there was a magnificent 900-year-old Buddhist temple made of precious wood and standing about a hundred feet high. ... It was an obvious place for Yang to take the visiting V.I.P. And temples were among the few places women of good families could go on their own. ... My grandmother was told to go to the temple on a certain day. ... Her father stepped forward and introduced her to the general.''}}</ref>

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
*{{in lang|zh}} ''Fengguosi''. Booklet published by the temple.
* Howard, Angela Falco, et al. ''Chinese Sculpture''. New Haven: [[Yale University Press]], 2006. {{ISBN|0-300-10065-5}}
*Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PXGJKMfoHtsC ''Liao Architecture'']. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-8248-1843-1}}
* {{cite book |author=Zi Yan |title=Famous Temples in China |year=2012 |publisher=Huangshan Publishing House |location=Hefei, Anhui |pages=54–57 |isbn=978-7-5461-3146-7 |language=en, zh}}

{{Buddhist temples in China}}


[[Category:11th-century Buddhist temples]]
[[Category:Buddhist temples in Liaoning]]
[[Category:Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Liaoning]]
[[Category:Liao dynasty architecture]]