Xilu Temple

Xilu Temple

Xilu Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Xilu Temple is located within the Ziplong Mountain Scenic Area in Hefei, Anhui Province, a national 4A-level tourist attraction renowned as the "Buddhist Kingdom of Nine Blooming Lotuses and the Five Dragons Embracing a Pearl on Ziplong Mountain." It is said that before journeying to Jiuhua Mountain, Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha once stayed here, hence it is also called the "Northern Jiuhua." During the Three Kingdoms period, Li Dian built a temple at the mountain top to enshrine his seventh-generation ancestor, the Han Dynasty general Li Ling, thus Xilu Temple is also known as "Li Ling Temple." Because the temple is situated southwest of the ancient Lüzhou Prefecture (now Hefei), it was bestowed the name "Xilu Temple" by the royal court during the Tang Dynasty. Thereafter, it experienced repeated cycles of prosperity and decline due to wars. In the eighth year of the Ming Dynasty's Wanli era, local devotees raised funds to build the Xuanwu Hall. In the early Qing Dynasty, Jingcheng raised donations to construct the Mahavira Hall. During the Kangxi era, Master Jianrong Zhigong resided here, extensively renovated the temple, established a monastic complex, and became a founding patriarch. The temple was destroyed by fire during the Xianfeng era. Later, Yuan Hongmo, a defending general of Hangzhou from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, feeling the impermanence of worldly affairs and assessing the situation wisely, abandoned the city, returned home, and became a monk here, taking the Dharma name Tongyuan. He restored Xilu Temple and Hefei Mingjiao Temple, becoming a great patriarch of revival.

Xilu Temple has produced many eminent monks throughout history. In modern times alone, these include Master Sanxing Mengdong, former president of the Anhui Buddhist Association; Abbot Jichen, one of the four main disciples of Master Taixu; and the renowned painter-monk Master Lanwu.

In the 1950s, most of the 500-acre Xilu Temple was occupied by a state-owned forestry farm, and in the 1960s, the core area of the temple was taken over by a microwave station. It was completely demolished during the Cultural Revolution.

In October 2005, Venerable Shi Jie Xin took office as the new abbot. Guided by the principles of "promoting Buddhism through culture, cultivating monastics through education, benefiting society through charity, and purifying the human mind through spiritual practice," he specially invited the Southern Headquarters of China Landscape Architecture Planning and Design Research Center to design the temple. With the main features of a "Tang-style architectural complex where the temple embraces the mountain and the trees embrace the temple," it includes four functional zones. Currently, the hall area and living quarters are mostly complete, and the next steps will be to develop the meditation zone and cultural zone.

We sincerely hope that monastics, virtuous lay practitioners, community leaders, and friends from all walks of life from both China and abroad will lend their support, rejoice in the merit, and join hands in this great endeavor. May the collective efforts, like streams converging into an ocean and grains of sand forming a mountain, ensure the enduring continuity of Xilu Temple’s Buddhist endeavors, illuminating the world.