Yashan Lingyan Temple

Yashan Lingyan Temple

Yashan Lingyan Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Yashan Lingyan Temple is situated on Yashan Mountain (also known as Shuangxiu Peak) in Huanglong Town, Dayu County, Jiangxi Province. It is a Ming-style imitation structure and ranks among the “notable yet rare temples in Jiangxi, especially prominent in southern Jiangxi.” The temple’s halls, corridors, and chambers feature a rigorously structured layout with interconnected passageways, presenting a unified and harmonious whole. Visitors are immediately struck by the grandeur of the buildings and the solemnity of the Buddhist statues. Every year on the first and fifteenth days of the tenth lunar month, Buddhist gatherings are held, attracting throngs of devout worshippers, merchants, and tourists from the border regions of Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Hunan, creating an unprecedentedly bustling scene.

Nestled within the deep forests of Yashan’s mountainous heartland, this thousand-year-old temple has experienced multiple cycles of prosperity and decline, enduring the trials of time. It was the reform and opening-up era that restored this ancient mountain monastery to its former glory. The temple boasts gray bricks and green tiles, with continuous halls reaching toward the sky, upturned eaves and soaring roofs, intricate carvings of dragons and painted scenes everywhere, winding corridors, and a pervasive golden radiance. Towering ancient trees and bizarre rocks surround the temple, while murmuring streams flow in front and exotic flowers and plants carpet the ground. Incense smoke lingers from dawn to dusk, and the sound of Buddhist bells echoes through the sea of clouds.

The present-day ancient temple features a Ming-style architectural design. With a total construction area of 4,531 square meters, the temple faces south and is built with a brick-and-wood structure in a stepped, desk-like layout. A pair of blue stone lions are carved on the left and right sides of the front steps. Above the temple gate is a large gilded wooden plaque inscribed with “Lingyan Ancient Temple,” and on both sides of the gate hangs a couplet: “Inspiration spans three thousand realms; the cliff shelters five hundred monks.” The arrangement of the halls is ingeniously crafted.

The first hall upon entering the mountain gate is the Maitreya Hall. At its center sits the jovial, bare-bellied, big-smiling statue of Maitreya Buddha. The eastern and western walls are adorned with colorful paintings of the Four Heavenly Kings, while at the back of the hall stands the majestic guardian deity Wei Tuo Bodhisattva, clad in golden armor and wielding a vajra club. The east and west side rooms serve as the guest hall and the merit hall, respectively.

At the center is the Mahavira Hall, where the 4-meter-tall, benevolent-faced statue of Sakyamuni Buddha sits on a lotus throne. Flanking him are his disciples Kasyapa and Ananda, while the eastern and western walls house vividly crafted statues of the Eighteen Arhats in diverse poses. The rear wall features the Bodhisattva Manjushri riding a blue lion on the left and Samantabhadra riding a white elephant on the right. At the center of the back of the hall is a 4.5-meter-high, 6-meter-long clay sculpture group depicting steep cliffs and a floating sea of Buddhas symbolizing universal salvation. Below, turbulent waves are rendered in relief, with Guanyin of the South Sea standing barefoot atop a turtle’s head, holding a pure vase, accompanied by dragon girls on either side and the boy Sudhana nestling close. The relief features over a hundred Buddha statues in various dynamic and static poses, expressing different emotions—joy, anger, sitting, or standing—all exquisitely lifelike and radiant. On both sides of the main hall are the bell and drum towers, each a two-story structure.

Passing through the Mahavira Hall and ascending the steps, one finds a row of halls including the Sangharama Hall, Guanyin Hall, Guiding Hall, Ksitigarbha Hall, and Patriarch Hall. Among them, the Guiding Hall houses a 3-meter-tall statue of Amitabha Buddha standing and extending his hand to guide believers to the Western Paradise. When you find yourself in the Lingyan Ancient Temple, with its hanging Buddhist lamps and swirling incense smoke, it feels as if you are strolling through the mythical world of Penglai Island. A couplet on the temple’s pillars reads: “The sounds of pine, bamboo, and bells are all free and unfettered; the colors of mountains, waters, and mist are all ultimately empty.”

In recent years, donors from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, and Shaoguan have contributed millions in funds and materials. Lingyan Temple is now further expanding its facilities in the style of traditional Chinese art. In the future, the “incense burner that never extinguishes its thousand-year flame, and the halls that forever shine with ten thousand lights” will take on an even more renewed and welcoming appearance, ready to embrace visitors from all over the world.

