Nanzen-ji Temple|The practice of walking meditation is a tradition hard to abandon since ancient times, and the Tang dynasty sculptures still shine, illuminating the Zen spirit

|The practice of walking meditation is a tradition hard to abandon since ancient times, and the Tang dynasty sculptures still shine, illuminating the Zen spirit. Deep in the ravines and steep valleys to the west of Mount Wutai lies a sanctuary for ancient architecture. This place, once rarely visited by outsiders, has become the miraculous home to the preserved Buddha Light Temple and Nanzen-ji Temple. Today, this land has become an unavoidable stop for countless visitors of ancient sites. Nanzen-ji Temple, as China's 'oldest' wooden structure, was once overlooked by Liang Sicheng due to its remote location, but now it is gradually becoming known to people. Its unassuming stature has survived the Huichang Persecution of Buddhism, and within its deeply projecting eaves, it displays the boldness and ease of Tang dynasty architecture. The Tang sculptures within the temple freeze the confidence and vitality of the Tang people in the abbot's quarters. Nanzen-ji Temple's main hall is rightfully considered a national treasure, a relic from the third year of the Tang Jianzhong era. It spans three bays in width and four rafters in depth, with a single-eave hip-and-gable roof, surrounded by twelve columns. The three square columns on the western wall are remnants from the temple's original construction, extremely ancient. The hall's wooden structure features are distinctly archaic. The brackets connect between columns without the use of common bracket arms, and at the corners, the brackets do not protrude. Observing the interior beams, the four rafters span from the front to the back eaves, with large forked hands supporting the ridge purlin on the flat beams. The column heads are fitted with five-layered double cantilevered bracket sets, a practice also quite ancient, appearing in archaeological materials from the Northern Dynasties to the Sui Dynasty. These features are not found in the architecture of the Five Dynasties and can be considered textbook examples of Tang dynasty construction. The center of the hall houses a brick-built Buddha platform, adorned with brick carvings of flowers and animals. There are 17 Tang dynasty colored sculptures, which were partially repainted during the Yuan dynasty in a style similar to the Dunhuang sculptures, with plump and dynamic forms, pursuing a sense of movement and beauty. Especially the Guardian Kings on both sides best exemplify this sculptural style, reflecting the aesthetic orientation formed by the Tang people's inclusiveness, what Dana called the 'spiritual climate' refracted in the sculptural meaning. Among these sculptures, the upward-looking child and the attendant Bodhisattva seem to have a lively exchange of gazes; the Guardian King and Bodhisattva on the west side touch fingers, as if resonating with the spiritual light heard from the Buddha's teachings. The entire hall is like a dynamic scroll, displaying the momentary diversity of a thousand faces in a single glance at a Dharma assembly. Nanzen-ji Temple is a village temple in Lijiazhuang, and what it exhibits is the folk art pursuit of harmony and dynamism, which is precisely the undercurrent in Chinese aesthetics that cannot be ignored. Three colored sculptures from Nanzen-ji Temple were stolen in 1999 and remain missing to this day. The lotus platform where the Bodhisattvas were worshipped is now empty, a cause for lament. Nanzen-ji Temple, together with the surrounding ancient structures like Buddha Light Temple, Yanqing Temple, Hongfu Temple, and Guangji Temple in Wutai County, has formed a very mature route, with no shortage of opportunities for shared or chartered transportation.