Guangji Temple

Originally named Yongqing Temple and also known as Guangji Monastery, Guangji Temple was renamed during the Dazhong Xiangfu period of the Song Dynasty (1008-1016). Located at the southern foot of Zheshan Mountain in Wuhu City, it was founded during the Qianning period of the Tang Dynasty (894-898) and is known as "Little Jiuhua." In 1983, the State Council designated it as a key national Buddhist temple in the Han Chinese area. The temple complex consists of four main halls: the Shanmen (Mountain Gate), the Medicine Master Hall, the Great Buddha Hall, and the Ksitigarbha Hall. The Ksitigarbha Hall, modeled after the Meat Body Hall in Jiuhua Mountain, is particularly noteworthy. Built against the mountain, the halls are interconnected and rise in tiers. Inside the Shanmen are statues of Maitreya and Skanda, over ten meters tall, flanked by the statues of the two guardian deities, Heng and Ha. The temple's most treasured artifact is the "Golden Seal of Ksitigarbha's Attainment." Legend has it that in the seventh year of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty (719), the 24-year-old Prince Kim Gyo-gak of Silla traveled to China and arrived in Wuhu. He first visited Heshan Mountain and then Zheshan Mountain, where he preached Buddhist scriptures for three years before settling in Jiuhua Mountain, where he became known as Ksitigarbha. In the second year of Zhide in the Tang Dynasty (757), Emperor Suzong of Tang bestowed a golden seal made of red sand, weighing eight catties and eight taels, upon the Jiuhua imperial palace. The seal knob is decorated with nine dragons playing with a pearl, and the inscription in positive relief reads "Seal of Ksitigarbha's Attainment." It also bears the inscription "Second Year of Zhide in the Tang Dynasty."