Zhongling Temple

Zhongling Temple

Zhongling Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Zhongling Temple is one of the few remaining ancient Buddhist temples in Anhua County, having been built over 280 years ago. Legend has it that a wandering monk from Nanyue came to the area to beg for alms and saw a golden snake bathed in a Buddha’s aura coiled on the ground, signaling to him. The monk then divined the meaning, and the divination revealed that the snake was the incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Nanyue, instructing him to build a Nanyue pilgrimage palace.

Taking the hint, the monk bid farewell to the golden snake and traveled far and wide across hundreds of miles to collect donations. After several years, he had gathered enough funds, broke ground for the temple, and after another three years, Zhongling Temple was finally completed. The entire structure consists of a main hall and two connected auxiliary buildings. The main hall is a two-story octagonal pavilion, commonly known as the Octagonal Pavilion. Covered with glazed ceramic tiles, it shines brilliantly from afar, with upturned eaves and a majestic appearance befitting an ancient Buddhist temple. Up close, one can see intricately carved beams and painted rafters, with clouds of incense wafting through the air, creating a truly magnificent scene.

The entire complex blends harmoniously with the surrounding landscape, possessing notable aesthetic value. It is said that because the temple’s fortune-telling, divination, wish-making, and incense-offering rituals are particularly efficacious, it attracts a large number of devout worshippers. Every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the eighth lunar month), the site sees a peak in visitors and pilgrims coming to pay their respects. At that time, the place is packed with people, bustling and crowded. The sounds of temple bells, wooden fish, firecrackers, and monks chanting sutras fill the air incessantly, creating a truly otherworldly, serene Buddhist atmosphere.