Jiuhua Mountain Jinxin Temple

Jiuhua Mountain Jinxin Temple

Jinxin Temple on Jiuhua Mountain is a cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.

Jinxin Temple is located in Jinchong Village on the eastern foothills of Lotus Peak, just eight kilometers from Qingyang County. A little over a kilometer up the steps behind Jinshan Village, nestled among a bamboo grove, you can faintly see an unassuming temple — this is "Jinxin Temple." Locals call it the "Old Hermitage." Legend has it that the eccentric Tang Dynasty monk Daoji, who attained enlightenment through Taoism and Buddhism, once lived here for many years.

According to the *Records of Jiuhua Mountain*, Jinxin Temple was originally built during the Tang Dynasty and was initially called "Anchan Monastery," also known as "Biyun Hermitage," and commonly referred to as the "Old Hermitage." The poetic monk Shi Hetan of the Southern Song Dynasty renovated and expanded Biyun Hermitage and renamed it "Jinxin Temple." Shi Hetan, also known as Suilan, was skilled in poetry and authored the *Collection of Jiuhua Poems*, which is now lost. Five of his poems remain in old records, though only two — "Jiuhua Chongshou Pagoda" and "Seven-Step Spring" — are preserved in current records. The main hall of the present-day Jinxin Temple, consisting of three rooms, was built in the 16th year of the Chenghua reign of the Ming Dynasty (1480 AD) by the then abbot Monk Juojing along with his disciples Mingshun and Mingtong. The main hall is entirely constructed of stone: not only are its walls made of blue hemp-slab stones, but its beams, pillars, and brackets are also carved from blue hemp stones, some as thick as a person’s embrace and engraved with cloud patterns. Above the central beam of the main gate are carved eight regular script characters: "Prosperous Weather, Peaceful Country, Safe People." The entire structure exudes an ancient, simple, and unadorned charm. Such fully stonework constructions were commonly used in ancient times locally to build roadside "rest shelters" for travelers. As a temple structure — especially in the timber-rich mountainous regions of southern Anhui — the choice to use stone instead of wood was quite rare. Among the existing temples in the sacred Jiuhua area, this is the only one of its kind. Why Abbot Juojing chose to build it this way remains a mystery to this day. Another interesting feature is that the temple gate is deliberately skewed, opening about thirty degrees southeast off true south.

According to the current abbot, Monk Dibing, it is said that the temple has never had mosquitoes or flies in summer since ancient times. Folklore also tells of Lu Zhongyuan, a descendant of the legendary Tang Dynasty medical sage Sun Simiao, who lived here to study and practice the *Thousand Ducat Prescriptions* and *Supplement to the Thousand Ducat Prescriptions*. He treated villagers and compiled his own work, *Thousand Ducat Holy Wisdom Prescriptions*, to benefit future generations. It’s also said that Lu Zhongyuan honored his master by enshrining the image of the "Medicine King Bodhisattva" (commonly known as "Medicine King Buddha") in the main hall for daily worship. Since then, mosquitoes and flies have dared not enter the temple out of reverence for the Medicine King's spiritual power. The Medicine King Bodhisattva is still enshrined in the temple today.

The magic of Jinxin Temple also lies in its unique geographical location. To the west of the temple gate stretches the undulating "Brush Rack Mountain" range — the mountainous backdrop of Jiuhua — with sheer cliffs and interlocking peaks extending southward. To the east of the temple gate, the terrain slopes gently down to flat plains dotted with villages and farmland. The temple backs onto the gently sloping "Pingding Summit" and sits midway up the mountainside — locals therefore also call the site "Pai Shang" (literally “the row”). According to local feng shui masters, the layout resembles a "grandmaster’s chair" — an auspicious geomantic formation symbolizing the left Azure Dragon and right White Tiger. However, the right White Tiger — Brush Rack Mountain — is too towering and steep, while the left Azure Dragon lacks presence due to an open space. To balance this, when Shi Hetan renovated and expanded the temple, he built a seven-tiered stone pagoda slightly to the front left of the temple. Standing five meters tall and leaning slightly southward, the pagoda has a subtle S-shape resembling a serpentine sword from ancient weapon manuals. Perched atop a craggy cliff, it is called "Qingfeng" (Azure Peak). From afar, the Qingfeng Pagoda looks like an "Azure Dragon" thrusting straight into the sky, balancing the imposing presence of the nearby "White Tiger." There is also a legend that the temple site "Pai Shang" is a homophone for "bamboo raft." To the west of Jinxin Temple, beside Quanzhu Peak, there is a shaded valley that never sees sunlight — called "Yinwa" (Shady Hollow). At the top of Quanzhu Peak is a heavenly spring — clear, sweet, and inexhaustible — whose waters flow into a stream that runs through Yinwa, past Jinxin Temple, and continues southeast, known as the "Dragon Stream." Because a bamboo raft is easily swept away by water, symbolizing loss and impermanence — something the temple sought to avoid — the Qingfeng Pagoda was erected to anchor the "raft," serving as its symbolic "punt pole." Of course, these are all legends and superstitious tales. But given the cultural context of the time, such construction philosophies might very well have existed. One thing is certain: judging from the temple’s environmental layout, the inscriptions on the beams, and the uniquely angled gate, by the Song Dynasty, foreign religious culture had already begun to distinctly blend with and localize within China’s traditional Taoist culture.

Jinxin Temple also holds another mystery: the "Curved Bridge." Though not actually called the "Curved Bridge," it is known as the "Dragon Stream Bridge" or "Jinxin Bridge." Also built by the poet-monk Shi Hetan during the Song Dynasty’s Baoqing era (1226 AD), it is a twin-arch stone slab flat bridge. The oddity of the bridge lies in its arrowhead-like shape — resembling a ">" sign. If you imagine the Dragon Stream as the arrow shaft and the bridge as the arrowhead, it looks like a drawn bowstring arrow ready to be launched. The ancient bridge, pagoda, and temple form a mysterious triangular formation. What the deeper symbolism might be is probably known only to Shi Hetan himself.

Temples have long been associated with farmlands. These may be official “ration fields” granted by the government, land “donated by devotees,” or properties “purchased with incense offerings.” But the fields of Jinxin Temple came through breaking monastic precepts: On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month in the 22nd year of the Jiaqing reign (1817 AD), a monk named Langfa fought with a local wealthy man and — “won” — “one acre of Jinchangmao paddy field divided into sixteen plots.” It was further stipulated that “descendants shall not reclaim it,” with the agreement “etched in stone forever as evidence.” This stone tablet is still embedded in the lower right side of the temple gate.

Jinxin Temple is truly a "feng shui treasure land." Thanks to its exceptional natural environment, it has also witnessed extraordinary celestial phenomena: Local worshippers and visitors have twice spotted mirages of lotus flowers appearing above Lotus Peak. One occurred at around 3 PM on the 16th day of the first lunar month in 2000; the other around 10 AM on May 11 of the same year. Both sightings happened after rain showers cleared into sunshine. Witnesses reported seeing "lotuses" hovering above the clouds over Lotus Peak, with two blossoms reflecting each other in spectacular fashion. Jinxin Temple is not only ancient and mysterious, but also boasts enchanting natural scenery. In addition to Quanzhu Peak right next to the temple, there is Luojie Peak — resembling an ancient woman’s high coiled hair bun — facing Quanzhu across a hollow, as well as Middle Lotus Peak, among others, forming a landscape of overlapping peaks and secluded valleys. The area’s natural beauty complements its cultural heritage, while the Buddhist atmosphere and local legends add an extra layer of mystique to Jinxin Temple.