Lingshan Temple 灵山寺

About Lingshan Temple

The county government dates the temple's foundation to the fourth year of the Yanxing era of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei, in 474. Lingshan once held seven temples and three nunneries; of thirteen religious houses on the mountain only two now survive, with Lingshan Temple the principal one. It is known for three practices that set it apart in Chinese Buddhism: its gate faces east rather than south, monks and nuns live in the same monastery, and those who take orders here keep their hair. The founding emperors of both the Song and the Ming are recorded as having come to the mountain. The Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang climbed Lingshan three times, declared the mountain an imperial mountain and the temple a national temple, gave the abbot Chen Dayong the title Chan Master Jinbifeng along with half an imperial cortege and ceremonial regalia, and wrote the plaque naming it Shengshou Chan Temple. In 1712 the abbot Gaoying travelled to India to study Buddhism and became a noted teacher there; Prime Minister Nehru visited his tomb in 1962. The county recorded seven tiers of halls and some thirty monks and nuns in residence, with a temple fair held on the first day of the third lunar month.

The temple section is one of six making up the Lingshan Scenic Area, which covers about 61.5 square kilometres in the south-west corner of Luoshan County, bordering Pingqiao District of Xinyang and Dawu County in Hubei, with Jilong Mountain to the east and Jigong Mountain to the west; the other sections are Xiaoyao Cave, the Golden Summit, Longfeng Xianglin, Longya Temple and Jiuli Luoyan Lake. The county counts 36 waterfalls, 72 caves and 108 named rocks and cliffs across the mountain, together with 237 bird species, 39 of them under national key protection. The Dongzhai National Bird Nature Reserve adjoins the mountain.

What to look for

• The east-facing main gate, one of the three features that distinguish the monastery
• The seven tiers of halls rising up the slope behind the gate
• The Golden Summit section of the scenic area above the temple, one of its six divisions
• Jiuli Luoyan Lake, another of the six sections, enclosed by hills

Location & getting there

Getting to Lingshan Temple

Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.

• Search for 灵山寺 with 信阳市 and 罗山县.