Daming Xinghua Temple

Daming Xinghua Temple

Daming Xinghua Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Xinghua Temple is located outside the west gate of Daming Prefecture City, south of Tiekou Village. The temple is currently under restoration and improvement. In the center of the courtyard stands a three-faced Guanyin statue. The Dajiguang Hall faces west and is entirely made of wood. The outer walls on the north, east, and south sides of the hall are covered with murals depicting Buddhist stories. Inside the hall, three Bodhisattva statues are enshrined on the eastern wall, which can be described as resplendent in gold and grandeur. On the northern side of the hall is enshrined the young Sakyamuni, depicted standing atop an elephant, pointing one finger to the sky and one to the earth.

Daming County is one of the birthplaces of Chinese Zen Buddhism culture. Buddhism was introduced to Daming in the first year of the Yongchu era during the Eastern Han Dynasty (107 AD). The Daming Xinghua Temple, ancestral temple of the Linji School, was built 1,130 years ago in the mid-Tang Dynasty. It is the place where the famous Tang Dynasty monk Master Yixuan founded and spread his teachings, as well as where he attained nirvana. It also served as a site for the transmission of the second and third generations of Linji School teachings. Master Yixuan practiced and preached here, spreading Zen teachings far and wide. On April 10, 867 AD, he attained nirvana here. His relics were divided into two parts, each enshrined in a separate stupa: one at Daming Xinghua Temple, called the Chengling Pagoda, and the other at Zhengding Linji Monastery, called the Chengyuan Pagoda.

At that time, Xinghua Temple had towering halls, vast temple lands, morning bells and evening drums, and flourishing incense offerings, becoming a major center for the spread of the Linji School during the middle and late Tang Dynasty. However, later historical upheavals, continuous floods, and repeated wars caused the temple to rise and fall several times. By the 1930s and 1940s, only the Chengling Pagoda and some ruins remained. During the Cultural Revolution, the temple ruins were further damaged, and the pagoda did not escape destruction either.

Transportation Guide

Location: South of Tiekou Village, Daming County, Handan City, Hebei Province