Yuantong Zen Temple

　　It was expanded from the ancient Yicheng Temple, which was originally built during the Northern Wei Dynasty. During the Warring States period, Sun Bin, the military strategist of the Qi Kingdom, retired in his later years after resigning from office, devoting himself to studying military strategy and writing military treatises. King Wei, recognizing his great contributions, frequently sent civil and military officials to visit him and specially built a post station for his accommodation. After Sun Bin passed away, he was buried in front of the post station. During the Taihe era of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Bodhidharma, the patriarch of Zen Buddhism, came to the Central Plains to spread Buddhist scriptures. When he visited this historic site and saw the beautiful mountains, clear waters, and outstanding people, he instructed his disciples to transform the post station into a Buddhist temple, naming it “Yicheng Temple” (with “yi” meaning tranquility). At its peak, Yicheng Temple had “over a thousand monks and more than ten thousand Buddha statues,” and was regarded as a model among temples in northern China. Many abbots of temples at that time were dispatched from here, making it one of the birthplaces of Chinese Buddhist culture. Yuantong Zen Temple recreates the grandeur of the ancient temple. The entire temple adopts an axisymmetric architectural layout centered around a pagoda. Five halls, one pagoda, one mountain, and one pond are all situated along the central axis. From south to north, they are the Liberation Pond, the Heavenly King Hall, the Medicine Buddha Hall, the Buddhist Pagoda, the Mahavira Hall, the Amitabha Hall, the Manjusri Hall, and the Mount Sumeru.