Qixia si 棲霞寺

Qīxiá sì 棲霞寺 Location: 22 km northeast of Nánjīng 南京 on Qīxiá shān 棲霞山 Other names: * Also written 栖霞寺, sometimes pronounced Xīxiá sì Qīxiá Vihāra 棲霞精舍 (original name) Gōngdé sì 功德寺 Pǔyún sì 普雲寺 Chóngbào sì 崇報寺 Hǔxué sì 虎穴寺

Vairocana Hall at Qīxiá Temple

First Founded 489 (Southern Qí 齊, Yǒngmíng 永明 7)

Lineage: Línjì 臨濟, Jīnshān pài 金山派 Status: Public (十方叢林)

Institution section editor: Erik Hammerstrom

Qīxiá sì 棲霞寺 is an important temple outside of Nánjīng.

Contents 1 History 2 Personnel 2.1 Important Abbots 2.2 Notable Residents 3 Temple Institution 3.1 Important Buildings or Artifacts 3.2 Associated Organizations and Groups 4 Notes 5 References

History

This temple was originally established as Qīxiá Vihāra 棲霞精舍 in Yǒngmíng 永明 7 of the Southern Qí 齊 (489 C.E.). Emperor Gāozǔ 高祖 (r. 650-684) changed its name to Gōngdé sì 功德寺. This temple went by a number of other names during the Táng 唐 and Sòng 宋, but its current name was officially established in 1007 (Jǐngdé 景德 4).

Qīxiá Temple was destroyed during the Xiánfēng 咸豐 Era (1851 - 1862) by Tàipíng rebels, and it was not rebuilt until the very end of the Qīng 清 (1908/Guāngxù 光緒 34). This was only a partial reconstruction, however, and it was not returned to its former glory until the Republican period. This success of this later renovation was due in large part to the efforts of Zōngyǎng 宗仰, who arrived in 1919 in order to become the temple's first official abbot in over fifty years. Zōngyǎng brought with him a Línjì 臨濟 lineage from Jīnshān 金山.

During the Nanjing Massacre in 1937, over twenty-thousand people were evacuated to Qīxiá Temple.

Personnel

Important Abbots

• Zōngyǎng 宗仰 (1919 - 1921)
• Ruòshùn 若舜 (1921 - 19??)

Notable Residents

Temple Institution

Important Buildings or Artifacts

• Qiānfó yán 千佛巖 (Thousand Buddhas Grotto)
  • Approximately 700 Buddhist images were carved into the cliffs immediately behind the monastery. Although the majority of these were (literally) defaced during the Cultural Revolution, most of the images survived in partial form.

Associated Organizations and Groups

Notes

References

• Luó Zhéwén 羅哲文, et. al. Zhōngguó zhùmíng fójiào sìmiào 中國著名佛教寺廟 (Famous Buddhist Temples of China). Beijing: Zhongguo chengshi, 1995. Pp. 160-161.
• Sū Zhèshēng 蘇浙生. Shénzhōu fójìng 神州佛鏡 (Buddhist Regions of Shénzhōu). Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2003. Pp. 151-153.
• 棲霞山志 (Hong Kong, 1962), from Dharma Drum's Temple Gazetteer Project.
• Entry for 栖霞寺 from Chinese Wikipedia.