Jiming Temple, also called Ancient Jiming Temple, is adjacent to Xuanwu Lake in the north. It was built in the Western Jin Dynasty and is one of the older Buddhist temples in Nanjing. During the Qingming Festival, you can admire the sea of cherry blossoms on the road in front of the temple. In summer, you can climb up to the Medicine Buddha Pagoda to overlook the lotus flowers on Xuanwu Lake.
History of Ancient Temple
The history of Jiming Temple can be traced back to Qixuan Temple in the Eastern Wu Dynasty. The temple is located in the rear garden of the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period. In 300 AD (the first year of Yongkang in the Western Jin Dynasty), a room was built here against the mountain and a Taoist temple was founded. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, this place was turned into a court office. In 527 (the eighth year of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty), Emperor Wu of Liang built Jimingdai, making this place truly a Buddhist resort. In 1387 (the 20th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty), Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, ordered the old houses to be demolished, the scale expanded, and the temple rebuilt. Zhu Yuanzhang inscribed it as "Jiming Temple". Later, it was expanded during the Xuande, Chenghua and Hongzhi years of the Ming Dynasty, making the courtyard large in scale. Later, the ancient temple was destroyed in the Xianfeng War. Although it was rebuilt during the Tongzhi period, the scale has been greatly reduced, but the incense has always been strong.
Mountain Gate
The gate of Jiming Temple is located on the stone steps on the left side of Jiming Temple Road. In the middle of the gate are the four golden characters "Ancient Jiming Temple". Stepping into the mountain gate, the temple environment is very elegant, with exquisite Buddhist halls and incense. On the left is the alms hall. In front of the platform is the Maitreya Hall, above which are the Mahavira Hall and the Guanyin Tower. In addition, there are other major buildings in the temple such as Weituo Hall, Zhi Cemetery, Sutra Collection Building, Buddha Chanting Hall, and Medicine Master Pagoda.
Main Hall
The Main Hall, also known as the Pilu Hall, is the main hall of Jiming Temple. In the middle of the hall, the Pilu Buddha (Dharmakaya Buddha) is enshrined, with the two Bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra on both sides, and the twenty-four heavens on the east and west sides. .
Medicine Buddha Pagoda
The Medicine Buddha Pagoda has seven floors and eight sides, and a bronze statue of Medicine Buddha is enshrined in the tower. This tower was also the place where Leifeng Pagoda was filmed in the TV series "The Legend of White Snake" (at that time, Leifeng Pagoda in West Lake had collapsed and the new one had not yet been repaired).
Pray to Buddha and ask for fortune
You can ask for autographs in the temple, and you can also write wishing cards and hang them up. Whenever the 19th day of the second lunar month, the ninth day of the sixth lunar month, or the nineteenth day of the ninth lunar month (i.e. the anniversary of Guanyin Bodhisattva's birth, enlightenment, and monkhood), many tourists come here to worship Buddha and offer incense. Worshiping Buddha is not in the main hall, but on the large platform in front of the incense stand. There is a huge red candle in front of the incense stand. There is a row of lotus oil lamps on the outer stand for pilgrims to burn incense. There are pillars of burning incense on the inner stand.
Rouge Well
There is also a rouge well in the northeast of the temple. It is said that when the Sui Dynasty destroyed the Chen Dynasty, Chen Shubao, the empress of the Chen Dynasty, and his concubines Zhang Lihua and Kong Guifei hid in the well. Because of this past event, many tourists come here.
