The Guanghua Temple (), also known as the South Mountain Guanghua Temple (), is a Buddhist temple located at the foot of Mount Phoenix (), about south of Putian City, Fujian Province, People's Republic of China.
Built in the penultimate year of the Southern Chen dynasty (588 CE), it is one of the most influential Chinese Buddhism temples in China as well as one of the most scenic visitor attractions in Fujian Province.
Location
The temple stands about from the entrance to the Longmen Stone Cave () and is spread over an area of more than .
History and development
Ancient times
Constructed in 558 CE, the second year of Emperor Wu of Chen's Yongding () era, the temple was originally called the Jinxian Monastery (), after its first abbot, Master Jinxian. In 589 CE, founding Sui dynasty Emperor Wen, a Buddhist adherent, extended the building and renamed it the "Guanghua Temple".
During Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's reign (685–762 CE), Indian monks came to discuss and lecture on Buddhism at the temple.
Finally, during the early reign of Emperor Taizong of Song (r. 976–997 CE), the temple once more became the Guanghua Temple.
The establishment flourished during the Song (1279–1368) and Ming (1368–1644) Dynasties. Along with Fuzhou's Gushan Spring Temple (), Quanzhou's Kaiyuan Temple (), and Xiamen's Nanputuo Temple, the Guanghua Temple was known as one of the four great Buddhist monasteries or Conglin () of Fujian Province.
In 1341 CE the Guanghua Monastery was destroyed during a war then rebuilt between 1368 and 1424 CE only to be once more razed to the ground by fire in 1562. In the second half of the sixteenth century the monastery underwent alterations and reconstruction.
Qing Kangxi Emperor carried out a comprehensive building program at the temple during 1692 and merged it with the nearby Fahai Temple ().
At the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 the temple had a resident population of 60 monks, a figure which by 1965 had declined to 57.