Xiangshan Hermitage

Xiangshan Hermitage

A key Buddhist temple in Anhui Province, located southeast of Zhongminyuan, housed in a three-bay civilian building. The shrine enshrines a jade statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. Medicinal herbs and exotic flowers grow inside and outside the courtyard wall, and two ancient peonies in the yard, lush and thriving, bloom with hundreds of flowers every year, making them particularly precious. A mountain spring gathers into a square-shaped well roughly one meter in size, with the courtyard wall built on a horizontal stone slab covering the well’s mouth, hence the name “Well Spring.” Inside the hermitage hall hangs a couplet: “Incense burns in the little tower spreading scriptures’ words, birds call from the emerald woods echoing Xiangshan.” The abbess, Venerable Xingmiao, took up residence at Xiangshan Hermitage in 1937, devoted herself to Pure Land Buddhism, and upheld the precepts with strict discipline. She never descended from Jiuhuashan Mountain for over 60 years. She passed away in September 2003 at the age of 96, and numerous relics were discovered after her cremation. She is widely recognized in the Jiuhuashan Buddhist community as a distinguished master of the Pure Land tradition today.

Source: Jiuhuashan Scenic Area Management Committee