Tianzhu Temple is located on the southern slope of Tianzhu Mountain in Shengzhou City, Zhejiang Province. The northeast side of Tianzhu Mountain is filled with towering ancient trees and bamboo forests. Amidst the misty and colorful valley, there is a gorge approximately 5 kilometers long, with steep cliffs on both sides and a stream meandering through the ravine, eventually flowing into the Shanxi River. A mountain road winds through the valley, passing through villages such as Xieyan and Baiyan, and extends towards Tianzhu Temple.
Tianzhu Temple was originally built in the seventh year of the Tianfu era during the Shijin Dynasty (943 AD), and was known as Ximing Abbey. According to old county records: the forty-seventh district named Zhang Gang’s family business is now presented to the county as the Ximing Temple on the west gate, where monks were invited to reside, and the county magistrate Tan Li bestowed a plaque. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, the temple was renamed to its current title and later collapsed. In the fifth year of Emperor Duzong’s reign, the Right Prime Minister and Chief of the Secretariat, Ye Mengding, donated money to build a residence. His fifth-generation grandson, Ren Zhi, donated over three hundred acres of land for the temple. The temple was rebuilt in the third year of the Jingtai era of the Ming Dynasty. By the early Qing Dynasty, the temple complex was vast and magnificent, with hundreds of monks and nuns who chanted scriptures and preached doctrines all day, burning incense and offering worship. Currently, inside the mountain gate, there are three well-preserved stone tablets on both sides, one of which was erected in 1933. The inscription outlines the history of the temple’s rise and fall, and the thriving scenes of burning incense, worshiping Buddha, praying to gods, and ancestor worship at that time.Tianzhu Temple
Tianzhu Temple is located on the southern slope of Tianzhu Mountain in Shengzhou City, Zhejiang Prov[...]
