Huading Temple

Huading Temple

Huading Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Located in Huading Forest Park. In front of the temple are the Flower-Touching Chamber and Tiger-Taming Altar. The mountain gate is adorned with a plaque inscribed “Pure Realm of Lotus.” The upper floor of the Arhat Building houses five hundred arhats, while the lower floor features statues of the Four Heavenly Kings. The east and west corridors serve as guest halls.

Between the Mahavira Hall and the Arhat Building, a rainbow bridge spans the water, with carved railings, jade-like paving, and lush green grass. The main hall has five bays, spacious and magnificent, enshrining three Buddha statues—Sakyamuni, Kashyapa, and Ananda—in the center, with twenty Devas and eighteen arhats on the sides. Behind Sakyamuni are statues of Guanyin and Skanda. At the rear are images of Master Zhizhe, Medicine Buddha, Bodhidharma, Dingguang, Maitreya, and Sangharama.

In the winter of 1929, Huading Temple was destroyed by fire. Two years later, Guangci took over as abbot and began reconstructing the buildings, laying the initial foundation. In recent years, an 18-meter-tall Thousand Buddha Hall has also been built.

Background: When Master Zhizhe first arrived at Tiantai Mountain, he once meditated alone in the open air on Huading Mountain, facing west to study the Śūraṅgama Sutra with great austerity. Later generations built a thatched hut on the peak where practitioners renounced worldly life and pursued spiritual discipline. In the early Song Dynasty, the “Demonic-Subduing Pagoda” and a stone stele commemorating “Master Zhizhe’s Scripture-Worship Site” were also erected.

In the first year of the Tianfu era during the Later Jin Dynasty, National Preceptor Deshao established the Huading Yuanjue Monastery at the foot of the mountain. It was renamed Shanxing Temple in the third year of the Zhiping era during the Song Dynasty—today’s Huading Temple. During the Yuan Dynasty, under the tenure of Abbot Wujian Xianzhu, monks from both China and abroad flocked here to seek teachings, ushering in a period of great prosperity.