Xishi Temple, National Key Buddhist Temple in Xishan Town, Guiping, Guangxi, China.
Xishi Temple (洗石庵) is a Linji school bhikkhuni temple on Xishan in Guiping, Guangxi, covering 1,021 square metres. Its three successive halls are the temple gate, sutra hall and Buddha hall; the sutra hall has three bays under a double-eaved roof of golden glazed tiles, and the Buddha hall has stone outer columns, red-lacquered wooden inner columns and vase-shaped stone bases. In front stands the Tang-built Li Gong Shrine; behind are the Qing Longhua Temple and Li Zongren's Feige Pavilion.
Established in 1646 during the early Qing Dynasty, the temple underwent multiple renovations during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods, with its current structure completed in 1809 under the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor, reflecting traditional Chinese architectural styles.
Xishi Temple is a Linji school nunnery, not a Chan monastery. Each year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month it holds the Bathing Buddha Festival for Sakyamuni's birthday; in 2009 the festival included a lamp-lighting rite for victims of the Sichuan earthquake.
The temple stands in Xishan Town, Guiping, with the Tang-era Li Gong Shrine in front and the Qing-era Longhua Temple and Li Zongren Feige behind; the Ruquan spring and Shiyin Cave are nearby. Its halls are reached on foot through the Western Mountain area, and the annual bathing-the-Buddha rite on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month draws crowds.
The temple gives its name in Chinese as 洗石庵, "Washing-Stone Nunnery", and is a Linji-school convent of nuns rather than a monks' monastery. Its grounds also hold the Tang-era Li Gong Shrine in front and, behind, the Qing-built Longhua Temple and Li Zongren's Feige Pavilion, plus the Ruquan spring and Shiyin Cave.
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