Nan Hua Temple is one of the six temples in Guangdong, it’s also known as Baolin Temple, is a world-renowned Buddhist temples, known as the crown of Lingnan Buddhist temple. You could go to Nanhua Temple for a trip when you come to Guangzhou for Canton fair 2014, HRC also provide China tour guide and Indochina tour packages, welcome to order.
Nanhua Temple is a Buddhist monastery of the Chan School – one of Five Great Schools of Buddhism, where the 6th Patriarch of the Chan School of Buddhism – the Great Master Hui Neng – once dwelled and spoke the Dharma. It is located 25 km southeast of Shaoguan, China in the town of Caoxi (漕溪), within Qujiang District. The location is in the northern part of Guangdong Province, within a few kilometers from Bei River, formerly an important trade route from Central China to Guangzhou .
The temple was first built in 502 (Nanbei Dynasty), and has a 1482-year’s history. After several times constructions in the past dynasties, the building area of the temple is covering 12,000 square meters. In front of the temple there are Cao Rivulet gate, free captive animals pool, Baolin gate and Tianwang treasure hall; bell tower, drum tower, Daxiong treasure hall, dining room, sutra-storing sutras keeping pavilion, Lingzhao Pagoda, Zu palace and abbot room are in the middle, while in the back of the temple there is a Zuoxi spring (usually called Jiulong(nine dragons) spring).The environment around the temple is quiet, old trees are flourishing. In the back of the temple there are several 40-meter-high ancient yews, which are far-between trees in the world.
It was home to important Zen Buddhist figure Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism, who once lived at the monastery (and is kept mummified at the temple). The temple grounds feature The Life-Saving Pond (full of fish, birds and turtles), the beautifully painted Five Fragances Pavillion, seven halls of relics, exquisitely detailed Buddhist shrines, monk quarters and bell and drum towers.
Daxiong treasure hall is the largest and uppermost ancient building. It is the important place to the temple to hold ritual. Three 8 meters high Buddha statues and a 4 meters high Kwan-yin statue are placed in the temple, with 500 visual arhats stand in four sides.
The temple holds many precious cultural relics; the most precious being the statue of Hui Neng, which is worshiped in the Sixth Ancestor Hall. There are 360 Buddhist arhats figures which are the only Chinese wooden carvings preserved from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). It is notable that the lifelike figures have been made by highly-skilled carvers and each of them has a distinct sitting posture, representing the different characters of the arhats. Some were engraved with epigraphs which are of high value. The rare cassock trimmed with dainty embroidery of over 1,000 Buddhist figures is also worth mentioning. Many of the valuable cultural relics being kept in the temple are national treasure and significant in the study of Chinese architecture, sculpture, painting and Buddhism.
There are also several ten-meter ancient Chinese cypresses here; it is now the world’s rarest trees. A large number of precious relics are been preserved in the temple, so it is also a national cultural relics protection units.