千年傳奇保國(guó)寺

徐學(xué)敏+邱明亮

2013年12月8日由我國(guó)國(guó)學(xué)泰斗、杭州西泠印社第七任社長(zhǎng)饒宗頤先生撰寫碑文的寧波保國(guó)寺大殿千年紀(jì)念碑揭幕。與此同時(shí)，寧波市第五個(gè)歷史文化名城保護(hù)日活動(dòng)也正式拉開(kāi)帷幕。2013年是寧波保國(guó)寺大殿建成1000周年。寧波保國(guó)寺屬1961年國(guó)務(wù)院公布的第一批全國(guó)重點(diǎn)文物保護(hù)單位，是寧波歷史文化名城的代表性文化遺產(chǎn)。本次歷史文化名城保護(hù)日系列活動(dòng)的主題圍繞“城市·建筑·文化”展開(kāi)，內(nèi)容包括文化志愿者誦讀千年紀(jì)念碑碑文、文化遺產(chǎn)保

寧波保國(guó)寺鳥瞰全景圖 A birds eye view of Baoguo Temple in Ningbo

護(hù)發(fā)展學(xué)術(shù)研討、國(guó)際建筑師論壇報(bào)告、古建筑經(jīng)典模型展覽、城鎮(zhèn)規(guī)劃設(shè)計(jì)國(guó)際競(jìng)賽、國(guó)際友好合作簽約等，給這座千年古建增添了濃厚的文化氣息。

神奇古建

千歲之喜，舉世關(guān)注。保國(guó)寺又名靈山寺，位于寧波市江北區(qū)洪塘鎮(zhèn)北的靈山山腹之中，距寧波市區(qū)15公里。保國(guó)寺原寺創(chuàng)建于東漢，現(xiàn)存的保國(guó)寺大殿為北宋大中祥符六年（1013）重建，是中國(guó)現(xiàn)存最古老的木結(jié)構(gòu)建筑之一，也是中國(guó)江南幸存的最古老最完整的木結(jié)構(gòu)建筑。它由山門、天王殿、大殿等建筑組成，占地面積1.3萬(wàn)余平方米，建筑面積6000余平方米。

寧波保國(guó)寺大殿迄今整整有1000年了。保國(guó)寺大雄寶殿的建筑風(fēng)格特異，巧奪天工，是保國(guó)寺建筑之精華。大雄寶殿是寺內(nèi)主建筑，重檐歇山式，其面

35米）， .13（91米），進(jìn)深三間 .闊三間（11

成縱向長(zhǎng)方形。大雄寶殿氣勢(shì)雄偉，全部結(jié)構(gòu)皆用斗拱裼巧妙銜接，并運(yùn)用精確的榫卯技術(shù)，不用一釘而將建筑物的各個(gè)構(gòu)件牢固地結(jié)合在一起，承托起整個(gè)殿堂屋頂?shù)闹亓?。大家都稱它為無(wú)梁殿。為什么稱無(wú)梁殿呢？因?yàn)檫@座大殿

在建筑上有其獨(dú)到之處：平面布

置進(jìn)深大于面闊，呈縱長(zhǎng)方形；在

前槽天花板上絕妙地安置了三個(gè)

鏤空藻井。它采用了復(fù)雜的斗拱結(jié)

構(gòu)，斗拱與昂都用榫卯巧妙地銜

接在一起，不用一枚釘子，整座大

殿穩(wěn)巧有致，有很好的防風(fēng)抗震

能力；柱子的設(shè)計(jì)更是別具匠心，外觀呈瓜棱狀，柱心由四根小柱拼合，外面再包鑲四瓣木條，既節(jié)約木材，又不影響牢固，且外形美觀。

聯(lián)合國(guó)教科文組織駐華代表評(píng)價(jià)稱，保國(guó)寺大殿代表了世界范圍內(nèi)木結(jié)構(gòu)文化遺產(chǎn)的驕傲，具有重要的歷史、藝術(shù)和科學(xué)價(jià)值。它是宋《營(yíng)造法式》的典型實(shí)例，反映了當(dāng)時(shí)建筑的獨(dú)特風(fēng)格、在力學(xué)研究上達(dá)到較高水平。

這座木構(gòu)殿宇在地震、臺(tái)風(fēng)、多雨、潮濕的環(huán)境、氣候條件下得以保存1000年，這是人類建筑史上的奇跡！不知有多少專家學(xué)者望之感嘆，思之敬仰。尋覓著隱藏其中的許許多多千古不解之謎。故宮博物院院長(zhǎng)、中國(guó)文物學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)單霽翔說(shuō)：“在它的斗拱梁柱間，到底蘊(yùn)藏著多少秘密？科學(xué)家們探尋的腳步一直沒(méi)有停止過(guò)?！?/p>

