Where is the ancestral home of Chinese Buddhism ?
Seeing this problem, many people may blurt out three words - "Shaolin Temple".
It’s a pity that this answer is wrong.
Shaolin Temple is actually Zen ancestral home . Back then, the ancestor Bodhidharma crossed the river with a reed and faced the wall for nine years. He created a Zen lineage in Shaolin Temple at the foot of Mount Songshan, which influenced China for thousands of years. However, it should be pointed out that Zen Buddhism is just a sect of Buddhism. Before the ancestor Bodhidharma came to China, Buddhism had spread in China. In terms of qualifications, the Shaolin Temple, which was founded in the Northern Wei Dynasty, was not qualified.
The ancestral home of Chinese Buddhism is actually Baima Temple located in Luoyang .
The construction of White Horse Temple was caused by a dream of Emperor Ming of Han . Speaking of which, in the seventh year of Yongping (64 AD), Emperor Ming of Han, Liuzhuang, dreaming of a golden man at night, six feet long, with white light on his head, flying around the palace. The next day, he asked his ministers, and the minister Fu Yi said that this was a Buddha from the West. Emperor Ming of Han sent more than a dozen people, including the doctor Cai Yan, the general Qin Jing, and other generals of the Central Army, to go to India to seek Buddhism. Cai and Qin came to the Great Yuezhi Kingdom and met the eminent monks of the Indian dynasty who came here to preach the Dharma. They invited the two to carry Buddhist scriptures and statues to China to preach. After arriving in Luoyang, Emperor Ming of Han personally met them and ordered people to arrange for them to stay at Honglu Temple . The two monks translated many Buddhist scriptures here and painted Buddha statues.
Later, Emperor Ming of Han ordered a monk's courtyard to be established on the north of the Sanli Yudao outside Xiyong Gate in Luoyang. Because Buddhist scriptures and Buddha statues were originally carried by white horses, the two monks lived in the Honglu Temple and translated scriptures, so they named this monastic courtyard "White Horse Temple". The word "Shi" has since changed from the name of an official government to the special title of a Buddhist temple.
The completion of White Horse Temple has made the seeds of Buddhism rooted in the fertile soil of China from then on. It has also become the center of Chinese Buddhist activities and is known as the ancestral home of Chinese Buddhism.
White Horse Temple has experienced many vicissitudes and has been in chaos. Most of the existing buildings are Ming and Qing dynasties. The mountain gate is a archway-style three-men cave building. The door is inlaid with three words "White Horse Temple". There is a pair of stone-carved white horses on both sides of the mountain gate.
Enter the mountain gate and is the Heavenly King Hall in turn, which worships Maitreya Buddha and the four heavenly kings of the Dharma protector, Weituo ; the Great Buddha Hall enshrines sakya Buddha, Manjushri Bodhisattva , Samantabhadra Bodhisattva , Venerable Kashyapa , Venerable Ananda ; The temple of the Great Treasures enshrines Sakyamuni, Medicine Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, and seven or eight Arhats on both sides; the temple of the guide is dedicated to Amitabha Buddha, with Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva ( Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva ), collectively known as the "Three Saints of the West"; the Viagra Hall enshrines Sakyamuni's Vairocana Buddha , with Manjushri and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva on both sides, collectively known as the "Three Saints of Huayan". They are all on a central axis, rising from south to north, and are magnificent.
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