Pukou Stone Buddha Temple

Pukou Stone Buddha Temple

The Pukou Stone Buddha Temple is a Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Stone Buddha Temple is located in Pukou District, Nanjing. The existing Song Dynasty stone Buddha is a national first-class cultural relic. It is not only a witness to history but also a crystallization of the artistry and wisdom of the Chinese working people. After the Northern and Southern Dynasties and before the Qing Dynasty, Pukou District was densely populated with temples, especially Buddhist temples, and the Stone Buddha Temple was one of them.

As the saying goes: "Famous mountains are often home to monks." Among China’s renowned mountains and rivers, there is not one without temples and monks. Nanjing’s Pukou area features undulating hills and layered peaks; although it may not rank among the most famous mountains, its abundance of temples is undeniable and is related to the green waters and pleasant scenery of Ding Mountain, Pagoda Mountain, Puzi Mountain, Ping Mountain, and Xuanhua Mountain. Around Ding Mountain alone, there are dozens of temples such as Ding Mountain Temple and Stone Buddha Temple.

According to the *Jiangpu Pi Cheng* (a historical record), "The Stone Buddha Temple is located fifteen li northeast of the county seat (county town). It was built during the Jianyan era of the Song Dynasty. During the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, local elder Zhou Dong donated funds for repairs and built the Dongyue Hall and Huayan Tower on the left side of the temple. He also repaired the twenty-li official road in front of the temple, renovated the stone bridge, and raised funds to establish a thirty-three-mu incense field at Shuang’an Weir. Lang Wenhuan, who was temporarily in charge of the county, had a stele inscription made. After being destroyed by bandits (referring to the Taiping Rebellion army), several more halls were rebuilt."

During the Jianyan era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1130 AD), the area around the Stone Buddha Temple was densely populated. As it was both a key transportation route and a place where Buddhism flourished, local officials built a temple there. As is well known, after the Tang Dynasty, the art of stone carving in Buddhist statues had reached a considerably high level of perfection. Therefore, the Buddha statues enshrined in the Stone Buddha Temple are also a reflection of stone carving art, differing from the commonly seen clay or wooden sculptures.

Regarding the origin of the Stone Buddha Temple, a beautiful legend is still passed down in the Pukou area. During the Song Dynasty, the Yangtze River frequently flooded (as recorded in the *Jiangpu Pi Cheng*). Pukou, being a riverside area, suffered inevitable water disasters due to the lack of preventive measures at the time. One year, when the Yangtze River flooded, many fertile fields in the Pukou area were submerged, leaving residents homeless and displaced. Strangely enough, at that time, three stone Buddhas drifted down from upstream and came to rest at the Stone Buddha distribution point, and the floodwaters completely receded. As a result, people rebuilt their homes and lived lives of farming and weaving. At that time, people believed that the retreat of the floodwaters was due to the protection of the stone Buddhas. So, they specially built a temple to enshrine the three stone Buddhas—both as a gesture of deep gratitude and to pray for the blessings of the bodhisattvas and deities. However, legends are just legends, reflecting people’s aspiration for a peaceful and prosperous life. Otherwise, why didn’t the stone Buddhas sink to the bottom of the river? During the Cultural Revolution, the stone Buddhas disappeared. In 1982, during a cultural relics survey, based on records in the *Jiangpu Kun Cheng* and clues provided by locals, one of the three stone Buddhas was excavated and cleaned by the public and handed over to the Pukou District Cultural Relics Management Committee for safekeeping. It is a statue of Guanyin with kind eyes and a string of Buddhist beads around her neck. It is one meter tall, sixty centimeters wide, and weighs about 150 kilograms, dating back over 850 years. After expert appraisal, this Song Dynasty stone Buddha was designated a national first-class cultural relic. It is not only a witness to history but also a crystallization of the artistry and wisdom of the ancient Han Chinese working people. It has been loaned for exhibitions by provincial and municipal museums and also attests to Pukou’s long-standing cultural, artistic, and religious heritage.

One might ask, did the enshrinement of the stone Buddhas put an end to floods in the Pukou area? On the contrary, in the more than 700 years from the Jianyan era of the Southern Song Dynasty to the fourth year of the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (1865 AD), the *Jiangpu Pi Cheng* records 40 instances of flooding, with each dynasty—from the Song, Yuan, Ming, to Qing—experiencing water disasters. Farmlands were submerged, houses collapsed, and the people suffered unrest. However, it was only after the liberation, under the leadership of the Communist Party and the people's government, that the water disasters were truly brought under control, allowing the people of Pukou to live in peace.