静安寺

Jing'an Temple is located in the bustling Jing'an commercial district of Shanghai with convenient transportation. Surrounded by numerous high-rise buildings, it forms a sharp contrast with the tranquil temple. The architectural style of the temple integrates features of Tibetan-style temples. The silver Buddha enshrined in the Mahavira Hall weighs 15 tons, and the jade Buddha in the Muni Hall is far larger than the jade Buddha in Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple. Before entering the temple gate, you can see the tall pillar "Eternal Dharma Stupa" in front of the temple. The front of the pillar is engraved with four large characters "Eternal Dharma", the back is engraved with the full text of *Diamond Sutra* written by Su Shi, and the top is a gilded four-sided lion roar statue modeled after the Ashoka Pillar in Sarnath, northern India. After entering the temple gate, there is a large square, in the middle of which stands a huge incense burner cast from 15 tons of white copper. In most other temples, the main halls are mostly arranged along the central axis, while the Bodhisattva halls in Jing'an Temple are connected to the rooms where monks do their daily practices, surrounding the square in two stories. Visitors usually walk around the square to visit the first floor first, then go upstairs to visit the second floor. On the east wing of the right side of the first floor is the Guanyin Hall, which enshrines a 6.2-meter-high one-piece thousand-year-old camphor wood Guanyin statue. On the west wing of the left side is the Muni Hall, which enshrines a 3.87-meter-high Sakyamuni jade Buddha. This jade Buddha is much larger than the "national treasure of the temple" jade Buddha in Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple. When it was transported into the temple in the past, the gate and wall of the temple had to be demolished because it was too large. In the northwest corner of the first floor stands the Jing'an Pagoda. The top of the pagoda is decorated with five Tibetan-style four-sided pagodas (one large and four small). 868 Buddha statues and many esoteric treasures are enshrined inside the pagoda, but this pagoda is generally not open to the public, and visitors can only view it from the outside. Jing'an Temple originally belonged to the exoteric school of Han Chinese Buddhism. Under the leadership of Abbot Master Chisong, it gradually developed towards the esoteric school of Tibetan Buddhism, so its architectural style is a perfect combination of Han and Tibetan features. The Tibetan-style architectural characteristics are particularly obvious on the Jing'an Pagoda and the pillar engraved with "Eternal Dharma" outside the temple. On the south side of the second floor is the Shanmen (Mountain Gate), and the second floor also houses the Heavenly King Hall. The Drum Tower and Bell Tower are located on the left and right sides of the Heavenly King Hall respectively. Unfortunately, they are generally not open to the public, and visitors can only see the huge red drum and bell inside through the windows or door cracks. In many rooms on the east and west sides of the second floor, you can see monks doing their daily practices, please do not disturb them. On the north side of the second floor, which is the upper floor of the Dharma preaching hall on the first floor, is the Mahavira Hall. The hall enshrines a 15-ton silver Buddha statue. The three-dimensional murals on the back of the Buddha statue are extremely exquisite and precious, which are made of various colored gemstones, corals, shells, jadeites, pearls and other materials, pasted together according to color matching to present Buddhist stories. The lotus petal-shaped frames around are all pasted with gold foil. All halls of Jing'an Temple have copper tile roofs, the four-sided lion roar statue on the tall pillar in front of the gate is golden, and the top of the pagoda behind the temple is gilded. Looking at the whole temple from a distance, the golden roofs are particularly conspicuous and sparkle in the sun.