The Jade Buddha Temple (Chinese: 玉佛禅寺) is a Buddhist temple in Shanghai, China. As with many
modern Chinese Buddhist temples, the current temple draws from both the Pure Land
and Chan traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. It was founded in 1882 with two jade
Buddha statues imported to Shanghai from Burma by sea.
These were a sitting Buddha (1.95 metres tall, 3 tonnes), and a smaller
reclining Buddha representing Buddha's death. The temple now also contains a
much larger reclining Buddha made of marble, donated from Singapore , and visitors may mistake
this larger sculpture for the original, smaller piece.
History
During the rule of emperor Guang
Xu in the Qing Dynasty (1875–1908), Hui Gen, an abbot from Mount Putuo
went on a pilgrimage to Tibet
via the two famous Chinese mountains Mount
Wutai and Mount Emei .
After Tibet , he arrived in Burma . Whilst
there, Mr. Chen Jun-Pu, an overseas Chinese resident in Burma, donated five
Jade statues of Buddha to Hui Gen, who transported two of them back to
Jiang-wan, Shanghai. Here Hui Gen had a temple built with donated funds, and
died shortly thereafter. This temple was occupied during the 1911 uprising, and
the statues were moved to Maigen
Road .
An Abbot by the name of Ke Chen
later had a new temple built on land donated by Sheng, Xuanhuai. Mr. Sheng
Huaixuan was a senior official in the Qing court, and his father and his uncle
were pious Buddhist disciples. They built houses with thatched roofs at Yizhou
Pond by the Zhuanghuabang River in the northeast of Shanghai . This can be accounted as the
predecessor of the monastery. The construction took ten years, and lasted from
1918-1928. Ke Chen also invited Reverend Di Xian from Tian Tai Mountain to come and lecture on Buddhism
in a magnificent ceremony.
In 1956, a ceremony was held at
the temple by the Shanghai Buddhist Association to celebrate the 2500th
anniversary of Gautama Buddha's enlightenment.
In 1966, during the Cultural
Revolution, the monks made a living by selling handicrafts.
In 1983, Shanghai Institute of
Buddhism was established at the temple under the Shanghai Buddhist Association.
In 1985, Monk Zhizhi Xuan and
others made a trip to Dunhuang via Xinjiang. Shortly after their return,
regular scripture lectures, meditation and other features of temple life were
resumed.
Highlights
The two precious jade Buddhist statues are not only rare cultural relics
but also jade artworks. Both the Sitting Buddha and the Recumbent Buddha are
carved with whole white jade. The sparkling and crystal-clear white jade gives
the Buddhas the beauty of sanctity and make them more vivid.
The Sitting Buddha is 190 centimeters high and encrusted with agates and
emeralds, portraying Buddha at the moment of his meditation and enlightenment.
The Recumbent Buddha is 96 centimeters long, lying on his right side with
his right hand supporting his head and left hand placed on the left leg. This
shape is called the 'lucky repose'. The sedate face shows the peaceful mood of
Sakyamuni when he left this world.
In the temple there is also another Recumbent Buddha which is four meters
long and was brought from Singapore
by the tenth abbot of the temple in 1989. Furthermore there are many other
ancient paintings and Buddhist scriptures distributed in the different halls of
the temple.
For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com
For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com
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