Yunju Temple, Buddhist temple in Shuitou, China
Yunju Temple is a Buddhist temple in Shuitou, China, made up of several halls arranged from east to west and a group of ancient pagodas. The complex also includes a set of caves where thousands of stone steles carved with Buddhist texts are kept.
In 611 CE, a monk named Jingwan began carving Buddhist texts into stone during the Sui Dynasty, hoping to protect them from being lost. The tradition he started lasted for over a thousand years, finally stopping in 1691.
The temple is known for its stone steles covered in carved Buddhist texts, created by monks over many generations. Visitors who enter the caves can see the steles arranged in rows, giving the feeling of walking through a library made entirely of stone.
The grounds cover a wide area with halls, pagodas, and caves, so comfortable shoes are a good idea. The temple area and the stone sutra caves are accessed separately, so it is worth deciding which sections you want to visit before you arrive.
The nine storage caves in the complex hold more than 14,000 stone steles that were placed in underground chambers to protect them from damage over time. This careful underground arrangement shows how seriously the monks took the task of keeping these carved texts safe for future readers.
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