Wenshu Monastery, Buddhist monastery in Qingyang District, China
Wenshu Monastery is a Buddhist temple compound in downtown Chengdu arranged across numerous buildings designed in classical Chinese architectural style. The buildings contain religious statues crafted from iron, stone, wood, and jade, along with historical religious texts and relics.
Founded in the Sui dynasty (581–618) as Xinxiang Temple, the monastery was renamed Miaoyuan Tayuan during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, then reverted to Xinxiang under the Song. A fire at the end of the Ming left only ten iron statues and two ancient firs. In 1681 master Cidu built a thatched cottage on the ruins; rebuilding began in 1697 and was completed in 1706, and abbot Benyuan expanded the complex during the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods (1796–1850).
The name Wenshu means Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, and comes from the legend that abbot Cidu was seen as his incarnation. The temple is also called Konglin Tang after the 1702 imperial plaque "Konglin". Among the "Eight Views of Konglin" are a jade Buddha brought from Myanmar and a robe embroidered by Tian, a consort of the Chongzhen Emperor.
The complex faces south, with the Four Heavenly Kings Hall, Hall of Three Sages of the West, Mahavira Hall, Dharma Hall and Buddhist Texts Library in sequence along the central axis, so following that line from the entrance covers the main halls in order. The Mahavira Hall stands 10.56 metres high. The address is 66 Wenshuyuan Street in the Qingyang district.
The name Wenshu comes from a vision: in 1681, villagers saw light radiating from where master Cidu sat in meditation among the ruins and took him for a manifestation of Manjushri. The Kangxi Emperor summoned him to Beijing three times; he declined each time. In 1702 the emperor granted a plaque reading "Konglin" (Empty Forest), still an alternate name for the temple.
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