Jing Sheng Nunnery

Jing Sheng Nunnery

Located in the western suburbs of Langzhong (now at No. 2 Jing Sheng Nunnery Street), it was first built in the third year of the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty (1630). The Guanyin Hall was constructed with yellow walls and green tiles, nestled deep within a bamboo grove. During the prosperous Kangxi and Qianlong eras of the Qing Dynasty, it underwent multiple expansions. Inside the nunnery stands a hexagonal iron pagoda with a thousand Buddha statues, eleven stories high and weighing eleven tons. At the top of the pagoda sits a bronze statue of the Medicine Buddha; the pagoda is engraved with the Universal Gate Chapter, the Heart Sutra, and the Great Compassion Mantra; it houses 1,280 Buddha statues of various sizes. In 2003, a three-story building (two floors above ground and one basement) was newly constructed in front of the Guanyin Hall. The first floor serves as a chanting hall, the second as a meditation room, and the third as the Mahavira Hall, the Heavenly King Hall, and the Thousand-Armed Guanyin Hall. The halls boast an exceptional quantity of bronze statues and exquisite designs. Currently, the nunnery has four resident bhikkhunis, and the number of lay followers has exceeded one thousand.