Shousheng Temple in Changxing

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Not far from Lu Yu Tower sits an ancient temple with over 1,700 years history. There are more than one temple with the same names in China. As the oldest temple in Changxing, Shousheng Temple had an important position in the development of tea culture. Many monks and noted men often came to enjoy tea and composed poems after they took part in the activities of Buddhism, especially in the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. Lu Yu, Du Mu, Zhang Wengui, Qian Qi, Yan Zhenqing, Bai Juyi, Wen Tingyun and others all had been there and savoured tea in the temple.

At that time, eminent monks preached in the temple, and many believers came from neighbouring provinces. In the Yuan Dynasty, Buddhist tower was built up, so Shousheng Temple was boasted of the top temple in the county.

Shousheng Temple came into being during the period of Chiwu in the Three-Kingdoms(Wu). Located at the foot of Golden Hill in the west of Shuikou Township, it was hit by natural disasters and destroyed humanly several times in its history. In the early period of the Ming Dynasty, thetemple was destroyed in a fire, only the sutra depository remained. In the 5th year of Jingtai,a big flood swallowed the ancient temple and the large bell was submerged in silt for a long time. The temple came back to its business in the 8th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, and entered a flourishing period. In the 4th year of Jiaqing, Lang Yue,a monk rebuilt part of the temple, but it was on fire again in the chaos of war. It was said that Chen Lun made a vow to rebuilt the temple when he and his fellow travellers passed by the site at a later time. During the period of Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty, Chen Lun, Zang Baoying and other three partners donated money to the temple, and three main halls and 500 rooms were reconstructed then. More than 100 monks resided in the temple all the year round. From then on, Buddhist pilgrims came in crowds from all directions. Unfortunately, this temple did not escape from its destruction during the”Cultural Revolution”. From the year of 1997, people began to renovate the temple once more.

Shousheng Temple is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and amurmuring brook flows by the temple. Towering trees, green bamboo, gurgling stream make up a natural backdrop of the temple. There is an ancient ginkgo tree at either side of the temple gate, one is male and the other is female, still full of life, even if they are over 1,000 years. Inside the temple, an ancient well which was dug in the same year as the temple was called”Magic Well”, the well water with a bit of sweet is as clean as thedrinkable mineral water. The water in the well is sufficient for thousand people to drink. Visitors can still find many remains in the temple, such as black bricks, lotus vats, plinths, stone basins and so on.