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Hongfo Pagoda
The Hongfo Pagoda (), meaning 'Grand Buddha Pagoda', is an octagonal brick pagoda located in Helan County, just north of Yinchuan city, in Ningxia, China. The pagoda was built during the Western Xia (1038–1227), and when it was renovated in 1990 a number of Western Xia statues and printed texts were discovered. History The pagoda is located in the countryside east of Hongxing Village (红星村), Jingui Township (金贵镇), about from Helan city. Based on the discovery of Western Xia period artefacts and texts during renovation in 1990, it has been determined that the pagoda must date to the Western Xia (1038–1227). Radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology dating have given dates of 1140±100 years BP () and 1080±105 years BP (dendrochronology) for the wooden central pillar, and dates of 1050±90 years BP () and 995±95 years BP (dendrochronology) for wooden beams. These dates would suggest that the pagoda was first constructed before the Western Xia, but based on archit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools as well as modern Theravada Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Pali: ''bodhisatta'') refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will be so. In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated ''bodhicitta'', a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritually heroic persons that work to attain awakening and are driven by a great compassion (''mahakaruṇā''). These beings are exemplified by important spiritual qualities such as the "four divine abodes" (''brahmaviharas'') of loving-kindness ('' metta''), compassion (''karuṇā''), empathet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Hundred And Eight Stupas
The One Hundred and Eight Stupas () is an array of one hundred and eight Buddhist stupas (also called dagobas) on a hillside on the west bank of the Yellow River at Qingtongxia in Ningxia, China. The stupas were originally constructed during the Western Xia, but have been renovated and rebuilt several times over the centuries. Description The location of the 108 stupas has been turned into a major tourist site, and a large area of land between the stupas and the Yellow River has been paved over and landscaped with ponds. A number of buildings have been erected on the site, including a tourist reception centre and an exhibition hall. The exhibition hall describes the history of the stupas, and shows photographs of what they looked like when they were investigated and renovated during the 1980s. The 108 stupas are arrayed in a triangular formation up the side of a hill, facing southeast, overlooking the Yellow River. There is one large stupa at the apex of the triangle, with a Bud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chengtian Temple Pagoda
The Pagoda of Chengtian Temple (), meaning 'Bearing Heaven Pagoda', is an eleven-storeyed brick pagoda located on the site of a previous Buddhist temple in Yinchuan city, Ningxia, China. The pagoda was originally built during the Western Xia, but the current structure dates to the Qing dynasty. At in height it is the tallest pagoda in Ningxia. In contrast to the Haibao Pagoda in Yinchuan, which is known as the Northern Pagoda, Chengtian Temple Pagoda is also informally referred to as the Western Pagoda (). History The first pagoda was built during the infancy of Emperor Yizong of Western Xia (r. 1048–1068). The text of a commemorative stele marking its construction has been preserved, from which it is known that the Empress Dowager ordered the construction of a pagoda to protect the reign of her infant son, and as a reliquary for housing pieces of head bone of the Buddha.Commemorative stele at Chengtian Temple Pagoda, Yinchuan, dated August 1990. The construction of the pagoda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major National Historical And Cultural Sites In Ningxia
Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank above captain, and one rank below lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks. Background Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers while in some nations, like Germany, majors are often in command of a company. When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including ''general-major'' or '' major general'', denoting a low-level general officer, and '' sergeant major'', denoting the most senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) of a military unit. The term ''major'' can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xuanwu (god)
Xuanwu () or Xuandi (), also known as Zhenwu (, ) or Zhenwudadi (, ), is a powerful deity in Chinese religion, one of the higher-ranking deities in Taoism. He is revered as a powerful god, able to control the elements and capable of great magic. He is identified as the god of the north ''Heidi'' ( , and is particularly revered by martial artists. He is the patron god of Hebei, Henan, Manchuria and Mongolia. As some Han Chinese (now the modern-day Cantonese and Fujianese peoples) migrated into the south from Hebei and Henan during the Tang-Song era, Xuanwu is also widely revered in the Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian provinces, as well as among the overseas diaspora. Since the usurping Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty claimed to receive the divine assistance of Xuanwu during his successful Jingnan Campaign against his nephew, he had a number of Taoist monasteries constructed in the Wudang Mountains of Hubei, where Xuanwu allegedly attained immortality. Black Tortoise Xuanw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Song
Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a range of hills in Trinidad Schools * Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School (NCIVS), a school in Sarnia, Canada * Northern Secondary School, Toronto, Canada * Northern Secondary School (Sturgeon Falls), Ontario, Canada * Northern University (other), various institutions * Northern Guilford High School, a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina Companies * Arriva Rail North, a former train operating company in northern England * Northern Bank, commercial bank in Northern Ireland * Northern Foods, based in Leeds, England * Northern Pictures, an Australian-based television production company * Northern Rail, a former train operating company in northern England * Northern Railway of Canada, a defunct railway in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rammed Earth
Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method. Under its French name of pisé it is also a material for sculptures, usually small and made in molds. It has been especially used in Central Asia and Tibetan art, and sometimes in China. Edifices formed of rammed earth are on every continent except Antarctica, in a range of environments including temperate, wet, semiarid desert, montane, and tropical regions. The availability of suitable soil and a building design appropriate for local climatic conditions are the factors that favour its use. The French term "pisé de terre" or "terre pisé" was sometimes used in English for architectural uses, especially in the 19th century. The process Making rammed earth involves compacting a damp mixture of subsoil that has suitable proportions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way'', Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jan Westerhoff considers him to be "one of the greatest thinkers in the history of Asian philosophy." Nāgārjuna is widely considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka (centrism, middle-way) school of Buddhist philosophy and a defender of the Mahāyāna movement. His ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (Root Verses on Madhyamaka, or MMK) is the most important text on the madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness. The MMK inspired a large number of commentaries in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean and Japanese and continues to be studied today. History Background India in the first and second centuries CE was politically divided into various states, including the Kushan Empire and the Satavaha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbonization
Carbonization is the conversion of organic matters like plants and dead animal remains into carbon through destructive distillation. Complexity in carbonization Carbonization is a pyrolytic reaction, therefore, is considered a complex process in which many reactions take place concurrently such as dehydrogenation, condensation, hydrogen transfer and isomerization. Carbonization differs from coalification in that it occurs much faster, due to its reaction rate being faster by many orders of magnitude. For the final pyrolysis temperature, the amount of heat applied controls the degree of carbonization and the residual content of foreign elements. For example, at T ~ 1200 K the carbon content of the residue exceeds a mass fraction of 90 wt.%, whereas at T ~ 1600 K more than 99 wt.% carbon is found. Carbonization is often exothermic, which means that it could in principle be made self-sustaining and be used as a source of energy that does not produce carbon dioxide. In the case ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pearl In The Palm
The ''Pearl in the Palm'' or the ''Timely Pearl'' ( Tangut: ; ) is a bilingual glossary between the Chinese and Tangut languages. It survives as a single complete copy of a 12th-century woodblock printed book that was discovered in the Tangut city of Kharakhoto. In addition, a single page from a different copy of the same edition of the ''Pearl in the Palm'' was found at the Northern Mogao Caves in 1989. The book transcribes the pronunciation of Chinese words into Tangut characters, and the pronunciation of Tangut characters into Chinese characters, and so is a very important source for Tangut historical phonology, and was the primary source before the publication of monolingual Tangut dictionaries. Discovery In 1909, the Russian explorer Pyotr Kozlov unearthed a number of texts and artefacts in Ejin Banner, Inner Mongolia, including the ''Pearl in the Palm'' and transported them back to St. Petersburg, Russia. There, Aleksei Ivanovich Ivanov, professor at Saint Petersburg S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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