Shanghai Jing’an Temple

Entering the temple gate is a large square with a large square incense burner made of 15 tons of white copper.While the main halls of temples elsewhere are mostly on the central axis, the main hall of Jing’an Temple, which enshrines the Bodhisattva, is connected to the room where the monks do their homework. It surrounds the square and has two floors: you usually walk around the square once to see the first floor, and then go upstairs to see the second floor.

On the right side of the first floor is the east wing, which houses the Guanyin Hall, where a 6.2-meter-tall Guanyin statue made of a thousand-year-old camphor tree is worshipped.The left side of the west wing houses the Mouni Hall, which houses the 3.87-meter-tall Jade Buddha of Shakyamuni. This jade Buddha is much larger than the “treasure of the temple” jade Buddha in the Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple. When it was transported into the temple, the doors and walls of the temple had to be demolished because it was too large.

In the northwest corner of the first floor is the Jing’an Stupa. At the top of the stupa are five Tibetan-style four-sided pagodas, large and small, and inside the stupa are 868 Buddha statues and many tantric treasures. However, this stupa is generally not open to the public and can only be viewed from the outside.Jingan Temple was originally a Han Chinese exoteric temple. Under the abbot, the Venerable Chisong, it gradually became oriented towards Tibetan Buddhism and tantra. Therefore, the architectural style is also a combination of Han and Tibetan styles, and the Jingan Stupa and the pillar outside the temple with the words “The Proper Dharma Lasts Forever” written on it are particularly obvious in their Tibetan architectural style.

On the south side of the second floor is the gate, and on the second floor is the Hall of the Heavenly Kings.The Drum Tower and Bell Tower are located on the left and right sides of the Hall of Heavenly Kings. Unfortunately, they are usually not open to the public, so you can only look at the huge red drums and bells from the windows or door cracks.On the second floor, on the east and west sides, you can see monks doing their homework in many rooms. Don’t disturb them.On the north side of the second floor, which is the upper floor of the main hall where the dharma is preached, is the main hall of the Buddha. In the hall is a 15-ton silver Buddha statue. The three-dimensional murals on the reverse side of the statue are very exquisite and precious. They are collages of Buddhist scripture stories using various colored precious stones, corals, shells, jade, pearls, etc., matching the colors. The surrounding lotus petal-shaped frames are all pasted with gold foil.