| Pagoda Yard takes its position in the
central west of the monastery. According to record, a pagoda yard was
set in Shaoln temple no later than the Sui Dynasty. It was repaired
during the Tand and Song Dynasties. Today there are still ancient
pagodas standing in the west and east parts of the yard, not far apart
from each other. Both were build in 1088 by Guang Qing, a shaolin monk.
The Buddhist pagoda in the west stands on a two layer base in the
northwest corner of the yard. It has a rerely seen rectangular plane
retangle, 415 centimeters wide and 318 centimeters long. It is double
eave pagoda, and both the upper and lower stories are monastic rooms.
In the lower stoty, there is a stone statue of Maitreya, 173
centimeters high, carved in the Tang Dynasty. He is standing on lotus
flowers, calm and confident, his posture sedate. The pleats of his
clothes suggest that they may have come out from water but never get
wet or spoiled by it. This stone statue is one of the most valuable
ones among all the figures of Buddha in Shaolin temple. The
inscription on a stone tablet in the west wall of the pagoda describes
how it once survived the 'Abolotion of Buddhism' by the Tang Dynasty
ruler Wu Zong (Li Yan) who reigned between 841-847. Maitreya Pagoda is
8 meters away. It is a brick structure, square in shape, with ten
overlapping eaves all in simple close style. The statue inside was
made later. According to Shi Lao Zhi (Biography of Sakyamuni),
Sakyamuni one said that Maitreya came to this world as the second
greatest Buddha. Up to now, above the pagoda door, six words meaning
‘ Pagoda in memory of Meitreya’s decendance still remain. The
character tablet inlaid the west wall is 33cm high anf 77cm wide.
There are also a few tablets of Ming and Qing Dynasties on each side
of the pah in front of the pagoda. |