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Baima Temple, The Birthplace of Chinese Buddhism

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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Baima Temple is the first official government sanctioned Buddhist temple in China. Founded in 68 AD, Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han dynasty commissioned the temple after two Indian monks brought the first Buddhist scriptures to China.

But first things first, is this place really worth visiting? Yes, but not as a standalone destination. Unless you’re a Buddhist temple fanatic and love the history, going to Baima Temple by itself probably isn’t worth the trek from wherever you’re starting out from (most likely Xi’an). But, as an add-on to a visit to the Longmen Grottos (龙门石窟) (a gigantic Buddha and other deities carved into caves, which is absolutely worth seeing even as a standalone destination), Baima Temple is perfect (we’ve been on Buddhist temple overload across Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, and China, but we still enjoyed Baima Temple). If you take a morning train to Luoyang, you can easily see both Baima Temple and the Longmen Grottos in one day.

Quick Info for Baima Temple: Name: 白马寺 / Báimǎ sì / White Horse Temple

Ticket Price: 50RMB

Location: 洛阳,河南 / Luoyang, Henan Province

Getting there: 20 minute cab ride from the Luoyang train station | 1.5 hour train from 西安北-洛阳龙门 / Xi’an North-Luoyang Longmen, 174.50RMB one-way

The stories goes that Emperor Ming had a dream one night and saw a golden man or something or other that resembled Buddhist deities. Because of the dream, Emperor Ming sent out two of his emissaries to go find some monks and Buddhist scrolls to bring back to China.

The emissaries made it as far as modern day Afghanistan when they bumped into two Indian monks. The monks agreed to return to Luoyang, the then capital city of China, and rode in on two white horses (hence the name White Horse Temple). Today, two stone horses stand outside the main gate of the temple as a tribute to the Indian monks.

Emperor Ming erected the temple for the two monks and the rest is history. Starting with The Sutra in Forty-two Sections Spoken by Buddha, hundreds of Sanskrit scrolls were translated into Chinese and disseminated from Baima Temple.

As with many of China’s wooden relics, wars and fires destroyed Baima Temple over the years. Starting in the 14th century, periodic renovations have preserved the look and feel of the temple. Today, the temple is pretty much entirely new. However, the ancient style and character of the temple is still well represented. For example, the Baima pagoda is a 13-storeyed square pagoda that stands in similar fashion to the two prior pagodas that were destroyed there during the Song and Jin dynasties.

Plan on spending a leisurely 2-3 hours at Baima Temple, as the overall area covers a fairly large plot of land and there are plenty of individual chambers to visit inside the temple grounds.

Getting to Baima Temple is easy. Take a morning train from Xi’an’s northern train station (the high-speed railway station) and get off at Luoyang. An 8:50am train departing from Xi’an is plenty early. The trip takes about an hour and a half. From the Luoyang train station, Baima Temple is about a 20-minute cab ride. You’ll be accosted by eager cab drivers at the train station, so have your bargaining cap on. Your best bet is bundling rides to Baima Temple and Longmen together. Drivers will try to tell you Baima temple is really far away, but it’s not. For Baima Temple alone you’re probably looking at a 50-80RMB round-trip. If you bundle it with Longmen, you can probably get it for just a little more. (Note, Longmen is literally 10 minutes from the train station).

There is also a Shaolin Temple a bit farther out than Baima Temple. While we didn’t get a chance to explore it, if you’re spending a night in Longmen the Shaolin Temple may be a good place for number three on your Luoyang hit list.



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