Miyin Temple () is a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple located in Weishan Township,

Ningxiang Ningxiang () is a county-level city and the 2nd most populous county-level division in the Province of Hunan, China; it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Changsha. The city is bordered to the north by Heshan District o ...

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. The temple is built within grounds of some . The Chinese Buddhist monk Weishan Lingyou of 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) founded Miyin Temple on and started the

Weiyang school The Guiyang school (, also read Weiyang School) is one of the schools of Chan Buddhism. History The Guiyang school was the first established house of the Five Houses of Chán. Guiyang is named after master Guishan Lingyou (771–854) and his di ...

of Buddhism making Mount Wei an important religious sacred site in China's feudalist era.

History

Tang dynasty

In 813, in the eighth year of the age of Yuanhe of

Emperor Xianzong Emperor Xianzong of Tang (4 March to 1 April 778''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 14. – 14 February 820; r. 805 – 820), personal name Li Chun, né Li Chun (), was an emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty. He was the eldest son of Emperor Shunzong, ...

, the traveler who named Liu Qian () came to Ningxiang,

Hunan Province Hunan is an inland province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and Guizhou and Chon ...

. He saw the Wei Mountain's steep cliffs, lofty peaks, roaring waterfalls, gurgling springs, towering trees and fragrant flowers, and Wei Mountain has seven hills like the

Big Dipper The Big Dipper (American English, US, Canadian English, Canada) or the Plough (British English, UK, Hiberno-English, Ireland) is an asterism (astronomy), asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them ar ...

. After the tour, Liu Qian came to Baizhang Mountain () in

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

and told his friend

Baizhang Huaihai Baizhang Huaihai (; pinyin: ''Bǎizhàng Huáihái''; Wade-Giles: ''Pai-chang Huai-hai''; ) (720–814) was a Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that dev ...

about the natural landscape he had seen. He told Huaihai that there would be a good place to build temples. Huaihai followed Liuqian's advice, he commanded his disciple Weishan Lingyou to go there, build temples and advertise Folk Buddhism. On August 15 in the Chinese lunar calendar, Lingyou came to Wei Mountain. He built a hut to live in. In 807, in the second year of the age of Yuanhe of Emperor Xianzong, Da'an () and Lingyou built ''Yingchan Temple'' (). They then renamed it ''Santa Temple'' (). In 845, after the

Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution The Huichang Persecution of Buddhism () was initiated by Emperor Wuzong (Li Chan) of the Tang dynasty during the Huichang era (841–845). Among its purposes was to appropriate war funds and to cleanse Tang China of foreign influences. As such, ...

, Lingyou disbanded the monastery, and lived a self-cultivation for food life. At that time, the prime minister

Pei Xiu Pei Xiu (224–3 April 271), courtesy name Jiyan, was a Chinese cartographer, geographer, politician, and writer of the state of Cao Wei during the late Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty (265–420), Jin dynasty of China. He was very m ...

had retreated and worked in Hunan for Jingzhou Provincial Governor. He was Lingyou's friend. He sent Lingyou a copy of the

Chinese Buddhist canon The Chinese Buddhist canon refers to a traditional collection of Chinese language Buddhist texts which are the central canonical works of East Asian Buddhism. The traditional term for the canon is Great Storage of Scriptures ().Jiang Wu, "The ...

. In 849, Emperor Xuanzong renamed the temple ''Miyin Temple'' (). At that time, the prime minister Pei Xiu built ''Miyin Temple'', and his second son Pei Wende () replaced the crown prince as a monk. Lingyou gave him a Buddhist name ''Fahai'' (). He was a monk in the most famous Chinese tale the ''

Legend of the White Snake The Legend of the White Snake is a Chinese legend centered around a romance between a man named Xu Xian and a female snake spirit named Bai Suzhen. It is counted as one of China's Four Great Folktales, the others being '' Lady Meng Jiang'', ' ...

''. When Lingyou came to Yang Mountain, Yichun,

, he found a new form of Buddhism:

Guiyang school The Guiyang school (, also read Weiyang School) is one of the schools of Chan Buddhism. History The Guiyang school was the first established house of the Five Houses of Chán. Guiyang is named after master Guishan Lingyou (771–854) and his di ...

Song dynasty

In 1104, in the third year of the age of Chongning of Emperor Huizong, Miyin Temple was destroyed by fire. Monk Kongyin () rebuilt it.

Ming dynasty

In 1370, in the third year of the age of Hongwu of

Hongwu Emperor 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 List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, founding emperor of the Ming dyna ...

, Miyin Temple was destroyed by fire, Chedang () rebuilt the Multi-Buddha Hall (). In 1619, in the forty-seventh year of the age of Wanli of

Wanli Emperor The Wanli Emperor (4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shenzong of Ming, personal name Zhu Yijun, art name Yuzhai, was the 14th List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reig ...

, Miyin Temple was destroyed by fire.

Qing dynasty

In 1655, in the twelfth year of the age of Shunzhi of

Shunzhi Emperor The Shunzhi Emperor (15 March 1638 – 5 February 1661), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizu of Qing, personal name Fulin, was the second Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China pro ...

, Huishan Chaohai () rebuilt Miyin Temple and changed the religious format to the

Rinzai school The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school, Linji s ...

Republic of China

In 1918, Miyin Temple was destroyed by fire, the arsonist was Zhang Sanyuan (). In 1922, monk Yongguang () recovered the

of Buddhism at this temple. He invited some Eminent monks to advertise Folk Buddhism. In 1933, a monk named Bao () raised donations and rebuilt Miyin Temple.

People's Republic of China

In 1966, during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, Miyin Temple was knocked down by 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 ...

. In 1972, Miyin Temple was listed as a provincial culture and relics site. In September 2005, Hunan Buddhist Association, the People's Government of Ningxiang and Miyin Temple hosted "The International Buddhist Culture Festival".

References

Bibliography

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miyin Temple Buddhist temples in Changsha Buildings and structures in Ningxiang Tourist attractions in Changsha 9th-century establishments in China 9th-century Buddhist temples 807 establishments Religious buildings and structures completed in the 800s Chan temples