Hualin Temple (Guangzhou)

Hualin Temple, also known as the Temple of the Five Hundred Genii[1][2] or Gods[3], is a Buddhist temple in Guangzhou, China.

Hualin Temple
Main entrance
Traditional Chinese華林寺
Simplified Chinese华林寺
Literal meaningFlourishing Forest Temple
Temple of the Flowery Forest
Xilai Monastery
Traditional Chinese西來庵
Simplified Chinese西来庵
The Hall of the 500 Arhats
Not to be confused with Guangzhou's Temple of the Five Genii, a former translation of the Temple of the Five Immortals.

History

The Xilai Monastery was established in Panyu (now Guangzhou) by Emperor Wu of the Liang in the AD 520s. It is traditionally credited to the Buddhist missionary Bodhidharma, but he may have arrived in China as early as the Liu Song.

The name was changed to the Hualin Temple by the Zen master Zongfu (宗符) during his rehabilitation of its grounds in 1655.[n 1] There used to be a Gilded Ashoka Pagoda (阿育王塔) and 500 arhats statues (五百羅漢像) but some of them were destroyed afterwards.

See also
  • Six Banyan Temple, also built in Guangzhou around the same time
  • Ocean Banner Temple

Notes
  1. Given in Chinese sources as the 12th year of the Shunzhi Era of the Qing Dynasty.

References

Citations
  1. "Temple of 500 Genii, Canton, China". University of Washington Libraries. 1910s.
  2. "The Temple of 500 Genii, Canton". Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives. 1905.
  3. EB (1878), p. 37.

Bibliography

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