飛鳥愛(ài)在梁上壘窩筑巢，蜘蛛也常在房架吐絲張網(wǎng)，年代越久遠(yuǎn)的建筑物，越能吸引飛鳥、昆蟲前來(lái)?xiàng)?。然而，寧波的保?guó)寺卻是蟲鳥的“天然禁區(qū)”。保國(guó)寺除了木結(jié)構(gòu)建筑的一“奇”之外，另一“奇”就是大殿的每個(gè)角落不見(jiàn)鳥雀筑巢、蛛絲懸梁，更見(jiàn)不到蟲蛀蟻蝕。原來(lái)大殿的建筑材料中，有一種帶刺激性香味的黃檜，散發(fā)出為禽蟲所畏聞的氣味。也有一種說(shuō)法是因?yàn)樘厥獾慕ㄖY(jié)構(gòu)而產(chǎn)生出聲波振動(dòng)的風(fēng)流，從而驅(qū)逐了鳥雀蟲類。

在上世紀(jì)50年代保國(guó)寺大殿的文物價(jià)值被發(fā)現(xiàn)之時(shí)，它已經(jīng)是一座古代建筑的遺存，不再具有佛寺的功能。現(xiàn)在的保國(guó)寺更成為一座展示、傳承、弘揚(yáng)民族優(yōu)秀古代建筑文化的博物館，這種保護(hù)與利用的模式得到了國(guó)內(nèi)外專家學(xué)者的高度評(píng)價(jià)，也得到了社會(huì)公眾的普遍認(rèn)同。

守望遺珍

保國(guó)寺大殿已經(jīng)屹立了1000年，可謂是一部“凝固的木頭寫成的史書”，然而這部特殊的史書還能流傳多少歲月呢？下一個(gè)1000年，這座神秘的古剎將如何更好地續(xù)寫它的歷史輝煌呢？

同濟(jì)大學(xué)建筑與城市規(guī)劃學(xué)院的一位教授對(duì)保國(guó)寺大殿進(jìn)行了長(zhǎng)期的監(jiān)測(cè)，他認(rèn)為保國(guó)寺文物建筑群雖然多年來(lái)一直不斷地進(jìn)行著保護(hù)和維修，然而由于文物建筑的特殊性，相比戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)、火災(zāi)等，那些人們眼睛看不到的自然環(huán)境的種種不利因素，對(duì)保國(guó)寺文物建筑群有著持續(xù)的、難以避免的危害。

保國(guó)寺大殿需要合理維修已成了當(dāng)今專家們的共識(shí)，但怎么修、何時(shí)修、什么樣的維修才算是真正的保護(hù)，成了當(dāng)前的重大課題。中國(guó)文物學(xué)會(huì)付清遠(yuǎn)副會(huì)長(zhǎng)說(shuō)：“保國(guó)寺大殿只要屋頂上不漏雨，地基不下沉，加強(qiáng)保養(yǎng)，很大程度上還可以再延續(xù)千年。我們的保護(hù)維修措施，要體現(xiàn)盡可能少的干預(yù)，堅(jiān)持最大的保養(yǎng)?！?/p>

為了保國(guó)寺的下一個(gè)千年之約，有關(guān)部門正在大力推動(dòng)科技保護(hù)，已經(jīng)與國(guó)內(nèi)建筑專業(yè)高等院校，如清華大學(xué)、東南大學(xué)、同濟(jì)大學(xué)等建立了教學(xué)研究基地，并啟動(dòng)了與浙江大學(xué)合作的抗風(fēng)壓、載荷傳感信息測(cè)量，共建保國(guó)寺大殿科技保護(hù)監(jiān)測(cè)體系，實(shí)時(shí)對(duì)大殿進(jìn)行全面的健康“體檢”。保國(guó)寺博物館方面表示，要堅(jiān)持不懈地研究大殿營(yíng)造技術(shù)與地理環(huán)境之謎，期望探索出一套系統(tǒng)的科學(xué)解答方法，為大殿維修制定相關(guān)技術(shù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，確保這座千年大殿“延年益壽”。

保國(guó)寺大雄寶殿被稱為“無(wú)梁殿”，在臺(tái)風(fēng)、多雨、潮濕的江南環(huán)境中得以保存一千年，科學(xué)家評(píng)價(jià)：“這是人類建筑史上的奇跡?！?/p>

An external view of the Great Buddhas Hall， which has withstood the test of time for over 1，000 years. The wooden structure is widely regarded as a miracle of architecture.

