Gaomin Temple, Buddhist temple in Hanjiang District, Yangzhou, China.
Gaomin Temple is a Buddhist sanctuary in Yangzhou featuring five worship halls, multiple pavilions, and the grand Daxiong Palace spanning 40 meters in length. An octagonal meditation hall housing Buddha figures forms a distinctive architectural element within the complex.
Gaomin Temple was first built in the Sui dynasty. In 1651, during the Qing, Tianzhong Tower was erected and a temple called the Tower Temple was built beside it. On his fourth southern tour, the Kangxi Emperor climbed the tower, named the temple Gaomin, and wrote its stele inscription. In 1703 a palace was added to its west; halls were destroyed in the Daoguang and Xianfeng eras and rebuilt under Tongzhi and Guangxu.
The meditation hall remains a working space where monks practice daily, using the burn time of incense sticks to measure their sessions. Visitors can observe this quiet routine and sense the focused nature of monastic life here.
Gaomin Temple lies about 7 km south of downtown Yangzhou, on the west bank of the Old Channel of the Grand Canal just below its junction with the Yizheng-Yangzhou Canal. The grounds are semi-rural, so allow time for the approach. The temple faces the canal, with the former palace site to its west.
The temple stands at the confluence of the ancient canal and the Yizheng-Yangzhou Canal, about 7 km south of downtown Yangzhou. During Kangxi's fifth southern tour, his Towerbay Palace next to the temple covered four fifths of the walled area, while the temple occupied only one fifth.
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