Green Dragon Temple

Located 3 kilometers (about 1.87 miles) southeast of Xian city, Green Dragon Temple is a famous Buddhist Temple from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). First built in 582 during the Sui dynasty (581 - 618 A.D.), the temple was originally named Lingan Temple (Temple of Inspiration) and later in 711 during the Tang dynasty renamed Qinglong Temple (Green Dragon Temple). The temple was destroyed in 1086 and the present one was the product of restoration.

Green Dragon Temple is the ancestor temple of Tantra sect of Japan Buddhism, and the holy temple for Japanese. In the early and middle 9th century, large quantities of Japanese monks were sent to China to study Buddhism scriptures. Among the well-known "eight monks entering the Tang", six once studied Buddhism in Green Dragon Temple, in which Monk Kukai was the most famous one. 

Kukai, the most learned of the six monks, made great progress in learning Buddhist sutras, Sanskrit, poems and Chinese calligraphy. After his return to Japan in 806, he advocated the building of a Vagra Temple (Vagra means Buddhist Warrior Attendant) and founded the Zhenyan Sect (the True Word Sect). He is highly honored by both Japanese and Chinese, and in 1982 Kukai Monument was constructed inside the Green Dragon Temple.

For uncertain reasons the Green Dragon Temple which had no fortune, like others in ancient China was destroyed. This was perhaps during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). The present temple was reconstructed in 1963. Memorial halls for the earlier monks and exhibition halls with some excavations displayed are all built in the Tang architectural style.

Green Dragon Temple is a place where the cherry blossoms can be enjoyed. Every year during May and June, an endless stream, of tourists comes to appreciate its beauty.

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