Flying Cloud Rock Beneath the southern hillside behind the temple lies a massive, naturally formed, arc-shaped rock wall. Smooth and flat, the rock surface resembles a large bird spreading its wings. The wall is 19 meters long, 7.8 meters wide, and covers an area of 148 square meters. At the top of the wall is a horizontal line of four powerful, graceful, and seemingly flying characters in relief: “Pian Shi Yun Fei” (A Rock Slice Soars with Clouds), each character measuring 1 meter in height and 0.8 meters in width. It is verified to have been carved by the elderly monk Hengqi during the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty. At the lower part of the rock wall are several poems in praise, among which the ink work left by Hengqi from the Kangxi period remains clearly legible. One poem reads:

Since ancient times, this rock slice soars with clouds,

By the jade window, I leisurely chant as I please.

When asked of my ancient intent, ⟧15⟧ The ink on my brush celebrates humanity.

The Niu Long Wu Chan (Sinful Dragon Contemplating Zen): On the eastern wall of Yashan Ancient Temple, close to the hillside, there is a dark brown stone vein meandering down from the high slope. Stretching over ten zhang in length and about one zhang in width, the part of the vein near the wall bulges upward, resembling a dragon’s head. Legend has it that this is the remains of a sinful dragon that once eavesdropped on monks chanting sutras and, after being enlightened by Guanyin, ascended to immortality.

Additionally, the rock wall bears many poems in various scripts, but due to the passage of time, sun exposure, rain erosion, and weathering, many characters have become blurred and unrecognizable, leaving behind an eternal regret. Legend has it that Puju and Huiguo, the founding monks of Lingyan Temple, once walked on this rock while preaching and begging for alms. The nearby famous “Flying Cloud Spring” originates from beneath this rock.

The Naga Awakens to Zen On the eastern wall of the ancient temple of Yashan, close to the mountainside, lies a brownish-black rocky vein that winds down from a high slope. Over ten zhang long and a zhang wide, the vein bulges near the wall, resembling a dragon’s head. Legend says it is the remains of a naga (dragon spirit) that eavesdropped on monks chanting sutras and, after being enlightened by Guanyin, became immortal.

It is said that during the Jin Dynasty, a youth surnamed Nie mistakenly consumed a dragon egg and transformed into a dragon. He frequently stirred up storms, harming the people and even threatening to turn Jiangxi into a vast ocean. At that time, Xu Xun (whose Taoist name was Xu Zhenjun), under the mentorship of Wu Meng and guided by the Old Mother of Li Mountain, became immortal and subdued the naga. From then on, the naga behaved and never caused trouble again.

One night, the naga heard the sound of temple bells coming from a mountain hollow. Following the sound, he arrived at the back of the temple and saw many monks chanting sutras. After listening for a long time, he was deeply moved by the profound teachings. Thereafter, whenever the bells rang, he would come to the outside of the temple’s eastern wall to listen to the sutras. When Guanyin learned of this, she was moved by the naga’s sincere devotion to goodness and enlightenment, and thus transformed the naga into an immortal. The naga’s body remained outside the eastern wall of the temple, becoming the “Immortal Pool.” To this day, about a li away from where the naga listened to the sutras, a clear carving of a dragon head and the three characters “Cheng Xian Chi” (Immortal Pool) can be found on the rock wall.

Millennium Iron Tree The millennium iron tree grows in the northwest corner behind the Mahavira Hall of the ancient Lingyan Temple in the Yashan scenic area. With a history of a thousand years, it belongs to the Cycadaceae family, Cycas genus. The tree stands 3.8 meters tall with a chest diameter of 0.8 meters. Leaning 70 degrees southeast, it extends 1.8 meters horizontally, covering a crown area of 10 square meters. Its leaves grow oppositely in spiny pairs, full of vitality.

Arhat Meditating The arhat meditating refers to the thousand-year-old podocarpus tree located on the left front side of the ancient Lingyan Temple in the Yashan scenic area. The tree is 1.4 meters tall with a chest diameter of 1.5 meters. Its trunk is prominent, branches fine and dense, with a crown spanning 9.5 meters east-west and 7.5 meters north-south, covering an area of 60 square meters. The leaf tips are sharp and dark green, while the trunk and branches display a vibrant array of colors, full of life.

Additionally, the tree at the temple gate has a history of over 500 years. There are two ginkgo trees—one growing singly and the other in a cluster of four or five. Both are lush with branches and abundant in fruit.

Former Residence of Mr. Chiang Ching-kuo From 1939 to 1945, Chiang Ching-kuo served as the Inspector-General of Jiangxi Province’s Fourth Administrative Region (Ganzhou). During this period, he frequently led his subordinates to Yashan Lingyan Temple to explore its serenity, pay homage to the ancient temple, and often discuss Buddhist scriptures and doctrines with the monks, exploring the origins of Buddhism.

In the early 1940s, Chiang Ching-kuo also personally organized a “Gannan Cadres’ Training Class” attended by over a hundred people at Lingyan Temple. He advocated the progressive idea of “All for one and one for all” in the Gannan region. To this day, faint traces of the slogan “All for one and one for all” can still be seen on the broken walls of remote pavilions or areas in Dayu. The monk’s quarters

Yashan Lingyan Temple

Address: Dayu County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province