The Kaiyuan Temple is located at the West Avenue of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province.
The Kaiyuan Temple was founded in the second year (686) of the Chuigong reign of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It is said that it once was a mulberry garden of a rich man named Huang Shougong. One day, he dreamt about a monk asking him to offer the garden to build a temple, but Huang was reluctant to do so. So they made a bet that if the mulberries bloom out white lotuses in three days, Huang would contribute the garden for building the temple. Three days later, white lotuses really bloomed in the mulberry trees, Huang had no alternative but to give the garden, so the temple was originally called the Lotus Temple. Later, it was renamed to the Xingjiao Temple and the Longxing Temple successively. It was renamed to the Kaiyuan Temple in the 26th year (738) of the Kaiyuan reign of Tang Taizong in the Tang Dynasty. Comprising more than one hundred branch temples, the Kaiyuan Temple entered its most prosperous period in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In the 22nd year (1285) of the Zhiyuan reign of Emperor Shizu in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), branch temples combined to form a Great Kaiyuan Longevity Buddhist Temple. The temple was destroyed at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and was rebuilt in the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The extant halls were rebuilt in the Ming and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties.
The Kaiyuan Temple occupies an area of about 50 mu (1 mu = 1/15 hectare). Standing in great numbers, the halls and houses are on a large scale. The main buildings comprise the Great Hall, the Amrita Altar, the Sutra Storing Pavilion, the Kylin Wall, the Hall of Merits and Virtues, the Zunsheng Yard, the Water and Land Temple, the Small Kaiyuan Temple and the Tanyue Ancestral Temple, etc.
Built respectively in the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties (907-960), the east and west towers stand in front of the Kaiyuan Temple. They are treasures of ancient Chinese stone architecture. The east tower, called the Zhenguo Tower, is 48.24 meters high. The west tower, named the Renshou Tower, is 44.06 meters high. Carved delicately and standing imposingly, both towers are five-storeyed, octagonal wood-like pavilion-type building. They are the biggest existent towers in China.
The Great Hall is also called the Purple Clouds Great Hall. With a height of 20 meters, the hall is nine-bay wide and six-bay deep, and takes up an area of more than 1,300 square meters. The hall is supported by dragon pillars, square pillars and circular pillars. Pillars and cap blocks between columns are supine lotus style. The hall enshrines five josses, namely Sakyamuni, Ratna-sambhava Buddha, Amitabha, Aksobhya, and Amogha-siddhi Buddha. Twenty-four Flying Apsaras with different poses are carved between the top of the pillars in the front hall and dougong (wooden square blocks inserted between the top of a column and a crossbeam). Some are holding the ink stones while writing with brush pens, some are playing sheng (a reed pipe wind instrument in China) with bending arms, and some are holding the lutes, singing and dancing, vigorously flying in the air. It is said that when the palace was built, the ground was covered with purple clouds, so the Great Hall is also called the Purple Clouds Great Hall. Moreover, because there were one hundred (actually 94) vertical pillars in it formerly, the Great Hall was also called the Hundred Column Hall. There is basso-relievo of 72 animals with lion body and human face on the suyao stone of the platform, and the basso-relievo is the relic of Indian Brahmanism. A pair of bluestone pillars in the back palace is carved with fairy tales about ancient India.
The Amrita Altar is located behind the Great Hall. It was built in the second year (1018) of the Tianxi reign of the Southern Song Dynasty, and rebuilt in many dynasties. The existent altar was built in the early years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It features a multi-eave roof, an octagonal spire, and a five-layered altar, imitating the style of the Song Dynasty. The sunk panel at the top of the altar is complicated, and Flying Apsaras are carved on the dougong (wooden square blocks inserted between the top of a column and a crossbeam). An old mulberry grows in the west of the palace. It is said to be the mulberry that bloomed out lotuses in the Tang Dynasty. Lying in the east of the palace, the Tanyue Ancestral Temple, originally built for feting Huang Shougong, was turned into an ancestral temple for people with the surname of Huang in Fujian Province and Taiwan Province.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
