Ruins of Dingshan Temple

Ruins of Dingshan Temple

The ruins of Dingshan Temple are a municipal cultural relics protection unit of Nanjing.

Dingshan Temple [At the foot of Dadingshan Mountain in Pearl Spring Scenic Area, Pukou District · Southern Dynasties Liang Dynasty · Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit] In the second year of the Tianjian era of the Liang Dynasty (503), Emperor Wu of Liang built a monastery for the eminent monk Fading and decreed it to be named “Dingshan Temple.” According to the Jiangpu Bicheng, “Dingshan Temple... is surrounded by mountains on all sides, with an opening to the south like a gate, facing battlements and watchtowers in a picturesque juxtaposition, where Bodhidharma, the founding patriarch of Zen Buddhism, once stayed during his northward journey to the Shaolin Temple.” The mountain cliff behind the temple is called “Bodhidharma Rock,” which once featured the “Wall-Facing Spot” and “Meditation Stone,” with clear imprints of Bodhidharma’s seated stance and palm marks on the stones. There was also a cliff inscription known as “Dingshan Stone.” Legend has it that Bodhidharma, missing the springs of his homeland in Central Asia, struck the ground with his staff to create Zhuozhi Spring, which still flows to this day. Dingshan Temple collapsed in 1954, and both “Bodhidharma Rock” and “Dingshan Stone” were destroyed during quarrying operations. On the site, a stele of Bodhidharma remains, featuring a round top and a square base added later. It depicts Bodhidharma with a beard and round eyes, standing on a reed crossing the river in a reverent posture, with an inscription reading, “Erected in the fourth year of the Hongzhi era of the Ming Dynasty by an eighty-year-old monk of Dingshan.” Other remnants include a stone pagoda, stone pot, column bases, and fragments of a “Zhuozhi Spring” stele. The reconstruction project of Dingshan Temple has been approved by the provincial and municipal religious affairs departments as well as the municipal cultural relics authorities. It was designated as a district-level cultural relics protection unit in 1983 and a municipal-level one in 2006.