Pagoda of Puqing Temple, Buddhist stone pagoda in Lin'an District, China.
The Pagoda of Puqing Temple is a hexagonal granite pagoda of seven storeys and 7 m total height, standing on a 1.6 m stone base with a 3.2 m side. Each storey carries a simulated wooden eave with tile ridges, hooked drip tiles and upturned corners, and the body narrows as it rises. Niches hold 28 seated Buddhas, with names such as Maitreya and the Huayan and Western Three Saints carved beside them.
The temple of Puqing was founded in Lin'an during the Yuanyou era of the Song dynasty. The stone pagoda was added in the Zhizhi era of the Yuan dynasty; the temple was destroyed in the wars at the end of the Yuan and rebuilt in the early Ming by Yao Guangxiao, then lost again, leaving only the pagoda. It was listed as a Zhejiang provincial protected site in 1963 and 1981, its base was repaired in 1973, and in 2013 it became a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.
The pagoda's niches hold 28 seated Buddha figures, each with a lotus base; some are accompanied by inscribed invocations. The first storey names Maitreya, Vasubandhu and a great arhat, while the second and third carry the Huayan Three Saints and the Three Saints of the West. The seventh storey is inscribed with wishes for the emperor's long life, favourable weather and a peaceful realm.
The pagoda stands in Qing Shan Hu Subdistrict, Lin'an District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The 1.6-metre stone base and the carved eaves of the seven storeys are easiest to examine in daylight; the carvings on the north, northeast and northwest faces are incised rather than raised.
The finial is carved with seven concentric rings, called a seven-tiered xianglun, a detail visitors often miss when looking up. The seventh storey also carries inscriptions: "Long live the emperor" on the south face, "favourable weather" to the southeast and "national peace" to the southwest.
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