Foguang Temple

Foguang Temple
The Great East Hall of the Foguang Temple
Basic information
Location	Wutaishan
Affiliation	Buddhist
Province	Shanxi
Completed	857 CE Tang Dynasty

Foguang Temple
"Foguang Temple" in Chinese characters
Chinese	佛光寺
Literal meaning	"Temple of Buddha's Light"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fóguāng sì IPA [fwǒ.kwáŋ sɨ̂] Wu Suzhounese Véh-kuaõn zŷ Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Faht-gwōng jih Jyutping Fat6-gwong1 zi6 Southern Min Tâi-lô Pu̍t-kng sī (col.) Hu̍t-kong sī (lit.)

Foguang Temple (Chinese: 佛光寺) is a Buddhist temple located five kilometres from Doucun, Wutai County, Shanxi Province of China. The major hall of the temple is the Great East Hall, built in 857 AD, during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). According to architectural records, it is the third earliest preserved timber structure in China. It was rediscovered by the 20th-century architectural historian Liang Sicheng (1901–1972) in 1937, while an older hall at Nanchan Temple was discovered by the same team a year later. The temple also contains another significant hall dating from 1137 called the Manjusri Hall. In addition, the second oldest existing pagoda in China (after the Songyue Pagoda), dating from the 6th century, is located in the temple grounds. Today the temple is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site and is undergoing restoration.

The temple was established in the fifth century during the Northern Wei dynasty. From the years of 785 to 820, the temple underwent an active building period when a three level, 32 m tall pavilion was built. In 845, Emperor Wuzong banned Buddhism in China. As part of the persecution, Foguang temple was burned to the ground, with only the Zushi pagoda surviving from the temple's early history. Twelve years later in 857 the temple was rebuilt, with the Great East Hall being built on the former site of a three storey pavilion. A woman named Ning Gongyu provided most of the funds needed to construct the hall, and its construction was led by a monk named Yuancheng. In the 10th century, a depiction of Foguang Temple was painted in cave 61 of the Mogao Grottoes. However, it is likely the painters had never seen the temple, because the main hall in the painting is a two-storied white building with a green-glaze roof, very different from the red and white of the Great East Hall. This painting indicates that Foguang Temple was an important stop for Buddhist pilgrims. In 1137 of the Jin dynasty, the Manjusri Hall was constructed on the temple's north side, along with another hall dedicated to Samantabhadra, which was burnt down in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912).