Guangyan Temple: A Thousand-Year-Old Temple

On April 3, 2024, we visited Guangyan Zen Temple (also known as "Ancient Temple"), located 260 meters east of Sanjie Road, Chongzhou City, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. According to the "homework" before the trip: the temple was first built in the Jin Dynasty and was originally named "Changle Temple", but was later destroyed. In the fifth year of Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty's Xiantong reign (864 AD), it was rebuilt by Monk Shansi and renamed Changle Temple. It was named Cuiwei Temple in Song Dynasty. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, in order to avoid the taboo of the word "乐", King Zhu Chun of Shu requested that the temple be named "Guangyan Zen Temple", so it is also called Guangyan Temple. In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi specially inscribed a plaque with the words "Guangyan Zen Temple" for this temple. This is the banner hanging on the gate. Because of its age, the temple is commonly known as the "ancient temple". Drive from Dujiangyan City and turn into the Sichuan West Tourism Highway Chongzhou City 042 Township Road is less than 30 kilometers long and can be reached in just 1 hour. The ancient temple is hidden in an ancient forest, surrounded by towering ancient cypresses, ancient nanmu trees, ancient fir trees, ancient ginkgo trees and other rare trees. The ancient temple deep in the forest exudes a unique solemnity and spirituality. We parked our car at the temple gate (10 yuan/vehicle), and saw the words "Guangyan Zen Temple" personally bestowed by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty hanging high on the temple gate (Photo 20). After entering Guangyan Temple (2 yuan/cleaning fee/person), we visited the Main Hall, Randeng Hall, Bhaisajyaguru Hall, Heavenly King Hall, Guanyin Hall... which were built according to the mountain terrain. Afterwards, we felt that the ancient temple not only has a long history, double-eaved pavilions, and is simple and elegant; but also the Zen couplets of Yin Changheng, the Governor of Sichuan of the "Republic of China", and the cursive script of Mr. Yu Youren... all add to the cultural heritage of the ancient temple.