Temple of the Six Banyan Trees 六榕寺

About Temple of the Six Banyan Trees

The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees (六榕寺) is a Buddhist monastery on Liurong Road (六榕路) in Yuexiu District (越秀区), Guangzhou, a short way from Guangxiao Temple (光孝寺). Its Flower Pagoda (花塔) stands in the middle of the temple courtyard.

The temple dates from 537, under Emperor Wu of Liang (梁武帝), when his maternal uncle, the monk Tanyu (昙裕), brought Buddha relics of Cambodian origin from Nanjing (南京) to Guangzhou, and the city's prefect built Baozhuangyan Temple (宝庄严寺) with a pagoda to hold them. The pagoda was rebuilt in 1097 as the Thousand Buddha Pagoda (千佛塔). In 1100 the poet Su Dongpo (苏东坡), heading north from exile on Hainan, saw six shady banyans in the grounds and wrote the characters "Liu Rong" (六榕, six banyans) for the monks; in 1411 the monastery took that name. With Guangxiao, Hualin (华林) and Haichuang (海幢) it is counted among the four great Buddhist monasteries of Guangzhou.

The pagoda is octagonal: nine storeys show outside, and eight hidden levels bring the interior to 17 floors. At 57.6 m, it is described by the city government as the tallest surviving Song-dynasty pagoda in the Lingnan region. Its upturned eaves look like petals, which gave it the popular name. Because the Pearl River once ran close by, the builders set it on a ring of nine granite-lined wells. The bronze finial, cast in 1358, is covered with 1,023 relief Buddhas. The tower had come to lean 1.7 m, and in 2001 it was strengthened with bands. Setting a pagoda at the centre of the courtyard, in front of the main hall, follows early Indian temple plans and is rare in China. The Flower Pagoda was listed as a Guangdong provincial protected site in 1989 and as a national one in 2006.

Su Dongpo's two characters hang on a board over the gate, flanked by a couplet by the early Republican writer Cen Xuelü (岑学侣) recalling Su and Wang Bo (王勃), who wrote the pagoda's inscription in 675. The Hall of Heavenly Kings keeps its Ming-style architecture. The Mahavira Hall holds three bronze Buddhas, each 6 m tall and 10 tonnes, cast in 1663 for Guangzhou's Dafo Temple (大佛寺); the city government calls them the province's largest ancient bronze Buddhas. They were rescued from a scrap store and installed here when the hall was built in 1983. A bronze Guanyin from the same year stands in the Guanyin Hall, and the Sixth Patriarch Hall (六祖堂) holds a 1.8 m bronze of Huineng (惠能).

What to look for

• The Flower Pagoda (花塔), an octagonal 57.6 m tower with nine outer storeys and 17 inner floors
• The 1358 bronze finial of the pagoda, carved with 1,023 small Buddhas
• The board with Su Dongpo's characters "Liu Rong" over the gate, and Cen Xuelü's couplet
• Three 6 m bronze Buddhas of 1663 in the Mahavira Hall, brought from Dafo Temple
• The bronze Guanyin of 1663 in the Guanyin Hall
• The Sixth Patriarch Hall (六祖堂) with its 1.8 m bronze statue of Huineng
• The Hall of Heavenly Kings (天王殿), which keeps its Ming-style architecture
• The Friendship Hall with a 2.6 m bronze Shakyamuni given by Thailand's Ministry of Education in 1985

Location & getting there

Getting to Temple of the Six Banyan Trees

• Search for 六榕寺 with 广州市 and 越秀区.