Tayuan Temple () is located in the central area of Taihuai town in

Mount Wutai Mount Wutai, also known by its Chinese name Wutaishan and as is a sacred Buddhist site at the headwaters of the Qingshui in Shanxi Province, China. Its central area is surrounded by a cluster of flat-topped peaks or mesas roughly correspondin ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

Province, China. Tayuan Temple was originally a stupa of Xiantong Temple. The stupa, named the Great White Pagoda, was constructed in the 6th year of of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

(1302 AD). In the 5th year of Yongle reign of the

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 ...

(1407AD), it was expanded to a temple and got its name as Tayuan Temple. It is listed in the Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected in

Province, China.

About

It is one of the five famous temples for practicing

Chan Buddhism Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit '' dhyāna'' (meaning " meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song ...

, and also one of the ten famous temples for accommodating monks in

. Tayuan Temple stands in the north facing the south, consisting of rows of temple buildings and dorms for monks. Its axis is filled with magnificent structures such as screen walls, stone tablets, arches, stone stairways, passing doors, gates, drum towers, Tianwang Hall, Daci Yanshou Hall, Cangjing Mansion, Shanhai Mansion, Manjushri Hair Pagoda, and so on. It has an area of 15,000 square meters with over 130 halls and houses. Currently, there are three exquisite wooden-arch structures that were built during the Wanli reign of the

. Shakyamuni Buddha Hall stands in front of the temple, Cangjing Mansion (library for sutras) in its back and the Great White Pagoda (Sharira Pagoda) in its middle. The statues in the halls are all well-preserved. There are 20 layers of wooden rotating wheels in the Cangjing Mansion, each of which is placed with over 20,000 Buddhism sutras in Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan characters. Among them, there are over 2,000 complete and widely-read sutras that were written between 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 ...

and the Qianlong reign of the

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 ...

. The Great White Pagoda is the main building in the temple. It is a Tibetan-style pagoda sits on a rectangle base. It is 75.3 m tall, constructed of brick with a lime coating on the outside that gives its white color, towering amongst the mountains and trees and standing out with its white pagoda. The tower spires, trays and pearls are all made of bronze. Wind-bells are decorated in the middle of the pagoda and the trays. When the bells all dance to the blowing wind, you will find the pagoda is so charming and enticing. To the east of the Great White Pagoda stands a smaller white pagoda. Legend has it that inside the pagoda stores the golden hairs of Manjushri

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

when He presents himself to the people on earth. Therefore, the smaller white pagoda is also called "Manjushri Hair Pagoda." In 1983 it has been designated as a " National Key Buddhist Temple in Han Chinese Area". Today, people recognize this pagoda as a symbol of

. The Tayuan Temple has significant importance in China.

Gallery

File:五台山塔院寺.jpg, Tayuan Temple File:Great White Pagoda1.JPG, Great White Pagoda

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tayuan Temple Buddhist temples on Mount Wutai Wutai County Xinzhou Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shanxi