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The White Horse Temple
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Lying 10 kilometres east of Luoyang, the
White Horse Temple was built in AD 68 in the Eastern Han
Dynasty and was the cradle of Chinese Buddhism. It was originally
the place where Liu Zhuang, the second emperor of the Eastern
Han Dynasty, used as a summer resort and for study. In the
year when Kasyapamatanga and another eminent Indian monk
brought Buddhist scriptures to Luoyang on the back of a
white horse to spread Buddhism, the emperor, a devout believer
in Buddhism, built the first government-run temple in China
and called it White Horse Temple. The temple was the earliest
sanctuary for Buddhist rituals in China. Legend has it that
there were several thousand monks in the temple. During
the turmoil of Wang Mang (AD 8-23)in the last years of the
Eastern Han Dynasty, the Cool and Clear Terrace of the Temple
alone held over 20,000 refugees. Today, there still remain
the column bases of the halls of the Cool and Clear Terrace.
Kasyapamatanga and the other Indian monk were buried in
the temple grounds. Following the example of the two eminent
monks, many monks from the Western Regions came to Luoyang
one after another. In the Tang Dynasty, Xuan Zang (602-664)
went from Luoyang to the Western Regions to go on a pilgrimage
for Buddhist scriptures for 17 years in the period 629 to
646. After returning to the homeland, he became the abbot
of the White Horse Temple and disseminated the scriptures
of Buddhism.
A restoration project at the White Horse
Temple in Luoyang, Henan Province, in Central China, demolished
illegal business structures and created new religious buildings.
Illegal structures include business shops on the square
in front of the temple, China's oldest Buddhist building.
After removing the shops, the local government planned to
invest 13 million yuan (USS 1.57 million) to enlarge the
square to 1.5 hectares (3.75 acres). Construction projects
there covered a series of religious facilities including
a 500-metre-long- stone-paved path leading to the temple
gate, and a 2,000-square-metre fish pond. In addition, the
city has constructed buildings next to the temple featuring
religious culture.
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