Xixiang Chi ( zh, c=洗象池, p=Xǐxiàng Chí, l=Elephants' Washing Pool), also known as Tianhua Chanyuan ( zh, t=天花禪院, s=天花禅院, p=Tiānhuā Chányuàn), is one of the most important

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

and

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

Mount Emei Mount Emei (; zh, c=峨眉山, p=Éméi shān, O2-mei2 shan1), alternatively Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of th ...

Emeishan City Emeishan () is a county-level city in Sichuan province, China. It is administered by the prefecture-level city Leshan Leshan, formerly known as Jiading and Jiazhou, is a prefecture-level city located at the confluence of the Dadu River, Dadu an ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

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 ...

. The temple is located more than 2,000 metres above sea level. The monastery was founded in 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 ...

and was expanded during the reign of the

Kangxi Emperor 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 ...

in 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 name of the temple comes from a legend which says that the

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 ...

Samantabhadra Samantabhadra (Lit. "All Good", or "Always Auspicious") may refer to: * Samantabhadra (Bodhisattva), a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with practice and meditation * ''Samantabhadra'' (Tibetan: ''Kuntu Zangpo''), the name of a Buddha, ...

once bathed his steed, a

white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, ...

, in a pond near the temple. "Night Moon over the Elephant washing pond" ("Night Moon over the Elephant Washing Pool") is one of the ten sceneries of Mount Emei. When the moon is shining brightly at night and is reflected in the water, it creates an illusion where the viewer feels like they are in Heaven. Important buildings in the temple are the Maitreya Hall, Main Hall, Guanyin Hall, "Tripitaka Pavilion" (library) and guest cottage. The Temple is also a

UNESCO Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

Monument

The temple stands since 2006 on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China (1–133). The temple is also on the list of monuments of

Province.

References

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