White Horse Temple, located 12km to the east of Luoyang Old District Silk Road tour, Henan Province, north China, is hailed to be the cradle of Buddhism in China. The temple is positioned at the foot of the Mang Mountain and to the south of Luo River, occupying an area of nearly 134,000 m2 (33acres), featuring more than 100 structures in the form of halls, pavilions, terraces, pagodas and so forth.
But the saga and epitome entailed behind these imposing structures are even more fascinating. Reputedly, the Emperor Ming from East Han Dynasty sent out a dozen of emissaries to India to search for Buddhism scriptures around the year of 64 AD, according to his earlier dream about a deity figure coming from the west. The emissaries came across two Indian monks and invited them to Luoyang, the then capital of the country. The Emperor demanded the construction of this temple in 68AD, as the habitat of these two monks. It was named Baima Si (White Horse Temple) to commemorate the white horses carrying the Buddhism scriptures brought along by the monks. This is the narration of how Buddhism was introduced into China and this temple is dubbed to be the first ever Buddhism temple on the land of China. The Chinese character Si (寺, meaning temple) was used to determine the place where monks live and study for the first time and ever since then.
The Hall of Mahavira is the main and largest hall within the temple affordable china tours. It is enshrining a statue of Shakyamuni in the middle and the Bhavisyajya guru and Amitabha on the side. The figures of 18 arhats are lining up the two sides of the hall. All these statues are believed to have been forged during the Yuan Dynasty and have been kept in the Forbidden City in Beijing till being transferred here in the 1970s.
Qingliang Terrace, literally translates into “Cool and Clear Terrace”, is a structure extending 42m (140ft) in length, 32m (106ft) in width and 6m (20ft) in height. It is built with greenish bricks and surrounded by substantial clusters of bamboo, therefore it was the place where Emperor Ming study during summertime but later given to the two respected Indian monks for translating scriptures. Now the terrace is enshrining the Vairocana popular China tours, Manjusri, Samantabhadra and other 500 statues.
A temple of this long history has inevitably undergone weathering, natural disasters and multiple man-made damages, and some precious items have been compromised, including the over-one-thousand-year-old 18 Arhats China tour guide sculptures from the Liao Dynasty, the scripture brought along by the very two Indian monks, jade horse and others. Fortunately, the temple has been carefully attended to and renovated in modern times, and the collectables stored in the temple nowadays are mostly from the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasty. The two stone horses standing outside the entrance of the temple are meant to be representing the two white horses delivering the scriptures 2 millenniums ago, but in fact, they were from the North Song Dynasty and were relocated here in the 1930s.
But the saga and epitome entailed behind these imposing structures are even more fascinating. Reputedly, the Emperor Ming from East Han Dynasty sent out a dozen of emissaries to India to search for Buddhism scriptures around the year of 64 AD, according to his earlier dream about a deity figure coming from the west. The emissaries came across two Indian monks and invited them to Luoyang, the then capital of the country. The Emperor demanded the construction of this temple in 68AD, as the habitat of these two monks. It was named Baima Si (White Horse Temple) to commemorate the white horses carrying the Buddhism scriptures brought along by the monks. This is the narration of how Buddhism was introduced into China and this temple is dubbed to be the first ever Buddhism temple on the land of China. The Chinese character Si (寺, meaning temple) was used to determine the place where monks live and study for the first time and ever since then.
The Hall of Mahavira is the main and largest hall within the temple affordable china tours. It is enshrining a statue of Shakyamuni in the middle and the Bhavisyajya guru and Amitabha on the side. The figures of 18 arhats are lining up the two sides of the hall. All these statues are believed to have been forged during the Yuan Dynasty and have been kept in the Forbidden City in Beijing till being transferred here in the 1970s.
Qingliang Terrace, literally translates into “Cool and Clear Terrace”, is a structure extending 42m (140ft) in length, 32m (106ft) in width and 6m (20ft) in height. It is built with greenish bricks and surrounded by substantial clusters of bamboo, therefore it was the place where Emperor Ming study during summertime but later given to the two respected Indian monks for translating scriptures. Now the terrace is enshrining the Vairocana popular China tours, Manjusri, Samantabhadra and other 500 statues.
A temple of this long history has inevitably undergone weathering, natural disasters and multiple man-made damages, and some precious items have been compromised, including the over-one-thousand-year-old 18 Arhats China tour guide sculptures from the Liao Dynasty, the scripture brought along by the very two Indian monks, jade horse and others. Fortunately, the temple has been carefully attended to and renovated in modern times, and the collectables stored in the temple nowadays are mostly from the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasty. The two stone horses standing outside the entrance of the temple are meant to be representing the two white horses delivering the scriptures 2 millenniums ago, but in fact, they were from the North Song Dynasty and were relocated here in the 1930s.