Zhenjiang Sweet Dew Temple Iron Pagoda

Zhenjiang Sweet Dew Temple Iron Pagoda

Zhenjiang Sweet Dew Temple Iron Pagoda is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Period; Song and Ming Dynasties

Location: Located on Beigu Mountain in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province.

The pagoda was originally built as a stone pagoda during the first year of the Baoli era of the Tang Dynasty (825 AD). It was rebuilt into a nine-story iron pagoda during the Yuanfeng period of the Song Dynasty. Each level of the pagoda body is octagonal with four gates, adorned with cast flying apsaras and standing Buddhas. The original pagoda collapsed due to a tsunami in the Ming Dynasty, leaving only the bottom four levels.

In 1960, when the Zhenjiang Cultural Relics Management Committee was restoring the iron pagoda, an underground palace was discovered at a depth of three and a half feet beneath the pagoda foundation. Inside the palace was a large rectangular stone casket oriented east-west, inscribed on ten sides with a stone engraving titled "Record of the Reburial of the Sarira Pagoda at Sweet Dew Temple, Runzhou" dated the eighth day of the fourth month in the first year of the Yuanyou era of the Song Dynasty (1078 AD). Also discovered were two other stone engravings: one from the fourth year of the Changqing era of the Tang Dynasty (824 AD) titled "Record of Li Deyu’s Reburial of the Ashoka Sarira at Changgan Temple," and another from the third year of the Taihe era (829 AD) titled "Record of Li Deyu’s Reburial of the Sarira at Chanzhong Temple, Shangyuan County." These findings confirm that the sarira unearthed from the Sweet Dew Temple Pagoda’s underground palace are indeed the Buddha sarira from the "Changgan Pagoda in Jinling during the Eastern Jin Dynasty" listed in Volume 38 of the Buddhist text *Fayuan Zhulin*. This significant discovery holds great importance for the study of Buddhist history in the Jiangnan region.

The number of Buddha sarira unearthed this time is unprecedented. According to a report by the Zhenjiang Museum, the total number is 772. Those buried during the Tang Dynasty were found in two locations: 11 in a small golden coffin from Changgan Temple, and 156 in a golden coffin from Chanzhong Temple. Those buried during the Song Dynasty were found in three locations: 56 in a silver casket, 177 in a silver box, and 372 in a wooden casket—all transparent or semi-transparent granules, each as small as a mustard seed.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units