Main Hall, Qingyun Temple, Zhaoqing, Guangdong--mostly unrestored and therefore beautiful. Founded in 1633, the temple is now inside the lush Dinghu Mountain National Nature Reserve, China's first (est. 1956), which is bisected by the Tropic of Cancer. The stroll down the mountain is delightful.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, August 30, 2025
The pool is the centerpiece at Guanyin Temple, Shenzhen, Guangdong. New halls were going up around it when I visited in 2011. It's located not far from one of Shenzhen's best folk temples, Fenghuang Shan, or "Phoenix Mountain" in Fuyong Town, which is in turn quite near Shenzhen Airport.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, August 21, 2025
Dhrtarashtra, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, in the then-newly-built Huayan Temple in Guangzhou, Guangdong. The Chinese call him Chi Guo for "supporting the country." His lute can bring comfort and represent harmony, but also its TWANG! can raise a wind, fanning fires which destroy the enemy camp.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, August 19, 2025
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The tomb of the parents of Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan (Zen) stands at Guo'en Temple, Xincheng, Zhaoqing, Guangdong. He was born a short walk away in what is now called "Sixth Patriarch Village." After a lifelong association with this temple, he spent his last years and passed away here.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, August 4, 2025
These three Buddhas at Dafo (Big Buddha) Temple in Guangzhou, Guangdong are just 20 feet (6 metres) high--not bad, but not really so big after all. Only a few decades old, they are located in a much older hall, the only surviving building from the temple's early days. They are, I think, the usual Amitabha, Shakyamuni, and the Medicine Buddha.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, July 29, 2025
An unusual, newly-built Black Hall at Lingshan Temple, Shantou, Guangdong. It's marked as a "Memorial Hall," and sits behind the small "Tongue Pagoda" of the great Chan Master Chaozhou Dadian, who founded the temple in 791.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, July 23, 2025
These ancient trees are the only remaining feature of the former Dajian Temple, Shaoguan, Guangdong. The front hall seems to have been created from an apartment building; the small new main hall is the only one that looks like a temple. This is where Huineng is said to have given the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, July 21, 2025
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The Sixth Patriarch of Chan (Zen), Huineng, was born at what is now called Liuzu ("Sixth Patriarch") Village, a short walk from Guo'en Temple, where he buried his parents. The village includes two small temple halls; this is one of them. At Xinxing (Zhaoqing), Guangdong.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, July 20, 2025
The Mountain Gate of Hongfa Temple, Shenzhen, Guangdong. This was the first temple I visited in Mainland China (in 2003), and despite being new and shiny (just finished in 1992), all the usual buildings and statues were there. I learned a lot from this model temple, and often showed friends around.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, July 16, 2025
This Thousand-Armed Guanyin at Kaiyuan Temple, Chaozhou, Guangdong, is one of four back-to-back in a hall filled with Guanyin images. It's particularly striking because, while many such Guanyin's arms are in a flat plane--like a disc--these are reaching forward dynamically, as though striving to help.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, July 2, 2025
This statue commemorating Master Xuyun (1840?-1959) presides over its own hall at Yunmen Temple in Shaoguan, Guangdong, one of the many temples he rebuilt. Master Xuyun is considered one of China's "four eminent monks" of the 20th century along with Masters Yinguang (1862-1940), Hongyi (1880-1942), and Taixu (1890-1947).
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, June 29, 2025
This altar at Fozu Temple, Shenzhen, Guangdong, is transitioning from Daoist to Buddhist; three Buddha statues sit in front of a Daoist figure. This temple sits right outside the gate of the school where I taught, and I could always tell when it was new or full moon by looking at their parking lot.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, June 10, 2025
The Nine Dragon Spring at Nanhua Temple in Shaoguan, Guangdong. Legend says it was created when Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan (Zen), tapped the ground nine times with his staff; nine dragons (like the nine that bathed the newborn Shakyamuni) flew out of the ground and the spring began to run.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, June 7, 2025
These stairs lead up to Zhaoyin Temple in Shaoguan, Guangdong, located in an open-faced cave at the top. It lies in a cliff on the side of Lion's Crag, where the Maba Man Site (300,000 to 130,000 bp) was found. It is speculated that Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan, may have meditated here.
Posted to Reddit et al, May 15, 2025
Kshitigarbha (CH. Dizang, Jp. Jizo) is the Bodhisattva who promises to save all beings from the six Hells. In 2010 when this photo was taken, this was one of the few properly Buddhist statues at Dongshan Temple, in Shenzhen, Guangdong, which was being converted from a Taoist temple into a major Buddhist one.
Posted to Reddit et al, May 8, 2025
Visitors relax under the remaining ancient banyan trees in a side courtyard at Liurong ("Six Banyan Tree") Temple in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Historically, the temple had many names; the current one was bestowed by the great poet and statesman Su Dongpo on a visit during the Northern Song Dynasty.
Posted to Reddit et al, May 5, 2025
Yuehua Temple, in an industrial area near the Pearl River in Shaoguan, Guangdong, was a landing site for visitors to Nanhua Temple. Master Xuyun restored it; the Red Guards destroyed it; it was being restored in 2012. (Xuyun also restored Nanhua, Dajian, and Yunmen Templin the area, among many others.)
Posted to Reddit et al, April 25, 2025
The stone over the altar at Guanyinshan Temple juts out from a hillside like a giant Frisbee. The natural feature, and a nearby spring, probably attracted temple-builders to the site. Like many temples in Shenzhen, Guangdong, it was transitioning from folk/Daoist to Buddhist when I visited in 2014.
Posted to Reddit et al, April 17, 2025
The title board says "One Flower, Five Petals"; Bodhidharma is the "One Flower," and the five Chan patriarchs who followed him are the "petals." At Hualin Temple, Guangzhou, Guangdong, the first place Bodhidharma is said to have stayed upon his arrival in China from India.
Posted to Reddit et al, April 14, 2025
This gate remains from the days when Longxing Temple in Shenzhen, Guangdong, was Daoist. Like many other Daoist sites in the city, it was being converted to a Buddhist one (more lucrative, I suspect) when I visited in 2011. I was delighted to see that the "old gods" were still in the basement.
Posted to Reddit et al, April 9, 2025
