Located on the Jingzhen Mountain 14 km west of Menghai County, the octagonal pavilion is named"Jingzhen Octagonal Pagoda" .It is the commandment hall of Zhatan Temple, a local Hinayana temple.
The pavilion is a typical Southern Buddhist building and is thus a part of the central Buddhist temple in Jingzhen. It was constructed in 1701 through joint efforts of the local Han and Dai people. The pavilion is 15.4meters high and consists of three parts: base, body and top. Its base is two meters high and 8.6 meters wide, and its body, which is five meters high, has 31 sides and 32 angles on its surface. Inside it are 24 walls with an area of 36 ㎡ and a copper statue of Sakyamuni. On the east, west, south and north of the pavilion are four doors of which the southem door leads to stairs. The top of the pavilion, a wooden structure eight meters high, is awl-shaped with a pointed tip and plain roofing tiles.
The roof is decorated with brakebar-1ike ornaments and silver chips with flower designs. Also octagonally shaped, the top of the pavilion is comprised of ten layers of eaves tapering toward the top, thus looking like 80 small attics.
Jingzhen Octagonal Pavilion, so the story runs, was modeled on the golden hat worn by Sakyamuni so as to memorialize him. In ancient times, the pavilion was a place where monks gathered for meetings. According to historical records, it was destroyed during a war in 1852. In 1981, it was restored to past magnificence through a renovation sponsored by the state government. Owing to its high artistic value, the pavilion is a key state-preserved cultural relic.
The small bridge over the Liusha River to the southeast of the pavilion is where the famous tragic story Letters in Gourds took p1ace.According to this story, the prince and the princess of two Mengs (tribes) fell in love and got married.Later, a war broke out between their tribes.In order to save the local people，the prince and the princess passed messages to each other through letters in gourds.The local people were thus saved, but unfortunately the prince and the princess were both killed near the pavilion.
On the western side of the pavilion is the rippling Jingzhen Lake about which there is a legend. The seven princesses of the Peacock Kingdom, as the legend relates, frequently came to bathe in this lake. It was here that the youngest princess Nanmunuona met her beloved prince Zhaoshutun and settled here. On this basis, a beautiful love story has come into being. |
