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The Xiantong Temple is located in the north of Taihuai Town, Wutai Mountain, Shanxi Province.

Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province is one of the most famous five Buddha locations in China and the largest and oldest one of the five. The Xiantong Temple, originally named Dafulinjiu Temple, was first built in the Yongping reign of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). It is the ancestor Buddhist temple in Wutai Mountain. According the History of Qingliang Mountain, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) rebuilt it and expanded it into twelve courtyards, with a garden in the front, so it was also called Garden Temple. It is renamed to the Great Huayan Temple in the reign of Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The temple was further expanded in the period of the Sui (581-618) and Tang Dynasties, and twelve courtyards were built around the temple with pagodas in the front. It was reconstructed by Emperor Taizu in the early years of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and was conferred a stele that reads the Great Xiantong Temple by the emperor. It was after the repair in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that it formed the large scale we see today.

The temple has an area of 80,000 square meters with more than 400 constructions of different types, most of which were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are chains of mountains and old cypresses around the temple. Taking up an area of more than 8 hectares, the constructions have a compact layout. There are seven halls in the axis, respectively, the Kwan-yin Hall, the Bodhisattva Hall, the Great Buddha Hall, the Wuliang (Amita) Hall, the Qianbo Wenshu Hall, the Copper Hall, and the Sutra Storing Hall. All types of constructions are located on both sides of the axis, such as wing-rooms, side halls, stalls, meditation rooms, abbot courtyard houses, and monks’ rooms, altogether more than 300 rooms. The Great Buddha Hall has a double-eave gable and hip roof, with corridors around and inward shrinkage in the corners. The front eaves are decorated with patterns of dragon and phoenix, with beautiful shape and skillful engraving.

The Wuliang Hall is built of bricks, with seven bays in width and four bays in depth. It follows a wood-like style. Amita Buddha is enshrined in the hall. The Huayan Sutra Pagoda preserved here is an invaluable treasure. The pagoda is composed of a white damask silk with 5.7 meters in length and 1.7 meters in width, resembling a seven-layer pagoda, with circular balustrades, bending studs, dougong (wooden square blocks inserted between the top of a column and a crossbeam) and splendid eaves. The 80-volume Huayan Sutra is written on the white damask silk in regular scripts. Xu Dexing of Suzhou City spent 12 years writing the sutra with 600,043 characters in the Kangxi reign.

The Copper Hall, three bays wide and 5 meters high, has a double-eave gable and hip roof. The body of the hall is proportionally harmonious with skillful cast and bronze gelding. The decorative patterns in the foreheads of the columns and the lattice works between the windows are gilded with copper. Ten thousand golden small josses are enshrined in the hall. There are two copper pagodas of 8 meters high cast in the Ming Dynasty, with josses cast on the surfaces. They are delicate and beautiful. The imposing Bell Tower in front of the temple gate is cast in the Tianqi reign of the Ming Dynasty, with copper bell weighing 5,000 kilograms hanging inside. The ring of the bell can reach all over the mountain and linger for a long time.

Because the Xiantong Temple is the largest and oldest temple among the temples in Wutai Mountain, it is also called the Ancestor Temple. Pilgrims usually pay a formal visit to the Xiantong Temple first.

(Source: chinaculture.org)