Pengxi Baofan Temple

Pengxi Baofan Temple

Baofan Temple in Pengxi is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

By taking a bus northwest from Pengxi Station on the Dacheng Railway for eight kilometers, you can reach the renowned Baofan Temple in Shu.

Baofan Temple is located at the mid-slope of Lion Mountain in Baofan Village, Baofan Town, about 15 kilometers west of Pengxi County, Sichuan. Originally built in the early Northern Song Dynasty, it was called Luohan Yuan (Arhats’ Courtyard). In the first year of the Zhi Ping era (1064), Emperor Yingzong of Song, Zhao Shu, decreed it be renamed Baofan Temple, with the meaning of “Treasure of the Buddhist Dharma, Jewel of the Esoteric Sect,” more directly interpreted as a combination of the terms “Three Jewels” and “Sacred Monastery.” The temple later suffered damage from war and disasters. The legacy continued into the Ming Dynasty’s second year of the Zhengtong era

(1437), when the monk Haizhou arrived to establish the site, and in the first year of the Jingtai era (1450), rebuilt the Mahavira Hall and the Guanyin Pavilion, adding new Buddha statues. In the subsequent Ming and Qing dynasties, the Heavenly King Hall, Pilu Hall, the mountain gate, and side halls were successively added, resulting in its current scale. The complex follows a three-courtyard, four-courtyard layout with a total construction area of over 2,600 square meters.

The Mahavira Hall stands majestic and beautifully formed, with a single-eave hip-and-gable wooden structure on four rafters, forming a square shape with both length and width measuring 15.3 meters and a total height of 8.5 meters. The eaves feature 18 bracket sets (dougong), constructed using a seven-step system with single angling arms and double downward cantilevers; these cantilevers resemble bamboo leaves, extending far outward, with the ends reaching directly to the lower horizontal beams. The roof is covered with green tiles, featuring carved brick dragons, sword-claw ridges, and symbolic creatures representing the Four Symbols: Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger. The four corners are adorned with iron wind bells. After its completion, experts and scholars from the Chongqing Museum and other ancient architecture institutions praised the hall for its scientific structure, grandeur, and artistry, concluding that it was "meticulously designed, rigorously structured, aesthetically pleasing, and solidly built," hailing it as a fine example of architecture from the mid-Ming Dynasty.

The mountain gate is adorned with plaques inscribed by notable figures such as Sha Menghai, Vice Chairman of the China Calligraphers Association, who wrote "Baofan Temple"; Tan Jiancheng, a painter from Zhejiang Province, who wrote "Fairy Traces in the Painting Garden"; and Li Banli, Chairman of the Sichuan Calligraphers Association, who inscribed in seal script “Ancient Luohan Courtyard.” Couplets include verses such as “All sentient beings return to the Pure Land; all dharmas bow to Zen,” calligraphed by Li Fuyu of Zhejiang Province as a supplementary piece.

On August 16, 1956, the People’s Committee of Sichuan Province officially designated the main hall and murals of Baofan Temple as among the first batch of Provincial-Level Cultural Relics Protection Units in Sichuan.

Protected area: to the east, 150 meters beyond the outer edge of the foundation of the east wing room; to the south, 150 meters beyond the outer edge of the foundation of the mountain gate; to the west, 150 meters beyond the outer edge of the foundation of the west wing room; and to the north, 150 meters beyond the outer edge of the foundation of the Guanyin Hall.

Construction control zone: an additional 150 meters beyond the protected area.

Baofan Village: Baofan Village... More detailed information on Baofan Village++

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units