White Horse Temple
China’s rich culture and tradition can be traced way back to its ancient past. Many of its buildings, texts, and art from the country’s past have been handed down to the modern world. One piece of architecture that spells out this history beautifully is the White Horse Temple in Henan Province.
Image from chinatour.com
The Han Emperor Ming is said to have built the temple to thank the two Buddhist monks who came back with a delegation he sent out. According to historical texts, the monks, She Moteng and Zhu Falan, arrived in a white horse that bore the sutras they needed to translate.
This is where the name of temple came from. When the temple was completed, it only drew more monks to the site, further cementing its status as the birthplace of Buddhism.
Image from travel.cncn.com
The White Horse Temple is located in Luoyang City. The Luoyang Beijiao Airport services Luoyang. Domestic flights from other major Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai operate in the airport. From the airport, you can take city buses number: 27, 83, and 98 to the city center.
The city can also be reached through highspeed railway and regular train. From Beijing, it takes up to four hours and 30 minutes by high speed rail and seven hours and 36 minutes by regular train. High speed railway tickets cost 589 Chinese Yuan or at least 89USD for first class tickets. Regular trains are cheaper at CNY 330 or $50. Once in Luoyang, you can ride buses: 56 or K56, 58 or K58, or 87 to arrive at the temple.
Image from easytourchina.com
Entrance fees are at CNY 35 ($6). The temple opens at 7:30 in the morning and closes at 7PM. The temple is mainly divided into two sections. The Western section is newer compared to the rest of the temple. There are different Buddhist temples in this section: Myanmar, Thailand, and India temples are constructed in this area. You will see the differences in how these countries build their temples.
The Eastern section houses the more historical part of the complex containing pavilions and halls. The Hall of the Heavenly Kings has four divine kings each with a different weapon. A laughing Buddha is in the middle of the hall. The construction goes as far back as the Qing dynasty, which lasted from the 16th century to the 19th century. The Hall of the Great Buddha, on the other hand, is older. It was built during the Ming dynasty, which is from the 13th century until 1644. The hall has a statue of a great Buddha patriarch you can make offerings to. The small hall in the temple is the Hall of Guidance which is the place of the Amitabha Buddha. In Buddhism, the words of Amitabha Buddha will lead you to paradise.
Image from en.wikipedia.org
Finally, the most beautifully adorned hall is the Hall of Mahavira. Here you can see lotus-patterned roofs and walls with wooden Buddha statues. A two-story Buddha shrine carved with birds and giant dragons is in the middle of the shrine.
UPVOTE AND FOLLOW
( All images found in google image search and I added images source with the website name. These images are not mine. if there have any false details in this article , please accept my apologies )