Pude Temple

Pude Temple

Pude Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Nanjing.

Pude Temple is located in Pude Village, northwest of Yuhuatai in Nanjing. It was first built during the Tianchu era (502–519) of the Xiao Liang dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, renovated during the Ming Dynasty, and is an imperial-designated ancient temple. In 1982, it was listed as a cultural relic protection unit of Nanjing.

Originally, there was a pair of turtle pedestals in front of the temple’s mountain gate, each measuring 3 meters in length and 1.7 meters in width, large in size and vivid in appearance. The temple originally had four courtyards. The first courtyard was the temple gate. The second was the Heavenly King Hall, which housed statues of Maitreya, Skanda, and the Four Heavenly Kings. The third was the Mahavira Hall, where a golden statue of the Tathagata was enshrined, surrounded by 500 iron arhats. On the east and west sides of the hall were moon gates: the eastern one led to the main hall, a reception area for monks, which featured a small courtyard with the Yuhua Spring and a small building to the east that served as the abbot’s quarters; the western one opened to a large courtyard with over ten monk rooms. The fourth courtyard was the Hall of the Infinite Buddha, which enshrined a 6-meter-tall iron Buddha known as the Guardian God of the Monastery. Bell and drum towers were situated at the two corners of the hall.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Pude Temple remained one of the scenic highlights of the southern suburbs, attracting many literati and poets. The temple originally covered a site area of 100,000 square meters, with nearly 50,000 square meters of fields, hills, and ponds. Its main structures included the Vajra Hall, Heavenly King Hall, bell and drum towers on both sides, stele pavilions on both sides, the Great Buddha Hall, the Guanyin Hall on the left, the Scripture Repository Hall on the right, the Western Paradise Hall, the Sangharama Hall on the left, and the Patriarch Hall on the right, all of which no longer exist. Of the original 500 iron arhats, three were stolen and taken to Japan during the Japanese invasion of China and later replaced with clay sculptures. In 1958, during the “Great Leap Forward,” all the clay arhats were smelted for steel. The large iron Buddha was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Today, Pude Temple retains the Mahavira Hall, the Hall of the Infinite Buddha, one stone turtle pedestal, and one stone well curb of the Yuhua Spring.