Mangyue Leizangxiang Temple

Mangyue Leizangxiang Temple

Mangyue Leizangxiang Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Mangyue Leizangxiang Temple is located among the hills 25 kilometers northwest of Shunha Village. It was built in the mid-to-late 13th century and was reconstructed in 1880 and 1984. As one of the first Buddhist temples established during the early introduction of Theravada Buddhism in Dehong, it is also one of the eight great temples of Southeast Asia. According to Dai Buddhist scriptures, Leizangxiang was a main site where the Buddha rested, practiced, and preached in Ruili.

The old temple was built with a brick-and-wood structure, featuring a raised-beam wooden frame. It had three bays in width and six in depth, and faced east. In August 2012, the temple was rebuilt on its original site. About 200 meters southeast of the temple stands a golden elephant pagoda cluster over 6 meters high (originally a white elephant pagoda). In 1982, red bricks from the Ming Dynasty and stone axes from the Neolithic Age were unearthed within the temple grounds. In 1990, carbonized rice grains from the Tang Dynasty and pottery shards from the Warring States Period were also discovered. In 2001, more than 300 uniquely shaped bronze and pottery Buddha statues were excavated from the base of the old pagoda.

The cultural layer beneath the front slope of the temple’s main hall stretches approximately 200 meters from east to west and about 50 meters from north to south, covering an area of around 10,000 square meters. The stratigraphic deposit is about 1.4 meters thick and is divided into four layers from top to bottom. The first layer is reddish-brown soil, about 40 cm thick, mixed with modern pottery, porcelain, bricks, and tiles. The second layer is grayish-brown soil, about 50 cm thick, with no artifacts found. The third layer is relatively pure red soil, also with no artifacts. The fourth layer is grayish-brown soil, about 30 cm thick, containing a small number of sandy coarse pottery shards. Below the fourth layer is the virgin soil. The pottery shards are mainly sandy red and gray pottery, fired at low temperatures, brittle and soft, mostly plain without decoration, though a few have string patterns. The vessel types are unclear. Additionally, the carbonized rice grains and polished stone tools analyzed suggest a cultural type similar to the “Baiyangcun Neolithic Culture” in our province, reflecting a rice-farming culture primarily based on primitive agriculture and close to water. This has significant implications for studying the history of the ancestors of the Dehong Dai people, as well as the origins of ancient agriculture and “rice-farming culture” in Dehong. On April 20, 1989, Mangyue Leizangxiang Temple was designated as a county-level cultural relics protection unit by the Ruili Municipal People's Government.

Source: China Honghe Tourism Network