Baosheng 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 the town of

Luzhi Luzhi Town () is a famous historic old town located in the Wuzhong District, 18 km east of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. Etymology It was also known as Puli (),() has two pronunciations, 'fu' and 'pu'. () is pronounced as Pu-li, not ...

, in

Wuzhong District Wuzhong District () is one of five district (China), urban districts of Suzhou, Jiangsu, Jiangsu Province, China. It has a land area of and had a population of 1,388,972 in 2020. Administrative divisions In the present, Wuzhong District has 8 su ...

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

. It is dubbed "one of the top 4 Buddhist temples of

Jiangnan Jiangnan is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of its delta. The region encompasses the city of Shanghai, the southern part of Jiangsu ...

region".

History

The original temple dates back to early 6th century, in China's

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was pre ...

(502–557), it has a history of more than 1510 years. Xiao Yan, an emperor of the Liang dynasty and a devout Buddhist, went in for large-scale construction of Buddhist temples. Baosheng Temple is the architecture from that period. In its heyday, it had more than 5,000 halls and rooms as well as thousands of monks, and its area covers half the town. In the summer of 1918,

Ye Shengtao Ye Shengtao (28 October 1894 – 16 February 1988) also known as Ye Shaojun, was a Chinese writer, journalist, educator, publisher and politician. He was a founder of the Association for Literary Studies (), the first literature association dur ...

invited

Gu Jiegang , module = , workplaces = Peking University, Xiamen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Yenching University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Gu Jiegang (8 May 1893 – 25 December 1980) was a Chinese historia ...

to the temple and they founded the clay statues of the

Eighteen Arhats The Eighteen Arhats (or Eighteen Luohans) () are depicted in Chinese Buddhism as the original followers of Gautama Buddha ('' arhat'') who have followed the Noble Eightfold Path and attained the four stages of enlightenment. They have reached the ...

were made by a famous sculptor named "Yang Huizhi" () 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). They wrote articles in newspapers and magazines calling for the protection of these cultural relics, but they didn't attract the attention of the local government. In 1928, half of the

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 ...

collapsed for neglect, 9 statues of the Eighteen Arhats were demolished. Two years later, architect Fan Wenzhao designed and built the

Arhat Hall The ''Luohan Dian'' (Traditional Chinese: 羅漢殿, pinyin: ''Luóhàndiàn''; lit: “Hall of Arhats”) is a hall used for enshrining an arhat or arhats in Chinese Buddhist temples. Arhat is another term for Arahant, one who has gained insigh ...

to house the remaining statues of Eighteen Arhats. 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

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

invaded the temple and smashed the clay statues of the

Four Heavenly Kings The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhism, Buddhist gods or Deva (Buddhism), ''devas'', each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. The Hall of Four Heavenly Kings is a standard component of Chinese Buddhism, Ch ...

. In 1961, the arhat statues of Baosheng Temple were listed among the first batch of " Major National Historical and Cultural Sites" by the

State Council of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

National treasures

The 9 statues of Eighteen Arhats created by Yang Huizhi of the

(618–907) are well preserved after a thousand years. A stone Dhvajo named ''Zunsheng Tuoluoni Jingzhou'' () made in the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

(960–1279) is housed in the temple. Statues of Buddha and Buddhist sutras were carved on its surface. An iron bell which was cast in late

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) and early

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

(1644–1911) is collected in the temple. The temple has a 1500-year-old and tall

ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the English common name. The order to which the genus belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, , and ''Ginkgo'' is n ...

tree.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baosheng Temple Buddhist temples in Suzhou Buildings and structures in Suzhou Tourist attractions in Suzhou 20th-century establishments in China 20th-century Buddhist temples Religious buildings and structures completed in 1932