| Linggu Temple | |
|---|---|
灵谷寺 | |
 Aerial view of the Linggu Temple by drone. | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Buddhism |
| Sect | Chan Buddhism |
| Location | |
| Location | Xuanwu District,Nanjing,Jiangsu |
| Country | China |
  Location in Nanjing | |
| Geographic coordinates | 32°03′18″N118°52′04″E / 32.054982°N 118.867826°E /32.054982; 118.867826 |
| Architecture | |
| Completed | 515 |
Linggu Temple (simplified Chinese:灵谷寺;traditional Chinese:靈谷寺;pinyin:Línggǔ Sì;lit. 'Spirit Valley Temple') is a famousBuddhist temple inNanjing.[1] It is now surrounded by a large park.
The temple was first built in 515 during theLiang dynasty (502-557). It used to lie at the northeast foot of thePurple Mountain, i.e. where theMing Xiaoling Mausoleum is located, since theHongwu Emperor of theMing dynasty (1368–1644) chose the place to be his mausoleum and then the temple was moved to the present place. The temple was named by the Hongwu Emperor himself. It used to be large and covered an area of over 300,000 square metres (3,200,000 sq ft). Later it was destroyed in warfare during the reign of theXianfeng Emperor in theQing dynasty (1644–1911) and rebuilt during the reign of theTongzhi Emperor. In the temple, apart from shrines dedicated toBuddhas andBodhisattvas, The relics of MasterXuanzang were enshrined and worshipped in the temple too.
Wuliang Hall, or Beamless Hall, was constructed in 1381, and is 22 metres (72 ft) high and 53.8 metres (177 ft) wide. The hall enjoys high reputation for its special architectural techniques. It has three archways on the front and rear sides respectively. The structure was built with bricks from the bottom to the top entirely, without a piece of wood or a single nail. Thus it was called Wuliang Hall, since Wuliang means beamless. It happens that the hall originally enshrinedAmitābha (the Buddha of Infinite Light) whose Chinese name is similar to "Wuliang". Later in 1928, the hall was turned into a memorial hall for soldiers who lost their lives in theNorthern Expedition (1926–1928). More than 30,000 soldiers were enshrined.[2]
Linggu Pagoda is not connected with the temple, but[3] was designed by American architect Henry K Murphy and built between 1930 and 1932 as a sign of remembrance for the soldiers.[4] The nine-story-tallpagoda stands 60.5 metres (198 ft) high. Speeches made bySun Yat-sen and epigraphs ofChiang Kai-shek were inscribed on the tower.
In the temple, there is also a Three Superb Tablet, on which a painting ofBaozhi painted byWu Daozi, a famous painter; a memorial poem written byLi Bai, aTang dynasty poet; calligraphy written byYan Zhenqing, a well-known Tang dynasty calligrapher, is inscribed. Since the three were all masters in their own field in the Tang dynasty, the tablet was considered Three Superb Tablet. Unfortunately, the original tablet was broken in warfare, the present one is a duplicate made during the reign of theQianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty.
Geographic data related toLinggu Temple atOpenStreetMap
