[2025 Yangzhou Attraction] Travel Guide for Daming Temple (Updated Mar)

Daming Temple is located on the middle peak of Shugang in the northwest corner of Slender West Lake in Yangzhou. It was named because it was built during the Daming period of Emperor Xiaowu of the Southern Song Dynasty (457-464 AD). The temple we see now was built during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. Before the famous Tang Dynasty monk Jianzhen traveled to Japan, he preached scriptures and gave precepts in Daming Temple, which made the temple famous. The entire Daming Temple is divided into three parts. The central part is the main temple building, the eastern part is the Qiling Pagoda, and the western part is the garden-style back garden-West Garden. You can visit the entire Daming Temple in the order of central-east-west. Climb up the mountain along the gentle steps-the mountain is not high, with an altitude of only 28 meters, and you will arrive at the main gate of Daming Temple. There are many vendors selling incense on both sides of the mountain road. Don't buy it. Incense from outside is not allowed to be brought into the temple. Please burn incense in the temple. The main temple buildings in the middle of the Attraction are divided into three roads along the north-south direction. From south to north on the central axis are the archway, the mountain gate that also plays the role of the Heavenly King Hall, and the Great Hall. The main attraction on the west road is Ouyang Xiu. To the south is Pingshan Hall, which was built when Ouyang Xiu was the governor of Yangzhou. Later, when Su Dongpo was the governor of Yangzhou, he built Gu Hall behind Pingshan Hall to commemorate Ouyang Xiu. To the north is Ouyang Temple. To the south of the east road is Pingyuan Tower, the abbot's room, and to the north is Jianzhen Memorial Hall. There is also a Sutra Library to the east of Jianzhen Memorial Hall. Among them, Jianzhen Memorial Hall is an important building in Daming Temple. Jianzhen traveled to Japan six times and brought Chinese Buddhism and culture to Japan. He presided over the construction of Toshodai Temple in Nara, Japan and passed away in this temple. When Jianzhen Memorial Hall was built in the 1960s and 1970s, it imitated the appearance of Toshodai Temple. In the pavilion in front of the memorial hall, there is a white marble stele engraved with "Tang Jianzhen Monument". In the middle of the courtyard is a stone lantern, which was Complimentary by the elders of Toshodai Temple in Japan. It is a pair with another stone lantern in Toshodai Temple. The memorial hall houses a seated statue of Jianzhen made of nanmu, which is modeled after the statue of Jianzhen in Tang Zhaoti Temple and is the image of Jianzhen when he passed away. The former Qingkong Pavilion opposite the memorial hall is now the Jianzhen Historical Archives, where you can learn about Jianzhen's deeds from the graphic introduction. The Qiling Pagoda in the east of the Attraction was originally built by Emperor Yang Jian of the Sui Dynasty to celebrate his birthday. The pagoda you see now is a restoration and reconstruction of the pagoda of the Sui Dynasty. The pagoda is 9 stories high, and it houses relics and a nanmu pagoda. Climbing to the top of the pagoda, you can overlook the entire Daming Temple and overlook the scenery of Slender West Lake and Yangzhou City. The east and west sides of the Qiling Pagoda are the bell tower and the drum tower respectively. In the reclining Buddha Hall to the north of the pagoda, you can see the jade Buddha from Myanmar. The back garden Xiyuan in the west of the Attraction is also called the Imperial Garden because it is related to Emperor Qianlong's trip to the south of the Yangtze River. Like all the gardens in the south of the Yangtze River, the garden is full of rockery, pavilions and towers, and the lake in the middle is the release pond. There is the Qianlong Imperial Stele Pavilion in the east of the lake, with three Qianlong imperial steles standing. There is the fifth spring in the world in the lake. The "fifth" was named by Zhang Youxin, the author of "Notes on Brewing Tea Water" in the Tang Dynasty. If you walk a little south from the Qianlong Imperial Monument, you can see the stone tablet of "the fifth spring" and an ancient well. Daming Temple holds a lively "Bell Ringing Ceremony to Welcome the New Year" on December 31 every year. The event lasts for the New Year. Residents in the temple pray for peace and happiness in the new year accompanied by the 108 bells ringing at midnight. Daming Temple also holds a Dharma Assembly on the birthdays and anniversaries of various Bodhisattvas.