Shanghai Buddhist Lay Buddhists' Forest

Shanghai Buddhist Lay Buddhists' Forest

Shanghai Buddhist Lay Buddhists' Forest, formerly known as Nanguo Grand Buddha Temple, is a traditional Chinese temple building featuring red wooden doors and windows with exquisite carvings. The lower floor serves as a Buddha hall, while the upper floor functions as a lecture hall, embodying traditional Chinese architectural characteristics. In 2005, it was listed in the fourth batch of Shanghai's Outstanding Historical Buildings under protection.

Shanghai Buddhist Lay Buddhists' Forest is located within Jueyuan (Awakening Garden) at No. 418 Changde Road in Shanghai, and is one of the city’s most important Buddhist lay organizations. Established in 1918, it was initiated by lay Buddhists such as Wang Yujie (also known as Xianzhou) and Shen Hui (also known as Xinshi), who appointed Wang Yujie as the first head of the organization. The western building features a brick-and-wood structure supported by imported pine wood columns and floor joists. The wooden columns rest on stone drum bases. The ground floor was originally designed as a Buddha hall, thus featuring an open space without partition walls. The main entrance of the building is on the west façade, which includes a front porch with two primary entrances on the east and west sides. The eastern entrance has a traditional Chinese-style gate, while the main door facade consists of floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by glass and wooden panes. The window lattice is diamond-shaped, and the wooden beams above the windows are adorned with carved floral patterns that wrap around the entire building. Below the ground floor windows are cement-partitioned walls.

The entrance floor is covered with cement. The second-floor exterior is fitted with glass and wooden windows along with fir wood skirting boards. The central clerestory also features wooden windows. From a distance, the three buildings of the eastern wing present a classic Chinese architectural façade. To the southwest of the western building is a two-story auxiliary building, accessible via a fir wood staircase through a connecting corridor leading to the second floor of the western building. The ground floor of the auxiliary building’s stairwell has a terrazzo floor, while the second-floor connecting corridor has a wooden floor. The ground floor of the western building has colored tile flooring, and the entire second floor is covered with fir wood flooring. The interior walls of the second floor in the western building are coated with yellow sand-cement plaster, and the flat ceiling is made of wood lath with a smooth finish, adorned with European-style plaster moldings. The ground floor ceiling is left exposed without a false ceiling, allowing the wooden joists to be visible from outside the windows.

Transportation

Address: No. 418 Changde Road, Jing’an District, Shanghai

Transportation: Huqian Special Line, Bus 21, Bus 15, Bus 927, Bus 939, Bus 921