Anfu Temple

Anfu Temple

Anfu Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Anfu Temple is located at the foot of Duxiu Screen to the south of Pan’an County in Zhejiang Province and is a major attraction in the Huatai Mountain Park scenic area. The site boasts an elegant environment and picturesque scenery, attracting numerous visitors and worshippers. Buddhist activities are thriving here, making it one of the key cultural and tourism destinations in eastern Zhejiang.

In the early years of the Xiantong era during the Tang Dynasty, the renowned monk Master Guxin built a thatched hut beneath Duxiu Screen. After years of painstaking fundraising, he completed the construction of a grand temple complex in the eighth year of Xiantong (867 AD). It is said that Master Guxin was an immensely powerful Buddhist figure. When he preached, he could speak continuously for seven days and seven nights without eating or sleeping, causing “the flow of water to stop, fish and dragons to leap ashore, leopards and tigers to crouch low, and even unyielding stones to be transformed.” He also possessed two sacred treasures: his kasaya (monk’s robe) and his alms staff. His kasaya was said to protect thousands of acres of forest from destruction, preserving a hundred-mile stretch of pure land, while his alms staff could subdue a celestial dragon, ensuring favorable weather and peace in the region. Hence, the temple was named “Anwen” (meaning “peaceful culture”). During the Jiayou era of the Song Dynasty, the temple complex was expanded, and in the second year of the Zhiping reign (1065 AD), it was renamed “Anfu Chan Monastery.” The Southern Song Dynasty marked the golden age of Anfu Temple. First, Emperor Gaozong bestowed a purple kasaya upon the abbot Master Jueyuan, and later, Master Ge held a grand Nirvana cremation ceremony, both of which caused a sensation throughout the imperial court and beyond. According to the Kangxi-era Dongyang County Annals, Master Ge was also known as the Monk of Anfu. “For over a month, he did not eat fire-cooked food and instructed his disciples: ‘I am returning.’ ‘Prepare the firewood for my cremation.’” Just before the cremation, he sat upright and chanted Amitabha loudly, ringing a bell or gong in one hand while pointing westward with the other. At the moment of cremation, he told the onlookers to reach out their hands, saying, “I will let my firm pearls rain down from the sky” as gifts for the local people. Indeed, hundreds of people received them. After the cremation, auspicious clouds spread out in all directions, fragrant incense filled the air, and the sound of bells and gongs lingered in the sky all day long.” These wondrous and mystical events have added a magical and beautiful dimension to the history of Anfu Temple, and they continue to be widely recounted to this day.