Jinshan Temple

Jinan Temple is built on Jinshan Ridge, which stands at the boundary between Jinxian County of Nanchang City and Linchuan City in Jiangxi Province. The ridge rises 265.9 metres above sea level, featuring rolling green hills, towering jagged peaks and magnificent steep cliffs. The mountain contains abundant gold sand in its rock strata, hence its alternative name Jinfeng (Golden Peak).

Looking up from National Highway 316 winding along the mountainside, you can see resplendent temple buildings set off by luxuriant woods. On rainy days, the structures loom in swirling mist, appearing and disappearing intermittently. On sunny days, rosy clouds glow all around the golden buildings, making the whole scene look like a celestial fairyland. Looking down from the mountain top, you will see National Highway 316 twisting around the ridge and the Beijing-Fuzhou Expressway running north to south. Stretching for dozens of li below the mountain are vast farmlands dotted with villages and crisscrossed roads. The Fu River winds like a silk ribbon, and lakes glisten like mirrors, unfolding a stunning earthly panorama.

Over more than a thousand years of history, Jinshan Temple has repeatedly fallen into ruin and been rebuilt. It was burned down by warfare several times during the Song and Yuan dynasties. It flourished again in the early Ming Dynasty, only to suffer another destructive war in the late Ming. Buddha statues were then moved down the mountain to the front of Zhangyuan Village, where a small shrine was erected to sustain Buddhist worship. For more than 300 years afterwards, Jinshan Ridge fell into decline, and the temple existed in name only.

In the early 1980s, Master Huiwu became the 45th generation inheritor of the Linji School and received the Dharma name Yinkong. Witnessing the gradual implementation of the state’s religious policies, he made up his mind to revive Jinshan Temple. In the spring of 1985, he started the arduous reconstruction work amid overgrown weeds and devastated ruins. With financial support from Buddhist monks, lay believers and devout patrons at home and abroad, Master Yinkong persisted through more than ten years of hardship. His long-cherished wish finally came true: Jinshan Temple regained its former glory, with building complexes covering over 5,000 square metres standing majestically atop Golden Peak.

Today, Jinshan Temple enjoys the reputation of “Buddhist City of Eastern Jiangxi” and has become a sacred Buddhist shrine for devout men and women. Monks from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Southeast Asia often come here to meditate and pay homage. On the 19th day of the second lunar month, the birthday of Guanyin Bodhisattva, the two mountain roads are packed with vehicles, and crowds of pilgrims surge up and down the hill, numbering more than 30,000 in total. A new landmark, the Ten-Thousand-Buddha Pagoda, can be seen from a hundred li away, spreading the radiance of Buddhism far and wide.

Having been rated as a national AA-level tourist attraction, Jinshan Temple will develop into a famous scenic spot for tourists as supporting infrastructure continues to be improved.