Yuquan Temple, National Key Buddhist Temple in Dangyang, China.
Yuquan Temple stands on Yuquan Mountain in Dangyang, Hubei. Its halls have flying eaves and painted bracket sets, and in front of the main hall are a 1,500 kg Sui-dynasty iron cauldron and a Yuan iron cauldron and bell. Beside the hall is a stone-carved Guanyin attributed to the Tang painter Wu Daozi. To the left of the temple is the all-cast-iron Yuquan Iron Pagoda, cast in the Northern Song.
In 528 Emperor Wu of Liang ordered the founding of Fuchuanshan Temple on Mount Yuquan. In 593 Zhiyi was summoned to build a temple here and lectured on the Lotus Sutra; the spring below, clear as jade, gave the site its name, and Prince Yang Guang, later Emperor Yang, granted the plaque reading Yuquan. Shenxiu taught Chan here from 678, and in 1021 Empress Zhangxian ordered a rebuilding; Yuan, Ming and Qing repairs followed. Termites, neglect and Cultural Revolution vandalism left it dilapidated until a rebuilding funded largely by Hong Kong businessman Yeung Chun Fan began in 2003 and was completed in 2008.
The name Yuquan, "Jade Spring", comes from the Pearl Spring below the mountain, whose water Zhiyi likened to jade; Prince Yang Guang granted the temple plaque. Zhiyi lectured here on the Lotus Sutra and in 594 on the Mohe Zhiguan. In the hall forecourt stand a 1,500 kg Sui iron cauldron and a Yuan iron pot and bell.
The temple stands on Yuquan Mountain in Dangyang, within a national forest park; the protected zone runs from the Dade stupa forest and Xianlie Mountain in the north to the Yuquan River's south bank in the south. The site is a national 4A scenic area, and the grounds hold the temple, the iron pagoda and the spring, so allow time to walk between them.
The temple stands on Yuquan Mountain, and the iron pagoda beside its left side was cast entirely of pig iron in the Northern Song dynasty, making it China's oldest and largest surviving cast-iron pagoda. In front of the halls sit a 1,500 kg Sui iron cauldron and a Yuan iron kettle.
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