Baoning Temple () is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

located in

Yuelu District Yuelu District () is one of six urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, China. It is the 4th most populous district (after Heshan, Dingcheng and Yueyanglou Districts) in Hunan. The district is b ...

Changsha Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

History

Baoning Temple was originally built by Master Cang () in the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

(618–907), and rebuilt by Baoning Renyong () in the late Tang dynasty. In the Yongle period (1403–1424) of

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

(1368–1644), Zhu Hui (), the 19th son of

Zhu Yuanzhang The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328– 24 June 1398), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, courtesy name Guorui, was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 to 1398. In ...

, received ordination as a monk because he was suppressed and persecuted by his elder brother Zhu Di. In 1927, Changsha Suburban Farmers' Association () was established in Baoning temple, where Xiao Jinguang and Teng Daiyuan often held meetings. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, the temple was one of the "Eight Temples in Changsha", and Hunan Buddhist Children's Hospital () was founded in the temple. In the autumn of 1969, the

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

razed Baoning Temple to the ground and used it as a forest farm. On 22 November 2009, Yuelu District People's Government presided over the reconstruction of the temple.

Architecture

Now the existing main buildings include

Shanmen The Gate of Shanmen or Hall of the Shanmen or simply Shanmen (), is the entrance gate of a Buddhist temple. In ancient times, nearly all Buddhist temples had a single Shanmen gate leading into a large hall for the temple. Today, it is observed t ...

( Heavenly Kings Hall),

Mahavira Hall A Mahavira Hall, usually simply known as a Main Hall, is the main hall or building in a traditional Chinese culture, Chinese Buddhist temple, enshrining representations of Gautama Buddha and various other buddhas and bodhisattvas. It is encoun ...

Bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

, Drum tower, Buddha Recitation Hall, Hall of Sangharama Palace, Meditation Hall, Dining Room, etc.

Mahavira Hall

The Mahavira Hall is modeled on the East Hall of Foguang Temple on

Wutai Mountain Mount Wutai, also known by its Chinese name Wutaishan and as is a sacred Chinese Buddhism, Buddhist site at the headwaters of the Qingshui (Shanxi), Qingshui in Shanxi Province, China. Its central area is surrounded by a cluster of flat-topped ...

. The wood of dalbergia odorifera came from

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, with

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

tiles on the roofs. A total of more than 180 tons of anti-corrosion alloy copper are used. The hall is long, wide and high with a construction area of .

Gallery

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baoning Temple Buddhist temples in Hunan Buildings and structures in Changsha Tourist attractions in Changsha 21st-century establishments in China 21st-century Buddhist temples Religious buildings and structures completed in 2009