Chapter 7 Section 7 Donglin Temple, the birthplace of Pure Land Sect

Pure Land Sect, also known as Lotus Sect, is a sect of Chinese Buddhism.It is based on the "Infinite Life Sutra", "Contemplation of Infinite Life Buddha Sutra", "Amitabha Sutra" and "Rebirth Theory" as its theoretical basis, and advocates that believers will be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Amitabha after death, that is, the Buddhist Land of Ultimate Bliss.Pure Land Buddhism believes that the real world where people live is "filthy land" and "mortal world", while the other world where Buddha lives is "Pure Land" and "Buddha Kingdom".The Western Pure Land where Amitabha Buddha (meaning "immeasurable life" in Sanskrit) is located, there is no suffering, only happiness, so it is most worth pursuing.How to get rid of the suffering in reality and go to the pure land?The Pure Land School advocates quick attainment of Buddhahood in practice, and believes that as long as one concentrates on reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha, one can be reborn in the Pure Land after death.Due to the simplicity of the practice method of Pure Land Buddhism, it was widely spread after the middle Tang Dynasty and merged with Zen Buddhism.Until the late Qing Dynasty, the Pure Land School still had a certain influence.

Donglin Temple, located at the northwest foot of Lushan Mountain in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, is the birthplace of China's Pure Land Sect.It belongs to one of the largest temples in the south of the Yangtze River in my country and has great influence both at home and abroad. In the first year of Taiyuan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 381), the famous monk Huiyuan built a temple here to give lectures, and founded the Lotus Society (Bailian Society), advocating the "Amitabha Pure Land Method". I once came here to pray for scriptures and worship Buddha. The Buddhist circle in the Western Regions chanted "to the East to Jishou, to dedicate my heart to Luyue Mountain", which is a kind of devout worship to Donglin Temple.

In the Tang Dynasty, the scale of the temple reached its peak, with more than 310 halls and towers, and more than 10,000 volumes of scriptures.Jianzhen, an eminent monk from Yangzhou, came to this temple before he went east to Japan, and later traveled to Japan with the monk Zhien of the temple to teach scriptures, so the teachings of Huiyuan and Pure Land Buddhism were also introduced to Japan.To this day, Donglin Sect in Japan still takes Huiyuan as its ancestor and Donglin Temple as its ancestral home. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Donglin Temple has been repeatedly damaged and gradually declined.The two mountain gates and four Buddhist halls of the temple are basically built in the late Qing Dynasty.The main building in the temple is the Shenyun Treasure Hall, which houses Buddha statues such as Sakyamuni, Manjusri, Samantabhadra, Ananda, and Kasyapa.Congmingquan, Shilongquan, Luohansong, etc. in the temple are all related to Huiyuan's chanting and preaching.

In front of the temple, Huxi flows back from south to west, and there is a stone arch bridge on it. The famous "Three Smiles on Huxi" originated from this.According to legend, Huiyuan devoted himself to practice and never went out to see off guests at the Tiger Creek Bridge.Tao Yuanming, a famous poet at that time, and Lu Xiujing, a Taoist priest in Shannan, were good friends with Huiyuan, and they often came to the temple to discuss Confucianism and Taoism.Once, Huiyuan sent Tao and Lu out of the temple. They were talking and walking with great interest. They accidentally crossed the Tiger Creek Bridge.It has been passed down as a good talk by the world, and it is called "Three Smiles at Tiger Creek".

Surrounded by mountains, Donglin Temple has beautiful scenery and its fame has been longed for by poets and scholars throughout the ages.Many of them have left masterpieces handed down here.Such as Li Bai's "Night Huai in Lushan Mountain Temple", Bai Juyi's "Su Donglin Temple", Lu You's "June 14th in Donglin Temple", Yue Fei's "Send Donglin Huihai People" and Liu Gongquan's authentic and incomplete steles. People love.