Turn left out of West Lake Park, and you will find Tianning Zen Temple. Originally called Bao’en Temple (Temple of Gratitude), it is also known as Tianning Wanshou Zen Temple. Founded in 770 (the fifth year of the Dali reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty) by the first abbot Xiugong (Youxu), it has a history of over 1,200 years. As the oldest Buddhist temple in Leizhou, it ranks with Nanhua Temple in Qujiang and Yunmen Temple in Ruyuan as one of the three great ancient temples of Tang Dynasty Lingnan.
Tips:
Admission: Free
Visiting time: 1 hour
The temple houses many ancient couplets, most notably the one in the Mahavira Hall, composed and written by Chen Changqi, a renowned Qing Dynasty scholar from Leizhou:
"All living beings’ minds are non-mind; when the mind is empty, nature is realized.
The Tathagata’s Dharma is ultimately no Dharma; when Dharma ends, fruition is complete."
Professor Zhan Bohui, a famous sinologist and former dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Jinan University, highly praised this couplet: "These two lines perfectly and profoundly expound the Chan principles of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng. I have visited many temples, but I have never seen such a unique couplet—it is a masterpiece of Buddhist verse."
The temple also preserves a rich collection of stone inscriptions. The most famous are the horizontal plaques "First Among All Mountains" by Su Dongpo and "Ancient Tianning Temple" by Hai Rui. The "First Among All Mountains" plaque was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution; the one seen today is a replica. The original "Ancient Tianning Temple" plaque is preserved in the temple. Both are included in the Complete Collection of Famous Chinese Plaques.
There is a story behind the "First Among All Mountains" plaque: During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, calligrapher Shen Ding’an from Zhejiang fled to Zhanjiang with his father, who made a living selling paintings. As a young man, Shen visited Tianning Temple, was amazed by Su’s calligraphy, and asked a monk to help him make a rubbing. Soon after, Japanese planes bombed the area, killing his father. Shen narrowly escaped, and the rubbing was saved from the fire. He cherished Su’s calligraphy and spirit, keeping the rubbing with him and studying it for years. In middle age, Shen became a master calligrapher. In 1989, upon learning that Tianning Temple was being rebuilt, he donated his precious original rubbing, allowing the stone archway with Su’s inscription to be restored to its former glory.
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