Tongling Dashige Pavilion

　　    Dashige Pavilion is situated at the foot of Shenyi Mountain in Datong and by the Qingtong River. It was originally called Xiangshui Temple and also known as Pujitemple, and was first built in the seventh year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1650). Legend has it that during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, the Silla prince Kim Qiao Jue traveled a thousand miles to Jiuhua Mountain to seek enlightenment and eventually became the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. On his way, he stopped to rest at Shenyi Mountain, and Dashige Pavilion was later built by monks from Jiuhua Mountain in reverence. Since then, pilgrims from all directions who visited Jiuhua Mountain would pass through this site, making it a place of flourishing incense offerings. The “Complete Map of the Scenic Wonders of the Southeast TianTai of Jiuhua Mountain” depicted in the 1900 edition of the Jiuhua Mountain Annals listed Dashige Pavilion as one of the scenic highlights of Jiuhua. From then on, Dashige Pavilion became an important pilgrimage gateway for devotees from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Southeast Asia, and was also known as the “First Gate of Jiuhua Mountain.” Later, it suffered severe damage during the Anti-Japanese War, the catastrophic flood of 1954, and the man-made destruction of the Cultural Revolution. Most of Dashige Pavilion and other temples were destroyed and no longer exist.

　　    On November 5, 1998, with the approval of the Tongling County People’s Government, it was decided to relocate Cilin Jing She to the original site of the old Dashige Pavilion and rebuild it. On the 30th day of the seventh lunar month in 2003, a ceremony was held to consecrate the Buddha statues, with solemn blessings bestowed upon 49 gilded statues. The rebuilt Dashige Pavilion covers an area of nearly 10,000 m², with a construction area of over 3,000 m². It now includes structures such as the mountain gate, the Mahavira Hall, the Heavenly King Hall, the Hall of Three Saints, the Ksitigarbha Hall, and the Guanyin Hall. Additional constructions, including the Hall of Five Hundred Arhats and the Dharma Hall, are under construction. With total investment reaching tens of millions of yuan, the pavilion has initially taken shape and continues to attract growing numbers of worshippers. It is currently one of the key attractions in the Citang Lake Scenic Area.