Jiyuan Damingsi Temple

　　Damingsi Temple is located in Zhicheng Town, 6 kilometers south of Jiyuan City, Henan Province. It was established during the Northern Song Dynasty. Originally named "Tonghui Chan Yuan," it was renamed "Damingsi Temple" during the Yuan Dynasty. The temple has undergone multiple renovations over the dynasties.

　　The extant structures include the Mountain Gate, which is three bays wide with a flush-gable gray-tiled roof and bracket sets, dating from the late Ming Dynasty. The Heavenly King Hall that once stood behind the gate no longer exists. To the north lies the Front Buddha Hall, also three bays wide and deep, featuring a single-eave hip-and-gable roof on a straight-platform base, constructed during the Yuan Dynasty. Along both sides of the central axis are other halls built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as the Sangharama Hall, Vajra Hall, Kṣitigarbha Hall, and Yánjūn Hall, featuring hanging gable, flush-gable, or flush-gable with flying eaves architectural styles.

　　The Middle Buddha Hall of Damingsi Temple features bold and unrestrained construction techniques, with wood used naturally and arranged according to material properties—demonstrating a distinct Yuan Dynasty craftsmanship style. Although it is a Yuan Dynasty structure, the hall retains and inherits more characteristics of Song Dynasty architecture. The fusion of Yuan techniques and Song legacy, a transcendent architectural style across time, is one of the temple’s treasured historical values. In front of the Middle Buddha Hall, a thousand-year-old sal tree seems to whisper the temple’s storied past, while broken stone lions on either side of the gate faintly recall the temple's former glory.

　　The Rear Buddha Hall, built during the Ming Dynasty’s Wanli era and renovated again in the Qing Dynasty’s Jiaqing period, also holds outstanding historical value. Its rear eave bracket sets use substitution beams, and its column capitals feature thick, broad large tie beams—construction methods that draw on ancient techniques and are very rare, serving as important physical evidence for the study of Ming and Qing architecture. Furthermore, the outer eaves, beams, purlins, and bracket sets of the Rear Buddha Hall still retain a relatively complete array of colorful paintings.

　　The temple houses many ancient steles, among which the important ones include the "Stele of the Virtuous Deeds of the Kind Abbot of Damingsi Monastery" from the fourth year of the Taiding era (1327) during the Yuan Dynasty, the "Record of the Reconstruction of the Front Hall of Damingsi Temple" from the sixteenth year of the Hongzhi era (1503) of the Ming Dynasty, and the "Stele Record of the Reconstruction of the Rear Buddha Hall of Damingsi Temple" from the forty-third year of the Wanli era (1615) of the Ming Dynasty. The temple also has a pair of stone lions from the eighteenth year of the Chenghua era (1482) of the Ming Dynasty and a thousand-year-old sal tree.

　　In November 1986, Damingsi Temple was designated as a Provincial-Level Cultural Relics Protection Unit by Henan Province; in June 2001, it was listed as part of the fifth group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

　　Attraction Location

　　6 kilometers south of Jiyuan City, Henan Province, in Zhicheng Town