Daxingshan Monastery

Daxingshan is one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries of Xi'an, founded as far back as the Western Jin dynasty in the 3rd century. When the new capital was being built under the Sui, the monastery took up a whole city ward and became the chief state temple, where the sutras brought from abroad were translated; its name is put together from the name of the new capital, Daxing, and the Jingshan ward in which it stood.

Under the Tang it turned into the centre of Tantric Buddhism in China: the Indian masters Shubhakarasimha and Amoghavajra worked here, and the teaching passed from here to Japan. Amoghavajra died within these walls in 774, and the court declared mourning for him.

In the persecutions of 845 the monastery was ruined, after which it burned and was rebuilt, so that the present halls were put up in the 20th century on the old axial plan. Beyond the gates come in succession the bell and drum towers, the Hall of the Heavenly Kings and the main hall with its bronze censers.

In the 1950s the buildings were put in order, and since then the monastery has housed the city Buddhist association. A park is laid out around it, and beyond the fence stand the blocks of modern Xi'an.

Address

小寨路街道, 雁塔区

On the map