DakaiyuanTempleInQuanzhou

Dakaiyuan Temple is located on West Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou City. It was built in the sec[...]

Dakaiyuan Temple is located on West Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou City. It was built in the second year of Chuigong during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. With a history of over 1,300 years, it is an important cultural relic along the southeast coast of China and a relatively large Buddhist temple in Fujian Province.
The scenic spots of Dakaiyuan Temple along the central axis include the Worship Pavilion, Worship Court, Mahavira Hall, Ancient Site of Sangpeng, Ganlu Precept Altar, and Sutra Library. In addition, there are stone pagodas on the east and west sides and corridors on the east and west. The Tianwang Hall is also the mountain gate of Dakaiyuan Temple. The existing building was constructed in 1925 AD. The stone pillars are slightly thinner at the upper and lower ends and thicker in the middle, shaped like a shuttle, which is the style of stone pillars in the Tang Dynasty.

There is also a wooden couplet hanging on the stone pillars: “This place is called the Buddha Land, and the streets are full of sages.” This couplet was written by Zhu Xi, a great Neo-Confucianist in the Southern Song Dynasty, and inscribed by Master Hongyi, a modern eminent monk.

Stepping across the mountain gate, you will reach the Worship Pavilion. Standing here, you can see the East and West Pagodas rising from the ground and the spacious and bright East and West Corridors symmetrically arranged on both sides. The East and West Pagodas are the most famous scenic spots of Dakaiyuan Temple. The east one is the “Zhenguo Pagoda”, and the west one is the “Renshou Pagoda”. They are over 40 meters tall, the tallest pair of stone pagodas in China, and also the symbol of the ancient city of Quanzhou.

There is a large stone courtyard in front of the Worship Pavilion, which is used for ancient and modern officials and civilians to worship and hold activities. It is especially bustling whenever there are activities. There are eight big banyan trees on both sides of the stone courtyard. Under the trees, there are 11 ancient scripture pillars, small stupa of different forms from the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties, as well as two Bi Xi.

Then comes the main building, the Mahavira Hall. The Mahavira Hall also has an elegant name of the “Hall of a Hundred Pillars”. Originally, it was planned to have a hundred pillars in the whole hall. Later, due to the need to place Buddha statues and vacate space for Buddhist worship, the crossbeams were lengthened and the number of columns was reduced, resulting in the “Hall of a Hundred Pillars” with 86 columns.

Opening hours: It is open from 06:30 – 17:00 throughout the year. The closing time of the temple is 17:40 every day.