Shaolin Temple Pagoda Forest is located in the west side of Songshan Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng City, Henan Province. It is the largest ancient pagoda complex in China. There are more than 240 ancient pagodas that have been preserved. It is of great significance to the study of ancient Chinese brick and stone architecture, calligraphy and sculpture, religious heritage and martial arts history. The Pagoda Forest of Shaolin Temple can be called “Tomb tower”, which is the graveyard of the eminent monks of Shaolin Temple after their death. There are many kinds of towers, including vase shaped, quadrangle shaped, parabola shaped, brick built and stone carved, which can be said to retain the characteristics of buildings in all dynasties. At the same time, the height and size of the pagoda are also different, because in principle, if every monk builds a pagoda in the pagoda, the Shaolin Temple will not use public funds. The funds come from his own heritage and the contribution of his disciples, so to some extent, the height and size of the pagoda represents the status, merits and virtues, the number of his disciples, and the economic situation of the monk. However, no matter how great the merits, the status and the wealth are, the number of floors of the pagoda can’t exceed seven. There is a saying in Buddhism: save one’s life, and win the building of seven level pagoda, which refers to the pagoda of Buddha. Therefore, the tombs built to commemorate which person can’t exceed seven levels. Only the pagoda of Buddha can be above seven levels. There are only one, three, five and seven floors in the Tallinn, but no two, four or six. On the one hand, it is the building habit of ancient China, and the singular number represents masculinity. On the other hand, it is a metaphor that monks do not advocate to become a family in order to pursue the six root purity.
1.Fawan Zen master Tower: Although the tower has only one floor, the stone carving works on it give a strong feeling. It is exquisite, gorgeous, full and mellow, which fully shows the superb achievements of stone carving art in the Tang Dynasty. This tower is also the oldest one preserved in the whole Tallinn.
2.Fuyu and Shangta: This is the tomb of an eminent monk at the highest level in the Tallinn. Before his death, Fuyu was Kublai Khan’s national teacher, who made great contributions to Kublai Khan’s rule in the Central Plains. Fuyu is in a high position. Instead of worshiping Kublai Khan, the Royal concubine and Prince need to learn Buddhism from him and salute him. Under his enlightenment, the Central Plains gradually accepted the management of the Yuan Dynasty, which laid the foundation for Kublai Khan’s further rule.
3.Xiaoshan monk’s Pagoda: this pagoda is the tomb of Xiaoshan monk, the 24th abbot of Shaolin Temple appointed by Jiajing emperor in the Ming Dynasty. During Jiajing period, there were continuous riots by Japanese pirates in the southeast coastal area, which made the people in the coastal area miserable and caused huge loss of life and property. For three times, Emperor Jiajing appointed xiaoshanhang to call for a handsome seal, led Shaolin monks to pacify the Japanese pirates, and guaranteed the normal life of the local people. In order to praise the merits of Shaolin monks, the emperor also ordered two flagpoles to be erected in front of the Shaolin temple gate. The level of this tower is also seven floors, and the tower wheel above represents the number of floors.
4 Xingzheng pagoda (the first pagoda built in Tallinn after the founding of new China, built in 1992, is the 29 th generation Abbot’s Xingzheng Tomb of Shaolin Temple. All the Abbots Of Shaolin Temple were conferred by the Emperor himself. There has been no official Abbot in Shaolin temple for 320 years since it was stopped in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty. In the 1980s, in order to meet the needs of Shaolin Temple’s opening up and normal Buddhist activities, the National Buddhist Association officially appointed Xing Zheng as the 29th generation abbot of Shaolin Temple in the name of the State Council.)
5.Shaolin pagoda, Suxi pagoda, a Zen master just passed away in Shaolin Temple. Suxi can be said to be a senior monk at the Presbyterian level in Shaolin Temple. He is well-known in the Buddhist martial arts circle. There are as many as 3000 students at home and abroad, dozens of whom are national experts and masters. This pagoda was built in the name of longevity pagoda before his death, and the underground palace was reserved. Suxi was buried here after his death. The whole tower has a strong modern flavor. There are cars, trains, airplanes and even mobile phones and laptops on the stone carvings. It also reflects the Zen’s theory of entering the world and the era, which means that the development of Zen is not divorced from the reality and not far away from the era.)
6.Fuyu pagoda (this is the tomb of an eminent monk at the highest level in the Tallinn. Before his death, Fuyu was Kublai Khan’s national teacher, who made great contributions to the rule of Kublai Khan in the Central Plains. Because of different views at that time, the common people in the Central Plains didn’t want to be ruled by a minority and resisted one after another. Kublai Khan adopted the minister’s suggestion: “governing the world with Confucianism and the heart with Buddhism”, and sent Fuyu to be the abbot of the most famous temple in the Central Plains at that time, and named him “the province of all monks”, which is equivalent to the president of the current National Buddhist Association and the leader of all Buddhists. Because he was a national teacher and had a high position, he didn’t have to pay homage to Kublai Khan. Instead, the Royal concubine and Prince had to learn Buddhism from him and salute him. Under his enlightenment, the Central Plains gradually accepted the management of the Yuan Dynasty, which laid the foundation for the further rule of Kublai Khan. Kublai Khan also attached great importance to him. After Fuyu died, he was granted the title of the Duke of Jin. We know that all those who were granted the title of the Duke of Jin must have been the founders of the country and made great achievements in the war, and a monk was granted the title of the Duke of the state, which is probably the only one in history. Fuyu not only made great achievements in the political arena, but also achieved great achievements in Buddhism. He not only won the political foundation for the development of Shaolin Temple, but also built many pavilions and halls. At that time, he was the first in the Central Plains in a grand scale. In the history of Shaolin Temple, he was called the ancestor of ZTE. The prosperity of Shaolin Temple in Yuan and Ming dynasties can be said to start from Fuyu. In addition, Cao Dongzong, a branch of Zen, is inherited by monk Fuyu. We can notice that the names of the disciples of Shaolin Temple are very regular after Fuyu. One word is commonly used by one generation of disciples. For example, Su Xi is the generation of Su, de Chan is the generation of De, and Xing is the generation of Xing, which is the rule of Fuyu. He has written a poem with a total of 70 words. Each generation of disciples uses one word when they choose the name of the Dharma. Today, the temple should be divided into several generations of “Immortality”.
As mentioned above, the construction funds of each tower mainly come from the donation of disciples and personal heritage, which leads to a special case: some monks have high status, great fame and great merits, but they don’t receive any disciples or personal heritage in their lives, so Shaolin Temple needs to pay part of the public money to build a joint burial tower similar to the nature of a cemetery. This kind of joint burial tower Tower, there are not many in the Tallinn, but a special name is ordinary tower.