Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of 1,040 metres (3,410 ft) and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. It had a population of 3,318,057 during the 2010 census, of whom 1,629,035 lived in the built-up area made of the three urban districts of Chengqu, Kuangqu and Nanjiao.
Mount Wutai, also known by its Chinese name Wutaishan and as Mount Qingliang, is a sacred Buddhist site at the headwaters of the Qingshui in Shanxi Province, China. Its central area is surrounded by a cluster of flat-topped peaks roughly corresponding to the cardinal directions. The north peak is the highest and is also the highest point in northern China.
Buddhism in Nepal started spreading since the reign of Ashoka through Indian and Tibetan missionaries. The Kiratas were the first people in Nepal who embraced Gautama Buddha’s teachings, followed by the Licchavis and Newars. Buddha was born in Lumbini in the Shakya Kingdom. Lumbini is considered to lie in present-day Rupandehi district, Lumbini zone of Nepal. Buddhism is the second-largest religion in Nepal. According to 2011 census, the Buddhist population in Nepal is 9% of the country population. It has not been possible to assign with certainty the year in which Prince Siddhartha, the birth name of the Buddha, was born, it is usually placed at around 563 BCE. According to 2001 census, 10.74% of Nepal's population practice Buddhism, consisting mainly of Tibeto-Burman-speaking ethnicities, the Newar. In Nepal's hill and mountain regions Hinduism has absorbed Buddhist tenets to such an extent that in many cases they have shared deities as well as temples. For instance, the Muktinath Temple is sacred and a common house of worship for both Hindus and Buddhists.
Guangxiao Temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Guangzhou, the capital of China's Guangdong Province. As the special geographical position, Guangxiao Temple often acted as a stopover point for Asian missionary monks in the past. It also played a central role in propagating various elements of Buddhism, including precepts school, Chan (Zen), Shingon Buddhism, and Pure Land. In this temple, Huineng, the sixth Chinese patriarch of Chan Buddhism, made his first public Chan lecture and was tonsured, and Amoghavajra, a Shingon Buddhist master, gave his first teaching of esoteric Buddhism. Many Buddhist scriptures were also translated here, including those translated by Yijing and the Shurangama-sūtra translated by Paramitiin (般剌密諦).
The Sacred Mountains of China are divided into several groups. The Five Great Mountains refers to five of the most renowned mountains in Chinese history, and they were the subjects of imperial pilgrimage by emperors throughout ages. They are associated with the supreme God of Heaven and the five main cosmic deities of Chinese traditional religion. The group associated with Buddhism is referred to as the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism, and the group associated with Taoism is referred to as the Four Sacred Mountains of Taoism.
Buddhist art is the artistic practices that are influenced by Buddhism. It includes art media which depict Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other entities; notable Buddhist figures, both historical and mythical; narrative scenes from the lives of all of these; mandalas and other graphic aids to practice; as well as physical objects associated with Buddhist practice, such as vajras, bells, stupas and Buddhist temple architecture. Buddhist art originated on the Indian subcontinent following the historical life of Siddhartha Gautama, 6th to 5th century BCE, and thereafter evolved by contact with other cultures as it spread throughout Asia and the world.
The Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple of Ying County, Shanxi province, China, is a wooden Chinese pagoda built in 1056, during the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty. The pagoda was built by Emperor Daozong of Liao (Hongji) at the site of his grandmother's family home. The pagoda, which has survived several large earthquakes throughout the centuries, reached a level of such fame within China that it was given the generic nickname of the "Muta".
The Pagoda of Bailin Temple, is located in Shijiazhuang, Zhao County, Hebei province, China. It is an octagonal-based brick Chinese pagoda built in 1330 during the reign of Emperor Wenzong, ruler of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368).
The Tianning Temple, located in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China, is noted for its giant wooden pagoda, the Tianning Pagoda (天宁宝塔/天寧宝塔). Construction began in April 2002 with the opening ceremony for the completed structure held on April 30, 2007, where a crowd of hundreds of Buddhist monks gathered for the ceremony. With 13 stories and a height of 153.79 metres (505 ft), this wooden pagoda is now the tallest pagoda in the world, taller than China's tallest existent pre-modern Buddhist pagoda, the Liaodi Pagoda built in 1055 at a height of 84 m (275 ft). Although the existing pagoda was built by April 2007, the temple grounds and the pagoda have a history of construction and destruction for the past 1,350 years, since the time of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Building of the pagoda was proposed by the Buddhist Association of China in 2001, yet providing money donations for the temple was an international effort, as leaders of 108 Buddhist associations and temples worldwide attended the opening ceremony at the temple.
Jianfu Temple is a Chinese Buddhist temple located at West Youyi Rd. outside the south gate of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China. It hosts the famous Small Wild Goose Pagoda.
The Twin Pagoda Temple, officially known as Yongzuo Temple, of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, is a temple containing two pagodas dating from the Ming dynasty.
Shanhua Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Datong, Shanxi Province, China. The temple was first founded during the early 8th century of the Tang Dynasty, but its earliest surviving building dates from the 11th century. The temple was heavily repaired over the years, and today three original halls and two recently rebuilt pavilions survive. The largest, and earliest hall, dating from the 11th-century Liao Dynasty, is the Mahavira Hall and is one of the largest of its kind in China. Also historically significant are the Main Gate and Sansheng Hall, both dating from 12th century during the Jin dynasty.
Buddhism was first actively disseminated in Tibet from the 7th to the 9th century CE, predominantly from India. During the Era of Fragmentation, Buddhism waned in Tibet, only to rise again in the 11th century. With the Mongol invasion of Tibet in the 13th century and the establishment of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, Tibetan Buddhism spread beyond Tibet to Mongolia and China. From the 14th to the 20th Tibetan Buddhism was patronized by the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the Manchurian Qing dynasty (1644–1912).
The Luohou Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Taihuai Town of Wutai County, Xinzhou, Shanxi, China.
Tayuan Temple is located in the central area of Taihuai town in Mount Wutai, Shanxi Province, China. Tayuan Temple was originally a stupa of Xiantong Temple. The stupa, named the Great White Pagoda, was constructed in the 6th year of DaDe reign of the Yuan dynasty. In the 5th year of Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1407AD), it was expanded to a temple and got its name as Tayuan Temple. It is listed in the Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected in Shanxi Province, China.
Temple of King Ashoka is a Buddhist temple located in Yinzhou District of Ningbo, Zhejiang, China.
Shifang Temple, also known as Guangren Temple, is a Buddhist temple located on Mount Wutai, in Taihuai Town of Wutai County, Shanxi, China.
The Ta'er Temple is the modern name of a ruined Buddhist temple outside of the walls of Suoyang City in Guazhou County, Gansu, China. It has been tentatively identified with the King Ashoka Temple recorded in historical documents, which was first built in the Northern Zhou dynasty (557–581) at the latest. The extant ruins, including the main adobe pagoda and eleven smaller ones, mostly date to the Western Xia dynasty (1038–1227).
