During the Chiwu period, Kang Senghui, a high-ranking monk from Kangju, prayed for the real body relics of the Buddha Shakyamuni for Emperor Sun Quan of Wu, and founded the three temples in Jiangnan, namely Haiyan Jinsu Temple, Jinling Baoning Temple, and Taiping Wanshou Temple.

text | Jiaxing place name

When the Three Kingdoms, there were no Buddhist temples in Jiangnan . During the period of Chiwu (238-251), the eminent monk Kangju Kingdom (ancient country name) Kang Monkhui prayed to Emperor Wu Sun Quan to obtain the real body relics of the Buddha Shakyamuni, and founded the three ancient temples in Jiangnan, namely Haiyan Jinsu Temple, Jinling (now Nanjing), Baoning Temple, and Taiping (now Anhui) Wanshou Temple. Therefore, the Buddhist teachings in Jiangnan began to emerge.

The inscription "Records of the Reconstruction of Jinsu Guanghui Zen Temple" written by Hu Ying, the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty and the Imperial Academy, unearthed on the site of Jinsu Temple, records: "The Kang Monk will visit the Jinsu Temple Mountain in Haiyan."

It can be seen from this that Jinsu Temple is not only the ancient Buddhist temple in Haiyan County, but also one of the ancient Buddhist temples in Jiangnan.

Reconstruction of Jinsu Guanghui Zen Temple Stele

Jinsu Temple is located next to Jinsu Mountain in the northwest Teayuan Village of Chanpu. It has a history of more than 1,700 years since its inception. At that time, its building scale was very magnificent. During its heyday, it had houses such as mountain gate, main hall, Dafoe Pavilion, Dharma Hall, Zen Hall, Zushi Hall, monk's dormitory, etc., with thousands of monks, and many ancient monuments and cultural relics in the temple.

The most famous ones include "Thousand People Well", "Sword Pool", "Only Garden", "Single Sang Drum", " Wang Yangming Poetry Traces" and "Jinsu Mountain Sutra Collection Paper", etc. In the old days, Jinsu Temple was famous all over the world, with Buddhist affairs flourishing and incense lingering. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, celebrities and literati often came here to worship Buddha and write poems, leaving behind many ink treasures.

Poet Peng Sunyi, a poet from the sea salt in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, wrote a poem about "Jinsu Mountain Zen Temple": "The red monk came to the ancient embankment, and the old moss was peeled off for thousands of years. After the dragon war, the Dharma body Kang will look like coming to the west. The flowers on the mountain do not fall, and the moss is covered with the Zen view, and the moon is filled with the stream. Who wants to detain the sects? Who can tell the story of thousands of trees in the pine shade? "

Unfortunately, during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, most of the buildings in Jinsu Temple were destroyed by the Hongyang Rebellion. Although it was rebuilt again, it was devastatingly destroyed by the Japanese army during the Anti-Japanese War. Today, only a large stone tablet "Record of the Reconstruction of Jinsu Guanghui Temple" in the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty was left.

"Record of the Reconstruction of Jinsu Guanghui Zen Temple" in the 14th year of Zhengtong of the Ming Dynasty

In 1987, in order to protect this stone tablet, local villagers built a stone pavilion with the support of the county water conservancy department. This stone pavilion stands on the west side of Kangseng Bridge at the head of Chayuan Village, and is called "Jinsu Pavilion".

Stone Pavilion is exquisite and exquisite, simple and elegant. This stone tablet more than two meters high in the pavilion stands on a large stone turtle. The nine large seal characters "Records of the Reconstruction of Jinsu Guanghui Zen Temple" are engraved on the front of the stele. The inscription is in regular script, with beautiful and solemn handwriting, and clearly visible.

Stone pavilion is made of white stone, and there are two couplets engraved on the four pavilions: "The new events of the tea courtyard, the dream of the Wu Palace, the red and old events, the golden and millet fragrance of the golden and millet", "The thousand years of sinking sand, the golden and millet temple, and thousands of people praise the tea courtyard pavilion", which also contains new meanings in the ancient charm. The construction of Jinsu Pavilion left the last scenery for Jinsu Temple, an ancient temple in Jiangnan.

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