Jade
Buddha Temple is
situated in the northwest near the intersection of Anyuan Road and Jiangning
Road. It is a Buddhist temple in Shanghai,and has a history of over one
hundred years.
In
1882, the Buddhist Monk Hui Gen brought two jade buddhas from Myanmar
and built the temple to keep them. The temple was destroyed during Qing
Dynasty and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928. It was
named the Jade Buddha Temple. The two jade buddhas are still kept here.
The
construction of the temple is in the magnificent architectural style of
the Song Dynasty. The temple comprises the Hall of Heavenly King, the Precious Hall of Sakyamuni,
the Hall of Reclining Buddha, the Pavilion of Jade Buddha etc. There are
monks currently living in the Temple and the Temple houses the Shanghai
Buddhist Institute.
As
one most precious relics in the Temple, the sitting one is a 1.9 meter
tall portrayal of the real Buddha sitting at the moment of his enlightenment
and it is carved out of a single
piece of jade with diamonds and agates inlaid. Housed in the middle of
the Pavilion of Jade Buddha, it is decorated with dazzling Buddhist lights
and gold girdles. The Recumbent Buddha is 96 centimeters long, lying on
the right side with the right hand supporting the head and the left hand
placing on the left leg, this shape is called the "lucky repose".
The temple now also contains a much larger reclining Jade Buddha, donated
from Singapore in 1989.
Furthermore, there are many other ancient statues, paintings, a complete
set of Buddhist scriptures (printed in the Qing Dynasty), and over 7000
other rare scriptures are kept in the temple.
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