Longhua Temple, Shanghai: A Historic Buddhist Journey

Join me on a short visit to the VERY busy and VERY old Longhua Temple before New Years Day 2025 along with many other people! The Longhua Temple (traditional Chinese: 龍華寺; simplified Chinese: 龙华寺; pinyin: Lónghúa Sì, Shanghainese: Lon-ngu-zy, alternatively Lunghwa Temple; literally "Dragon Flower Temple") is a Buddhist temple dedicated to the Maitreya Buddha in Shanghai. Although most of the present day buildings date from later reconstructions, the temple preserves the architectural design of a Song dynasty (960–1279) monastery of the Chan School. It is the largest ancient temple complex in the city of Shanghai. Longhua Temple inner courtyard Newly constructed front gate of Longhua. The site of the original gates, further in front, is now marked by two standing pillars and a set of original stone lions. The temple was first built in 242 AD, during the Three Kingdoms Period (220–280). According to a legend, Sun Quan, King of the Kingdom of Wu (222–280), had obtained Sharira relics, which are cremated remains of the Buddha. To house these precious relics, the king ordered the construction of 13 pagodas. Longhua Pagoda (龍華塔), part of the Longhua temple complex, is said to have been one of them. Like the function of the pagoda, the name of the temple also has its origin in a local legend according to which a dragon once appeared on the site. The temple was destroyed by war towards the end of the Tang dynasty (618–907) and rebuilt in 977 AD, under the autonomous Kingdom of Wuyue during the Northern Song dynasty period (960–1127). (According to another version of the story, as contained in Song (960–1279) and Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) local histories, the temple was first built by the King of Wuyue.) Later in the Song dynasty, in 1064, it was renamed "Kongxiang Temple" (空相寺), but the original name "Longhua Temple" was restored in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (1573–1620). The present architectural design follows the Song...