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南華寺

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Nanhuasi

Senses:

  • Nanhua Temple (the Southern China temple). Located in Shaoguan city 韶闗 of Guangdong 廣東 province in China. The temple is close to Nan Hua Mountain 南華山 and faces the Caozi River 曹溪. It was built in 502 AD during the Liang dynasty 梁代 with the original name of Baolin Temple 寶林寺. It went through several name changes. In 968 AD (Song dynasty 宋代), it was renamed Nan Hua Temple and this has been used until now. In 677 AD (Tang Dynasty 唐代), Huineng 慧能, the Sixth Patriarch of the Chan school 禪宗 is said to have come here and expounded the teaching of sudden enlightenment doctrine 頓悟. He stayed in this temple for thirty-seven years and his body was enshrined here. Therefore, the temple is considered the ancestral shrine of the Chan school. It houses the physical body of the Sixth Patriarch, master Hanshan 憨山 (1546–1623) and master Dantian 丹田. It also houses many historical items from the sixth patriarch and the memorial hall of Xu Yun 虛雲 (1840–1959), one of the great Chan masters of the 20th century. In 2002, the temple celebrated its 1500th anniversary. Reference: The History of the Southern China temple (Nan Hua Temple) and the work of the Sixth Patriarch, by Venerable Wei Yin (維 因), H.K. Buddhist Book Distributor, 390 Kingʼs Road, 4th floor, Flat C, Asia Mansions, Hong Kong. [Su Chung, Dan Lusthaus]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Chūgoku bukkyōshi jiten (Kamata) 303

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4648a

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    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 2003-05-23

    Updated: 2020-05-10