Si'en Temple

　　Si'en Temple is the only ordination site for monastics in Guangxi and the largest modern Buddhist temple in South China. Located on the mountainside of Baiyun Mountain, which lies against the Wuling Mountain Range, the Xijiang River winds from northwest to southeast like a jade ribbon not far in front.

　　The predecessor of Si'en Temple was the Zhizhulin Temple, built in the spring of 1939 in Qianjian. It was relocated and rebuilt on Baiyun Mountain due to the construction of the East Ring Road in Wuzhou.

　　The foundation stone was laid on the sixth day of the eighth lunar month in the Buddhist year 2545 (2001 AD), with a total investment of about 70 million yuan. Master Shichengqing from the Buddhist Association of China was dispatched to Wuzhou to guide the temple’s construction. The grand Mahavira Hall was completed in 2005, and the east and west wing rooms, bell tower, drum tower, memorial archway, mountain gate, Heavenly King Hall, Dharma Hall, and vegetarian restaurant were subsequently built. A grand Buddha consecration ceremony was held on September 27, 2006.

　　Zhao Puchu, President of the Buddhist Association of China, inscribed the name “Si'en Temple” for the new temple. The “Four Graces” refer to repaying the fourfold kindness: the grace of parents, all sentient beings, the nation, and the Three Jewels.

　　Si'en Temple is not only a museum of Buddhist culture, with exquisitely carved architecture—its 16.8-meter-high Mahavira Hall is majestic in scale—but also a palace of architectural art. The entire ancient architectural complex of Si'en Temple is imposing, conforming to the concepts of yin-yang cosmology and the aesthetic principles of symmetry and stability.

　　The Mahavira Hall is the main hall enshrining the Buddha. “Mahavira” is an honorific title for the Buddha’s moral and spiritual power, specifically referring to the Buddha’s great strength in subduing the “Four Maras”: the Mara of the Five Aggregates, the Mara of Afflictions, the Mara of Death, and the Mara of the Heavenly Gods. In the center of the Mahavira Hall of Si'en Temple are three gilded sandalwood Buddha statues: the central one is Sakyamuni Buddha, sitting in the lotus position with a serene expression. His left hand rests horizontally on his left foot in the “Dhyana Mudra,” symbolizing meditation; his right hand is raised with fingers curved into a circle, forming the “Vitarka Mudra,” representing the moment when the Buddha delivers teachings at a Dharma assembly. The Buddha sits on a lotus (the lotus, which “emerges unstained from the mud,” symbolizes purity and the Pure Land—the purest of Pure Lands being the Western Paradise; the lotus is also a symbol of femininity, where life begins and returns to for rebirth); on the left is the elder Kasyapa, with hands clasped, and on the right is the younger Ananda, with palms joined. This has become a fixed architectural form for the Mahavira Hall.