Wanggu Temple in Yongji, Shanxi (Northern Wei Dynasty)

Wanggu Temple, located 300 meters south of Shengli Village, Guxin Zhuang, Puzhou Town, Yongji City, faces east and west, built against the mountain. It is 200 meters long from east to west, 100 meters wide from north to south, covering an area of 20,000 square meters. In October 2019, Wanggu Temple in Yongji was designated by the State Council as the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units. According to inscriptions in the temple, Wanggu Temple was founded in the third year of the Zhengguang era of the Northern Wei Dynasty (522 AD), rebuilt in the eighth year of the Dazhong era of the Tang Dynasty (854 AD), became a famous temple in Hedong during the Song Dynasty, underwent multiple renovations during the Hongwu and Tianshun eras of the Ming Dynasty, was destroyed by an earthquake in the thirty-fourth year of the Jiajing era (1555 AD), and was rebuilt during the Wanli era (1573-1620 AD), forming its present layout. Wanggu Temple is built on a mountain, with a brick plaque inscribed with 'The First Zen Forest' above the mountain gate. Entering the gate leads to the Mahavira Hall, also known as the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas, a brick and stone structure from the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, with solemn walls but no surviving Buddha statues. Ascending the stone steps beside the temple, in the middle is the Medicine Buddha Cave with five rooms, each with a door and three bracket sets with five brackets each, housing the Medicine Buddha. Further up is the Pagoda Courtyard, surrounded by carved walls, with the Sakyamuni Pagoda standing in the center, an octagonal plane thirteen-tiered dense-eave style brick pagoda, 54.6 meters high. The pagoda is made of blue bricks and has a significant taper from top to bottom. The temple preserves 22 steles from the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and four stone carvings of the Pilu Pavilion's water and land. The bottom layer of the pagoda has a door on the south side, with a spiral staircase inside, leading to the top. From afar, the southward flow of the Yellow River resembles a winding golden belt. Behind the pagoda is the Infinite Hall, five bays wide and two stories high, housing the Infinite Life Buddha. The hall is made of blue bricks, carved with floral patterns and bracket sets, and has no beam structure, commonly known as the Beamless Hall. The last structure in the temple is the Arhat Hall, near the mountain peak. The temple originally housed sixty-three celestial images painted by Wu Zhou Cao of the Tang Dynasty, which have long since perished. Now, four engraved Arhat images remain, vivid in expression, retaining the legacy of the Tang Dynasty.