Tiantai An

Tiantai An

Tiantai An is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Tiantai An is one of only four surviving ancient wooden structures from the Tang Dynasty in China. Located on a solitary earthen mound-shaped hill 25 kilometers northeast of Pingshun County, it was initially built in the fourth year of the Tianyou era (907 AD).

Tiantai An is the temple of the Tiantai School — the earliest Buddhist sect established in China. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Chinese Buddhism experienced a dichotomy in practice approaches, known as "Southern Doctrine, Northern Meditation" — the South emphasized doctrine and wisdom, while the North focused on meditation and concentration. To resolve this divide, Zhiyi responded to the times by proposing the doctrine of "equal emphasis on doctrine and meditation" and "dual cultivation of concentration and wisdom." He likened these two practices to the two wheels of a cart or the two wings of a bird — neither should be neglected. He founded the first unified Buddhist sect with distinctive Chinese characteristics, which, because he long resided on Mount Tiantai, came to be named after it.

Tiantai An lies east of a valley and west of the Zhang River, facing south with a northward orientation, covering an area of 970 square meters and a built-up area of just over 90 square meters. To the east of the courtyard stands a Tang Dynasty stele, its inscriptions eroded and illegible. The Buddha Hall is built upon a 1-meter-high stone platform foundation, spanning three bays in both width and depth, measuring 7.15 meters in width and 7.12 meters in depth. The roof pitch is gently sloped, with flying eaves on all sides, a single-eave simple-board tile roof topped with glazed ridge ornaments and a hip-and-gable roof. The hall features a surrounding platform base, with stairs installed under the central bay of the front facade. The hall is surrounded by circular wooden columns, with lintels between them, and the common inverted-bowl style column bases. The column capitals have gently curled tongues, and the columns support brackets that uphold the roof eaves. The central and side bays of the main facade are larger, while the secondary bays are only half the size of the main ones. There are no interior columns, resulting in a simple yet tightly interlocked structure without excessive ornamentation, making the interior space feel even more open — a design that fully embodies the architectural characteristics of the Tang Dynasty.

Address: Wangqu Village, Danche Township, Pingshun County

Type: Temple

Recommended visiting time: About 1 hour

Ticket information:

Gate price: 6.0 RMB

Further reading:

· Third Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units