Baoguo Temple – A Thousand-Year-

Long Legend

By Xu Xuemin & Qiu Mingliang

The grand opening of a special ceremony sponsored by the cultural administration au-thority of Ningbo in commemoration of the millennium of the Baoguo Temple， on Sep-tember 26， 2013， drew in a huge turnout and was attended by a galaxy of calligraphers and painting artists who contributed their share of the cultural aura of the osmanthus scented occasion.

Submission of calligraphy works and paintings for the 2013 millennium celebra-tion started in 2012. The resulting ‘thousand-meter-long painting scroll featured at the opening ceremony vividly unfolds the ar-chitectural， scenic and cultural charm of this thousand-year-old temple.

Also known as Lingshan Temple be-cause of its location in the hinterland of the Lingshan area in northern Hongtang Town， Jiangbei District， about 15km from down-town Ningbo， Baoguo Temple was built in the Eastern Han Dynasty （25-220AD）. The main hall of the extant structure was rebuilt in 1013 during the Northern Song （960-1127），

and is one of the oldest and best-conserved wooden temple structures in the southern banks of the Yangtze River area and in Chi-

na. Covering about an area of 13，000 square

meters， the temple complex has a build-up

area of about 6000 square meters and is now

under state-level protection.

Surviving numerous natural disasters and the atrocity of extreme weather over the past 1，000 years， the wooden structure is justifi-ably a miracle in the worlds history of archi-tecture. Generations of scholars and archi-tects have been confused， and enchanted， by the unfathomable enigma created by ancient artisans for their progeny to marvel at， if not see through.

One of the accidental findings by archae-ologists and architects involved in a recent renovation and protection project on the tem-ple that kicked off in June， 2013 is that 12 of the stone lotus-shaped plinths of this time-tested wooden structure were a legacy from the late Tang Dynasty （618-907） and early Northern Song Dynasty. Laid out symmetri-cally， the plinths serve as the column base of the Guanyin Hall of the temple， confirmed by experts from the Cultural Relics Preserva-tion Office of Ningbo and the Nanjing-based Southeast University.

The age-old temple is now listed， deserv-ingly， in the countrys first Cultural Relics Protection Directory issued by the State Council. The architectural essence of the structure is embodied by the Great Bud-dhas Hall. Serving as the centerpiece of the temple， the Great Buddhas Hall features a rectangle structure and a hipped roof with double eaves. Constructed entirely by a sys-tem of brackets inserted between the top of every column and crossbeam and perfected by the precision of traditional Chinese tenon-and-mortise expertise， the hall is a piece of art that is dubbed ‘a(chǎn) beamless hall.

Behind the aesthetic beauty and extremely elaborate structural mechanism achieved by ancient Chinese carpenters is the artistry that would leave any modern architect too infe-rior to bear comparison， making the temple a hallmark of the Song Dynasty architecture and a significant cultural， artistic and scientif-ic asset in the architectural history of China.

Cypress， a very special construction mate-rial used in the structure， creates a forbidden zone for spiders and birds， preventing the temple from being gnawed away by inhabit-ing birds and insects.

However， some experts attribute the

insect-resistant quality of the structure to the

sound wave vibrations generated structurally by the wooden compound itself.

Interestingly， the present-day Baoguo Temple does not fall into the conventional ‘temple category. It is now a ‘monk-less temple， or more precisely， a museum that makes one feel like walking around a sacred palace frozen in time.

The question is： Will the glory and beauty of the temple shine through another millen-nium？

According to a professor from the Architecture and Ur-ban Planning School of Tongji University who has been monitoring the ‘health status of the temple structure from the architectural angle for years， the biggest threats to the temple com-plex are not the fatal catastrophes as wars and fires but the seemingly insignificant adverse factors such as temperature and humidity.

Although the consensus that the temple -especially the Great Buddha Hall - is in need of refurbishment， has been reached， archeo-logical experts and architects have to work out concrete methods and procedures.

“We have enough scientific grounds to believe that the temple can maintain its re-splendence for another 1，000 years on the conditions that the roof can remain strong enough to ward off rain erosion and that the groundwork of the structure does not sink. The most important policy is ‘minimum inter-vention and maximum maintenance， so that the original structural system can be left alone to achieve longevity，” advised a deputy chair-man of Chinese Society of Cultural Relics.