Fangguang Temple

CHINA, Hunan, Hengyang

Fangguang means Vast and Wide. The temple lies at the foot of Lotus Peak. In 503 during the Southern Liang dynasty, Chan Master Huihai arrived at this spot and built a small meditation hut. According to the National Gazetteer, five men proclaiming themselves to be dragon deities asked Huihai about the Dharma, so he taught it to them. The story goes that during the night, after the five dragons had heard the Dharma, it thundered and rained and on the following day an area of flat land had appeared at the foot of the mountain. The temple was built in 534 and was named Fangguang, implying that Buddhism is widely propagated. The temple was destroyed in wartime in 1648 during the Qing dynasty. It was subsequently neglected and fell into disrepair. Reconstruction started in 1995 and it has been gradually restored to its original state.
The temple has a compact layout. The existing buildings include the main temple gate, Great Hero Hall, Patriarch Hall, meditation hall, and subsidiary buildings. Next to the temple there is a platform where Chan Master Huihai sewed his clothes and a pond where he washed them. A number of stone steles dating to the Song (960–1279) and Ming (1368–1644) dynasties can also be found nearby.