Nengren Temple

The predecessor to the Nengren Si (Nengren Temple 能仁寺) east of the city of Jiujiang was the Chengtian Monastery that was established during the Liang Dynasty (502-557), rebuilt during the Dali reign (766-779) of the Tang Dynasty, destroyed by troops during the Yuan Dynasty, and rebuilt again in 1379 (12th year of the Hongwu reign, Ming Dynasty). It assumed its present name in 1489 (2nd year, Hongzhi reign, Ming). More buildings were erected during the Chongzhen reign (1628-1644), but the temple collapsed once again in war in 1853 (3rd year of the Xianfeng reign, Qing Dynasty). It was rebuilt in 1870 (9th year of the Tongzhi reign, Qing Dynasty) and has remained largely intact since.

Along the axial line are three courtyards containing a Hall of Deva-kings, a Mahavira Hall and a Tripitaka Pavilion respectively, with the anterooms serving as the patriarch's hall, the preaching hall, the abbot's mansion, and the monks' residential quarters. The entire complex is laid out according to an impeccable plan. There are a host of historical and cultural relics in the temple, the better known of them being the "Eight Scenes of the Nengren Temple." These include a 43-m-high pagoda, which is a seven-storied hexahedronal brick-and-masonry structure with a door built into each of its six sides (three of them merely ornamental), and a stone stairway inside it leading all the way to its top floor. The others are a Rain-perforated Stone, a Stone Boat, an Iron Buddha, an Ice Mountain, a Snow Cave, and a Hai'er Spring.