Difference between revisions of "Youmin Temple"

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Revision as of 05:26, 3 June 2010

The predecessor of the Youmin Si (Youmin Temple) in Nanchang was the Dafo (Great Buddha) Temple founded in 547 (1st year of the Taiqing reign, Liang Dynasty). Legend has it that the temple's large statue of the Buddha was cast by the dragon that dwelled underneath the town well. In the intervening years the temple has assumed a succession of names: "Chengtian Temple," "Nengren Temple," "Yongning Temple" during the Ming Dynasty, and "Youqing Temple" after it was burned down by fire and rebuilt during the Shunzhi reign (1644-1661) of the Qing Dynasty. It was not until the Republican years that it assumed its present name.

The Youmin Temple had played a major role in disseminating the doctrines of the Chan school of Chinese Buddhism. After the celebrated monk Mazu (709-788) achieved enlightenment as a disciple of the Chan master Huai Rang (677-744) at Southern Holy Mountain and arrived in Hongzhou (present-day Nanchang), he settled in the Youmin Temple (then known as "Kaiyuan") and devoted himself to preaching the Chan discipline. He eventually acquired a following of more than 130 disciples who helped spread Huai Rang's theories in the Yangtze River valley and formed a school of their own – the Hongzhou school of Chinese Buddhism with the Youmin Temple as its cradle.

Only a small number of buildings of the Youmin Temple today are of the Qing legacy; the others were built in recent years. The temple is in a place of fabulous scenic beauty with the limpid Nanhu Lake right beside it, which is thronged with visitors on weekends and during holidays. It is also the headquarters of the Jiangxi Provincial Buddhist Association.