广州六榕寺 The Six Banyan Temple
　　[简介]
　　六榕寺始建于南朝梁武帝时期（公元537年），至今已有1400多年的历史。南北朝是中国佛教兴盛的时期，而南朝梁武帝是中国历史上最狂热推崇佛教的皇帝。当年梁武帝的母舅昙裕法师从南京携带来自柬埔寨的佛舍利到广州，当时的广州刺史萧裕为迎接这一佛宝，特意修建了这座寺庙。原寺庙于十世纪中期（北宋初年）被大火烧毁，公元989年重建，1097年重建宝塔。
　　该寺原名宝庄严寺，后又几次改名。公元1100年，北宋著名文学家和书法家苏东坡到这里游览应曾人邀请为寺庙题字时，见寺内六棵古榕绿荫如盖，便挥笔写下了“六榕”二字；后来人们便称该寺为六榕寺，而寺内的宝塔则称六榕塔。现寺庙正门门楣上的“六榕”二字便是苏东坡手书的摹本。
　　[Introduction]
　　The Six Banyan Temple in Guangzhou is a 1400-year-old Buddhist monastery, dating from 537AD during China’s Southern and Northern Dynasties Period, when Buddhism in China was in its prime. Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty in South China was the most zealous devotee of Buddhism among all the emperors throughout the history of China. At that time, a Buddhist priest called Tanyu, who was a maternal uncle of Emperor Wu, was planning to bring the Buddhist relic they got in Cambodia to Guangzhou from Nanjing. To await the arrival of this Buddhist relic, the then governor of Guangzhou, Xiao Yu by name, specially had this temple built. The original structure of the temple was destroyed by fire in the middle of the 10th century during the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty. The existing temple was built in 989 and the pagoda was reconstructed in 1097.
　　This temple has got different names. In 1100, when Su Dongpo, a celebrated writer and calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty, came to visit the temple and was asked to leave a piece of his calligraphy in the temple, he wrote down two Chinese characters "Liu Rong", meaning "Six Banyan" in English, because he was deeply impressed by the six banyan trees then growing in the temple. Since then the temple has been commonly known as the Six Banyan Temple and the pagoda, the Six Banyan Pagoda. Now the facsimiles of these two characters can still be seen engraved on the stone tablet in a corridor and on the slab over the lintel of the front door.
　　[天王殿]
　　寺庙进门处为天王殿，正中的佛像是弥勒佛，又称“笑佛”；据说他是释迦牟尼的候补佛，故又称未来佛。两边的对联(大腹能容容天下难容之事，张口而笑笑天下可笑之人)是人们对弥勒佛的颂扬之词。两则的塑像是东西南北四方守护神，他们手中各持一法宝（剑、琵琶、雨伞和地龙）,寓意“风调雨顺”。弥勒佛后面的塑像是寺庙的守护神，叫韦驮；他是四大天王手下32将之首。
　　[The Hall of Heavenly Kings]
　　The entrance hall of the temple is called The Hall of Heavenly Kings and is the shrine for Mile Buddha (Maitreya) and the Heavenly Kings (or the Divas as are called in Buddhist sutra).The statue in the middle, the man with a big belly, is Mile Buddha, who is commonly known as the Laughing Buddha because he is always grinning from ear to ear. He is the future savior that will deliver all living beings to the Buddhist paradise after Sakyamuni’s Buddhist power is exhausted, and so he is also known as the Future Buddha. The couplet on both sides is a compliment to the Laughing Buddha, meaning literally: "A big belly can hold the world’s troubles that are troubling people. An open mouth is smiling at those who are to be smiled at"
　　On either side of the hall we can see two statues. They are the four Heavenly Kings, who are protectors of Buddhist doctrines, with each taking care of one side-the east, west, north and south. It is their joint efforts that ensure harmony, peace and prosperity of the world. The four objects they are holding-a "pipa"(a Chinese pluck instrument),an umbrella, a snake and a sword-combine to mean that Buddha will ensure a favorable weather for the crops so that people may live a happy life.(Individually, the one playing a pipa takes charge of the affairs in the East and is associated with harmony, as are all musicians; the one holding an umbrella, which is a symbol of rain that nourishes the crops, is in charge of the northern affairs; the third protector holding a snake in his hand takes charge of the affairs in the West and is believed to be able to tame all evil-doers and keep them under control; the sword carrier ,who looks after the southern affairs, is supposed to be able to bring wind.)
　　Statue at the back of the Laughing Buddha is the patron of the temple, Wei Tuo or Veda by name, who is number one among the 32 generals under the four Heavenly Kings.
　　[六榕塔]
　　六榕塔是寺庙的舍利塔。据记载，塔的地基下埋藏着佛牙舍利、宝剑和铜鼎等佛宝。因该塔外表华丽，就像花朵叠成的一根花柱，故又称“花塔”。此塔呈八角形，高57米，外观九层，里面实际有17层，有楼梯通达塔顶；外层各个方向均有入口进入塔内，但每层只有一个入口可通向楼梯，故游客上下时须沿外层转圈寻找楼梯入口。搭的顶部有一铜质塔刹，1358年铸造，上面铸有1023尊佛像。故千佛铜铸连同其它铜饰重量超过5吨。
　　[The Six Banyan Pagoda]
　　The Six Banyan Pagoda was built for keeping Buddhist relics. According to the records, some holy ashes from Buddha’s teeth, a sword, a bronze tripod and some other Buddhist treasures are buried under the foundation of the pagoda. This octagonal magnificent pagoda, with its blue glazed tiles, vermilion beams, painted walls and red pillars all in good match, looks like a flowery column and so it is often referred to as the "Flowery Pagoda".
