Guangshan Jingju Temple (), located in Guangshan County,

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

Province, China, also known as "Emperor entitled

Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...

Temple", is the birthplace of Guangshan Jingju Temple Gate of China's first Buddhist sect,

Tiantai Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. Drawing from earlier Mahāyāna sources such as Madhyamaka, founded by Nāgārjuna, who is traditionally regarded as the f ...

Sect. In the fifth year of Tianbao in the Northern Qi dynasty (554 A.D.), the eminent monk Huisi came to Dasu Mountain in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

to build a nunnery and open an altar to preach. Emperor Song Zhenzong's inscription "Emperor entitled Brahma Temple" is carved with five large-character plaques, which are still embedded on the door. The Daxiong Hall in the temple is a

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

dynasty building. There are still more than 30 steles inscribed by historical celebrities and scholars such as the "Emperor's powdered gold" stele in Wanli of the Ming dynasty, and the "Reconstruction Stele of Dasushan Brahma Temple" in

Kangxi The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ye ...

of Qing dynasty. The stele of

Su Shi Su Shi ( zh, t=, s=苏轼, p=Sū Shì; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese poet, essayist, calligrapher, painter, scholar-official, literatus, artist, pharmacologist, and gastronome wh ...

's poems (Song dynasty) on visiting Jingju Temple is also conserved within the temple.

Monks

The Jingju Mountain where the Jingju Temple is located was a place for

Maitreya Maitreya (Sanskrit) or Metteyya (Pali), is a bodhisattva who is regarded as the future Buddhahood, Buddha of this world in all schools of Buddhism, prophesied to become Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha.Williams, Paul. ''Mahayana Buddhism: Th ...

Buddha to sermon. It is the birthplace of Tiantai Sect of Buddhism. There were many famous monks here in history of Buddhism. Based on ancient literature "Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty of China", "Dictionary of Chinese Names", "Chinese Temples and Bodhisattvas", "Guangshan County Chronicles" of the

Qing 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 ...

, and

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, and relevant materials at China and abroad, the famous monks here included but not limited to: Huisi (515–577 AD) was a monk of the

Northern and Southern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered a ...

, the founder of Jingju Temple, the third ancestor of Tiantai Sect in China, and the teacher of

Zhiyi Zhiyi (; 538–597 CE) also called Dashi Tiantai (天台大師) and Zhizhe (智者, "Wise One"), was a Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, Buddhist philosophy, philosopher, meditation teacher, and Exegesis, exegete. He is considered to be the foun ...

, the actual founder of Tiantai Sect (ranked fourth).

, a monk in

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...

, was the heir of Huisi and the actual founder of the Tiantai sect. He was known as: "Tiantai Buddha". "Dictionary of Chinese Names" introduces that Zhiyi's common surname is Chen, and his style name is De'an. He lost his parents at the age of eight, and became a monk at Guoyuan Temple in Xiangzhou. In the first year of Chen Tianjia (560 AD), at the age of 23, he came to Dasu Mountain in Guangzhou to worship Huisi as his teacher. He learned

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

and practiced the Dharma Samadhi.

References

{{coord missing, China Temples in China Temples Buddhist temples Buddhist temples in China