Photo Gallery

Tiantong Temple (c. 300 AD, rebuilt thereafter)

Tiantong Temple [Tiantong Si] (The Temple of the Heavenly Child) is one of the most important Chan (Japanese: Zen) Buddhist temples. Originally built during the West Jin Dynasty around 300 AD (some date it precisely from 265-316), it ranks second among the five sacred Chinese Zen Buddhist mountains. A very large complex of buildings, its one time total of 999 rooms has now shrunk to a "mere" 730 today arranged in twenty groups of buildings rising up the mountain slope. As one might imagine it is also one of China's largest Buddhist temples. Located in Zhejiang Province, about fifteen miles east of Ningbo and very near the Ayuwang (Asoka) temple [see on this site], Tiantong Temple is set into the sacred East mountain in the Tiantong Forest Park amidst thick woods and numerous famous scenic spots. The hills behind the temple are covered with little caves and a wide variety of concrete wilderness pavilions and animals in a variety of shapes and styles. The temple itself contains numerous important imperial stele, inscriptions, and historic stone carvings and relics. Tiantong is an important pilgrimage site, since the Caotong (Soto in Japan) sect of Buddhism had its origins here. In the early thirteenth century, a 26 year old Japanese monk, Dogen Zenji, met the Soto monk Rujing, and studied with him two and a half years. In 1227, having 'dropped mind and body,' and received the Dharma from Rujing, he returned to Japan and founded numerous Zen temples. Consequently, many Japanese of the Soto sect visit this temple and the nearby Tiantong temple.