　　The highlight of the visit to the temple is to climb the pagoda. This 57-meter-high pagoda looks to have only 9 stories on the outside but actually has 17 stories inside. On each of the 9 external floors, there are many entrances leading to its interior but only one is accessible to the staircase. So, if you lose your way, you just turn around the circle and you will find your way up or down! On the top floor, there is a huge bronze column with 1023 Buddha figurines in relief. Cast in 1358, this bronze column, together with its attachments, weighs over 5 tons.
　　[大雄宝殿]
　　六榕塔的西面是寺庙的主殿大雄宝殿；里面供奉的是释迦牟尼、阿弥陀佛和药师佛；他们是现在世、东方净琉璃世界和西方极乐世界的教主，称“三世佛”（他们是代表中，东，西三方不同世界的佛）。
　　这三座铜佛像于1663年铸造，高6米，每尊重10吨，是广东省内最大的铜佛像。这三尊佛像原供奉在广州惠福西路的大佛寺；文化大革命时红卫兵“破四旧”把佛像清出大佛寺，放进了废品仓库里，1983年六榕寺重建大雄宝殿时把他们供奉在这里。
　　[The Sakyamuni Hall]
　　To the west of the pagoda is the main hall of the temple-the Sakaymuni Hall. In this hall, the statues of Sakyamuni Buddha, Amida Buddha and the Pharmacist Buddha (Bhaisajya-guru) are enshrined. They are the three master Buddhas of the central, western and eastern worlds.
　　These three bronze Buddha statues, all 6 meters high and each weighing 10 tons, were cast in 1663 and are the biggest bronze Buddha statues in Guangdong Province. Originally they were settled in the Big Buddha Temple at Huifu Xi Road in Guangzhou. In the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution, they were regarded as vestiges of the old feudal ideas and were moved out of the temple and put into a scrap warehouse by the rebellious Red Guards. In 1983, they were removed to be mounted here when the Sakyamuni Hall of the Six Banyan Temple was rebuilt.
　　[六祖堂]
　　六榕塔南面的殿堂叫六祖堂；里面供奉的是中国佛教主要流派禅宗的第六祖惠能；他是南派禅宗的创始人。传统佛教认为：世间的一切都有是“苦”，要摆脱“六道轮回”的“苦果”，只有排除产生烦恼的欲望，使自己达到一种“寂灭为乐”的“涅槃”境界；而要达到这种境界，就必须按照“八正道”进行修炼。慧能在如何修炼成正果这个问题上进行了改革创新。他抛弃了繁琐的修炼程序，认为人人皆有佛性，任何人（包括天天杀生的屠夫）只要用简单的方法，即通过“坐禅”就能“明心见性，见性成佛”；所谓“放下屠刀，立地成佛’。这是南派禅宗创始人慧能的基本佛理。（有关慧能及其佛理参见“南华寺”篇）
　　[The Sixth Patriarch Hall]
　　To the south of the pagoda is the shrine for worshiping Hui Neng who was the Six Patriarch of Chan Buddhism and founder of the south sect of Chan Buddhism, which is the prevailing Buddhist sect in China. (See Nanhua Temple for more details about Hui Neng)
　　What and how is the south sect of Chan Buddhism? Well, according to Buddhist dogmas, sufferings and miseries exist everywhere in this world and evils are caused by people’s desire and attachment. And life, as well as time, is cyclical and all beings are subject to the sufferings of changes in different incarnations. The soul may endure many lives but the condition of the new life depends on the behavior of the soul in its previous body. If an individual ignores opportunities for right thinking and right action, in its next life it will have to pay for its past mistake. Therefore, in order to escape the wheel of life and to escape from suffering and misery, human beings must eliminate all desire and attachment, such as those for money and sex, which are the causes of all evils. The way to achieve the goal of eliminating desire and attachment may differ with different sects of Buddhism. Hui Neng, the sixth patriarch of Chan Buddhism, made this very simple. He discarded all the red tapes and advocated that, to achieve this goal, one should only practice umbilical contemplation, that is, to restrain oneself from any desire and emotions by quietly sitting cross-legged to concentrate one’s mind on the umbilicus of one’s own, in a posture like that of his statue you can see in the temple. The south sect Chan Buddhists believe that everybody has an inherent Buddhist nature, that is, a peaceful and undistracted state of mind that was originally free from evil intention and anxiety. This Buddhist nature in his own mind can be realized as long as he gives up all desire and attachment and, once he has come to realize it, he will instantly become a Buddha. And, even a butcher who used to kill living beings everyday can become a Buddha as long as he drops his cleaver and practice contemplation to realize his Buddhist nature.