Hangzhou Jingshan Temple

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Jingshan Temple in Hangzhou was very popular. It was the first of the five major Zen temples in Jiangnan. It was extremely large, with more than 1,700 monks and more than 1,000 temple buildings. Due to wars and disrepair, the original buildings of the temple are basically gone. Only a bell tower remains, which contains a large bell from the first year of the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, three iron Buddhas from the Song Dynasty, and a stele of the ancestors of the mountain in the Zhizheng period of the Yuan Dynasty. In the fourth year of the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty (745), Zen Master Fachin went to Jingshan and built a hermitage. In the third year of the Dali period of the Tang Dynasty (768), Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict to build the Jingshan Temple. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Xiaozong personally wrote the plaque "Jingshan Xingsheng Wanshou Zen Temple". In terms of the history of the temple, this is a Buddhist temple with a long historical heritage, but from the perspective of a tourist, apart from the tangible aspects, I can't feel that this is a Buddhist temple at all. You can't even see a real monk. You can only feel that they are staff members. This is a huge contrast to the temples in Tibet. The Bodhisattva statues on the altar are all wood carvings. It is difficult to comment on this if you don’t understand it, but I feel that the wood grain is too obvious, which is not appropriate. In this respect, I prefer Italian stone carvings. Of course, Buddhism and Christianity, as well as Eastern and Western cultures, are diametrically opposed. No matter how it is introduced or promoted, I really just regard it as a tourist attraction, and it is definitely a tourist attraction worth visiting. Jingshan Temple is a large-scale complex of mainly brick and wood structures. The architectural design and construction quality are considered top-notch in the country. It is not easy to find flaws whether you are looking at it from a distance or up close. Such a large construction project is not easy. The ticket to Jingshan Temple is 30 yuan per person, including a shuttle bus of about 6 kilometers. The temple also offers vegetarian noodle soup for 20 yuan a bowl, as well as free eight-treasure porridge, which can be packed up and taken away. These charges are really not expensive for a tourist attraction. Yesterday was December 24, 2022. It was obviously not a good time from a sightseeing perspective. All the ginkgo leaves in the temple had fallen off. I believe it will be more beautiful around mid-November. #ChinaTravel #HangzhouTravel #ReligiousCulture #Buddhism #BuddhistCenter #TibetanBuddhism #Mountain #Architecture #ArchitecturalArt #Statue #Temple #JingshanTemple